ABSTRACT
With the appearance on the scene of Zangi, the Ata-beg of Mosul and Aleppo, (1129-46), the real Muslim counter-offensive began. Ibn al-Athīr was the faithful servant and historian, and enthusiastic eulogist of the brief Zangid dynasty of Mesopotamia and Syria. According to his religious view of history it was Providence that put into Zangi’s hands the kingdom left by Tughtikīn of Damascus, the first opponent of the Crusades to be worthy of the name, who died in 1128. Zangi’s real aim, even when fighting the Crusaders, was Damascus, nominally ruled by Tughtikīn’s incompetent descendants, and controlled in fact by Mu‘īn ad-Din Unur. Faced with the threat of Zangi, none of these hesitated to make an alliance with the Franks. In the following extracts Ibn al-Athīr presents an exalted image of his hero, and Ibn al-Qalānisi the opposite view; that of civil patriotism and loyalty to the local dynasty of Tughtikīn.
