The Banu Ammar were descended from the
Berber tribe of the
Kutama, which was the mainstay of the early
Fatimid Caliphate. The dynasty in Tripoli was founded by Amin al-Dawla Abu Talib al-Hasan ibn Ammar, who was the Fatimid-appointed
qadi of Tripoli when the local
Fatimid governor,
Mukhtar al-Dawla ibn Bazzal, died circa 1065. Amin al-Dawla declared himself the independent ruler of the town, ruling a territory extending from
Akkar in the north to
Jubayl (Byblos) in the south. His reign ended with his death two years later. Amin al-Dawla's two nephews fought for the succession, with one of them,
Jalal al-Mulk Ali ibn Muhammad, emerging victorious and exiling his brother. Jalal al-Mulk ruled the city in a precarious diplomatic balancing act between the Fatimids to the south and the
Seljuks to the east. In 1081, he captured
Jableh from the
Byzantine Empire. As part of his strategy to enhance Tripoli's position, he invested large sums in turning the city a famous centre for learning, founding a "House of Knowledge" that attracted scholars, as well as a notable library of reportedly 100,000 volumes. After Jalal al-Mulk's death in 1099, he was succeeded by his brother,
Fakhr al-Mulk, whose accession coincided with the arrival of the
First Crusade. At this point the Banu Ammar's territory spanned the port town of
Tartus and the fortresses of
Arqa, north of Tripoli, and
Khawabi, north of Tartus, in addition to Tripoli, Jubayl and Jableh. Fakhr al-Mulk faced the
continuous attacks of the
Crusaders under
Raymond of Saint-Gilles. Tartus was captured in 1099, but recaptured by the Banu Ammar until falling firmly into Crusader hands under Raymond in April 1102. The family lost Jubayl to Raymond in April 1104. He left the city in 1108 to rally the
Sunni rulers at
Damascus and
Baghdad to his assistance, but was deposed by the populace in a pro-Fatimid revolt. The Fatimids sent a fleet to the city, but it arrived only eight days after its fall to the Crusaders. In July 1109 the Crusaders under
Tancred captured Jableh. Fakhr al-Mulk remained in the service of the Seljuks, and then entered the service of the
atabeg Mawdud of
Mosul, and finally of the
Abbasid caliph al-Mustazhir. He died in 1118/9. ==References==