or NOOR-ED-DEEN, the name of several Moslem rulers of Syria, of whom the most distinguished was Noureddin Mahmoud, Melik-El-Adel, who succeeded his father the famous Zenghi, Emir of Aleppo, in 1146. His reign was endangered at its commencement by the attempts of the Christians to regain the possessions which had lately been wrested from them. Josceline de Courtenay seized upon his former capital Edessa; but he was speedily dislodged, and the rebellious spirit of the citizens was suppressed by an extensive massacre. The second crusade, under the command of Louis VII. of France and the Emperor Conrad, arrived in 1148. But the ranks of the Christian invaders had been wasted in their march by the shafts and scimitars of the infidels; their strength was now still further weakened by the dissensions of the royal leaders; and after sitting down for some time before Damascus, they returned ignominiously to Europe. It was about this time that Noureddin conceived the grand project of rearing an effectual barrier against future crusades by annihilating the dominion of the Christians in Palestine, and uniting all Syria and the neighbouring districts under one government. For achieving such an enterprise his character peculiarly qualified him. His pious zeal had raised him high in the estimation of his fellow-Moslems; his conscientious frugality specially adapted him for the management of military expeditions; on account of his majestic bearing and simple soldier-like manners, he had become the darling of his army; and for his just rule and merciful care for the poor and the oppressed, he was regarded as the father of his people. Accordingly, he began the enterprise with great vigour and success. Raymond, Prince of Antioch, was defeated and slain in 1149; Josceline de Courtenay, Count of Edessa, was taken captive soon afterwards; and the whole of Northern Syria became in consequence the possession of Noureddin. He then turned his attention to the gaining of Damascus. The course of events rendered force in this case unnecessary. Anar, the able vizier of that kingdom, died; the ruler Moutjir-Ed-Deen was considered too imbecile to resist the threatened attack of Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem; and in 1154 the terrified inhabitants of Damascus willingly put themselves under the jurisdiction of the powerful and benign Emir of Aleppo. Noureddin had now extended his dominions around the borders of the Latin territories in Palestine, and had thus gained a favourable position for carrying out still further the great project of his reign. A severe illness, indeed, in 1159, and a defeat which the Christians inflicted upon him, gave a check to his success. But speedily recovering himself, he encountered the famous Reginald de Chatillon, prince of Antioch, defeated him, and took him prisoner. Taking advantage also of the distracted state into which the khalifate of Egypt had been plunged by the contention for the viziership between two emirs, Shawir and Ed-Dirgham, he resolved to extend his influence into that country. Sheerkooh, and his nephew Salah-Ed-Deen or Saladin, were accordingly despatched at the head of an army to raise the former of the rivals to the contested office. At first the enterprise was unsuccessful. Shawir, after he had been placed in the viziership, refused to fulfil his obligations to Sheerkooh, and summoned in aid of Amaury, the son and successor of Baldwin III. The troops of Aleppo were besieged in Pelusium, and were forced to capitulate to the Christians. At length, however, the tactics of Noureddin himself retrieved the declining fortunes of the Moslems. His inroad into the state of Antioch recalled Amaury to its defence; the Christian troops immediately on their arrival were routed near Tiresia with disastrous loss; and Sheerkooh being sent once more into Egypt, succeeded, in 1168, in removing the perfidious Shawir by death, and in establishing himself as lieutenant of Egypt in the name of his master. The schismatic khalifate of the Fatimites in that country was then abolished; the Egyptians were restored to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Abasside khaliph of Baghdad; and that chief of the Faithful conferred upon his meritorious servant Noureddin the title of Sultan, and the direct investiture of Egypt and Syria. Noureddin might now have turned his vastly increased resources against the Latin states in Palestine, and might thus have achieved the magnificent result to which all his past successes had been tending. But the last few years of his life were molested by the ambitious intrigues of the able Salah-Ed-Deen, who had succeeded his uncle Sheerkooh in the lieutenancy of Egypt. He was on the eve of setting out to chastise his rebellious subject, when an attack of quinsy brought his days to a close at Damascus in May 1173.