Zengid dynasty
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The Zengid or Zangid dynasty was an Atabegate of the Seljuk Empire created in 1127. It formed a Turkoman dynasty of Sunni Muslim faith, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli to Hamadan and from Yemen to Sivas. Imad ad-Din Zengi was the first ruler of the dynasty.
Hunting scene on the Blacas ewer, 1232, Mosul, Zengid dynasty.
Saladin began his military career in the army of Nur ad-Din, during the Zengid conquest of Egypt in 1163-1169.
Zengid soldiers armed with long swords and wearing the aqbiya turkiyya coat, tiraz armbands, boots and sharbush hat, at the time of the atabegate of Badr al-Din Lu'lu' in 1218-1219. Kitab al-Aghani, Mosul.
Imad al-Din Zengi
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Imad al-Din Zengi, also romanized as Zangi, Zengui, Zenki, and Zanki, was a Turkoman atabeg of the Seljuk Empire, who ruled Mosul, Aleppo, Hama, and, later, Edessa. He was the namesake and founder of the Zengid dynasty of atabegs.
The Citadel of Aleppo was fortified by the Zengids during the Crusades. Imad ad-Din Zengi, followed by his son Nur ad-Din (ruled 1147–1174), unified Aleppo and Damascus and held back the Crusaders from their repeated assaults on the cities.
Emperor John II directs the unsuccessful Siege of Shaizar against zengid territory, French manuscript 1338.
Death of Sanguius (Zengi) in "Histoire d'Outremer", Guillaume de Tyr MS, 1232-61, British Library.