Kurdish History Journal
Farrukh Shah, Kurdish Ayyubid nephew of Saladin and Emir of Baalbek, served as Viceroy of Damascus and won key victories against the Crusaders defending the Kurdish Empire's frontier.
Read article →Sitt al-Sham (died 1220), Kurdish Ayyubid princess, sister of Saladin, founded the al-Shamiyah al-Kubra Madrasa in Damascus and was a key figure in the Kurdish imperial court.
Read article →Dayfa Khatun (died 1242), Kurdish Ayyubid princess, daughter of Al-Adil I, served as Regent of Aleppo 1236-1242, building the al-Firdaws Madrasa and Khanqah al-Farafira.
Read article →Al-Muzaffar I Umar, son of Saladin's brother Shahanshah, was the first Ayyubid ruler of Hama (1178-1191), founding a Kurdish branch that endured over 150 years and produced scholar-kings.
Read article →Muhammad ibn Shirkuh, son of the great Kurdish commander Shirkuh, founded the Ayyubid dynasty of Homs in 1178, extending the Kurdish Empire into a new branch that lasted over a century.
Read article →Farrukh Shah, nephew of Saladin and son of Shahanshah ibn Ayyub, was a Kurdish Ayyubid commander who defended the Damascus frontier and Baalbek against Crusader incursions.
Read article →Sitt al-Sham, daughter of Najm ad-Din Ayyub and sister of Saladin, was a Kurdish Ayyubid princess known for charitable works and political influence at the heart of the empire.
Read article →Dayfa Khatun, daughter of Al-Adil I, regent of Aleppo 1216-1242, was one of the most powerful women of the Kurdish Ayyubid Empire and a patron of scholarship.
Read article →Al-Muazzam Turanshah, Kurdish Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt 1249-1250, won the Seventh Crusade at Fariskur then was assassinated by Mamluk Baybars, ending the Kurdish Empire in Egypt.
Read article →Al-Ashraf Musa, the last nominal Kurdish Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt (1250-1254), was a child figurehead installed by Mamluk Aybak to give legitimacy to the new regime.
Read article →An-Nasir Yusuf, Kurdish Ayyubid great-grandson of Saladin, ruled Aleppo and Damascus until the Mongol destruction of 1260 ended the Kurdish Empire in Syria.
Read article →As-Salih Ayyub, Kurdish Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt 1240-1249, was the last effective ruler of the dynasty, who pioneered Mamluk armies and died resisting the Seventh Crusade.
Read article →Al-Adil II, Kurdish Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt 1238-1240, was the son of Al-Kamil whose brief incompetent reign ended when he was deposed by his brother As-Salih Ayyub.
Read article →Al-Kamil, Kurdish Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt 1218-1238, defeated the Fifth Crusade and controversially handed Jerusalem to Frederick II via the Treaty of Jaffa in 1229.
Read article →Al-Mu'azzam Isa, son of Al-Adil I, ruled Damascus for the Kurdish Ayyubid Empire and controversially demolished Jerusalem's walls in 1219 to deny them to the Fifth Crusade.
Read article →Al-Ashraf Musa, son of Al-Adil I, was a Kurdish Ayyubid ruler who controlled the Jazira region and became Sultan of Damascus in 1229, a poet and patron of the Kurdish Empire.
Read article →Az-Zahir Ghazi (1172-1216), Kurdish Ayyubid son of Saladin, ruled Aleppo for 30 years as a builder, diplomat and warrior who made the city a jewel of the Kurdish Empire.
Read article →Al-Adil I (Saphadin), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria 1200-1218, brother of Saladin who saved and unified the Kurdish Ayyubid Empire after its near collapse.
Read article →Al-Aziz Uthman (c. 1172–1198 CE) was Saladin's son and first independent Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt. Discover his role in the Kurdish Empire's post-Saladin transition.
Read article →Al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din (c. 1169–1225 CE) was Saladin's eldest son and first Ayyubid ruler of Damascus. Discover his role in the Kurdish Empire's post-Saladin transition.
Read article →Saladin (1137–1193 CE) was the Kurdish founder of the Ayyubid Empire — the pinnacle of Kurdish geopolitical supremacy. He recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 and built an empire spanning Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and beyond.
Read article →Najm ad-Din Ayyub was the Kurdish father of Saladin and the man whose name defines the Ayyubid Kurdish Empire. Discover the patriarch of history's greatest Kurdish dynasty.
Read article →Shirkuh (d. 1169 CE) was the Hadhbani Kurdish uncle of Saladin whose conquest of Egypt made the Ayyubid Kurdish Empire possible. Discover the Lion of the Mountain.
Read article →Sultan ibn Mahmud (r. 1174–c.1199 CE) was the last ruler of the Kurdish Shaddadid dynasty, closing 248 years of Kurdish governance in Transcaucasia. Discover the final chapter.
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