Siege Of Antioch (1268)
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The siege of Antioch occurred in 1268 when the
Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...
under Baibars finally succeeded in capturing the city of
Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...
. Prior to the siege, the Crusader Principality was oblivious to the loss of the city, as demonstrated when Baibars sent negotiators to the leader of the former Crusader state and mocked his use of "Prince" in the title Prince of Antioch.


Prelude to the siege

In 1260, Baibars, the
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
of
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and
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, began to threaten the Principality of Antioch, a Crusader state, which (as a vassal of the
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
) had supported the
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. In 1265, Baibars took Caesarea,
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and Arsuf. A year later, Baibars conquered Galilee and devastated
Cilician Armenia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenians, Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages b ...
. As Steven Runciman relates in his last book about the Crusades, decades before the siege of Antioch (1268), prince Bohemond IV of Antioch had settled his court in the city of Tripoli, capital of his other state, the County of Tripoli. In 1268, the Antiochene knights and garrison were under the command of Simon Mansel, Constable of Antioch, whose wife was an Armenian Lady who was relative to Sibylla of Armenia, wife of prince Bohemond VI.


Siege of Antioch

In 1268, Baibars besieged the city of
Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...
, which was "badly defended by its patriarch and abandoned by most of its inhabitants," capturing it on 18 May (the citadel fell two days later) after a relatively feeble defense. Antioch had been weakened by its previous struggles with Armenia and by internal power struggles, and its inhabitants were quick to agree to a surrender, on the condition that the lives of the citizens within the walls would be spared. Before Baibars' forces laid siege on Antioch, the Constable Simon Mansel, along with a group of knights, led an unsuccessful attack against the Muslim army in order that the city should not be encircled. The defenses were in good condition, but the garrison was unable to defend the long walls of the city. Mansel was captured during the Antiochene cavalry attack, and Baibars ordered him to command his lieutenants in Antioch to surrender immediately. The garrison refused to capitulate, and continued the defense of the walls. Afterwards, lamenting that Antioch's ruler had not been present either for the siege or for the ransacking and murder, Baibars' secretary (who was also his biographer) wrote a detailed letter describing exactly what had been done to the people and the city: Michaud after quoting the letter of Baibar's concludes the sacking thus: Historian Thomas Madden concludes that the events and destruction following the siege of Antioch, "was the single greatest massacre of the entire crusading era." In addition, Ibn al-Furat also reported what happened:


Aftermath

For three days Antioch was sacked, in which 17,000 persons were killed and 100,000 taken prisoners. 8,000 took refuge in the castle, but eventually surrendered. Baibars had the fortress burned, the churches of St. Paul and St. Peter, and the other churches were destroyed or were left ruins. The monastery of Saint Simeon Stylites the Younger outside of Antioch was also destroyed during the campaign. The Hospitaller fortress Krak des Chevaliers fell three years later.Richard and Birrell, ''The Crusades'', 419. While
Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VI ...
launched the Eighth Crusade ostensibly to reverse these setbacks, it went to
Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
, instead of Constantinople, as Louis' brother, Charles of Anjou, had initially advised, though Charles I clearly benefited from the treaty between Antioch and Tunis that ultimately resulted from the Crusade. By the time of his death in 1277, Baibars had confined the Crusaders to a few strongholds along the coast and they were forced out of the Middle East by the beginning of the fourteenth century. The fall of Antioch was to prove as detrimental to the crusaders cause as its capture was instrumental in the initial success of the
First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...
.


References


Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Antioch (1268) Conflicts in 1268 1268 in Asia 13th-century massacres Antioch 1268 Antioch 1268 Medieval Antioch Antioch 1268
Ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
Military history of the Crusader states between the Seventh and Eighth Crusades Sieges of Antioch
Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...