Palestine, Mamluk
Substate | Defunct
1250 CE to 1516 CE
The Fourth Crusade, which did not reach Palestine, led directly to the decline of the Byzantine Empire, dramatically reducing Christian influence throughout the region.
The Mamluk Sultanate had been indirectly created in Egypt as a result of the Seventh Crusade.
The Mongol Empire reaches Palestine for the first time in 1260, beginning with the Mongol raids into Palestine under Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa, and reaching an apex at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut, where they are routed by the Mamluks.
In 1486, hostilities break out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire in a battle for control over western Asia, and the Ottomans capture Palestine in 1516.
Worlds
The Middle of The Earth
View →Related Events
Showing 10 events out of 86 total
The Seljuqs have wrested Syria, Palestine and the Hejaz from the Fatimids, who, having lost both Crete and Cyprus to Byzantium in the 960s, now hold only Egypt.
The disintegration of the great Seljuq empire soon begins, however.
Control of Palestine is contested between the European Franks of the First and Second Crusades and the Zengid dynasty of Syria and Iraq.
The Christian Reconquest and the Shifting Centers of Jewish Life (12th–13th Centuries)
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Christian kingdoms of Iberia intensify their Reconquista, reclaiming former caliphal territories of Córdoba from Muslim rule.
New Centers of Jewish Life in the Mediterranean
As political and religious landscapes shift, active Jewish cultural and intellectual centers flourish around the Mediterranean, particularly in:
-
North Africa:
- Alexandria (Egypt)
- Kairouan (Tunisia)
- Fez (Morocco)
-
Sicily (under Norman rulers Roger II and Frederick II)
- Palermo becomes a major hub of Jewish scholarship and commerce
-
Southern France:
- Montpellier, Avignon, and Orange serve as important centers for Jewish learning and trade
-
Italy:
- Pisa, Rome, and Lucca host thriving Jewish communities engaged in commerce, medicine, and scholarship
Impact of the Reconquista and Mediterranean Jewish Life
As the Reconquista progresses, many Jewish communities in Iberia remain influential, but others migrate to these Mediterranean centers. These cities become key locations for Jewish intellectual and commercial activity, fostering the exchange of scientific, philosophical, and religious ideas across Christian and Muslim lands.
The French army has been strengthened by the arrival, in late October, of troops under Alphonse de Poitiers, the third brother of king Louis IX, at Damietta.
The crusaders, encouraged by the news of the death of the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub, begin their march towards Cairo.
The crusaders, after several attempts, finally build a pontoon bridge.
A force led by Louis IX's brother Robert I of Artois succeeds in crossing the Canal of Ashmum (known today by the name al-Bahr al-Saghir) and launches a surprise attack against the Egyptian camp in Gideila, two miles away from Al Mansurah.
Emir Fakhr ad-Din is killed during the sudden attack and the Egyptian troops retreat to Al Mansurah as the crusaders proceed towards the town.
The leadership of the Egyptian force passes to the Mamluk commandants Faris ad-Din Aktai and Baibars al-Bunduqdari, who succeed in reorganizing the retreating troops.
Shajar al-Durr, who is in full charge of Egypt, agrees to Baibars’ plan of defense.
Saladin, the first sultan of the Ayyubid Dynasty, had followed what had by his time constituted a tradition in Muslim military practice by including a slave corps—the Mamluks—in his army in addition to Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and other free elements.
His successors have also followed this practice.
As-Salih Ayyub is reputedly the dynasty's largest purchaser of enslaved people, chiefly Turkish, as a means of protecting his sultanate both from Ayyubid rivals and from the crusaders.
Baybars, born in 1223, north of the Back Sea, had been one of a number of Kipchak Turks sold as slaves to the Mongols in about 1242.
Mamluks, who have become the military backbone of most Islamic states, are highly prized, and eventually Baybars had come into the possession of Sultan as-Salih.
Eventually appointed commander of a group of the sultan's bodyguard, Baybars leads the Ayyubid army's defense of the city of al-Mansurah against the crusaders' army led by Louis IX.
As-Salih had also purchased an enslaved man, Qalawun, who was called al-Alfi ['the Thousand-man'] because he was bought for a thousand dinars of gold.
Qalawun will become an important Sultan in the Bahri dynasty of Mamlukes.
Baibars orders the opening of a gate to let the knights of the crusaders enter the town.
The crusaders rush into the town, which they believe to be deserted, only to find themselves trapped inside.
Besieged from all directions by the Egyptian forces and the town's population, the crusaders suffer heavy losses.
Robert de Artois (brother of Louis IX), who had taken refuge in a house, and William of Salisbury are among those killed in Al Mansurah.
Only five Knights Templar survive the battle.
The crusaders are forced to retreat in disorder to Gideila, where they camp within a ditch and wall.
The Muslim forces launch an offensive against the Franks' camp early in the morning of February 11.
The outcome of the struggle is for a long time undecided, and the King's brother Robert d'Artois is killed, along with many knights.
Louis finally gains control of the situation through his energy and self-possession, but his army is exhausted.
Turanshah, the late Sultan's son and successor, arrives in Egypt from Hasankeyf to receive the throne on February 27, temporarily dominating dissident factions in Cairo.
Turanshah goes directly to Al Mansurah to lead the Egyptian army.
Ships are transported overland and dropped in the Nile (in Bahr al-Mahala) behind the ships of the crusaders cutting the reinforcement line from Damietta and besieging the crusade force of King Louis IX.
The Egyptians use Greek fire and destroy and seize many ships and supply vessels.
Soon, the besieged crusaders are suffering from devastating attacks, famine and disease.
Some crusaders lose faith and desert to the Muslim side.
The Franks have been forced to remain in their camp for many weeks enduring an exhausting guerilla war, in which many crusaders have been captured and taken to Cairo.
Frankish supply ships from Damietta have been intercepted, and before long, the crusaders are suffering from famine and disease.
The Nile carries thousands of corpses away from al-Mansurah, and plague strikes the survivors.
King Louis IX proposes to the Egyptians the surrender of Damietta in exchange for Jerusalem and some towns on the Syrian coast.
The Egyptians, aware of the miserable situation of the crusaders, refuse the besieged king's offer.
The King has to issue orders for the agonizing retreat toward Damietta.
On April 5, covered by the darkness of night, the crusaders evacuate their camp and begin to flee northward towards Damietta.
Louis, stricken in turn, drags himself along in the rear guard of his disintegrating force, refusing the pleas of others to protect himself by moving out ahead.
In their panic and haste, the crusaders neglect to destroy a pontoon bridge they had set over the canal.