Ayyubid dynasty

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The Ayyubid or Ayyoubid Dynasty (pronounced "eye-YOO-bid") was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish[Saladin. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition] origins which ruled Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Diyar Bakr, Mecca, Hejaz and northern Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The Middle East, c. 1190. Saladin's empire and its vassals shown in red; territory taken from the Crusader states 1187-1189 shown in pink. Light green indicates Crusader territories surviving Saladin's death.

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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. 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 lingered on in Syria for another ten years, when they fell to the Mongols.

Ayyubid Sultans of Egypt

• Saladin 1171-1193
• Al-Aziz 1193-1198
• Al-Mansur 1198-1200
• Al-Adil I 1200-1218
• Al-Kamil 1218-1238
• Al-Adil II 1238-1240
• As-Salih Ayyub 1240-1249
• Turanshah 1249-1250
• Al-Ashraf II 1250-1254 (nominally, actually the Mamluk Aibek ruled)

Ayyubid Sultans of Damascus

• Saladin 1174-1193
• Al-Afdal 1193-1196
• Al-Adil I 1196-1218
• Al-Mu'azzam 1218-1227
• An-Nasir Dawud 1227-1229
• Al-Ashraf 1229-1237
• As-Salih Ismail 1237
• Al-Kamil 1237-1238
• Al-Adil II 1238-1239
• As-Salih Ayyub 1239
• As-Salih Ismail (2nd time) 1239-1245
• As-Salih Ayyub (2nd time) 1245-1249
• Turanshah 1249-1250
• An-Nasir Yusuf 1250-1260

Ayyubid Emirs of Aleppo

• Al-Adil I 1183-1186
• Az-Zahir 1186-1216
• Al-Aziz 1216-1236
• An-Nasir Yusuf 1236-1260

Ayyubid Emirs of Hamah

• Al-Muzaffar I 1178-1191
• Al-Mansur I 1191-1221
• Al-Nasir 1221-1229
• Al-Muzaffar II 1229-1244
• Al-Mansur II 1244-1284
• Al-Muzaffar III 1284-1299
• Al-Muayyad 1310-1332
• Al-Afdal 1332-1334

Ayyubid Emirs of Homs

• Al-Qahir 1178-1186
• Al-Mujahid 1186-1240
• Al-Mansur 1240-1246
• Al-Ashraf 1248-1263

Ayyubid Emirs of Yemen

• Al-Mu'azzam Turanshah 1173-1181
• Al-Aziz Tughtegin 1181-1197
• Muizz ud-Din Ismail 1197-1202
• An-Nasir Ayyub 1202-1214
• Al-Muzaffar Sulaiman 1214-1215
• Al-Mas'ud Yusuf 1215-1229

Ayyubid Rulers of the Jezireh (Incomplete list)

• Al-Ashraf 1218-1237

Notes