[August 31] Al-Adil I, sultan of Egypt & Syria

Local Name: al-Malik al-Adil Sayf al-Din Abu-Bakr ibn Ayyub (الملك العادل سيف الدين أبو بكر بن أيوب)

Surnamed: "Sayf al-Din" (Sword of Faith)
Date of Birth: June 1145
Parents: Najm ad-Din Ayyub
House: Ayyubid

Predecessor: Al-Afdal ibn Salah al-din

Reign: 1199 – 1218

Summary: Born in Damascus, the younger brother of Saladin, he was a member of a Kurdish division of the Seljuk army from 1168. He followed his uncle, Shirkuh, on campaign and when the emir of Damscus died in 1174, Al-Adil governed in his place for his brother, Saladin. With the Crusades reaching their prime, Al-Adil mobilized Syria's resources to support his brother's war effort. He was made governor of Aleppo in 1183 and then Egypt in 1186 during the Third Crusade. In 1192, he moved to the northern provinces near Antioch where he suppressed a revolt of 'Izz Al-Din when Saladin died in 1193. When Saladin's sons went into open warfare over the succession, he acted as final deciding voice in the conflict. In 1196, he took the emirate of Damascus as his own, using it as a base to expand his power. When Al-Aziz, Saladin's elder son, died, Al-Adil fought against the younger son, Al-Afdal. Al-Afdal eventually besieged Damascus in 1199 but the wily brother of Saladin not only reversed his misfortune, but defeated his nephew at the Battle of Bilbeis the next year. For his victory, he was proclaimed sultan of Egypt and Syria and ruled the small empire for twenty years.

As the sultan, he attempted to hold a peaceful relationship with the Crusader states. Much trade passed between the two realms during the long peace of 1200 to 1217. He annexed the emirate of Ahlat during this time, consolidating his power. When the Fifth Crusade erupted in 1217, Al-Adil quickly mobilized and began his defense of Palestine. Unfortunately, while on campaign, he died. His son, Malik Al-Kamil succeeded him. While Saladin is remembered for his wise leadership, much of his accomplishments were made true by the work of Al-Adil. The longevity of the dynasty was linked directly to his success as sultan and emir.

Date of Death: 31 August 1218
Successor: Al-Mu'azzam (in Damascus) and Al-Kamil (in Egypt)

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Pacal II, ruler of the Maya of Palenque (683)
• Go-Horikawa, emperor of Japan (1234)
• Henry V, king of England (1422)

[June 13] Ali az-Zahir, caliph of the Fatimid Empire

The Fatimid Empire in the years preceding Ali's reign

True Name:  الظاهر بالله‎
Parents: Abu 'Ali Mansur Tariqu I-Hakim, caliph of the Fatimid Empire

Date of Birth: 20 June 1005

House: Fatimid

Predecessor: Al-Hakim

Reign: 1021 – 1036

Summary: The Fatimid Empire was a Sevener Shi'a dynasty that arose in Egypt in rebellion against the Sunni Caliphate of the Abbasids. When Ali az-Zahir first became caliph of the Fatimids in 1021, he was still young and his sister, Sitt al-Mulk, ruled until her death in 1023. Her favorites took control thereafter leaving Ali a pawn of Fatimid politics.

Under his poor management, the Fatimid Caliphate fell into disorder, with famine and plague in Egypt leading to chaos throughout the empire. Palestine and Syria broke out in a full-scale revolt led by the Bedouins, a Sunni Islam group of Arabian nomads. One-by-one, Fatimid General Anushtegin ad-Dizbiri was able to separate and defeat the rebels, once again centralizing Fatimid control. In 1028, 'Ali ibn Ahmad Jarjarai killed his colleagues and took the position of grand vizier in a hostile takeover. He retained his post long into the term of Ali's successor. Ali sought good diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire despite disagreements over Aleppo in Syria. He also approved the rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem which had been destroyed ten years earlier. He died in 1036 with a record of being fairly ineffectual, and his son succeeded him without dispute.

Date of Death: 13 June 1036

Successor: Al-Mustansir

Other Monarch Deaths:

Ludwig II, king of Bavaria (1866)

Khalid, king of Saudi Arabia (1982)

[June 10] Alexander III, king of Macedon

Surnamed: "The Great"
Parents: Philip II, king of Macedon, and Olympias of Epirus

Date of Birth: 20 July 356 BCE

House: Macedonian

Spouse: (1) Roxana, daughter of Osyartes of Bactria, (2) Stateira II, daughter of Darius III, shahanshah of Persia, and Stateira I, and (3) Parysatis II, daughter of Artaxerxes III, shahanshah of Persia

Predecessor: Philip II

Reign: 336 – 323 BCE

Summary: Alexander was born in Pella, the capital of Macedon located somewhere in northern Greece or Macedonia. Alexander was tutored be Leonidas and Lysimachus in the manner of a Macedonian noble. When he was ten, he received his first horse, which he named Bucephalas. Alexander kept this horse until the end of his days. In 343 BCE, King Philip chose the philosopher Aristotle to tutor his son, and the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza was the appointed classroom. Alexander fell in love with the epics of Homer while also learning every known science. When Philip left for war, Alexander remained in Pella as the regent and heir apparent. He was given his first chance to rule when Thrace rebelled and Alexander leveled it and founded a new settlement there populated by Greeks called Alexandropolis. It would not be the last city Alexander named after himself. Philip continued to give his son powers and increased the size of his army. In 338 BCE, the two marched together to Thermoplyae and then continued marching south to subdue Greek city-states that were rebelling against Macedonian rule. Once in the far south of Greece, Philip established the League of Corinth between almost all the city-states in Greece and declared war against the Persian Empire. Upon his return to Pella, Philip fell in love with a local lady and Alexander was forced to flee to Illyria. Six months later, the two parties were reunited. In 336 BCE, Philip was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards. Alexander was proclaimed king at the age of 20.

The new king quickly killed his rival family members. Much of Greece rebelled soon after and Alexander spent the first months of his reign consolidating power in the south. Once secured, he moved north and secured his northern borders. The south rebelled again, and Alexander was forced to raze Thebes to the ground and split it between other rival cities. Once all his rebellions were ended, he moved on toward Persia leaving a lieutenant, Antipater, behind as regent. In twelve years, Alexander conquered all of Persia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Afghanistan. He marched his army directly toward the Tigris River, sacking or conquering everything he passed. One-by-one, he took Syria, the Levant, Tyre, and Egypt. Jerusalem saw Alexander as a savior against the autocratic rule of the later Persian overlords. In Egypt, he founded Alexandria, a city that would soon become the wealthy center of Ptolemaic Egypt. Alexander then moved north to Mesopotamia and conquered it all before continuing into the Persian heartland. Darius III, emperor of Persia, continued to flee, abandoning the old Persian capital at Susa and the new one at Persepolis. Darius was finally stabbed by Bactrian captors and a pretender arose and fled into the mountains. Alexander eventually defeated the usurper and took the title King of Kings (Shahanshah) and adopted some Persian dress. India became the next target of Alexander's desire, but it would overstretch him. He crossed the Indus at the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BCE and subdued the local lord, making him the new satrap of India. His horse, Bucephalas, died during the engagement. Near the Gnages River, Alexander's army finally mutinied. He never passed into the Indian heartland but was forced to turn for home. In Persia, Alexander began to centralize his rule and established well-defined satrapies throughout his realm. He returned to Babylon and died there after a short fever in 323 BCE. His tomb became a pilgrimage site for many centuries to come. Alexander's empire became the stuff of legend but was divided between his posthumous son, Alexander IV, and a half-brother, Philip III. Within months, though, a civil war broke out that saw the rise of four separate kingdoms formed from former satrapies. In Egypt, the Ptolemys took control. In Persia and Mesopotamia, the Seleucids. In Asia Minor, Pergamon briefly took control, and in Macedon, Alexander and Philip were soon murdered and replaced by upstart generals.

Date of Death: 10 June 323 BCE

Successor: Alexander IV and Philip III

Other Monarch Deaths:

Ernest, margrave of Austria (1075)

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (1190)

Ernest, duke of Austria (1424)

Hsinyushin, king of Burma (1776)

[March 11] Thutmose III, pharaoh of Egypt

Parents: Thutmose II, pharaoh of Egypt, and Iset

House: 18th Dynasty 

Spouse: Satiah, Hatshepsut-Meryetre, Nebtu, Menwi, Menwi, Merti, and Menhet

Reign: 1479 – 1425 BCE

Predecessor: Hatshepsut

Summary: Thutmose III is famous for what he was incapable of stopping: namely his step-mother becoming queen in his stead. Thutmose's early rule was usurped by Hatshepsut, the great royal wife of his father, Pharaoh Thutmose II. While she ruled, he had no power though he remained the nominal pharaoh. During her reign, he was the head of her army. As military head, he was considered a military genius. He expanded Egypt's rule over much of the Near East, crossing the Euphrates at one point. He made Egypt into an international superpower of the time, spreading Egypt's domain from Syria to Nubia (Sudan). Much of the Middle East was in flux during this time, so his armies met little resistance. The king finally assumed his own rule until 1458 BCE and worked to secure his expansion projects.

After his initial conquests, Thutmose went on three expeditions to Palestine and Syria to collect tribute from the local kings. He returned three more times to defeat Phoenician outposts and a Syrian uprising. By his eighth campaign as pharaoh, he was pushing into Persian lands. His tours-of-duty were renown in history and he travelled as much as conquered. Few other Egyptian monarchs could claim such a knowledge of their extended realms. At the age of fifty, the king went personally on campaign in Nubia to the fifth cataract (waterfall) of the Nile. No other Egyptian monarch had travelled so far south. Within Egypt, his reign heralded an age of cultural expansion. The capital at Karnak was expanded and made more magnificent than ever before. The pharaoh died in his fifty-third regnal year leaving a large burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings. His mummy was discovered in 1881 and his tomb in 1898. 

Date of Death: 11 March 1425 BCE

Successor: Amenhotep II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Elagabalus, emperor of Rome (222)
• Albert III, margrave of Brandenburg (1486)
• Moshoeshoe I, king of Lesotho (1870)

[March 4] Saladin, sultan of Egypt

Saladin, sultan of Egypt, meeting Guy of Lusignan at Hattin, 1187

True Name: Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (أيوب‎ صلاح الدين يوسف بن) 

Parents: Najm ad-Dīn Ayyūb

Date of Birth: c. 1137

House: Ayyubid

Reign: 1171 – 1193

Predecessor: Al-'Āḍid

Summary: The power and glory of Saladin began in a humble village named Tikrit in Iraq. The boy's family was Kurdish Sunnis who originally came from Armenia. Saladin's father was banished from Tikrit and joined the forces of Imad ad-Din Zengi and his son, Nur. While his dad served, Saladin studied history and religion before finally joining his uncle, Asad al-Din Shirkuh in the army of the Zengids. After gaining experience, Saladin had his first military success in 1164 when he helped defeat an army of Crusaders and Egyptians near Giza before moving north to Alexandria. Saladin became the commander of the Alexandrian garrison. Soon after, Saladin was appointed vizier to Fatimid Caliph al-Adid with the rank of emir. Saladin was now in a dangerous position. He was emir to al-Adid but still a ranked military officer within the army of Nur al-Din. The two still worked together, though, and defeated a joint Crusader-Byzantine raid. In 1170, the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad sent Saladin's father to him to pressure the young emir to overthrow the Fatimid Caliph. Despite an increase in Sunni influence in Egypt, Saladin refused and instead re-energized his efforts to defeat the Crusaders. In 1171, the Fatimid Caliph died and the government collapsed. The Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad was recognized as the legitimate authority in Egypt once again and Saladin was established as sultan.

Saladin continued his campaign against the Crusaders but was becoming increasingly in control of Egypt, whether he liked it or not. Attacks in the south and west forced him to divide his forces and take more direct management of the state. In 1174, Nur ad-Din died and Saladin was finally able to take control of Syria in the north. With Egypt and Syria in Saladin's control, he could finally present a united front against the Crusader states in Palestine. To secure his rule, he made peace with all parties and centralized his government. He fought a short war with the Hashshashin (Assassins) but his uncle resolved the dispute. He finally broke the treaty with the Crusader state in 1177 since the states had already invaded Syria. Saladin raided southern Palestine and marched his troops all the way to the gates of Jerusalem before stopping. The rival armies then fought each other numerous times in northern Palestine along the Jordan River before finally agreeing to a second truce in 1180. With a truce in place, Saladin moved inland and secured upper Mesopotamia from his relatives before doubling back on the Crusaders. This time, he was relentless. He pushed hard into the Kingdom of Jersualem and finally captured the whole of it. Nearly all of Palestine was in Muslim hands by the end of 1187, including Jerusalem. Only the city of Tyre along the coast survived. The Third Crusade under Richard the Lionheart was prompted to retake the Holy Land from Saladin but the mission failed. Saladin agreed to allow Christians to visit Jerusalem, but the city would remain in Muslim hands. Saladin died of fever soon after the Crusaders departed.

Date of Death: 4 March 1193

Successor: Al-Afdal (Syria) and Al-Aziz Uthman (Egypt)

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Lucius I, pope of Rome (251)
• Pelagius I, pope of Rome (561)
• Stephen III, king of Hungary (1172)
• Yuri II, grand prince of Vladimir (1238)
• Daniel, grand prince of Moscow (1303)
• Sigismund, archduke of Austria (1496)

[January 7] Tewfik Pasha, khedive of Egypt & Sudan

Parents: Isma'il Pasha, khedive of Egypt & Sudan, and Shafiq-Nur

Date of birth: 15 November 1852

Royal House: Alawiyya (Egyptian)

Spouse: Emine Ibrahim Hanımsultan, daughter of Ibrahim Ilhami Beyefendi and Munire Sultan
Predecessor: Isma'il Pasha

Reign: 1879 – 1892

Summary: Tewfik was the first member of the Muhammad Ali family to ascend the throne following his father. Previously, the line of succession followed a system of tanistry where the eldest living male would inherit, regardless of relation to predecessor. Tewfik had little interest in engaging in the politics of Egypt and Sudan and lived in his small homestead for most of his formative years. When he discovered that his father, Isma'il, was despised in 1879, he was less than pleased with his sudden elevation to the khedivate.

Tewfik was a weak monarch. His country was in shambles after the deposition of his father and no one much liked Tewfik, who was seen as distant and unsure. Britain and France, who had caused Isma'il's deposition, took joint control over Egypt and Sudan. The Egyptian army became so disillusioned with their government's situation that it rebelled.  After two years of warfare in northern Egypt, Tewfik signed a constitution limiting his powers. Britain served as witness to the contract and continued to increase in political dominance over Egypt long after Tewfik's peaceful death.

Date of Death: 7 January 1892

Successor: Abbas II, khedive of Egypt & Sudan

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Charles I, king of Naples (1285)
• Dinis, king of Portugal (1325)
• Amadeus VIII, count of Savoy (1451)
• Innocent X, pope of Rome (1655)