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Ayyubid Sultanate

Type Object Region Egypt Time 1171–1341

An Islamic state ruled by the Kurdish Saladin and his descendants in the 12th–13th centuries, centered on Egypt and the Levant.

Timeline

  1. 1171–1187Cairo · EgyptSaladin deposed the Shia Fatimid caliph in Egypt, establishing the Sunni Ayyubid Sultanate with its capital at Cairo. He thereafter unified Syria and parts of Iraq, building an Egypt-centered Levantine Islamic alliance to oppose the Crusader states.
  2. 1187–1193Jerusalem · PalestineIn 1187 Saladin routed the main Crusader force at the Battle of Hattin, then recovered Jerusalem and most Levantine coastal cities; Ayyubid prestige reached its peak, provoking the Third Crusade.
  3. 1193–1250Damascus · SyriaAfter Saladin's death the Ayyubid state split into multiple branch principalities—Egypt, Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs—fighting one another while jointly resisting the Fifth and Sixth Crusades; the Levantine situation was relatively stable between 1211 and 1220.
  4. 1250–1341Cairo · EgyptIn 1250 the Egyptian Ayyubid sultan was overthrown by the Mamluks, ending the Egyptian regime. The Levantine principalities were successively absorbed by the Mamluks or Mongol forces; the last Ayyubid ruler of Hama died in 1341, and the Ayyubid dynasty perished entirely.

Sources