massive state of the Il Khans, which survived until collapsing in confusion in 1338. This was a brief ascendancy; and the great traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited the Khan Abu Sa'id in 1327, at the flood tide of Mongol power, found upon his return from China and India, in 1348, that the realm had already disintegrated. Mongol successors, like the Jalayirids and the Black Sheep Turks, are followed on the Mongol page.THE ZANGID ATABEGSOF MOSUL, ALEPPO, & DAMASCUSZangi I 'Imad adDinappointed by Seljuk Sult.anMah.mud II, 1127; Atabegof Mosul, 1127-1146Capture of the Countyof Edessa from Crusaders, 1144MOSULALEPPO, &DAMASCUSGhazi ISayf adDin1146-1149Mah.mudNur adDin1147-1174MawdudQut.b adDin1149-1170Second Crusade,1147-1149;captures Damascus,1154; sends Shirkuh toconquer Egypt, 1169;Shirkuh dies, commandpasses to Saladin, 1169Ghazi IISayf adDin1170-1180Isma'ilNur adDin1174-1181Mas'ud I'Izz adDin1180-1193SINJARZangi II'Imad adDinSinjar,1171-1197JAZIRADamascus& Aleppo,1181-1183Sanjar ShahMu'izz adDin1180-1208Conquest ofDamacus& Aleppoby Saladin,1183Arslan Shah INur adDinMosul,1193-1211Muh.ammadQut.b adDin1197-1219Mah.mudMu'izz adDinJazira,1208-1241Mas'ud II'Izz adDinMosul,1211-1218Arslan Shah IINur adDin1218-1219Mah.mudNas.ir adDin1219-1234Shahanshah'Imad adDin,Mah.mudJalal adDin,& 'UmarFat.h adDin1219-1220Conquestby Ayyubids,1220Lu'lu'Badr adDinMosul,Lu'lu'id,1234-1259Mas'udal-Malikal-Z.ahirJazira,1241-1250Isma'ilRukn adDinLu'lu'id,1259-1262Conquest byAyyubids, 1250,then Lu'lu'idsMongol dominion, 1254, conquest, 1262An atabeg (ata="father"; beg or bey a title that now can just mean "mister") was a guardian for a minor Seljuk prince. The princes tended to disappear and the atabegs to become independent rulers. In no case was this process as fateful as with Zangi 'Imad ad-Din, who took Edessa from the Crusaders in 1144.This began what might be called the Islamic Reconquista of the Crusader states in the Middle East. The vigor of Zangi's house seemed to promise the complete defeat of the Crusaders, but Mah.mud Nur ad-Din chose his own lieutenants far too well for the preservation of Zangid authority. His Kurdish general Shirkuh completed the conquest of Egypt; but Shirkuh then died, leaving authority to his nephew Yusuf ibn 'Ayyub, who became S.alah.ud-Din. Nur ad-Din soon discovered that S.alah.ud-Din had his own ideas about governing Egypt, like ignoring orders to depose the last Fatimid Caliph (who then died a natural death in 1171). The insubordination of the subordinate soon was a practical independence that Nur ad-Din could not contest before his death (1174). The tables were soon turned, as S.alah.ud-Din returned to take Damascus from the Zangids (1183) and then Jerusalem from the Crusaders (1187). The Islamic Reconquista thus had passed to the Ayyubids, as would eventually most of the rest of the Zangid possessions. What the Ayyubids didn't get, the Mongol Il Khans did.THE AYYUBID SULT.ANSEGYPTDAMASCUS1169-1193anNas.ir IS.alah.udDin (Saladin)Yusuf ibn Ayyub1183-1186Battle of the Horns of Hattin, Capture of King Guyof Jerusalem; Fall of Jerusalem, 1187;Third Crusade, led by King Richard I, 1189-1192al-'AzizImad adDin1193-1198al-'Afd.alNur adDin1186-1196al-MansurNas.ir adDin1198-1200al-'Adil ISayf adDin1196-12011200-1218Fourth Crusade, 1202-12041218-1238al-Kamil INas.ir adDinal-Mu'az.z.amSharaf adDinGovernor1201-12181218-1227al-Nas.ir IIS.alah. adDin1227-1229al-Ashraf IMuz.affar adDin1229-1237asS.alih. I'Imad adDin1237-12381239-12451238Fifth Crusade, 1228-1229;Jerusalem turned over to Emperor Frederick II;remained in Crusader Hands, 1229-12441238-1240al-'Adil IISayf adDin1238-12391240-1249asS.alih. IINajm adDin1239, 1245-12491249-1250al-Mu'az.z.amTuran-ShahGhiyat adDin1249-1250Sixth Crusade, 1248-1254;St. Louis IX captured and held for ranson, 1250-1254Shajar adDurr,widow ofNajm adDin1250anNas.ir IIS.alah. adDin1250-1260al-Ashraf IIMuz.affar adDin1250-1252,nominallyuntil 1254Sult.anate of Egyptseized by theMamluk Slave-soldierAybak, 1252Damascus occupiedby Mongols,then seized by theMamluk Baybars, 1260The immortal Saladin (S.alah.udDin, the "Righteousness of the Religion"), who defeated and drove the Crusaders from Jerusalem, set up his sons and relatives in several subsidiary lines, in Damascus, Aleppo, H.ims., H.amat, Diyar Bakr, and Yemen. Most of these were ended by 1260