Maraclea was a small coastal

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

town and a castle in the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, between

Tortosa Tortosa (, ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hi ...

and

Baniyas Baniyas ( ') is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal city in Tartous Governorate, western Syria, located south of Latakia and north of Tartous. It is known for its citrus fruit orchards and its export of wood. North of the city is an B ...

(Buluniyas). The modern-day location is known as Kharab Maraqiya ().

History

Following the

Muslim conquest of the Levant The Muslim conquest of the Levant (; ), or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the Rashidun Caliphate. A part of the wider Arab–Byzantine wars, the Levant was brought under Arab Muslim rule and develope ...

, Caliph

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

repopulated and garrisoned the coastal cities including Maraclea. In 675/676, a

Byzantine fleet The Byzantine navy was the Navy, naval force of the Byzantine Empire. Like the state it served, it was a direct continuation from its Roman navy, Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its ...

assaulted Maraclea, killing the governor of

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

. In 968, Byzantine Emperor

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless greatly contributed to the resurgence of t ...

ravaged the region including Maraclea. In 1030,

Niketas of Mistheia Niketas of Mistheia was a Byzantine official, originally from Mistheia, and '' doux'' of Antioch (1030–1032). He was an eunuch who held the titles of ''patrikios'' and '' rhaiktor''. Career In 1030, Byzantine Emperor Romanos III Argyros appoint ...

, doux of Antioch, managed to force a coalition of Arab tribes led by

Nasr ibn Musharraf al-Rawadifi Nasr ibn Musharraf al-Rawadifi (; died 1032) was an Arab chieftain of the Citadel of Maniqa and Jabal al-Rawadif near Antioch. Biography In 1027 AD, the ruler of Aleppo, Salih ibn Mirdas, was able to defeat doux of Antioch, Michael Spondyles who w ...

, the qadi of

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

and the local

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

commander to withdraw from besieging Maraclea. During the middle of the 13th century, the possession of the castle was a matter of dispute between the

Principality of Antioch The Principality of Antioch (; ) was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and History of Syria#Medieval era, Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of ...

and the

Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

. In 1271, the city of Maraclea was destroyed by the

Mamluks Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

. Its Lord, one of the vassals of

Bohemond VI Bohemond VI (–1275), also known as the Fair, was the prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli from 1251 until his death. He ruled while Antioch was caught between the warring Mongol Empire and Mamluk Sultanate. He allied with the Mongols against ...

, named Barthélémy de Maraclée, is recorded as having fled from the Mamluk offensive, taking refuge in Persia at the Mongol Court of

Abagha Abaqa Khan (27 February 1234 – 4 April 1282, , "paternal uncle", also transliterated Abaġa), was the second Mongol ruler (''Ilkhan'') of the Ilkhanate. The son of Hulagu Khan and Lady Yesünčin and the grandson of Tolui, he reigned from 1265 t ...

, where he exhorted the Mongols to intervene in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. In 1285,

Qalawun (, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Turkic Bahri Mamluk sultan of Egypt; he ruled from 1279 to 1290. He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious"). After having risen in power in the Mamluk court and elite circles, Qalawun eventually hel ...

blackmailed Bohemond VII into destroying the last fortifications of the area, where Barthélémy was entrenched, a square tower which had been erected some distance from the shore. Qalawun said he would besiege Tripoli if the Maraclea fort was not dismantled.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{cite book , last=Runciman , first=Steven , title=A history of the Crusades 3 , publisher=Penguin Books , year=1987 , ISBN=978-0-14-013705-7 Populated places disestablished in the 13th century Crusader castles