Ayyubids (Islamic Studies)

Introduction

The Ayyubids were a dynasty that ruled Egypt, Syria-Palestine, parts of northern Mesopotamia (the Jazira) and Yemen between 1169 and 1260. Their rise to power began with two Kurdish brothers (Ayyub and Shirkuh), who migrated to Iraq c. 1130. They became high-ranking officers under the Atabeg Zengi of Mosul and his son Nur al-Din Mahmud. As commander of the expeditionary force dispatched to Egypt by Nur al-Din in 1168, Shirkuh seized control of the country but died early in 1169, and power passed to his brother Ayyub’s son, Salah al-Din Yusuf (Saladin). Through astute diplomacy and relentless military campaigns against his Muslim rivals throughout the 1170s and 1180s, Saladin absorbed and even substantially extended the Syro-Jaziran empire left by Nur al-Din on his death in 1174. Though intensely controversial, this struggle gave Saladin the resources he needed to withstand his confrontation with the Crusaders between 1187 and 1192—only one part of his long career, but the part that has given him his glittering reputation both in the Islamic world and the West. Saladin conferred on his dominions the characteristic structure they would retain down to the end of Ayyubid rule—a structure that reflected the practices of the Seljukid and Zengid milieu in which he had been trained. In the 1180s he assigned Egypt and the major towns in Syria and the Jazira to one or another of his kinsmen as autonomous hereditary principalities. His carefully calculated arrangements collapsed in the strife following his death in 1193, but his brother and successor al-`Adil (1198–1218) largely replicated them in assigning the key principalities to his own sons. The outlines of this system remained in place, albeit increasingly attenuated, down to the crisis of the late 1240s. Until that time, the Ayyubid realms did not form a centralized empire; on the contrary, they were a loose-knit coalition of hereditary principalities bound together by a combination of strategic calculation and family ties—that is, descent from common ancestors and complex marriage alliances. Ayyubid politics primarily revolved around the rivalries and tensions created by this confederative framework, but they were also profoundly shaped by the international milieu—the Crusades; European maritime dominance in the eastern Mediterranean; and the Mongol invasion of Iran, Iraq, and Syria in 1254–1260. Ayyubid history must always be situated within the powerful geopolitical, societal, and cultural forces that transformed the Muslim world—indeed, all of Eurasia—during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Reference Works

Each work in this section contains a concise and generally up-to-date overview of Ayyubid history, with somewhat contrasting perspectives and emphases (see General Overviews). More importantly, these works lay out the broader Eurasian context that is so crucial in interpreting Ayyubid policies, institutions, and practices. They also have thematic chapters tracing the socioeconomic structures and long-term processes that shaped the societies ruled by the Ayyubids, though these chapters are usually quite broad and general. Finally, each provides a detailed and relatively up-to-date bibliography. The oldest and most traditional in approach is Setton 1962–1989, but it gives a very comprehensive presentation of the Crusade movement. Almost every dimension of Ayyubid society and politics is addressed in some Encyclopaedia of Islam entry. Finally, the current state of scholarship is represented in Abulafia 1999, Fierro 2010, Garcin 1995–2000, Luscombe and Riley-Smith 2004, and Petry 1998; the individual contributions to these volumes reflect a wide, even disparate, range of theoretical perspectives and methodologies.

Abulafia, David, ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 5, c. 1198–c. 1300. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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Important for the European and Mediterranean context of Ayyubid history. Heavily focused on western and central Europe, but with numerous chapters on Muslim states and the expansion of European commerce and political power in the eastern Mediterranean basin.
Abulafia, David, ed. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 5, c. 1198–c. 1300. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by H. A. R. Gill. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1960–2005.
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An indispensable research tool for every aspect of Islamic society and culture. The earlier entries are inevitably dated but remain useful. The articles are entered according to the relevant “Islamic” language—for example, Halab instead of Aleppo—but this problem is mitigated by the index volumes. The third edition, now in progress but not far advanced, is also available in print and online.
Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by H. A. R. Gill. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1960–2005.
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Fierro, María Isabel, ed. The New Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 2, The Western Islamic World: Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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The six volumes in this set entirely supplant the original Cambridge History of Islam (1970). Beyond the chapters dealing specifically with the Ayyubids and their times, this volume presents detailed and up-to-date surveys of events and political, social, and economic processes across the world of Islam.
Fierro, María Isabel, ed. The New Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 2, The Western Islamic World: Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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Garcin, Jean-Claude, ed. États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiévale, Xe-XVe siècle. 3 vols. Nouvelle Clio. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995–2000.
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An excellent cross-section of recent French scholarship. Volume 1 deals with political history, Volume 2 with administrative and social structures, and Volume 3 with broad thematic problems. An extremely important resource, with extended bibliographical essays for each chapter.
Garcin, Jean-Claude, ed. États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiévale, Xe-XVe siècle. 3 vols. Nouvelle Clio. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995–2000.
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Luscombe, David, and Jonathan Riley-Smith, eds. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 4, c. 1024–c. 1198. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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As with Abulafia 1999, this is heavily focused on western and central Europe, but with important chapters on Muslim states and European political and economic expansion in the Mediterranean basin.
Luscombe, David, and Jonathan Riley-Smith, eds. The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. 4, c. 1024–c. 1198. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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Petry, Carl F., ed. The Cambridge History of Egypt: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Syria was usually the focal point of Ayyubid politics, but Egypt was by far the largest and wealthiest principality within the confederation. This volume provides the best one-volume introduction to the vast literature on medieval Egypt and hence to the world in which Ayyubid rule took shape.
Petry, Carl F., ed. The Cambridge History of Egypt: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Setton, Kenneth M., ed. A History of the Crusades. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962–1989.
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Six volumes from 1962–1989. Beyond the obvious significance of the Crusades for the Ayyubid period (see also Crusaders and Mongols), Volumes 1 and 2 contain important chapters—a bit dated but still valuable—on the Seljukids and Mongols (Cahen) and on Saladin and his predecessors and successor (Gibb).
Setton, Kenneth M., ed. A History of the Crusades. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962–1989.
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General Overviews

The underlying structures of Ayyubid politics were first clearly explained by Cahen 1960. Gibb 1969 provides a reliable narrative and is perceptive on many issues, but it lacks Cahen’s clarity of focus. The interpretive principles identified by Cahen were elaborated and somewhat modified by Humphreys 1977, still the only book-length narrative of the Ayyubid confederation as a whole throughout its entire existence. Succeeding general treatments, such as Chamberlain 1998, Eddé 2002, Eddé 2010, Garcin 1995, and Lev 2010, have continued to adhere to the broad lines of Cahen’s model. Each of these proposes significant nuances and revisions, but as chapter-length essays they cannot develop such issues in depth. Most scholars now reject the older notion of a unitary empire centered in Egypt and constantly beset by rebellious cadet princes in Syria. Instead, they stress the confederative and competitive nature of Ayyubid politics, grounded in large part in rivalries within the ruling lineage. The most powerful ruler (usually but not always the ruler of Egypt) would try to achieve paramountcy within the confederation, but for a long time there was no attempt to reshape the system into a centralized monarchy. Scholars disagree on just when and how the shift toward a unitary state emerged, but no one dates it before the mid-1230s, as mentioned in Cahen 1960. Some place it at least a decade later, as seen in Humphreys 1977. The Syrian principalities and Egypt were economically, socially, and administratively quite disparate entities, and therefore most studies focus on either one region or the other.

Cahen, Claude. “Ayyubids.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 1. Edited by H. A. R. Gibb, et al., 796–807. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1960.
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The first study to explain the internal dynamics of the Ayyubid political system, and to show how it was shaped, more or less unconsciously, by the widely shared political values, institutions, and practices of both earlier and contemporary dynasties in Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
Cahen, Claude. “Ayyubids.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 1. Edited by H. A. R. Gibb, et al., 796–807. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1960.
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Chamberlain, Michael. “The Crusader Era and the Ayyubid Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 1, Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Edited by Carl F. Petry, 211–241. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Stresses the highly informal nature of the Ayyubid system, which the author portrays as dependent on princely households, patron-client networks, and the co-option of powerful or influential amirs and “men of the turban.”
Chamberlain, Michael. “The Crusader Era and the Ayyubid Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 1, Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Edited by Carl F. Petry, 211–241. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Eddé, Anne-Marie. “Ayyubids.” Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by Kate Fleet, et al. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2002.
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The author generally adheres to Cahen’s analysis of the political system, but pays far more attention to military and administrative institutions as well as economic, social, and religious life. Overall a remarkably comprehensive and precise treatment.
Eddé, Anne-Marie. “Ayyubids.” Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by Kate Fleet, et al. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2002.
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Eddé, Anne-Marie. “Bilad al-Sham, from the Fatimid Conquest to the Fall of the Ayyubids (359–568/970–1260).” In The New Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 1, The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Edited by María Isabel Fierro, 161–200. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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Surveys a complex region, with due attention to problems of economic and social geography, during three centuries when political fragmentation and instability was the norm, not the exception.
Eddé, Anne-Marie. “Bilad al-Sham, from the Fatimid Conquest to the Fall of the Ayyubids (359–568/970–1260).” In The New Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 1, The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Edited by María Isabel Fierro, 161–200. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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Garcin, Jean-Claude. “Les Zankides et les Ayyubides.” In États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiévale, Xe-XVe siècle. Edited by Jean-Claude Garcin, 233–256. Nouvelle Clio. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995.
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A clear, perceptive, tightly knit exposition of the political history of a very complex period, though perhaps with less attention to societal and economic issues than one might have expected from this author.
Garcin, Jean-Claude. “Les Zankides et les Ayyubides.” In États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiévale, Xe-XVe siècle. Edited by Jean-Claude Garcin, 233–256. Nouvelle Clio. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995.
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Gibb, H. A. R. “The Aiyubids.” In A History of the Crusades. Vol. 2, The Later Crusades, 1189–1311. Edited by Robert Lee Wolff and Harry W. Hazard, 693–714. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.
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A reliable narrative of the period 1193–1260, with many insights concerning specific events and personalities. However, not as effective as Cahen 1960 in revealing the underlying structures of Ayyubid politics. Originally published in 1962.
Gibb, H. A. R. “The Aiyubids.” In A History of the Crusades. Vol. 2, The Later Crusades, 1189–1311. Edited by Robert Lee Wolff and Harry W. Hazard, 693–714. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.
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Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977.
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Beginning with an analysis of the political system constructed by Saladin, this study focuses on the struggle to control the strategically crucial principality of Damascus in order to show how that system was maintained (and ultimately subverted) by his successors.
Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977.
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Lev, Yaacov. “The Fatimid Caliphate and the Ayyubids in Egypt.” In The New Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 2, The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Edited by María Isabel Fierro, 201–236. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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A parallel chapter to Eddé 2010, but with a focus on the distinctive patterns and institutions of Egypt, with its strong bureaucratic tradition and (potentially) rich agrarian revenues.
Lev, Yaacov. “The Fatimid Caliphate and the Ayyubids in Egypt.” In The New Cambridge History of Islam. Vol. 2, The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Edited by María Isabel Fierro, 201–236. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
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Documents, Material Evidence, Texts

The sources for the Ayyubids are quite rich by the standards of medieval Islamic history. To be sure, we have only a few contemporary documents, though these are very revealing both as to chancery practice in Egypt and on the formal relations between the Ayyubids and their non-Muslim subjects. In contrast, we possess a wealth of numismatic evidence and a large corpus of inscriptions, though using these materials to answer the larger questions is not easy. At the very least the coins reveal much about the quantity and quality of coinage; where and under whose authority it was minted; and where it circulated. The inscriptions yield data on official titulature; religio-political ideology; the princes or officers who governed towns and fortresses; and—not least—which individuals and groups sponsored the explosive growth of mosques, colleges, and other religious institutions during this period. In the end, however, most scholarship on the Ayyubids relies on chronicles and biographical dictionaries composed in Arabic; a good many of these are contemporary or nearly so with the events and persons they describe, and were written by men close to the centers of power. Whatever misstatements of fact or partisan distortions they contain, they directly reflect the way politics was understood and practiced in 13th-century Egypt and Syria. Unfortunately, even some of the most important texts remain unpublished or are available only in mediocre editions. Translations into Western languages are even scarcer.

Modern Studies of Authors and Texts

The rich historiography of the Ayyubid period has yet to receive a comprehensive study, and even the most important and widely known chroniclers and biographical compilers still lack a full-length study. Fortunately there are monographs on three major writers. Hirschler 2006 examines the social values and intellectual goals that shaped the work of Abu Shama (d. 1268) and Ibn Wasil (d. 1298). Morray 1994 situates Ibn al-Adim (d. 1262), the most important historian ever produced by Aleppo, in his sociopolitical milieu. Apart from these, there are a few articles focusing on textual and philological issues; these studies sometimes contain very acute observations, but only in passing. Likewise, some monographs, editions, and translations have useful bibliographic introductions or appendices, but these also tend to stick to textual problems and bare-bones biographical information. The analysis of historical writing as a conscious literary and intellectual structure, as well as a mine of more or less usable data, has just begun to take hold among scholars of the Ayyubid period. Little 1998 is an intelligent survey of the historiographic production of Egypt and Syria from 1169 to 1517. Gibb 1950 laid down the terms for an important debate on the contemporary sources for the career of Saladin, but in spite of much fruitful discussion—see especially Richards 1982—we still await serious studies on the writers he most closely examines: that is, Imad al-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani (d. 1198), Baha’ al-Din Ibn Shaddad (d. 1234), and Ibn al-Athir (d. 1234).

Gibb, H. A. R. “The Arabic Sources for the Life of Saladin.” Speculum 25 (1950): 58–74.
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Set the framework for the debate (which still continues) on the relative value of the contemporary sources for Saladin’s career; Gibb emphasizes the importance of ‘Imad al-Din 1972 and Ibn Shaddad 2002, and regards Ibn al-Athir 2006 (all cited under Muslim Narrative) not only as a partisan of Saladin’s opponents but even as largely derivative.
Gibb, H. A. R. “The Arabic Sources for the Life of Saladin.” Speculum 25 (1950): 58–74.
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Hirschler, Konrad. Medieval Arabic Historiography: Authors as Actors. London: Routledge, 2006.
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An innovative approach to the historical writing of Abu Shama and Ibn Wasil. Hirschler analyzes the contrasting sociopolitical milieus they worked in, their strongly contrasting attitudes toward power, and the literary structures and rhetorical strategies that each deployed to convey his distinctive interpretation of Zangid and early Ayyubid history. This study opens up new paths for the study of Islamic historiography generally.
Hirschler, Konrad. Medieval Arabic Historiography: Authors as Actors. London: Routledge, 2006.
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Little, Donald P. “Historiography of the Ayyubid and Mamluk Epochs.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 1, Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Edited by Carl F. Petry, 412–444. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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An intelligent and generally up-to-date survey of the narrative sources for the period 1169–1517.
Little, Donald P. “Historiography of the Ayyubid and Mamluk Epochs.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 1, Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Edited by Carl F. Petry, 412–444. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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Morray, David. An Ayyubid Notable and His World: Ibn al-`Adim and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994.
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The only monograph-length study of any Ayyubid era historian—fortunately an extremely important one, though only about a quarter of his great biographical encyclopedia of Aleppo’s rulers, notables, and religious teachers has reached us.
Morray, David. An Ayyubid Notable and His World: Ibn al-`Adim and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994.
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Richards, D. S. “Ibn al-Athir and the Later Parts of the Kamil: A Study of Aims and Methods.” In Medieval Historical Writing in the Christian and Islamic Worlds. Edited by D. O. Morgan, 76–108. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1982.
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In effect a response to Gibb 1950, with a far more nuanced interpretation of Ibn al-Athir’s agenda and what he contributes to our knowledge of early Ayyubid history.
Richards, D. S. “Ibn al-Athir and the Later Parts of the Kamil: A Study of Aims and Methods.” In Medieval Historical Writing in the Christian and Islamic Worlds. Edited by D. O. Morgan, 76–108. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1982.
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Documents, Coinage, Epigraphy

Official chancery documents from the Ayyubid period are very scarce, and most of those that survive were granted to St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai, where they are still preserved, as seen in Stern 1964 and Stern 1965. However, scattered pieces of this kind occasionally show up elsewhere, as in some petitions and responses issued to the Jewish community in Cairo, as seen in Khan 1993. In addition, there are numerous legal and commercial documents (contracts, property lists), and new items periodically come to light—for example, a trove of documents found in archaeological excavations at the Red Sea port of al-Qusayr al-Qadim, as seen in Guo 2004. The vast collection of Egyptian papyri and papers in Vienna, still largely unstudied and not catalogued, will no doubt yield many such items. In contrast, coins (both gold and silver) and inscriptions are very numerous and have long been collected and studied. A reliable typology of Ayyubid coinage was worked out by Balog 1980, with full references to catalogues and earlier publications. The pioneering work on inscriptions and their historical value was done at the turn of the last century by Max van Berchem and his associates: van Berchem 1894–1903 and van Berchem 1922–1927. Though obsolete in many ways, van Berchem’s work remains provocative and demonstrates how much we can learn from these texts in stone. Later epigraphic studies have been less ambitious in scope but have added much new material. All published Arabic inscriptions from throughout the world were collected and presented in chronological order in the Répertoire d’épigraphie arabe (Wiet, et al. 1931–1991), but of course new discoveries continue to be published.

Balog, Paul. The Coinage of the Ayyubids. London: Royal Numismatic Society, 1980.
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A careful repertory and typology of Ayyubid coinage, with an exhaustive bibliography down to the date of publication. The essential foundation for any effort to use this material.
Balog, Paul. The Coinage of the Ayyubids. London: Royal Numismatic Society, 1980.
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Cahen, Claude. “Monetary Circulation in Egypt at the Time of the Crusades and the Reform of al-Kamil.” In The Islamic Middle East, 700–1900: Studies in Economic and Social History. Edited by A. L. Udovitch, 315–333. Princeton, NJ: Darwin, 1981.
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Numerous articles address Ayyubid monetary policy and its economic implications. This one sums up the debate and proposes a persuasive solution to the character and purpose of the silver-coinage reforms of the Egyptian sultan al-Kamil Muhammad (1218–1238).
Cahen, Claude. “Monetary Circulation in Egypt at the Time of the Crusades and the Reform of al-Kamil.” In The Islamic Middle East, 700–1900: Studies in Economic and Social History. Edited by A. L. Udovitch, 315–333. Princeton, NJ: Darwin, 1981.
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Guo, Li. Commerce, Culture, and Community in a Red Sea Port in the Thirteenth Century: The Arabic Documents from Quseir. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2004.
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Most of these are routine commercial documents, but they tell us much about how the Indian Ocean trade was conducted in this period and something about the relations between merchants and the legal and administrative organs of the Ayyubid regime.
Guo, Li. Commerce, Culture, and Community in a Red Sea Port in the Thirteenth Century: The Arabic Documents from Quseir. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2004.
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Khan, Geoffrey. Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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A careful edition and translation of 159 documents in Arabic script; most concern a wide range of legal and governmental transactions between the Jewish community of Egypt and the Muslim regime. Most are from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, but a few are datable to Ayyubid times.
Khan, Geoffrey. Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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Stern, Samuel M. “Petitions from the Ayyubid Period.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 27 (1964): 1–27.
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A classic study of Ayyubid chancery practice through a meticulous scrutiny of some petitions from St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mt. Sinai. Indispensable for an understanding of Ayyubid chancery practice and administrative procedures.
Stern, Samuel M. “Petitions from the Ayyubid Period.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 27 (1964): 1–27.
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Stern, Samuel M. “Two Ayyubid Decrees from Sinai.” In Documents from Islamic Chanceries: First Series. Edited by S. M. Stern, 9–38. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.
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Adds two decrees to the corpus of petitions analyzed in Stern 1964.
Stern, Samuel M. “Two Ayyubid Decrees from Sinai.” In Documents from Islamic Chanceries: First Series. Edited by S. M. Stern, 9–38. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.
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van Berchem, Max. Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptioum Arabicarum, Première partie: Égypte. Paris: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1894–1903.
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Two volumes are covered (1894 and 1903). The first part of an ambitious but never-completed effort to publish all premodern Arabic inscriptions, many of which are Ayyubid, and to explore their significance for architectural and urban history. Obsolete but still highly important, since much has disappeared since van Berchem’s time.
van Berchem, Max. Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptioum Arabicarum, Première partie: Égypte. Paris: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1894–1903.
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van Berchem, Max. Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, Deuxième partie: Syrie du Sud, Jérusalem. 2 vols. Paris: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1922–1927.
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Covers two volumes (1922 and 1927). In spite of a huge body of new discoveries and layers of reinterpretation since World War I, this remains an invaluable study of Muslim Jerusalem and a model of how to use inscriptions for political and social history.
van Berchem, Max. Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, Deuxième partie: Syrie du Sud, Jérusalem. 2 vols. Paris: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1922–1927.
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Wiet, Gaston, Jean Sauvaget, and Étienne Combe, eds. Répertoire chronologique d’épigraphie arabe. Paris: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1931–1991.
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Eighteen volumes published from 1931 to 1991. A corpus of all the published Arabic-language inscriptions from the Islamic lands, with some errors and a few additions of unpublished texts. Indispensable not only for the Arabic texts with French translations but also for the extensive bibliographic references. Volumes 9–12, published in 1941–1943, contain the inscriptions from the Ayyubid period.
Wiet, Gaston, Jean Sauvaget, and Étienne Combe, eds. Répertoire chronologique d’épigraphie arabe. Paris: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1931–1991.
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Muslim Narrative

Contemporary Arabic sources for the Ayyubid period are relatively plentiful and often of high quality. In addition, many works compiled during the succeeding Mamluk period have preserved important information. Apart from the biographies of Saladin by members of his entourage, such as Ibn Shaddad 2002 and Imad al-Din 1972, the core works would include Abu Shama (d. 1268), Book of the Two Gardens, a compilation on the reigns of Nur al-Din and Saladin; Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233), The Complete History; Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256), Mirror of the Age, which goes to 1254; and Ibn Wasil (d. 1298), The Dispelling of Anxiety in the History of the Ayyubids—a fanciful title, but a polished, probing, and remarkably balanced history by a man with very close ties to the Ayyubid elite during the dynasty’s last decades. Most of these sources have now been published, though sometimes only in mediocre editions. Translations are spottier. For the reign of Saladin many (though not all) of the principal Arabic sources are available in translations that range from serviceable to exemplary; to the latter category belong Ibn Shaddad 2002 and Ibn al-Athir 2006, both translated by Richards. Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres 1872–1906 contains extensive extracts from Abu Shama and a second history (The Atabegs of Mosul) by Ibn al-Athir. Concerning the later Ayyubids, there are fewer works: Ibn al-Athir 2006, Ibn Shaddad 1984, and two early-15th-century Egyptian chroniclers, Ibn al-Furat 1971 and al-Maqrizi 1980. The Mongol invasions are covered (from a pro-Mongol perspective) in the Persian chronicle of Rashid al-Din 1968. A complete translation of Ibn Wasil (d. 1298) is badly needed.

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Recueil des historiens des Croisades: Historiens orientaux. 5 vols. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, 1872–1906.
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The texts presented here are narrowly focused on the Crusades, and the French translations are competent but severely dated. Still, these volumes contain the broadest selection of Arabic sources on the Ayyubids in a Western language. Ibn al-Athir’s Atabegs of Mosul and Abu Shama’s invaluable compilation, Book of the Two Gardens, are not otherwise translated. Numerous short extracts of Mamluk-period chronicles.
Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Recueil des historiens des Croisades: Historiens orientaux. 5 vols. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, 1872–1906.
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al-Maqrizi, Taqi al-Din. A History of the Ayyubid Sultans of Egypt. Translated by R. J. C. Broadhurst. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
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Al-Maqrizi (d. 1444) is a late chronicler, and most of this segment of his work is abridged from Ibn Wasil, though with some anachronisms and distortions of the original narrative. However, he includes important material from now lost Ayyubid-era sources. The translation is serviceable but marred by some significant errors.
al-Maqrizi, Taqi al-Din. A History of the Ayyubid Sultans of Egypt. Translated by R. J. C. Broadhurst. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
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Ibn al-Athir, ‘Izz al-Din. The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh. Translated by D. S. Richards. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
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The only major chronicle reaching into the post-Saladin era available in a Western language. Markedly superior to the extracts in the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres 1872–1906 and all the more valuable because Ibn al-Athir was not a member of Saladin’s inner circle and was often critical of him.
Ibn al-Athir, ‘Izz al-Din. The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh. Translated by D. S. Richards. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
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Ibn al-Furat, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥim. Ta’rikh al-duwal wa’l-muluk: Ayyubids, Mamlukes, and Crusaders. Edited by U. Lyons and M. C. Lyons. Cambridge, UK: Heffer, 1971.
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Ibn al-Furat (d. 1405) gives extended and accurate citations from important contemporary sources, some of which are otherwise lost.
Ibn al-Furat, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Raḥim. Ta’rikh al-duwal wa’l-muluk: Ayyubids, Mamlukes, and Crusaders. Edited by U. Lyons and M. C. Lyons. Cambridge, UK: Heffer, 1971.
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Ibn Shaddad, Baha’ al-Din. The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin. Translated by D. S. Richards. Crusade Texts in Translation. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002.
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An excellent translation of a crucial albeit panegyrical text for the life of Saladin, especially the last decade of his reign.
Ibn Shaddad, Baha’ al-Din. The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin. Translated by D. S. Richards. Crusade Texts in Translation. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002.
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Ibn Shaddad, `Izz al-Din. Description de la Syrie du Nord. Translated by Anne-Marie Eddé-Terrasse. Damascus, Syria: Institut Françcais de Damas, 1984.
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A political-administrative geography of North Syria minus Aleppo, of great value for its historical information and fiscal data from the last decades of Ayyubid rule. The only translated segment of a lengthy work compiled in the early Mamluk period; the other extant volumes cover Aleppo, Damascus, the Jazira, Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan.
Ibn Shaddad, `Izz al-Din. Description de la Syrie du Nord. Translated by Anne-Marie Eddé-Terrasse. Damascus, Syria: Institut Françcais de Damas, 1984.
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`Imad al-Din, al-Katib al-Isfahani. Conquete de la Syrie et de la Palestine par Saladin. Translated by Henri Massé. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1972.
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Very pompous and propagandistic in tone, but `Imad al-Din was a member of Saladin’s inner circle; his factual statements hold up to scrutiny and his political acumen is deep.
`Imad al-Din, al-Katib al-Isfahani. Conquete de la Syrie et de la Palestine par Saladin. Translated by Henri Massé. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1972.
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Rashid al-Din. Histoire des Mongols de la Perse. Edited and translated by Étienne Quatremère. Amsterdam: Oriental, 1968.
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Originally published in Paris in 1836. Rashid al-Din (d. 1309) was vizier to Ghazan Khan, the Mongol ruler of Iran (1295–1304). His account is fundamental for the Mongol conquest of Iraq and Syria in 1258–1260—a victor’s rather than a victim’s perspective on these events.
Rashid al-Din. Histoire des Mongols de la Perse. Edited and translated by Étienne Quatremère. Amsterdam: Oriental, 1968.
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Eastern Christian Narrative

The territories ruled by the Ayyubids still had substantial Christian populations, and the spokesmen for these produced some important historical works during the Ayyubid period. Apart from specific pieces of information that are not found elsewhere, these works bring a distinctive perspective to bear—that of communities long accommodated to Muslim rule but determined to retain their own cultural and religious identity. Moreover, these communities had to deal with the ambiguous situation in which the Crusades had placed them. On the one hand, there was a certain sense of identity with the Franks, who were Christians (albeit heretics), and perhaps some glimmering of hope that Muslim domination would not last forever. On the other, the Crusader presence inevitably compromised Eastern Christians in the eyes of their Muslim rulers and neighbors. In short, they were liminal figures, standing at some distance from the specific values and commitments of Muslim and Frankish chroniclers. All the Eastern Christian historiography of this period comes from Monophysite writers: two Egyptian, both writing in Arabic; and three Syrian, all writing in Syriac. Likewise, all these writers (with the possible exception of Abu Salih) were clerics, and as such they frame things within an explicitly religious and ecclesiastical perspective. Abu Salih 2001 and Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa’ 1943–1976 are indispensable for the social history of Ayyubid Egypt. Much the same is true of the Anonymi auctoris (1234) (Fiey 1974), Bar Hebraeus 1932, and Michael the Syrian 1963 for North Syria and the Jazira. In every case, these historians lived during the Ayyubid period, so their testimony is not reshaped by the concerns of a later age. Bar Hebraeus (d. 1280) is the latest in this group—he was the last great polymath in the Syriac literary tradition—and much of his chronicle is paraphrased from Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir. But he was closely involved with the Mongol invasion and occupation, and his testimony is undeniably important.

Abu Salih, the Armenian. The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighboring Countries. Edited and translated by B. T. A. Evetts. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2001.
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Originally published by Clarendon in 1895. Written c. 1200, this is an invaluable source for assessing the condition of the Christian communities of Egypt in late Fatimid times, as well as the disruptions caused by Saladin’s seizure of power after 1169.
Abu Salih, the Armenian. The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighboring Countries. Edited and translated by B. T. A. Evetts. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2001.
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Bar Hebraeus. The Chronography of Gregory Abu-l-Faraj. 2 vols. Edited and translated by E. A. W. Budge. London: Oxford University Press, 1932.
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Bar Hebraeus (d. 1280) was the last major Syrian chronicler. He draws heavily both from Michael the Syrian and from contemporary Arab-Muslim sources, but adds many useful details and is especially important for the Mongol invasion in 1258–1260.
Bar Hebraeus. The Chronography of Gregory Abu-l-Faraj. 2 vols. Edited and translated by E. A. W. Budge. London: Oxford University Press, 1932.
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Fiey, Jean Maurice, ed. Anonymi auctoris chronicon ad annum Christi 1234 pertinens. Translated into French by Albert Abouna. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 354. Leuven, Belgium: Durbeque, 1974.
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An important and well-informed Syriac Christian text for events in the 12th and early 13th centuries in North Syria and Mesopotamia. Compiled independently of Michael the Syrian 1963, and so doubly valuable.
Fiey, Jean Maurice, ed. Anonymi auctoris chronicon ad annum Christi 1234 pertinens. Translated into French by Albert Abouna. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 354. Leuven, Belgium: Durbeque, 1974.
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Michael the Syrian. Chronique de Michel le Syrien. Edited and translated by J. B. Chabot. Brussels: Culture et Civilization, 1963.
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Originally published in Paris in 1899–1924. A grand synthesis of Syriac historiography by the Syrian Orthodox (Monophysite) Patriarch of Antioch, who died in 1199; it is an invaluable contemporary source on the history of the Crusades and the Muslim states in North Syria and the Jazira during the 12th century.
Michael the Syrian. Chronique de Michel le Syrien. Edited and translated by J. B. Chabot. Brussels: Culture et Civilization, 1963.
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Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa`. History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church, Known as the History of the Holy Church. 3 vols. Translated by Yassa`Abd al-Masih, A. S. Atiya, O. H. E. Khs-Burmester, and Antoine Khater. Cairo: Société d’Archéologie Copte, 1943–1976.
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Biographies of the patriarchs of Alexandria, essential for both the internal affairs of the Coptic community and its relations with the Ayyubid regime. Volume 3, Part 2, and Volume 4 cover the period from 1167 to 1243.
Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa`. History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church, Known as the History of the Holy Church. 3 vols. Translated by Yassa`Abd al-Masih, A. S. Atiya, O. H. E. Khs-Burmester, and Antoine Khater. Cairo: Société d’Archéologie Copte, 1943–1976.
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Crusaders and Mongols

The Ayyubids were caught up in events and processes far larger than their own dynastic ambitions and quarrels. They derive much of their interest from having been submerged in the great waves of Eurasian history during the 13th century. In large part the Ayyubids are defined in the modern historical imagination by their repeated confrontations with the Crusaders. They fended off the major Crusades of 1217–1221, 1228–1229, and 1249–1250, or at least attained a workable modus vivendi, but they were overwhelmed by the Mongol invasion of 1258–1260. The literature on the Crusades and the Mongol invasion is far too vast to include here even in summary. Two recent general works—Tyerman 2008 and Morgan 2007—are sufficient to provide a general background on the Crusades and Mongols. See also Setton 1962–1989 (cited under Reference Works). Cahen 1983 and Hillenbrand 1999 examine the interaction of Muslims (including the Ayyubids) and Crusaders over two centuries from a specifically Middle Eastern perspective. Cahen 1940 established a model for examining the history of a Frankish principality in its regional context, but few later historians of Crusader Syria have followed his lead; the Kingdom of Jerusalem in particular is almost always presented as a European frontier outpost rather than as a Middle Eastern state. There are few studies devoted specifically to the Ayyubid response to the Mongol threat; see Humphreys 1977 (cited under General Overviews) and Eddé 1999 (cited under Principalities in Syria, the Jazira, and Yemen). On Ayyubid-Crusader relations, most work has focused on the age of Saladin, perhaps because his successors avoided conflict with the Crusaders as much as they could. At all times, however, diplomacy was as characteristic of the Ayyubid-Crusader relationship as warfare: see in particular Köhler 1991 and Atrache 1996.

Atrache, Laila. Die Politik der Ayyubiden: Die fränkisch-islamischen Beziehungen in der ersten Hälfte des 7./13. Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Feinbildes. Münster, Germany: Rhema, 1996.
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A monograph on the complex ways in which the Ayyubids and their Frankish opponents viewed and dealt with each other. Focuses especially on the Fifth Crusade (1217–1121) and the Crusade of Frederick II (1228–1229).
Atrache, Laila. Die Politik der Ayyubiden: Die fränkisch-islamischen Beziehungen in der ersten Hälfte des 7./13. Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Feinbildes. Münster, Germany: Rhema, 1996.
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Cahen, Claude, La Syrie du Nord à l’époque des Croisades et la principauté franque d’Antioch. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1940.
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Remains the foundational study for the history of the Crusades in North Syria; Cahen was the first historian of the Crusader states to know how to use the Arabic sources to full effect. The focus is on Antioch, but he has much to say about the Islamic and Armenian political milieu in which the Franks were entwined.
Cahen, Claude, La Syrie du Nord à l’époque des Croisades et la principauté franque d’Antioch. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1940.
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Cahen, Claude. Orient et Occident au temps des Croisades. Paris: Aubier Montaigne, 1983.
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A synthesis of the author’s seminal research over more than four decades on Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean basin between the 11th and 13th centuries, with an unusual understanding of the political, social, and economic dynamics of both Christian and Muslim societies during this period.
Cahen, Claude. Orient et Occident au temps des Croisades. Paris: Aubier Montaigne, 1983.
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Hillenbrand, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1999.
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The first and perhaps only serious history of the Crusades (at least in a Western language) to focus on Muslim understandings of and responses to the Frankish intrusion into the Middle East, with much information on Muslim political, military, and social institutions. Numerous superbly chosen illustrations.
Hillenbrand, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1999.
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Köhler, Michael. Allianzen und Verträge zwischen fränkischen und islamischen Herrschern im vorderen Orient: Eine Studie über das zwischenstaatliche Zusammenleben vom 12. bis ins 13. Jahrhundert. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1991.
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Treaties and alliances between Muslim and Crusader states were hardly a rarity, but this is the only systematic study of diplomatic practices and strategies for the entire Crusader era. Especially useful in that Ayyubid relations with the Franks were particularly complex and nuanced.
Köhler, Michael. Allianzen und Verträge zwischen fränkischen und islamischen Herrschern im vorderen Orient: Eine Studie über das zwischenstaatliche Zusammenleben vom 12. bis ins 13. Jahrhundert. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1991.
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Morgan, David. The Mongols. 2d ed. Malden, MA, and Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2007.
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A readable and intelligent overview of the rise and character of the Mongol Empire in Eurasia, which had a devastating impact on Iraq and Syria in the 1250s. An excellent bibliographic essay provides further orientation to a complex field.
Morgan, David. The Mongols. 2d ed. Malden, MA, and Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2007.
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Sivan, Emmanuel. L’Islam et les Croisades: Idéologie et propagande dans les reactions musulmanes aux Croisades. Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1968.
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Remains the best-documented and most-penetrating study of the formation of an anti-Crusade ideology among Muslim states and societies of the Crusader era. Sivan argues that this ideology emerged slowly; only with Nur al-Din (1146–1174) did it become a core element shaping the policies and rivalries of Muslim regimes.
Sivan, Emmanuel. L’Islam et les Croisades: Idéologie et propagande dans les reactions musulmanes aux Croisades. Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1968.
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Tyerman, Christopher. God’s War: A New History of the Crusades. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
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A brilliant (and lengthy) synthesis of a movement that had a profound impact on Middle Eastern history and the Ayyubids in particular. It is surprising, however, that the author makes such limited use of scholarship focused on the Muslim states and societies of this period; after all, Muslims are half of the story.
Tyerman, Christopher. God’s War: A New History of the Crusades. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
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Saladin and His Political Forebears

Saladin is the superstar (at least on the Muslim side) of the Crusades, and he has attracted more attention than all the other Muslim rulers in this period put together. That is mainly due to the legend that began to be woven around him even during his own lifetime, not only by the gifted men of letters in his own entourage but even by his Crusader opponents. However, this apparently inordinate attention also reflects the fact that his career symbolizes so many of the political and religious cross-currents of that age. The grand struggle for Jerusalem between 1187 and 1192 would be enough by itself to make him an epic figure. Our modern understanding of Saladin begins with a series of articles in the 1950s by H. A. R. Gibb—summed up in Gibb 1973—who portrayed Saladin not only as a sincere and dedicated warrior against the Crusaders but also as an idealistic ruler who hoped to reunite the lands of Islam under the caliph in Baghdad. Gibb’s interpretation was almost bound to draw a sharp response, which came in Ehrenkreutz 1968, who saw in Saladin little more than an ambitious if skillful empire builder, barely redeemed by his struggle against the Third Crusade. Lyons and Jackson 1982 attenuated Ehrenkreutz’s critique, but for them Saladin was at bottom mainly a talented cavalry commander with no interest in economic realities. Möhring 2008 is a well-balanced concise biography. Lev 1999 examines the rather unglamorous, little-studied, but crucial Egyptian phase of his career. The most recent contribution, Eddé 2008, attempts to penetrate the aura of the Saladin legend in order to find the “real” Saladin—a very elusive task as she admits. Saladin did not just happen; he was the heir of a highly developed political tradition, presented in Elisséeff 1967, a magisterial study of Saladin’s predecessor and model, Nur al-Din Mahmud (1146–1174).

Eddé, Anne-Marie. Saladin. Paris: Flammarion, 2008.
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The most recent serious biography, from a scholar who has made fundamental and extensive contributions to the history of North Syria under the Zengids and Ayyubids. Pays special attention to the creation of a legendary image of Saladin.
Eddé, Anne-Marie. Saladin. Paris: Flammarion, 2008.
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Ehrenkreutz, Andrew S. Saladin. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1968.
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A sharply revisionist view of Saladin, which presents him as primarily an ambitious empire builder, a typical ruler of his time whose epic struggle with the Crusaders came about more by force of circumstances than by design. Especially valuable for the first decade of Saladin’s rule.
Ehrenkreutz, Andrew S. Saladin. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1968.
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Elisséeff, Nikita. Nur al-Din. Un grand prince musulman de Syrie au temps des Croisades. Damascus, Syria: Institut Français de Damas, 1967.
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A highly detailed, thoroughly documented narrative of the career of Nur al-Din and his father Zengi. A bit dry, but essential for understanding Saladin’s actions and policies. Volume 3 provides extensive though not fully integrated data on the political institution, religious policy, and social life of Nur al-Din’s period.
Elisséeff, Nikita. Nur al-Din. Un grand prince musulman de Syrie au temps des Croisades. Damascus, Syria: Institut Français de Damas, 1967.
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Gibb, H. A. R. The Life of Saladin: From the Works of `Imad al-Din and Baha’ al-Din. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
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A very concise posthumous work that sums up Gibb’s many articles devoted to the reign of Saladin, whom he portrayed as an idealistic soldier and statesman devoted to uniting the forces of Islam against the Crusaders.
Gibb, H. A. R. The Life of Saladin: From the Works of `Imad al-Din and Baha’ al-Din. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
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Lev, Yaacov. Saladin in Egypt. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
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Most of Saladin’s career after 1174 was pursued in Syria-Palestine, but Egypt provided the revenues and military manpower that allowed him to build his empire and confront the Crusaders. Lev focuses on Saladin’s seizure and consolidation of power and on his military reorganization.
Lev, Yaacov. Saladin in Egypt. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999.
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Lyons, Malcolm Cameron, and D. E. P. Jackson. Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
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A surprisingly bland portrait that nevertheless offers a middle path between the idealization of Gibb 1973 and the harsh revisionism of Ehrenkreutz 1968. Superbly documented, drawing heavily on the little-used correspondence of Saladin’s chief minister, al-Qadi al-Fadil.
Lyons, Malcolm Cameron, and D. E. P. Jackson. Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
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Möhring, Hannes. Saladin: The Sultan and His Times, 1138–1193. Translated by David S. Bachrach. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
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A concise but reliable and perceptive biography from a scholar whose previous work focused on the Crusades in their Middle Eastern context.
Möhring, Hannes. Saladin: The Sultan and His Times, 1138–1193. Translated by David S. Bachrach. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
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Egypt after Saladin

Egypt was to some degree a realm apart from the Ayyubid principalities in Syria—not only larger, richer, and more populous but also subject to a highly centralized fiscal administration. Not surprisingly, the ruler of Egypt was almost always the dominant figure within the Ayyubid confederation as well as its titular head; by contrast, only in rare circumstances could he play the autocrat. Considered simply as rulers, Saladin’s first two successors in Egypt—his younger brother al-`Adil Abu Bakr (1198–1218) and the latter’s oldest son al-Kamil Muhammad (1218–1238)—are hardly less interesting than Saladin. They were far more attentive to the fiscal and administrative demands of running an empire. Al-`Adil in particular had to devote himself to restoring a financial situation that Saladin had left in a shambles. Both men were capable and resilient military commanders, but they simply lacked the grand ambition and heroism of Saladin; far from trying to finish off the vestigial Crusader states, they always preferred a practical coexistence and would make substantial concessions to obtain it. No doubt for this reason, the later Egyptian Ayyubids (let alone their Syrian counterparts) have not received the attention they merit. Fortunately, we do have studies of high quality on three of the most interesting figures, though one of these, Dahlmanns 1975, is an unpublished dissertation. Gottschalk 1958 remains the only full-length monograph on al-Malik al-Kamil (1218–1238), an absolutely crucial figure in Ayyubid history. Schregle 1960 examines the historiographic and literary image of the woman who was at the heart of the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk rule in Egypt.

Dahlmanns, Franz-Josef. “Al-Malik al-`Adil. Ägypten und der Vordere Orient in den Jahren 589/1193 bis 615/1218.” PhD diss., University of Giessen, 1975.
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Never formally published but often cited. A wide-ranging study of the reign of Saladin’s younger brother and successor. In contrast to Saladin, al-`Adil was an unenthusiastic soldier (albeit a competent one) but a superb administrator, and this study pays due attention to that dimension of his reign.
Dahlmanns, Franz-Josef. “Al-Malik al-`Adil. Ägypten und der Vordere Orient in den Jahren 589/1193 bis 615/1218.” PhD diss., University of Giessen, 1975.
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Gottschalk, Hans L. Al-Malik al-Kamil und seine Zeit. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1958.
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A meticulous and remarkably clear narrative of the career of al-Kamil. Gottschalk adopts al-Kamil’s own political perspective—that the empire required a strong center and the Syrian princes should be clearly subordinate to the sultan in Cairo. See, for example, the Syria-focused analysis in Humphreys 1977 (cited under General Overviews).
Gottschalk, Hans L. Al-Malik al-Kamil und seine Zeit. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1958.
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Schregle, Götz. Die Sultanin von Ägypten: Shagarat al-Durr in der arabischen Geschichtsschreibung and Literatur. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1960.
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Shagarat al-Durr was the widow of the last major Ayyubid ruler in Egypt, and after his death she placed herself at the center of affairs during a violent transitional period (1249–1257). Her career provides an important perspective on the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk rule in Egypt.
Schregle, Götz. Die Sultanin von Ägypten: Shagarat al-Durr in der arabischen Geschichtsschreibung and Literatur. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1960.
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Principalities in Syria, the Jazira, and Yemen

Though Egypt was the largest and most powerful of the Ayyubid principalities, it can be argued that the confederation’s political center of gravity lay in Syria and the Jazira, divided into several autonomous hereditary principalities. The major ones were Damascus, Aleppo, and the Eastern Territories (normally ruled from Edessa or Harran), but there were many others—Homs, Hama, Transjordan, Mayyafariqin in the Jazira, and so forth. Each of the Syro-Jaziran princes was very jealous of his own autonomy, and anxious about the possible designs of his peers. All maintained a tense relationship with the ruler of Egypt, because his power made him an attractive but dangerous ally. On the other side of the ledger, the ruler of Egypt was always concerned to assert his prerogatives as head of the confederation but could only do so if he could divide the Syro-Jaziran princes against one another. Due to its prestige, wealth, and strategic location, Damascus was always the focal point of this unending struggle between Egyptian supremacy and Syro-Jaziran autonomy. There are only two book-length studies of the Syrian Ayyubids: Humphreys 1977 and Eddé 1999. The brief but important Ayyubid domination in Yemen is examined in Smith 1974. The extensive article literature can be accessed through their bibliographies.

Eddé, Anne-Marie, La principauté ayyoubide d’Alep (579/1183–658/1260). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999.
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An essay in l’histoire totale: almost every dimension of politics, social and religious life, demography, and the economy in North Syria is explored in this massive work. Of fundamental importance for the history of medieval Syria generally, quite apart from the Ayyubid regime.
Eddé, Anne-Marie, La principauté ayyoubide d’Alep (579/1183–658/1260). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999.
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Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977.
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Still the only book-length treatment of the Ayyubid confederation as a whole, from its founding by Saladin down to its collapse in the face of the Mongol invasion. Stresses the central role of the Syrian principalities, with Damascus at the center of the conflict, as their rulers strove to fend off the threat of Egyptian domination.
Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977.
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Smith, G. R. The Ayyubids and Early Rasulids in the Yemen, 567–694/1173–1295. 2 vols. London: Luzac, for the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, 1974.
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The Yemen was an early but isolated outpost of Ayyubid power and fell out of their control after 1228. In addition, Yemen’s political and military ties with Cairo were tenuous at best. Still, its location assured Ayyubid paramountcy in the Red Sea basin and a strategic hinge in the burgeoning trade with East Africa and India.
Smith, G. R. The Ayyubids and Early Rasulids in the Yemen, 567–694/1173–1295. 2 vols. London: Luzac, for the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, 1974.
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Administrative and Military Institutions

The Ayyubids inherited the military institutions and administrative practices of Zengid Syria and the Jazira, and seem to have done little to change them. Unfortunately, these institutions have received little scholarly attention, partly for lack of detailed sources and partly out of sheer force of habit. In contrast, the army and administrative system of Egypt—for which there are numerous if sometimes frustrating sources—has been closely examined over many decades. In Egypt the Ayyubids introduced many innovations, especially in military institutions, based on their Syro-Jaziran origins. These innovations in turn became the basis of Mamluk military organization and fiscal administration, and for that reason it is common to study the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods as a single entity. This approach is warranted by the undeniable fact of military and administrative continuity, but it has the danger of masking the changes, some fundamental and some subtle, that took place over the 350 years in question. The founder of Mamluk military history was David Ayalon, who dominated that field throughout his long career. In later years he turned his attention to the Ayyubid origins of the Mamluk Army, stressing what he believed to be the essentially Turkish and mamluk (slave-recruit) character of the Ayyubid Army: see Ayalon 1977. H. A. R. Gibb was hardly a military historian, but his study, Gibb 1962, on the armies of Saladin, is still essential. Humphreys 1977 proposed a new way of looking at the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk military institutions, stressing the substantial free-born elements (both Kurdish and Turkish) in the Ayyubid armies and the systematic reforms carried out by the first Mamluk sultans. Ayalon 1981 represents a sharp rejoinder, but the issue has not been seriously pursued since that time. On the fiscal administration of Egypt, Rabie 1972 still represents a solid and richly documented synthesis of the available data, though some of his conclusions have been contested. The transition from Fatimid to Ayyubid fiscal practice is examined in Cahen 1977, a collection of important though difficult articles originally published separately. Cahen 1953 remains the seminal study on the institution of the military “fief”—more properly a revocable revenue concession assigned by rulers to their military officers in return for service. A far more detailed examination of this institution is Sato 1997: chapters 3 and 4 (on the Ayyubids and Sultan Baybars) are particularly relevant to this article.

Ayalon, David. “Aspects of the Mamluk Phenomenon.” Der Islam 53 (1976): 196–225.
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Reprinted in David Ayalon, The Mamluk Military Society (London: Variorum Reprints, 1979 [ISBN: 9780860780496]). The first part presents Ayalon’s general conclusions about the central role that mamluk (slave-recruit) soldiers played in Islamic political life; he regards these soldiers as very nearly the core institution of government, at least after the 9th century. The second part (Der Islam 53 (1977): 1–32) stresses the dominant role of Turkish mamluks in the Ayyubid armies, considerably downplaying the importance of free-born Kurdish troops.
Ayalon, David. “Aspects of the Mamluk Phenomenon.” Der Islam 53 (1976): 196–225.
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Ayalon, David. “From Ayyubids to Mamluks.” Revue des Études Islamiques 49 (1981): 43–57.
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A rejoinder to Humphreys 1977, again restating the importance of Turkish mamluk forces in Ayyubid times and arguing for the existence of a second-tier militia under the Ayyubids. Reprinted in David Ayalon, Islam and the Abode of War (London: Variorum Reprints, 1994).
Ayalon, David. “From Ayyubids to Mamluks.” Revue des Études Islamiques 49 (1981): 43–57.
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Cahen, Claude. “L’évolution de l’iqta` du IXe au XIIIe siècle. Contribution à une histoire comparée des sociétés médiévales.” Annales ESC 8 (1953): 25–52.
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The seminal article on the emergence of the military revenue-concession (iqta`) and the many forms it took down to the 13th century. Cahen’s reconstruction still provides the framework for research on this crucial institution.
Cahen, Claude. “L’évolution de l’iqta` du IXe au XIIIe siècle. Contribution à une histoire comparée des sociétés médiévales.” Annales ESC 8 (1953): 25–52.
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Cahen, Claude. Makhzumiyyat. Études sur l’histoire économique et financière de l’Égypte médiévale. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1977.
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A group of studies based on a Fatimid fiscal administrative manual, written to explain Egypt’s complex fiscal system to its new Ayyubid masters. Cahen’s presentation is often difficult to follow, but it is of fundamental importance.
Cahen, Claude. Makhzumiyyat. Études sur l’histoire économique et financière de l’Égypte médiévale. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1977.
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Gibb, H. A. R. “The Armies of Saladin.” In Studies on the Civilization of Islam. Edited by Stanford J. Shaw and William R. Polk, 74–90. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962.
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Still the clearest and most persuasive exposition of the military reforms instituted by Saladin, as he converted Egypt’s army from an infantry to a cavalry force.
Gibb, H. A. R. “The Armies of Saladin.” In Studies on the Civilization of Islam. Edited by Stanford J. Shaw and William R. Polk, 74–90. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962.
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Humphreys, R. Stephen. “The Emergence of the Mamluk Army.” Studia Islamica 45 (1977): 67–99.
DOI: 10.2307/1595426Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An effort to untangle the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk military institutions; though both shared common elements (e.g., the iqta`, Turkish mamluk cavalry), there were profound organizational differences, reflecting the different political structures of the Ayyubid and Mamluk regimes. Disputed by Ayalon 1981, but the author has held his ground. Article continues in Studia Islamica 46 (1977): 69–119
Humphreys, R. Stephen. “The Emergence of the Mamluk Army.” Studia Islamica 45 (1977): 67–99.
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Rabie, Hassanein. The Financial System of Egypt, A.H. 564–741/A.D. 1169–1341. London: Oxford University Press, 1972.
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The most comprehensive and fully documented study of the development of Egypt’s hideously complex fiscal system, from Saladin to the fall of the Mamluk Sultanate. The author’s discussion is inevitably hard to follow at times, and some of his general conclusions have been disputed. Even so, this is an essential work.
Rabie, Hassanein. The Financial System of Egypt, A.H. 564–741/A.D. 1169–1341. London: Oxford University Press, 1972.
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Sato, Tsugitaka. State and Rural Society in Medieval Islam: Sultans, Muqta`s and Fallahin. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1997.
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See chapters 3–4, which deal with the Ayyubid and early Mamluk regimes. Cahen 1953 only sketches the iqta` system in Egypt; Sato gives a far more detailed account and pays some attention to its impact on rural society.
Sato, Tsugitaka. State and Rural Society in Medieval Islam: Sultans, Muqta`s and Fallahin. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1997.
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Urban Society

The social and economic history of the Ayyubid period is seriously understudied. In contrast to the arena of political and administrative history, the social and cultural life of Syria has attracted substantially more attention than that of Egypt. We begin by noting that even though most Syrians and Egyptians were peasants and villagers, little work has been done on rural society, though chapter 8 (on Egypt) in Sato 1997 (cited under Administrative and Military Institutions) is a welcome exception. In contrast, there is a considerable body of work on towns and cities—in part because our sources were written by city dwellers, who naturally discuss matters that were important in their eyes but also because, among Western scholars, there remains even now a certain mystique about the cities of the Islamic world. Many of the works already discussed in this article make substantive contributions to urban history under the Ayyubids, but that topic is subordinate to their major concerns. The studies mentioned below focus, at least in large part, on cities and the life of cities.

Synthetic Studies

Despite the extensive literature on cities and urbanism in the medieval Islamic world, the unusually well-documented cities of Ayyubid Syria and Egypt have received little focused attention. The chief exception would be Eddé 1999 (cited under Principalities in Syria, the Jazira, and Yemen), though this is more a regional than a specifically urban study. However, there have been some efforts to develop an integrated presentation of the topography, political history, and social and cultural life of individual cities across the whole span of their existence. Two of these comprehensive syntheses have important chapters on the Ayyubid era, which was a time of urban vitality and growth throughout Egypt, Syria, and the Jazira. The model for this approach was established by Sauvaget 1941, still a classic though obsolete both conceptually and empirically. Garcin 1976 is theoretically far more sophisticated, if a bit less vivid and concrete. In a few cases this growth represented an overall plan and strategy that was designed and directed by the regime—for example, Cairo under Saladin, or Aleppo under al-Zahir Ghazi and his successors. In other cases it just happened. Damascus might be an example of this pattern; here members of the ruling family sponsored a great deal of building, but in quite an opportunistic, ad hoc manner.

Garcin, Jean-Claude. Un centre musulman de la Haute-Égypte médiévale: Qus. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1976.
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An outstanding study combining urban topography, economic geography, sociology, and political history over the nine centuries from the Muslim conquest of Egypt down to the end of the Mamluk Sultanate. Especially important as the only major effort to trace the evolution of a provincial urban center in Egypt.
Garcin, Jean-Claude. Un centre musulman de la Haute-Égypte médiévale: Qus. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1976.
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Sauvaget, Jean. Alep; essai sur le développement d’une grande ville syrienne des origins au milieu du XIXe siècle. 2 vols. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1941.
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Sauvaget was an extraordinarily influential scholar; all modern French scholarship on pre-Ottoman Syria descends directly from him. This ambitious and beautifully crafted study betrays its age—Sauvaget had a highly idealized image of the classical Hellenistic and Roman city—but it remains a model of what urban history can be.
Sauvaget, Jean. Alep; essai sur le développement d’une grande ville syrienne des origins au milieu du XIXe siècle. 2 vols. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1941.
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Archaeological, Topographical, and Monumental Studies

Less ambitious than the all-inclusive synthetic studies of Sauvaget 1941 and Garcin 1976 (both cited under Synthetic Studies) is a cluster of studies focusing on urban geography—the development of street plans, the evolution of residential quarters, the layout of markets, the placement and significance of public monuments, and so forth. Aleppo continues to fascinate scholars, perhaps because of its solidity and the quality of its public monuments from the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods. Gaube and Wirth 1984 revisits the physical layout of Aleppo, while Tabbaa 1997 explores the symbolic and ideological significance of the city’s beautiful Ayyubid monuments. There is also much important work on Cairo, though we have less on the Ayyubid period than one might have anticipated. Mackenzie 1992 is concise but quite comprehensive. Rabbat 1995 examines the vast Citadel in a broad political and urban context. In this company Damascus is rather the orphan. It has yet to receive a synthetic treatment in the manner of Sauvaget 1941 (cited under Synthetic Studies) or Gaube and Wirth 1984, in spite of an almost unique corpus of literary sources, a large body of intact monuments from Roman times through the Ottomans, and many provisional studies and surveys. Sack 1989 has a concise though well-focused text, and its excellent maps do much to clarify the physical evolution of Damascus.

Gaube, Heinz, and Eugen Wirth. Aleppo: Historische und geographische Beiträge zur baulischen Gestaltung, zur sozialen Organisation und zur wirtschaftlichen Dynamik einer vorderasiatischen Fernhandelsmetropole. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients; Reihe B: Geisteswissenschaften, Nr. 58. Wiesbaden, Germany: Ludwig Reichert, 1984.
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An urban-geographical study on the evolution of Aleppo. It does not replace Sauvaget 1941 (cited under Synthetic Studies), but its more critical theoretical and methodological approach makes it an essential complement to that work. In the history of the city, the Ayyubids represent only one phase, but it is an important one.
Gaube, Heinz, and Eugen Wirth. Aleppo: Historische und geographische Beiträge zur baulischen Gestaltung, zur sozialen Organisation und zur wirtschaftlichen Dynamik einer vorderasiatischen Fernhandelsmetropole. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients; Reihe B: Geisteswissenschaften, Nr. 58. Wiesbaden, Germany: Ludwig Reichert, 1984.
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MacKenzie, Neil. Ayyubid Cairo: A Topographical Study. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1992.
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A very useful monograph on a mostly neglected period in the history of Cairo, based on a solid firsthand knowledge of the monuments and a careful reading of the vast historical topography compiled by al-Maqrizi (d. 1444).
MacKenzie, Neil. Ayyubid Cairo: A Topographical Study. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1992.
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Rabbat, Nasser. The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1995.
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Saladin’s citadel—in effect a government compound as well as a fortress—fundamentally reshaped the political and economic geography of Cairo. The first chapters of this study examine Saladin’s political goals as well as the form of the structure.
Rabbat, Nasser. The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1995.
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Sack, Dorothée. Damaskus: Entwicklung und Struktur einer orientalisch-islamischen Stadt. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut: Damaszener Forschungen, 1. Mainz, Germany: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1989.
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For Damascus there is no equivalent to Sauvaget 1941 (cited under Synthetic Studies) and Gaube and Wirth 1984. However, Sack carefully reconstructs, with the help of detailed maps, the city’s evolving topography from the Arab conquest through the Ottoman period. Focuses on the constituent elements of the urban fabric: canals, mosques, marketplaces, and so forth.
Sack, Dorothée. Damaskus: Entwicklung und Struktur einer orientalisch-islamischen Stadt. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut: Damaszener Forschungen, 1. Mainz, Germany: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1989.
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Tabbaa, Yasser. Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.
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Aleppo has an important cluster of monuments from the Ayyubid period, built at the behest of the ruling family—not only the imposing citadel but also a number of handsome madrasas and other religious buildings. Tabbaa explores the ideological meanings as well as practical functions that were attached to these ensembles.
Tabbaa, Yasser. Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.
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Social Structures and Cultural Practices

Given the Ayyubids’s energetic commitment to the support and defense of Islam, and the way in which Islamic institutions (mosques, colleges, Sufi convents) and practices permeated every dimension of life, it is not surprising that most studies on Ayyubid society present and interpret it through the prism of religion. Eddé 1999 is the major exception to this rule, and James 2006 is almost alone in focusing on the complex issue of ethnicity in Ayyubid politics and society. This approach is certainly encouraged and almost mandated by the character of our sources, most of which were composed by religious scholars or (occasionally) by bureaucrats with close ties to the scholarly establishment. Still it is only a partial view of things, and different perspectives and lines of analysis are badly needed. The studies entered in this section were published in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and they do not really establish a debate between contrasting interpretations or methodologies. Rather, they complement one another by focusing on different places, topics, or social groups. Islamic belief and practice are most directly examined in Pouzet 1988, a densely descriptive work focusing on institutions and the ulama, and in Talmon-Heller 2007, which asks how Islam was experienced and lived out across all strata of society. Humphreys 1994 probes the values and motives that prompted elite women to be such active patrons of religious institutions. Chamberlain 1994 sees religion not as a body of beliefs and practices, but rather as a competition for status and influence. Morray 1994 examines the notables and their families—largely bureaucrats and men of religion—who dominated Aleppan society.

Chamberlain, Michael. Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus, 1190–1350. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
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A Foucauldian analysis—that is, discourse as power—of the social and political role of religious scholars in Ayyubid and early Mamluk Damascus. Chamberlain portrays a world in which the main concern of scholars was the competition for offices and emoluments, while the regime tried to manipulate this competition for its own ends.
Chamberlain, Michael. Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus, 1190–1350. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
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Eddé, Anne-Marie. La principauté ayyoubide d’Alep (579/1183–658/1260). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999.
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The first half of this massive study is a political and administrative study; the latter half is a broad and superbly documented survey of the geography, demography, economy, and social structure of Ayyubid Aleppo. Of fundamental importance for all of Ayyubid Syria, not just Aleppo and its hinterland.
Eddé, Anne-Marie. La principauté ayyoubide d’Alep (579/1183–658/1260). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999.
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Humphreys, R. Stephen. “Women as Patrons of Religious Architecture in Ayyubid Damascus.” Muqarnas 11 (1994): 35–54.
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A study on the significant role played by women (mostly from the ruling family) in the extraordinary explosion of religious architecture during the period 1174–1260. Based on a census (constructed from inscriptions and textual sources) of all the construction undertaken in Damascus during these eight decades.
Humphreys, R. Stephen. “Women as Patrons of Religious Architecture in Ayyubid Damascus.” Muqarnas 11 (1994): 35–54.
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James, Boris. Saladin et les Kurdes: Perception d’un groupe au temps des Croisades. Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan, for the Fondation-Institut Kurde de Paris, 2006.
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The Ayyubids were Kurds, and Kurdish troops were a substantial part of the Ayyubid armies. This is the first study to focus on how this important group carved out a place for itself within a political-military world largely dominated by Turks.
James, Boris. Saladin et les Kurdes: Perception d’un groupe au temps des Croisades. Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan, for the Fondation-Institut Kurde de Paris, 2006.
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Morray, David. An Ayyubid Notable and His World: Ibn al-`Adim and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994.
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Ibn al-`Adim was not only a major historian but also a member of a long-established notable family in Aleppo and a high-ranking bureaucrat in the Ayyubid regime. This study does much to illuminate the social milieu he came from.
Morray, David. An Ayyubid Notable and His World: Ibn al-`Adim and Aleppo as Portrayed in His Biographical Dictionary of People Associated with the City. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994.
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Pouzet, Louis. Damas au VIIe/XIIIe siècle: Vie et structures religieuses dans un métropole islamique. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar El-Machreq, 1988.
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A detailed study, meticulously documented, of the religious scholars and institutions of Ayyubid and early Mamluk Damascus. In contrast to Chamberlain 1994, this is an empirical, densely organized study rather than a theoretically driven one. A mine of information, but not easy to read straight through.
Pouzet, Louis. Damas au VIIe/XIIIe siècle: Vie et structures religieuses dans un métropole islamique. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar El-Machreq, 1988.
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Talmon-Heller, Daniella. Islamic Piety in Medieval Syria: Mosques, Cemeteries and Sermons under the Zangids and Ayyubids (1146–1260). Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2007.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004158092.i-308Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A comprehensive study of how Islam was understood and practiced at every level of society. The author sees no gulf separating the Islam of scholars from the Islam of ordinary people; rather, it was an integrated whole. Essential both for its documentation and interpretation.
Talmon-Heller, Daniella. Islamic Piety in Medieval Syria: Mosques, Cemeteries and Sermons under the Zangids and Ayyubids (1146–1260). Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2007.
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Non-Muslim Communities

The lands ruled by the Ayyubids continued to have large non-Muslim populations, mostly Christian but with significant Jewish communities in Egypt and Damascus. In a few areas (e.g., Upper Egypt, certain districts in North Syria, and the northern Jazira) Christians may even have constituted a demographic majority. Apart from their size, these communities manifested considerable social, economic, and cultural vitality. By contrast, it seems undeniable that the 13th century witnessed a slow erosion in both the numbers and the political situation of Christians and Jews. In the opinion of many scholars, this erosion turned into a “demographic collapse” by the early 14th century. Unfortunately, there are few studies on Christians and Jews under Ayyubid rule. For the Jews of Egypt, Goitein 1967 provides most of the available evidence, but he bases his discussion on the Geniza papers, and these are much less numerous after 1200 than for the two preceding centuries. Werthmuller 2010 is the first book-length monograph on the Copts under Ayyubid rule; regrettably, research on this crucial subject has been hampered by the Coptic Patriarchate’s understandable wariness about opening its archives to scholars. Sivan 1967 has some valuable general observations on the Christian subjects of the Ayyubids. There is no study dedicated specifically to the Christians in Muslim Syria, but much can be learned from MacEvitt 2009, even though it focuses on the relations between Eastern Christians and the Crusader states.

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
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Six volumes. The classic work on the Jewish communities of the Islamic Mediterranean basin, based on the vast trove of letters, contracts, and so forth, in the Cairo Geniza. Descriptive rather than analytic, this study focuses on the Fatimid era (11th–12th centuries). Indispensable for all religious groups, in every aspect of social and economic history.
Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
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MacEvitt, Christopher. The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
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Deals with the mutual accommodation between Roman Christian Crusaders and the variously “heretical” and “schismatic” Eastern Christian communities of Syria-Palestine. Because Eastern Christians were literally caught between Crusader and Muslim regimes, this study illuminates their ambiguous status under Ayyubid rule.
MacEvitt, Christopher. The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
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Sivan, Emmanuel. “Notes sur la situation des chrétiens à l’époque ayyoubide.” Revue d’histoire des religions 172 (1967): 117–130.
DOI: 10.3406/rhr.1967.8550Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A brief but useful overview of the impact of Ayyubid policy, variously tolerant and punitive according to circumstances, on their Christian subjects.
Sivan, Emmanuel. “Notes sur la situation des chrétiens à l’époque ayyoubide.” Revue d’histoire des religions 172 (1967): 117–130.
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Werthmuller, Kurt J. Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt, 1218–1250. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2010.
DOI: 10.5743/cairo/9789774163456.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A careful analysis of the struggle within the Coptic community to control the Patriarchate, and of the opportunities this provided for the Ayyubid regime to intervene in communal affairs and profit from its troubles. Ayyubid policy combined formal tolerance with increasingly strict control.
Werthmuller, Kurt J. Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt, 1218–1250. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2010.
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