Zangids

Zengid dynasty
Vassal of the Seljuk Empire
1127–1250
Zengid black banner
Zengid Dynasty at its greatest extent
Capital		Aleppo
Languages		Kurdish Oghuz Turkic Arabic
Religion		Sunni Islam
Government		Emirate
Emir
•	1127–1146	Imad ad-Din Zengi (first)
•	1241–1250	Mahmud Al-Malik Al-Zahir (last reported)
History
•	Established	1127
•	Disestablished	1250
Currency		Dinar
Preceded by Succeeded by Great Seljuq Empire County of Edessa Ilkhanate Ayyubids

The Zengid or Zangid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turk origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire.

The dynasty was founded by Imad ad-Din Zengi, who became the Seljuk Atabeg (governor) of Mosul in 1127. He quickly became the chief Turkish potentate in Northern Syria and Iraq, taking Aleppo from the squabbling Artuqids in 1128 and capturing the County of Edessa from the Crusaders in 1144. This latter feat made Zengi a hero in the Muslim world, but he was assassinated by a slave two years later, in 1146.

On Zengi's death, his territories were divided, with Mosul and his lands in Iraq going to his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I, and Aleppo and Edessa falling to his second son, Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo. Nur ad-Din proved to be as competent as his father. In 1149 he defeated Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, at the battle of Inab, and the next year conquered the remnants of the County of Edessa west of the Euphrates. In 1154 he capped off these successes by his capture of Damascus from the Burid dynasty that ruled it.

Now ruling from Damascus, Nur ad-Din's success continued. Another Prince of Antioch, Raynald of Châtillon was captured, and the territories of the Principality of Antioch were greatly reduced. In the 1160s, Nur ad-Din's attention was mostly held by a competition with the King of Jerusalem, Amalric of Jerusalem, for control of the Fatimid Caliphate. Ultimately, Nur ed-Din's Kurdish general Shirkuh was successful in conquering Fatimid Egypt in 1169, but Shirkuh's nephew and successor as Governor of Egypt, Saladin, eventually rejected Nur ad-Din's control.