ABSTRACT
The Zankids were a Turkmen dynasty, several branches of which ruled in Jazira and Syria between 1127 and 1251 CE. Zanki, the founder of the dynasty, was the son of Aqsunqur, a military slave of the Seljuk sultan Malikshah and ruler of Aleppo between 1087 and 1094. In 1127, Sultan Mahmud made Zanki ruler of Mosul and atabeg (guardian and tutor) for his two sons. In 1129, the sultan appointed him malik (king) of the West. Zanki took advantage of the struggles for succession of the Seljuk sultans and their problems with the ‘Abbasid caliphs to solidify his own base of power in Mosul. By 1128, he controlled Aleppo and then campaigned in Syria, attacking the atabeg state of the Burids in Damascus and seizing territory in southeastern Anatolia. He won his greatest fame in 1144, when he conquered the Crusader County of Edessa, which provoked the Second Crusade.
