Ayyubid dynasty

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The Ayyubid or Ayyoubid Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish<ref>Saladin. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition</ref> origins which ruled Egypt, Syria, Yemen (except for the Northern Mountains), Diyar Bakr, Mecca, Hejaz and northern Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Image:Ayyubid.png

This article is part of the Kurdish history and Culture series
Early ancestors
Hurrian Guti Mitanni Mannaeans Median
Ancient history
Corduene Kayusid
Medieval history
Shaddadid Rawadid Hasanwayhid Annazid Marwanid Ayyubid Badlis Ardalan Badinan Soran Baban
Modern history
Kingdom of Kurdistan Republic of Ararat Republic of Mahabad KRG Iranian Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan Kurds in Turkey Kurds in Syria
Culture
Kurdish Literature Kurdish Music Kurdish Dance

The Ayyubid Dynasty was founded by Saladin (Salah ah-Din), who, with his uncle Shirkuh, conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur ad-Din of Damascus in 1169. The name comes from Saladin's father and Shirkuh's brother, Najm ad-Din Ayyub. In 1171, Saladin deposed the last Fatimid Caliph, but he gradually became estranged from his former master. When Nur ed-Din died in 1174, Saladin declared war against Nur ed-Din's young son, As-Salih Ismail, and seized Damascus. Ismail fled to Aleppo, where he continued to resist Saladin until his murder in 1181. After this, Saladin seized control of the interior of the entirety of Syria, and even conquered the Jezireh in Northern Iraq. His greatest accomplishment, though, was his defeat of the Crusader states at the Battle of Hattin and conquest of Jerusalem in 1187. Saladin died in 1193, shortly after signing a treaty with Richard I of England which restored a coastal strip from Ascalon to Antioch to Crusader control.

Following Saladin's death, his sons fell to squabbling over the division of the Empire, until in 1200 Saladin's brother, Al-Adil, succeeded in securing control over the whole empire. The same process repeated at Al-Adil's death in 1218, and at his son Al-Kamil's death in 1238, but the Ayyubid state as a whole remained fairly strong. In 1250 Turanshah, the last Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt, was murdered and replaced by his Mamluk slave-general Aibek, who founded the Bahri dynasty.

The Ayyubids retreated soon after the loss of Egypt. Pockets of resistance against the Mamelukes lingered on in Syria (based from 1271 in the city of Hamah) for another 80 years, until the latter finally absorbed them in 1334.