530 Nur al-Din Muhammad ibn Zangi
Nuns played important roles in medieval society and
culture as scholars, mystics, artists, political activists,
nurses, and teachers. Entrance into a convent was an
important and vital option for many women in the Mid-
dle Ages, though sometimes they actually had little
choice in this matter. Economic and familial realities
could close off the option to marry and limit women in
their choices about what order or convent they could
enter or what tasks they would undertake in monastic
life. There was always a great concern among the male
clergy to control and oversee the activity of these
women. Resistance to such patriarchal intervention was
frequent.
See alsoMONASTICISM; WOMEN, STATUS OF.
Further reading:Rebecca Krawiec, Shenoute and the
Women of the White Monastery: Egyptian Monasticism in
Late Antiquity(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002);
Jo Ann Kay McNamara, Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns
through Two Millenia(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 1996); Eileen Power, Medieval English Nunner-
ies c. 1275 to 1535(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1922); Sally Thompson, Women Religious: The
Founding of English Nunneries after the Norman Conquest
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); Ann K. Warren,
Anchorites and Their Patrons in Medieval England(Berke-
ley: University of California Press, 1985).
Nur al-Din Muhammad ibn Zangi(Light of the
Faith)(r. 1146–1171)ruler of Syria
Nur al-Din succeeded his father, Zangi (d. 1127), first of
the Zengid line, in 1146 as atabegor ruler of Halab or
ALEPPO. He gave his oath of loyalty to the ABBASID
caliphs but then forged an extensive empire. He pro-
moted a form of JIHAD, or holy war, to expel the cru-
saders. To accomplish this he also needed and desired
Islamic unity. Successfully forging a jihad, his armies
conquered DAMASCUS, EDESSA, and TRIPOLI. In 1163, Nur
al-Din attacked the castle KRAK DESCHEVALIERSbut was
routed by its defenders. Between 1169 and 1171 he
annexed EGYPT. As the founder of the Zengid dynasty, by
the time he died, SYRIA, Egypt, and parts of IRAQand
ANATOLIAwere all under his control. Much of this was
accomplished at the expense of the Shiites as he laid the
foundation for a strong and unified SUNNI state. He
sponsored the foundation of numerous Islamic schools
and MADRASASand laid the groundwork for the achieve-
ments of his successor, SALADIN. Nur al-Din was honored
for his piety, and his use of captured treasure to build
these establishments, MOSQUES, HOSPITALS, and schools.
He died in 1171 as he was planning to limit the power of
one of his Kurdish officers, Saladin.
Further reading:H. A. R. Gibb, “The Career of Nu ̄r-
ad-Dı ̄n,” A History of the Crusades,Vol. 1, ed. Kenneth
M. Setton (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1955), 513–527; Carole Hillenbrand, The Cru-
sades: Islamic Perspectives(New York: Routledge, 1999);
P. M. Holt, The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from
the Eleventh Century to 1517 (New York: Longman,
1986), 38–52.Nuremberg (Nürnberg) Nuremberg became an impor-
tant town in northern BAVARIAin late medieval GERMANY.
It had its origins around a CASTLEfrom the eleventh cen-
tury. It soon developed a prosperous FAIR. The emperor
FREDERICKI BARBAROSSAgranted it the status of an impe-
rial city and appointed a governor. A member of the
HOHENZOLLERN FAMILY AND DYNASTYheld this position
until 1427.
In 1219 Nuremberg obtained a CHARTERof liberties
from the emperor FREDRICKII. It joined the confederation
of the cities of the Rhine in 1256 and remained a member
until the end of the Middle Ages. It was very prosperous
in the 14th and 15th centuries as a center of AGRICUL-
TURE, industry, especially metallurgy and TEXTILES, and
commerce, since it was at the heart of the HOLYROMAN
EMPIREon the transit routes to the south.
In 1356, the emperor CHARLESIV proclaimed the
GOLDENBULLat a diet there. The crown jewels of the
Holy Roman Empire were moved there in 1424. It was at
the same time a rich cultural and artistic center, domi-
nated by a closed mercantile and patrician clique that
held power throughout the Middle Ages.
Further reading:Cecil Headlam, The Story of Nurem-
berg(London: J. M. Dent, 1901); Jeffrey Chipps Smith,
Nuremberg: A Renaissance City, 1500–1618(Austin: Uni-
versity of Texas Press, 1983); Gothic and Renaissance Art
in Nuremberg, 1300–1550 (New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1986).