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Zengi's Siege of Edessa
In 1144, Imad al-Din Zengi, sultan of Mosul and Aleppo, launched a decisive siege of Edessa, capturing the city by year's end and becoming a symbolic…
Timeline
- 1144Edessa · MesopotamiaZengi combined troops from Mosul, Aleppo, and his vassals to tightly encircle Edessa, cutting off supplies and bombarding the walls.
- 1144Antioch · LevantJoscelin II appealed to the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem for aid, but the relief forces sent by Prince Raymond and Baldwin III were too small or too slow to lift the siege.
- 1144Edessa · MesopotamiaZengi's forces breached the defenses with catapults and mining operations; the garrison collapsed and Edessa fell, completing Zengi's conquest of the county's core stronghold.
Sources
- al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh — Ibn al-Athir
- Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum — William of Tyre
- Zengi and the Muslim Response to the Franks — Carole Hillenbrand (1999)