ABSTRACT
This chapter examines developments in the Levant in the wake of the fall of Edessa, including an examination of Muslim perspectives on the crusader attack on Damascus in 1148 that is often referred to in western scholarship as the Second Crusade. It focuses on conversion of the Turks who formed the majority of the rulers of Bilad al-Sham, as well as the religious development known as the ‘Sunni revival’, as a preamble to considering the career of Zangi's son Nur al-Din. Nur al-Din was immediately faced with the challenge of consolidating his hold on his inheritance. A Frankish attempt to retake and hold Edessa was foiled, with the native Christian population of the city bloodily suppressed. Numerous explanations were given by the western chroniclers for the failure of the crusader attack on Damascus, including bribery, disunity or religious impurity among the crusaders, and blame of either the Templars and Hospitallers or the Byzantines.
