Zengids

Christianity under the Zengids

Christianity in the Middle East continued to suffer a general decline within a context of Arabization and Islamization, as well as the conflict of the Crusades. Still, Syriac Christianity remained active under the Zengids, and even went through a phase of "Syriac Renaissance" in which discriminatory rules against Christians were lifted, especially after the death of the conservative Nur al-Din Zengi in 1174. Several important Christian manuscripts were created in Mosul during the late Zengid period, especially under the atabagate of Badr al-Din Lu'lu' (1211–1234), and later during his independent reign (1234–1259). One of them, the Jacobite-Syrian Lectionary of the Gospels, was created at the Mar Mattai Monastery 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Mosul, c.1220 (Vatican Library, Ms. Syr. 559). This Gospel, with its depiction of many military figures in armour, is considered as a useful reference of the military technologies of classical Islam during the period. Another such gospel is Ms. Additional 7170, British Library, also created circa 1220 in the Mosul region.