Siege of Edessa (1144)
Siege of Edessa | |
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Part of the Sanliurfa, Turkey ) | |
Result |
Zengid victory
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Bishop Basil bar Shumna
Bishop John
The siege of Edessa (Arabic, romanized: fatḥ al-Ruhāʾ, lit. 'liberation of Edessa'[1]) 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
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
The siege of Edessa
In 1144, Joscelin was able to make an alliance with Kara Arslan, the Artuqid ruler of Diyarbakır, against the growing power and influence of Zengi. Joscelin marched out of Edessa with almost his entire army to support Kara Aslan against Aleppo. Zengi, already seeking to take advantage of Fulk's death in 1143, hurried north to besiege Edessa, arriving on November 28. The city had been warned of his arrival and was prepared for a siege, but there was little they could do while Joscelin and the army were elsewhere.[2]
The defense of the city was led by the Latin Archbishop
Zengi surrounded the entire city, realizing that there was no army defending it. He built
Aftermath
In January 1145 Zengi captured
Zengi was assassinated by a slave in 1146 while besieging Qalat Jabar, and was succeeded in Aleppo by his son
By this time, news of the fall of Edessa reached Europe, and Raymond of Poitiers had already sent a delegation including
References
- ^ a b Hermes 2017, p. 272.
- ^ a b c Gibb, Hamilton A. R. (1969). "Zengi and the Fall of Edessa". In Setton, K. A History of the Crusades: Volume I. pp. 449–462.
- ^ a b Runciman 1952, pp. 225–246, The Fall of Edessa.
- ^ Gibb, Hamilton A. R. (1969). "Chapter XVIII. The Rise of Saladin, 1169–1189". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: Volume One. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 563–589.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusaders, extracted and translated from the Chronicle of Ibn al-Qalanisi. Edited and translated by H. A. R. Gibb. London, 1932.
- William of Tyre. A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. Edited and translated by E. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey. Columbia University Press, 1943.
- Armenia and the Crusades, Tenth to Twelfth Centuries: The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa. Translated by Ara Edmond Dostourian. National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 1993.
Secondary sources
- Ferdinandi, Sergio (2017). La Contea Franca di Edessa. Fondazione e Profilo Storico del Primo Principato Crociato nel Levante (1098-1150). Pontificia Università Antonianum - Rome. ISBN 978-88-7257-103-3.
- Hermes, Nizar F. (2017). "The Poet(ry) of Frankish Enchantment: The Ifranjiyyāt of Ibn Qaysarānī". Middle Eastern Literatures. 20 (3): 267–287. S2CID 166119010.
- Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ISBN 0-299-04834-9.