emirate · Anatolia and the Levant

Banu Ammar of Tripoli

1070 CE – 1109 CE (approx.) · capital Tripoli

A family of Shi'i judges who made Tripoli an independent city-state, famed for its library, until the Crusaders took it in 1109.

Origins

The Banu Ammar were a family of qadis in Tripoli under the Fatimids. Around 1070, as Fatimid control of the coast collapsed, the qadi Amin al-Dawla Abu Talib al-Hasan ibn Ammar made the city independent.

Rule and society

The city prospered from trade, sugar, paper and olive groves, and the Banu Ammar founded a Dar al-Ilm, a house of learning with a famous library. They kept their independence by diplomacy with the Seljuks and Fatimids. Jalal al-Mulk Ali extended their rule along the coast, and in 1099 the emir of Tripoli paid the passing Crusaders to spare the city.

Decline and legacy

From 1102 Raymond of Saint-Gilles besieged Tripoli from a castle he built on Mount Pilgrim. Fakhr al-Mulk went to Baghdad in 1108 to seek aid in vain, and in July 1109 the city fell to the Crusaders and became the capital of the County of Tripoli. Later chroniclers claimed the library was burned.

Lineage

Fatimid Caliphate 909 CE – 1171 CEBanu Ammar of Tripoli

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Banu Ammar of Tripoli. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-ammar-of-tripoli
MLA
“Banu Ammar of Tripoli.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-ammar-of-tripoli. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Banu Ammar of Tripoli.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-ammar-of-tripoli.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Banu Ammar of Tripoli’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/banu-ammar-of-tripoli (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻