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Death of Nur ad-Din
On 15 May 1174 Zengid ruler of Syria Nur ad-Din died in Damascus of fever from a peritonsillar abscess, breaking Muslim unity in the Levant and pavin…
Timeline
- 1174Citadel of Damascus · DamascusIn early 1174 Nur ad-Din was preparing a campaign against Egypt to rein in the increasingly independent Saladin, but fell ill with complications from a peritonsillar abscess. He died in the Citadel of Damascus on 15 May at the age of fifty-six, first buried in the citadel and later moved to the madrasa he had founded.
- 1174Syria · SyriaNur ad-Din's young son al-Salih Ismail was named heir, but factions in Aleppo, Mosul, and Damascus immediately vied for control. Saladin professed loyalty to the child ruler while in fact using the opportunity to expand; King Amalric of Jerusalem also died that July, and the political landscape of the Levant was completely reshuffled.
Sources
- Nūr al-Dīn https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nur-al-Din
- Nur ad-Din Zengi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur_ad-Din_Zengi
- Saladin: Hero of Islam, Chapter 9: The Critical Years — Geoffrey Hindley https://erenow.org/biographies/saladin-hero-of-islam/9.php