Hethum I

William of Rubruck and his companions, upon their arrival of at Karakorum, are received courteously by the Mongols and stay at the Great Khan's camp, where William records the first meeting between European Christians and Buddhists.

The party on July 10, 1254, begins their long journey home.

Hethum, King of Armenia from 1224, has long followed a policy of friendship and alliance with—i.e., submission to—the powerful Mongols.

Hethum himself travels in 1254 through Central Asia to Mongolia to renew the agreement.

He brings many sumptuous presents, and meets with Mongke at Karakorum.

The account of his travels is recorded by a member of his suite, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, as "The Journey of Haithon, King of Little Armenia, To Mongolia and Back".

Hulagu has probably always intended to take Baghdad, which the Mongols have been meaning to attack for over ten years, but he uses the caliph's refusal to send troops to him as a pretext for conquest, since his brother the Great Khan has ordered him to be merciful to those who submit.

The Mongol army sets out for Baghdad in November of 1257, led by Hulagu and the Han Chinese commander Guo Kan in vice-command.

The latter had participated in the final drive in the conquest of the Jin Dynasty, including the capture of Kaifeng, and may have served in the European campaign with Subutai a few years following the fall of the Jin Dynasty.

By order of Mongke Khan, one in ten fighting men in the entire empire have been gathered for Hulagu's army, probably the largest ever fielded by the Mongols.

The attacking army also has a large contingent of Christian forces levied from tributary states.

By the time that the Mongols reach Baghdad, their army includes even some Frankish forces from the Principality of Antioch, whose prince, Bohemond VI, had on the advice of his father-in, law, Hethum of Little Armenia, submitted to Mongol overlordship.

The main Christian force seems to have been the Georgians, who are to take a very active role in the destruction to follow.

Also, Ata al-Mulk Juvayni describes Cicilian Armenians, Persians, and Turks as participants in the siege, together with about one thousand Chinese artillery experts.

Rocket technology had first become known to Europeans following their use by the Mongols Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan when they conquered parts of Russia, Eastern, and Central Europe.

The Mongolians had acquired the Chinese technology by conquest of the northern part of China and also by the subsequent employment of Chinese rocketry experts as mercenaries for the Mongol military.

Reports of the Battle of Sejo in the year 1241 describe the use of rocket-like weapons by the Mongols against the Magyars.

They appear in literature describing the capture of Baghdad in 1258 by the Mongols.

Hethum continues as a vassal of the Mongols; his son-in-law, …

…Bohemond VI of Antioch-Tripoli, a principality increasingly aloof and through intermarriage closely tied to Armenia, follows suit.

The barons at Acre, unlike the lords of Armenia and Antioch-Tripoli, remain more disposed to deal with the Muslims, whom they know, than with the terrifying and unknown Mongols.

Philip of Montfort, as per a plan, marches on Acre in June and joins up with a band of Hospitallers while a Genoese fleet attacks the city by sea.

The Genoese navy, numbering some forty-eight galleys and four sailing ships armed with siege engines, under Rosso della Turca is quickly overrun by the Venetians and …

…the Genoese are forced to abandon their quarter and retreat with Philip to Tyre.

Baibars, a Kipchak Turk captured by the Mongols and sold as a slave in the Kipchak steppe, had ended up in Syria, where his first master, the emir (prince) of Hama, had been suspicious of Baibars because of his unusual appearance (he was dark-skinned, very tall and having a cataract in one of his bluish eyes).

Baibars had been quickly sold to a Mamluk officer and sent to Egypt, where he had become a bodyguard to the Ayyubid ruler As-Salih Ayyub.

At the age of about twenty-seven, he was a commander of the Mamluks in around 1250, when he had defeated the Seventh Crusade of Louis IX of France.

He is still a commander under Sultan Qutuz in 1259, by which time the Mongol Khanate of Persia, the Il-Khanate, claims dominion over the Seljuq Sultanates, the Kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia, and the Empire of Trebizond.

The Mongol forces combine with those of their Christian vassals in the region, such as the army of Cilician Armenia under Hetoum, and the Antiochene Franks of Bohemond.

This force now sets out to conquer Muslim Syria, domain of the weakened Ayyubid dynasty.

As the Mongols march toward Aleppo, some of an-Nasir Yusuf's advisors recommend surrendering to Hulagu as the best solution.

This angers Baibars and his Mamluks, who attempt to assassinate an-Nasir Yusuf, but he escapes and flees with his brother to the castle of Damascus, also sending his wife, son, and money to Egypt.

The Mongols arrive at Aleppo in December 1259.

Turanshah, the uncle of an-Nasir Yusuf, refuses to surrender.

After a siege of seven days, the Mongols storm Aleppo and massacre its population for another five days.

Turanshah leaves the city and dies a few days later.

Hulagu plans to move southwards through Palestine towards Egypt to confront the Mamluk Sultanate, the last major Islamic power, but his brother’s death forces his return home for the election of a new khakhan.

He transfers command to his lieutenant Kitbuqa Noyan, a Christian Turk belonging to the tribe of the Naimans, a Mongolian name given to a group of people dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, having diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitai, and subservient to them until 1177.

The Mongols with the Armenians and the Franks of Antioch take Damascus, which surrenders without resistance on March 1, 1260.

This invasion effectively destroys the Ayyubid Dynasty, the heretofore powerful ruler of large parts of the Levant, Egypt and Arabia.

Hulagu gives numerous gifts after the victory to Bohemond VI, including some of the conquered cities, including Latakia.

The conflict between the Armenians and the Mamluks had begun when the Mamluk Sultan Baibars summoned the Armenian ruler Hethum I to abandon his allegiance to the Mongols, accept himself as a suzerain, and remit to the Mamluks the territories and fortresses Hethum has acquired through his alliance with the Mongols.

Following these threats, Hetoum I had gone to the Mongol court of the Il-Khan in Persia to obtain military support.

During his absence, however, the Mamluks march on Cilician Armenia, led by Al-Mansur Qalawun.

Hethum I's two sons, Leo (the future king Leo II) and Thoros lead the defense by strongly manning the fortresses at the entrance of the Cilician territory.

The Mamluks, however, overtake the forts by going through the mountains, and encounter the Armenians at Mari, near Darbsak on August 24, 1266, where the Armenians are defeated.

Leo is made a prisoner, and Thoros is killed in action.

The Armeno-Mongol son of the Constable Sempad, named Vasil Tatar, is also taken prisoner by the Mamluks and is taken into captivity with Leo, although they are reported to have been treated well.

Following their victory, …