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Joscelin II Of Edessa
Joscelin II (died 1159) was the fourth and last ruling count of Edessa. He was son of his predecessor, Joscelin I, and Beatrice, daughter of Constantine I of Armenia. Biography Youth In 1122, Joscelin I was captured by Belek Ghazi. The next year, he was joined in captivity by Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Joscelin I was rescued in 1123 by Armenian soldiers, and he worked with Baldwin's wife Morphia to secure the king's release. The young Joscelin II and Baldwin's daughter Ioveta were ransomed for Baldwin's release in 1124. Joscelin II and Ioveta were released in 1125 in exchange for 80,000 dinars, spoils from Baldwin's victory over al-Bursuqi at the battle of Azaz. In 1131, his father Joscelin I was wounded in battle with the Danishmends, and Edessa passed to Joscelin II. Joscelin II refused to march the small Edessan army out to meet the Danishmends, so Joscelin I, in his last act, forced the Danishmends to retreat, dying soon after. Count of Edessa Joscelin II ruled the ...
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Count Of Edessa
The County of Edessa (Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey). In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellectual life within the Syriac Orthodox Church. As such it also became the centre for the translation of Ancient Greek philosophy into Syriac, which provided a stepping stone for the subsequent translations into Arabic. When the crusades arrived, it was still important enough to tempt a side-expedition after the siege of Antioch. Baldwin of Boulogne, the first count of Edessa, became king of Jerusalem, and subsequent counts were his cousins. Unlike the other Crusader states, the county was landlocked. It was remote from the other states and was not on particularly good terms with its closest neighbor, the Principality of Antioch. Half of the county, including its capital, was located east of the Euphrates, far to the east, rendering it partic ...
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Battle Of Azaz (1125)
The Battle of Azaz was a major battle fought between king Baldwin II's crusader forces and the Muslims, led by Aq-Sunqur al-Bursuqi, the Seljuq atabeg of Mosul on 11 June 1125. Being one of the bloodiest confrontations before the Second Crusade, the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Crusaders, causing disturbances of power in the Levant and weakened Seljuk domination in the area. Contemporary chronicler Matthew of Edessa even states that the remnants of al-Bursuqi's army were chased all the way to Aleppo. The battle effectively lifted the siege of the town of Azaz and prevented it from falling to Turkoman hands. (One authority says the battle was fought on June 13.) Background Joscelin I of Edessa had captured Azaz in northern Syria from the atabeg of Aleppo in 1118. The next year the Crusaders under Roger of Salerno were severely defeated at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis, and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem was captured while patrolling in Edessa in 1123. Prelude ...
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Siege Of Edessa (1144)
The siege of Edessa took place from 28 November to 24 December 1144, resulting in the fall of the capital of the County of Edessa to Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo. This event was the catalyst for the Second Crusade. Background The County of Edessa was the first of the Crusader states to be established during and after the First Crusade. It dates from 1098 when Baldwin of Boulogne left the main army of the First Crusade and founded a principality. Edessa was the most northerly, the weakest, and the least populated. As such, it was subject to frequent attacks from the surrounding Muslim states ruled by the Artuqids, Danishmends, and Seljuk Turks. Count Baldwin II and future count Joscelin of Courtenay were taken captive after their defeat at the Battle of Harran in 1104. Joscelin was captured a second time in 1122, and although Edessa recovered somewhat after the Battle of Azaz in 1125, Joscelin was killed in battle in 1131. His successor Joscelin II was ...
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Kara Arslan
Fakhr al-Din Kara Arslan (or Qara Arslan) (r. 1144–1174 CE) was a member of the Artuqid dynasty and son of Rukn al-Dawla Dāʾūd, bey of Hasankeyf. Kara Arslan ruled Hasankeyf following Dāʾūd's death on 19 Muharram 539 (22 July 1144). He was the father of Nur al-Din Muhammad. Coinage File:Arslan_Kara_fels_1144_1166.jpg, Kara Arslan fels, 1144–1166. Cabinet des Médailles File:Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan. AH 543-570 (AD 1148-1174) Hisn Kayfa or Amid mint. Dated AH 559 (AD 1163-4). Crowned, bearded Byzantine-style bust with AH date around. Clean-shaven half-length figure with name and title of Qara Arslan.jpg, Coinage of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, Hisn Kayfa or Amid mint. Dated AH 559 (AD 1163-4). File:Qara_Arslan_no_date_mint_of_Amid_Roman_winged_victory_holding_a_book.jpg, Coin of Kara Arslan, no date, mint of Amid, with Roman winged victory holding a book. British Museum. File:Qara_Arslan_no_date_mint_of_Amid_enthroned_Christ.jpg, Coin of Kara Arslan, no date, mint of Am ...
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Fulk Of Jerusalem
Fulk of Anjou (, or ''Foulques''; – 13 November 1143), also known as Fulk the Younger, was the king of Jerusalem from 1131 until 1143 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Melisende. Previously, he was the count of Anjou as Fulk V from 1109 to 1129. He had also been the count of Maine from 1110 to 1126 alongside his first wife, Countess Erembourg. His direct descendants were the rulers of the Angevin Empire and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Early life Fulk was born at Angers, between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband, and bigamously married King Philip I of France. Fulk was thus raised at least partly at the French court. By 1106 Fulk's father had been forced to yield control of the county to his eldest son, Fulk's half-brother Geoffrey IV. But Geoffrey was killed that year by a crossbow bolt outside the castle of Candé, in theory returning his father to power and making Fulk the next ...
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Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th centuryAD, it endured until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The term 'Byzantine Empire' was coined only after its demise; its citizens used the term 'Roman Empire' and called themselves 'Romans'. During the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the western provinces were Romanization (cultural), Latinised, but the eastern parts kept their Hellenistic culture. Constantine the Great, Constantine I () legalised Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople. Theodosius I, Theodosius I () made Christianity the state religion and Greek gradually replaced Latin for official use. The empire adopted a defensive strategy and, throughout its remaining history, expe ...
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Siege Of Shaizar
The siege of Shaizar took place from April 28 to May 21, 1138. The allied forces of the Byzantine Empire, Principality of Antioch and County of Edessa invaded Muslim Syria. Having been repulsed from their main objective, the city of Aleppo, the combined Christian armies took a number of fortified settlements by assault and finally besieged Shaizar, the capital of the Munqidhite Emirate. The siege captured the city, but failed to take the citadel; it resulted in the Emir of Shaizar paying an indemnity and becoming the vassal of the Byzantine emperor. The forces of Zengi, the greatest Muslim prince of the region, skirmished with the allied army but it was too strong for them to risk battle. The campaign underlined the limited nature of Byzantine suzerainty over the northern Crusader states and the lack of common purpose between the Latin princes and the Byzantine emperor. Background Freed from immediate external threats in the Balkans or in Anatolia, having defeated the Hungar ...
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List Of Rulers Of Aleppo
The monarchs of Aleppo reigned as kings, emirs and sultans of the city and its surrounding region since the later half of the 3rd millennium BC, starting with the kings of Armi, followed by the Amorite dynasty of Yamhad. Muslim rule of the city ended with the Ayyubid dynasty which was ousted by the Mongol conquest in 1260. The rulers of Yamhad used the titles of king and Great King, while the Hittite dynasty monarchs used the titles of king and viceroy. The Emirate of Halab was established in 945 by the Hamdanid dynasty and lasted until 1086, when it became a sultanate under the Seljuq dynasty. The sultanate was sometimes ruled together with Damascus under the same sultan. The Artuqids rulers used the titles of Malik and emir, as did the Zengid rulers which added the title atabeg. The Ayyubid monarchs used the titles of sultan and malik. The dates for Yamhad and the Hittite Dynasties are proximate and calculated by the Middle chronology. Yamhad Kings Yamhad was the name ...
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Imad Ad-Din Zengi
Imad al-Din Zengi (;  – 14 September 1146), also romanized as Zangi, Zengui, Zenki, and Zanki, was a Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman atabeg of the Seljuk Empire, who ruled Emir of Mosul, Mosul, Emirate of Aleppo, Aleppo, Hama, and, later, Edessa, Mesopotamia, Edessa. He was the namesake and founder of the Zengid dynasty of atabegs. Early life Zengi's father, Aq Sunqur al-Hajib, governor of Aleppo under Malik Shah I, Malik-Shah I, was beheaded by Tutush I for treason in 1094. At the time, Zengi was about 10 years old and was brought up by Kerbogha, the governor of Mosul. Zengi then served in the military of the Governors of Mosul, first under Jawali Saqawa (1106–1109), then Mawdud (1109–1113), and from 1114, under Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi. Zengi remained in Mosul until 1118, when he entered into the service of the new Seljuk ruler Mahmud II (Seljuk sultan), Mahmūd (1118–1119). Upon Ahmad Sanjar, Sanjar's accession in 1119, Zengi remained loyal to Mahmūd, who became ruler o ...
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John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos or Comnenus (; 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143) was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good" (), he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina and the second emperor to rule during the Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty, Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire. As he was born to a reigning emperor, he had the status of a . John was a pious and dedicated monarch who was determined to undo the damage his empire had suffered following the Battle of Manzikert, half a century earlier. John has been assessed as the greatest of the Komnenian emperors. This view became entrenched due to its espousal by George Ostrogorsky in his influential book ''History of the Byzantine State'', where John is described as a ruler who, "... combined clever prudence with purposeful energy ... and [was] high principled beyond his day." In the course of th ...
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Byzantine Emperor
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the List of Byzantine usurpers, various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern ...
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