10 - Anatolia, Iraq, and Syria 11-13th c.

Post-Seljuq Period: After the desintegration of the Great Seljuq Empire, many spin-off dynasties carved out smaller provinces in Anatolia (which opened up to Turkish immigration after the Seljuks defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert in 1071), Syria, and Mesopotamia. The most important among them were the Seljuqs of Rum (Anatolia) and the Zengids.

The Crusades: A series of campaigns launched in 1099 by Christian Europe against the Islamic East, ostensibly to liberate the Holy Land. In 1187, Salah al-Din (Saladin), the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, took Jerusalem back. In 1292, Acre, the last stronghold of the Crusaders in Palestine, fell to the Mamluks.

The Counter-Crusade: A movement to recover the Islamic lands occupied by the Crusades. It was fueled by the ruling military and religious elite as part of a wider moral reinvigoration of the community that was translated architecturally in the spread of religious institutions such as madrasas and mausolea.