principality · Mesopotamia and Iran
Begteginid dynasty
Origins
Zayn al-Din Ali Kuchuk, son of Begtegin, was a Turkmen officer of Imad al-Din Zengi who became governor of Erbil and other towns around 1144. Under the Zengid dynasty of Mosul he built up a personal domain in the plains east of the Tigris, which his descendants inherited.
Rule and society
His son Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri married Rabi'a Khatun, sister of Saladin, fought at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 and received Erbil as an Ayyubid ally in 1190. He ruled until 1233, building hospitals, hostels for travellers, schools and orphanages, and staging lavish public celebrations of the Mawlid, the Prophet's birthday, among the earliest recorded. The biographer Ibn Khallikan, a native of Erbil, praised his generosity.
Decline and legacy
Gökböri died without a male heir in 1233 and bequeathed Erbil to the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir, who annexed it. The Mongols took the city in 1258.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Begteginid dynasty was a vassal of Zengid dynasty of Mosul1144 CE – 1190 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Begteginid dynasty. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/begteginid-dynasty
- MLA
- “Begteginid dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/begteginid-dynasty. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Begteginid dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/begteginid-dynasty.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Begteginid dynasty’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/begteginid-dynasty (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻