The Crusades 1095-1197
Page 30
by Jonathan Phillips
Zengi (d. 1146) The most fearsome of the Muslim leaders, Zengi terrified his own people as well as the Christians with his ruthless and cruel actions. He spent much of his career fighting his co-religionists, but his capture of Edessa in 1144 was a landmark for the advance of the jihad and ensured a posthumous reputation as a true defender of Islam. He was murdered in a drunken stupor by one of his servants.