Editing Urfa (section)

===County of Edessa===
[[File:Map County of Edessa 1098-1131-en.svg|thumb|A map of the County of Edessa]]
{{main|County of Edessa}}
Urfa was capital of the crusader [[County of Edessa]] for about half a century beginning in 1098.<ref name="Brill EoI"/>{{rp|590}} The crusaders' subjects were a mix of Armenians and Syrians.<ref name="Sinclair 1990"/>{{rp|6}} In Urfa itself, Armenians were the dominant group.<ref name="Sinclair 1990"/>{{rp|6}} The crusaders themselves don't seem to have undertaken much construction in Urfa.<ref name="Sinclair 1990"/>{{rp|6}} The only extant structure that can be attributed to them is the southernmost tower of the Bey Kapısı, on the east side of the city walls.<ref name="Sinclair 1990"/>{{rp|6}} This was completing the rebuilding that Toros had begun before the crusaders seized Edessa and was finished in 1122-3, while the count [[Joscelin I]] was in captivity at [[Harput]].<ref name="Sinclair 1990"/>{{rp|13}}

====Sieges of 1144 and 1146====
{{main|Siege of Edessa (1144)|Siege of Edessa (1146)}}
The County of Edessa had survived largely because their Muslim rivals were disunited.<ref name="Brill EoI"/>{{rp|590}} The rise of a single powerful Muslim rival – namely [[Imad ad-Din Zangi]], the crafty atabeg of [[Mosul]] – spelled disaster for the county.<ref name="Brill EoI"/>{{rp|590–1}} The tipping point came in late 1144, when [[Joscelin II]] left Edessa with a big chunk of his soldiers to assist Zengi's rival [[Kara Arslan]].<ref name="Gibb 1969">{{cite book |last1=Gibb |first1=Hamilton A. R. |editor1-last=Setton |editor1-first=Kenneth M. |editor2-last=Baldwin |editor2-first=Marshall W. |title=History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years |date=1969 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Milwaukee, and London |isbn=0-299-04834-9 |pages=449–64 |edition=Second |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfTheCrusadesVol2/History%20of%20the%20Crusades%20Vol%201/page/n495/mode/2up?q=edessa |access-date=29 September 2022 |chapter=Zengi and the Fall of Edessa}}</ref>{{rp|461}}

Upon becoming aware of the city's weakness, Zengi led a series of forced marches and [[Siege of Edessa (1144)|laid siege to the city]] on 24 November.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|461}} By 24 December, he had successfully gained entry to the city; the citadel fell two days later on the 26th.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|461}} Zengi's forces spared the native Christian population and their churches, but the Franks were killed and their churches destroyed.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|461}} Zengi then appointed [[Zayn ad-Din Ali Küçük]], the commander of his guard, as governor of the city.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|461}}

The fall of Edessa was a direct motivator for the [[Second Crusade]].<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|466–8}} Christian pilgrims returning to Europe brought news of the city's conquest, and emissaries from the crusader states also came to appeal for help.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|466}} The pope responded by issuing the [[papal bull]] ''[[Quantum praedecessores]]'' on 1 December 1145, which directly called for another crusade.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|466–7}} Meanwhile, in the Muslim world, news of this victory made Zengi a hero.<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|461}} The caliph gave him many gifts and titles, including ''al-malik al-mansūr'' – "the victorious king".<ref name="Gibb 1969"/>{{rp|461}}

In May 1146, there was a plot by Urfa's Armenian community to overthrow the Turks and restore the city to Joscelin II.<ref name="Amouroux-Mourad 1988">{{cite book |first=Monique |last=Amouroux-Mourad |title=Le comté d'Edesse, 1098–1150 |publisher=Paul Guethner |year=1988}}</ref>{{rp|86–7}} The Turks suppressed this plot and settled 300 Jewish families in the city.<ref name="Amouroux-Mourad 1988"/>{{rp|86–7}} However, after Zengi was assassinated on 14 September 1146,{{rp|461}} the Armenians again conspired with Joscelin II to take the city.<ref name="Baldwin 1969">{{cite book |last1=Baldwin |first1=Marshall W. |editor1-last=Setton |editor1-first=Kenneth M. |editor2-last=Baldwin |editor2-first=Marshall W. |title=A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years |date=1969 |orig-year=1955 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Milwaukee, and London |isbn=0-299-04834-9 |pages=528–61 |edition=Second |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.CrusOne |chapter=The Latin States under Baldwin III and Amalric I, 1143–1174}}</ref>{{rp|531}} Sometime in October, Joscelin II and [[Baldwin of Marash]] came and laid siege to the city.<ref name="Baldwin 1969"/>{{rp|531}} [[Siege of Edessa (1146)|This second siege]] proved far more destructive than the first.<ref name="Baldwin 1969"/>{{rp|531}} The Franks succeeded in entering the city,<ref name="Brill EoI"/> but they were not properly equipped for a siege of the main citadel.<ref name="Baldwin 1969"/>{{rp|531}} During their six-day-long reoccupation of Urfa, the Franks indiscriminately looted shops belonging to Christians and Muslims alike.<ref name="Amouroux-Mourad 1988"/>{{rp|86–7}} The city's Muslims either fled to Harran or took shelter in the citadel with the Turkish garrison.<ref name="Amouroux-Mourad 1988"/>{{rp|86–7}}

Meanwhile, Imad ad-Din's successor [[Nur ad-Din Zengi]] had arrived with an army of 10,000 soldiers and surrounded the city.<ref name="Baldwin 1969"/>{{rp|531}} When the Franks realized they were trapped, they attempted to retreat, but it ended in disaster and they were slaughtered as they tried to escape.<ref name="Nicholson 1973">{{cite book |first=Robert Lawrence |last=Nicholson |title=Joscelyn III and the Fall of the Crusader States, 1134–1199 |year=1973 |publisher=E. J. Brill |location=Leiden}}</ref>{{rp|10–12}} Moreover, the city's population was massacred – the men were put to death, while the women and children were sold into slavery.<ref name="Amouroux-Mourad 1988"/>{{rp|86–7}} The city's Christian community, one of the oldest in the world, had been destroyed and never recovered.<ref name="Runciman 1952">{{Runciman-A History of the Crusades|volume=2}}</ref>{{rp|240}}