Ayyubid Sultanate

State · 1177–1249 CE · at its largest around 1192 CE

Sunni dynasty of Kurdish origin founded by Saladin, who took Jerusalem in 1187; it ruled Egypt, Syria and Yemen until the Mamluks seized power in Egypt in 1250.

Its battles, in Battle View

Battle of Hattin (1187 CE)

On its lands while it lasted

Ecbatana (c. 550 BCE – c. 1800 CE): Capital of Achaemenid Empire (550 BCE–330 BCE).
Palmyra (c. 261–1929 CE): Capital of Palmyrene Empire (261–269).
Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE): The Abbasid dynasty, descended from Muhammad's uncle, took the caliphate from the Umayyads and ruled from Iraq, presiding over the Islamic Golden Age.
Knights Templar (c. 1119–1312 CE): Hugues de Payens and fellow knights founded this military order in Jerusalem around 1119 to protect pilgrims, with headquarters on the Temple Mount. It grew rich and powerful until Pope Clement V dissolved it in 1312 under pressure from Philip IV of France.
Saladin (c. 1137 CE – 1193 CE): Kurdish founder of the Ayyubid dynasty who became sultan of Egypt and Syria, defeated the crusaders at Hattin and retook Jerusalem in 1187.
Maimonides (c. 1138 CE – 1204 CE): A Jewish philosopher, legal scholar and physician from Córdoba who settled in Fustat, author of the Mishneh Torah and The Guide for the Perplexed.
Battle of Hattin (1187 CE): Saladin destroyed the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem near Tiberias, leading to his recapture of Jerusalem later that year.
Third Crusade (1189–1192 CE): Led by Richard I of England, Philip II of France and Frederick Barbarossa, it retook Acre and much of the coast but failed to recover Jerusalem.
Teutonic Order (1190 CE): German crusaders founded the order as a field hospital at the siege of Acre in 1190, and it became a military order in 1198. It later conquered Prussia and ruled a state on the Baltic coast until 1525.
Nicosia (c. 1192 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Cyprus (1192–1489), Republic of Cyprus (1961–today).
Al-Jazari's machines (1206 CE): Al-Jazari's illustrated treatise described about fifty machines, including elaborate water clocks, automata and water-raising pumps.
Arta (c. 1206 CE): Capital of Despotate of Epirus (1206–1479).
Rumi (1207 CE – 1273 CE): A Persian poet, jurist and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya; his Masnavi is among the most celebrated works of Persian poetry, and his followers founded the Mevlevi order.
Naxos (c. 1210 CE): Capital of Duchy of the Archipelago (1210–1313).
Baybars (c. 1223 CE – 1277 CE): A Kipchak-born Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria who fought the Mongols at Ain Jalut and captured many crusader strongholds.