Dramatis Personae and a Note on Names

Some of the names here are not easy for a western reader to distin- guish. My main aim has been to promote clarity and so I have often adopted a name in simplified form or chosen to use a particularly distinctive part of it; similarly, if a nickname exists, I have sometimes selected it. Muslim names are properly a combination of a given name, a lineage, a parental honorific, an honorific or title, and an ascription (geographical or ethnic origin, profession or a distinctive attribute). Breaking down Saladin’s name is an interesting example of this:1 Al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Abu’l Muzaffar Yusuf ibn Ayyub al-Tikriti al-Kurdi. Thus: the king who supports/aids (an honorific); righteousness of the faith (another honorific); father of the victorious (parental honorific); Joseph (given name, in Quranic form of a biblical name); son of Job (lineage, in Quranic form of a biblical name); of Tikrit (ascription of birthplace); the Kurd (ascription of ethnicity). Our familiar ‘Saladin’ is a Latin corruption of ‘Salah al-Din’, just as his brother, known to us as ‘Saphadin’, is a blur of ‘Sayf al-Din’, meaning ‘Sword of the Faith’. I have also chosen to use the phrase ‘counter-crusade’. This can suggest an overly strict parity in the concepts of crusade and jihad. The definitions and discussions in the main text draw out important distinctions (as well as the similarities) between the two ideas. A more precise phrase in the context of Saladin’s labours would be ‘anti- Frankish jihad’, although with the caveat above duly noted, the more readable ‘counter-crusade’ has been employed. As will also be apparent, Arabic diacritics are rarely used; with apologies to the purist, the issue of ease of reading overturned strict linguistic practice. xvi The Life and Legend Of The Sultan Saladin Al-Adid – last of the Shi’ite Fatimid caliphs (d.1171). Al-Afdal – Saladin’s eldest son. Amalric – king of Jerusalem (r.1163–74). Ayyub – Saladin’s father (d.1173). Baldwin IV – leper-king of Jerusalem (r.1174–85). Beha al-Din Ibn Shaddad – Saladin’s army judge, and one of his chief officials and biographers. Ibn al-Athir – Mosuli historian, generally very pro-Zengid (d.1233). Imad al-Din al-Isfahani – secretary to Nur al-Din and, from 1175 onwards, to Saladin. He was with the latter for most of the remainder of the sultan’s life; historian and poet (d.1201). Imad al-Din Zengi – a nephew of Nur al-Din who married one of his daughters, also lord of Sinjar and an important contributor to Saladin’s armies. Isa al-Hakkari – instrumental in getting Saladin chosen as vizier of Egypt, a famous jurist and a closely trusted advisor to the sultan (d.1189). Ismat al-Din Khatun – wife of Nur al-Din and then (from 1176) of Saladin; she died in 1186. Izz al-Din Mas’ud – lord of Mosul, a Zengid who resisted Saladin’s authority until 1186. Keukburi (‘Blue Wolf’), Muzaffar al-Din – lord of Harran, senior commander. Al-Mashtub (‘The Scarred’) – long-time supporter of Saladin and a senior general during the siege of Acre. Nur al-Din – Zengi’s son and ruler of Aleppo, Damascus and Mosul; the man who gave real impetus to the counter-crusade, and Saladin’s theoretical overlord (d.1174). Nur al-Din Muhammad – Artuqid Turkish ruler of Hisn Kayfa and Diyar Bakr, ally of Saladin. Qadi al-Fadil – head of the Fatimid administration who joined Saladin’s chancery in 1171 and was one of his inner circle until the sultan’s death; a prolific writer. dramatis personae and a note on names xvii Qaraqush (‘Blackbird’) – former Fatimid official and Saladin’s master-builder of Cairo, as well as one the generals inside Acre when it surrendered. Al-Salih Ismail – Nur al-Din’s son and successor in Aleppo (d.1181). Sanjar Shah – lord of Jazirat Ibn Umar and a nephew of Imad al-Din Zengi, the lord of Sinjar. Saphadin (al-Adil) – Saladin’s brother and the holder of many import- ant political and advisory roles. Later ruler of Syria and Egypt (d.1218). Shawar – vizier of Egypt, responsible for inviting in both the Franks and the Syrians to his country as he sought to hold on to power (d.1169). Shirkuh – Saladin’s uncle, briefly vizier of Egypt and a key general to Nur al-Din (d.1169). Taqi al-Din – Saladin’s nephew, son of an elder brother of the sultan and one of his most important generals (d.1191). Turanshah – one of Saladin’s older brothers (d.1180). Al-Zahir Ghazi– Saladin’s third and seemingly favourite son. Zengi – father of Nur al-Din, founder of the Zengid dynasty; a brutal warrior who conquered Frankish Edessa in 1144 (d.1146). This page intentionally left blank