Siege of Edessa (1146)

Siege of Edessa (1146)
Part of the Crusades

Battle of Edessa in 1146, illustrated by Jeanne Montbaston (1337), Bibliothèque Nationale de France
DateOctober–November 1146
Location
Result Zengid victory
Belligerents
County of Edessa Zengids
Commanders and leaders
Joscelyn II of Edessa
Baldwin of Marash 
Nūr al-Dīn
Strength
? 10,000
Casualties and losses
Thousands killed
Thousands enslaved
?

The siege of Edessa in October–November 1146 marked the permanent end of the rule of the Frankish Counts of Edessa in the city on the eve of the Second Crusade. It was the second siege the city had suffered in as many years, the first siege of Edessa having ended in December 1144. In 1146, Joscelyn II of Edessa and Baldwin of Marash recaptured the city by stealth but could not take or even properly besiege the citadel. After a brief counter-siege, Zangid governor Nūr al-Dīn took the city. The population was massacred and the walls razed. This victory was pivotal in the rise of Nūr al-Dīn and the decline of the Christian city of Edessa.