7 Urban II 7

to the development of the Roman Curia, the administra-

tive body of the papacy, and to the gradual formation of

the College of Cardinals. The term Curia Romana first

appeared in a bull written by Urban in 1089.

Urban died in Rome in 1099. Despite many problems

that were still unsolved, the victory of medieval reform

papacy was secured. Urban was beatified in 1881 by Pope

Leo XIII.

Saladin

(b. 1137/38, Tikrīt, Mesopotamia [now in Iraq]—d. March 4, 1193,

Damascus [now in Syria])

S

aladin, one of the most famous of Muslim heroes, was

the Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine

and founder of the Ayyūbid dynasty. In wars against the

Christian Crusaders, he captured Jerusalem on October

2, 1187, ending its nearly nine decades of occupation by

the Franks.

Saladin (S·alāh· al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb) was born into a

prominent Kurdish family in 1137 or 1138. Growing up in

Aleppo, Ba‘lbek, and Damascus, Saladin was apparently

an undistinguished youth, with a greater taste for religious

studies than military training. His formal career began

when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh,

an important military commander under the emir Nūr

al-Dīn. In 1169, after Shīrkūh’s death, Saladin was appointed

both commander of the Syrian troops in Egypt and vizier

of the Fāt·imid caliph there.

Saladin’s position was further enhanced when, in 1171,

he abolished the weak and unpopular Shī‘ite Fāt·imid

caliphate, proclaiming a return to Sunni Islam in Egypt.

Although he remained for a time theoretically a vassal of

Nūr al-Dīn, that relationship ended with the emir’s death