Editing Manbij (section)

===Middle Ages===
The [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] caliph [[Harun al-Rashid]] restored Manbij at the end of the 8th century, making it the capital of the frontier province of [[al-Awasim]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cobb|first1=Paul M.|title=White Banners: Contention in 'Abbasid Syria, 750-880|date=2001|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791448809|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2C6KIBw4F9YC&q=Abu+Muhammad+al-Sufyani|page=12}}</ref> Afterward, the city became a point of contention between the Byzantines, [[Arabs]] and [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] groups. The Arab chieftain [[Salih ibn Mirdas]] captured it circa 1022, making Manbij, along with [[Barbalissos|Balis]] and [[al-Rahba]], the foundation of his [[Mirdasid dynasty|Mirdasid emirate]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zakkar|first1=Suhayl|title=The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004–1094|date=1971|publisher=Dar al-Amanah|location=Aleppo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbltAAAAMAAJ|page=53}}</ref> At the time, Manbij was one of the most important fortresses in northern Syria.<ref name="Basan76">{{cite book|last1=Basan|first1=Osman Aziz|title=The Great Seljuqs: A History|date=2010|publisher=Routledge|page=76|isbn=9781136953934|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4p0tCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76}}</ref> In 1068, the Byzantine emperor [[Romanos Diogenes]] captured it, defeated the Mirdasids and their [[Bedouin]] allies, killed the city's inhabitants and plundered the surrounding countryside.<ref name="IbnAthir166">{{cite book|author1=Ibn al-Athir|editor1-last=Richards|editor1-first=D.S.|title=The Annals of the Saljuq Turks: Selections from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh of Ibn Al-Athir|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|page=166|isbn=9781317832553|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KB1IAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166}}</ref> Romanos later withdrew due to a severe shortage of food and supplies.<ref name="Basan76"/><ref name="IbnAthir166"/> It was later captured by Seljuk Sultan [[Malik-Shah I]] in 1086.{{sfn|Purton|2009|p=184}} In 1124, [[Belek Ghazi]] tried to annex Manbij, after he had imprisoned its emir Hassan al-Ba'labakki, but he was hit and killed by an arrow during the siege.{{sfn|Richards|2010|p=619}}

The [[Crusaders]] never captured Manbij during their 11th–12th century invasions of the [[Levant]], but the [[Latin Church]] archbishopric of Hierapolis was re-established in the town of [[Duluk]] by 1134.<ref name="Hamilton175180">{{cite book|last1=Hamilton|first1=Bernard|editor1-last=Ciggaar|editor1-first=K.|editor2-last=Metcalf|editor2-first=M.|title=East and West in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean: Antioch from the Byzantine Reconquest Until the End of the Crusader Principality|date=2006|publisher=Peeters Publishers|pages=175, 180|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DO8qTYM71tQC&pg=PA175|chapter=The Growth of the Latin Church of Antioch|isbn=9789042917354}}</ref> By 1152, Duluk and Manbij were captured by the [[Zengid dynasty|Zengid]]s under [[Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo|Nur ad-Din]],<ref name="Hamilton175180"/> who reconstructed and strengthened the city's fortress.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hillenbrand|first1=Carole|title=The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives|date=2000|publisher=Routledge|page=474|isbn=9780415929141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UalnoF5MBHMC&pg=PA110}}</ref> The [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] sultan, [[Saladin]], conquered it from its Zengid lord, Qutb ad-Din Inal, in 1175.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lyons|first1=Malcolm Cameron|last2=Jackson|first2=D. E. P.|title=Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War|date=1982|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=105|isbn=9780521317399|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGR5M0druJIC&pg=PA105}}</ref> In 1260, the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] under [[Hulagu]] destroyed Ayyubid Manbij, which was consequently abandoned by its [[Turkoman (ethnonym)|Turkmen]] and [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] inhabitants as they migrated to [[Aleppo]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Amitai-Preiss|first1=Reuven|title=Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260-128|date=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=204|isbn=9780521522908|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFO-eV9cQ0sC&pg=PA204}}</ref>