Banu Ammar
The Banu Ammar were a family of Muslim magistrates who ruled the city of Tripoli in what is now Lebanon from 1070 until 1109.History
The Banu Ammar were descended from the Berber tribe of the Kutama, which provided the mainstay of the early Fatimid Caliphate.
The dynasty was founded by Amin al-Dawla Abu Talib al-Hasan ibn Ammar, who was the Fatimid-appointed qadi of Tripoli when the local Fatimid governor, Mukhtar al-Dawla ibn Bazzal, died in 1070. Amin al-Dawla declared himself the independent ruler of the town, ruling a territory extending from Akkar in the north to Jubayl in the south. His reign was brief, as he died only two years later.
Amin al-Dawla's two nephews fought for the succession, with one of them, Jalal al-Mulk Ali ibn Muhammad, emerging victorious and exiling his brother. Jalal al-Mulk ruled until his death in 1099, ruling the city in a precarious diplomatic balancing act between the Fatimids to the south and the Seljuks to the east. In 1081, he captured Jableh from the Byzantine Empire. As part of his strategy to enhance Tripoli's position, he invested large sums in turning the city a famous centre for learning, founding a "House of Knowledge" that attracted scholars, as well as a notable library of reportedly 10,000 volumes.
He was succeeded by his brother, Fakhr al-Mulk, whose accession coincided with the arrival of the First Crusade. He had to face the continuous attacks of the Crusaders under Raymond of Saint-Gilles. He left the city in 1108 to rally the Sunni rulers at Damascus and Baghdad to his assistance, but was deposed by the populace in a pro-Fatimid revolt. The Fatimids sent a fleet to the city, but it arrived only eight days after its fall to the Crusaders. Fakhr al-Mulk remained in the service of the Seljuks, and then entered the service of the atabeg Mawdud of Mosul, and finally of the Abbasid caliph al-Mustazhir. He died in 1118/9.
