The
Siege of Acre (also called the
Fall of Acre) took place in 1291 and resulted in the loss of the
CrusaderThe Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between...
-controlled city of Acre to the Muslims. It is considered one of the most important battles of the time period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the
LevantThe Levant describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the south by...
. When Acre fell, the Crusaders lost their last major stronghold of the Crusader
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
. They still maintained a fortress at the northern city of Tartus, engaged in some coastal raids, and attempted an incursion from the tiny island of
RuadArwad – formerly known as Arado , Arados , Arvad, Arpad, Arphad, and Antiochia in Pieria , also called Ruad Island – located in the Mediterranean Sea, is the only inhabited island in Syria. The town of Arwad takes up the entire island...
, but when they lost that as well in 1302/1303 in the Siege of Ruad, the Crusaders no longer controlled any of the Holy Land.
Background
The main turning point in the Crusades was in 1187 when, after the pivotal
Battle of HattinThe Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
, the Christians lost
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
to the forces of
SaladinṢalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim who became the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
. In the same year, Saladin was able to conquer a great part of the
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
including
AcreThe acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre....
and
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
. This led to the
Third CrusadeThe Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin ....
during which
AcreThe acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre....
was
siegedThe Siege of Acre was the first confrontation of the Third Crusade, lasting from August 28, 1189 until July 12, 1191, and the first time in the history that the King of Jerusalem was compelled to personally see to the defence of the Holy Land...
and eventually fell in the hands of the Christians in 1191 and became base of operations and the capital of
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
for most of the next hundred years. The religious orders had their headquarters in or near Acre, from which they made crucial decisions on military and diplomatic efforts. For example, when the Mongol forces came in from the East in the mid-1200s, the Christians saw them as potential allies, but also maintained a position of cautious neutrality with the Muslim forces of the Egyptian Mamluks. In 1260, the Barons of Acre allowed the Mamluks to pass through their territory unhindered, which enabled the Mamluks to achieve a decisive victory against the Mongols at the pivotal
Battle of Ain JalutThe Battle of Ain Jalut took place on 3 September 1260 between the Egyptian Mamluks and the Mongols in Palestine, in the Jezreel Valley, not far from Ein Harod....
in
GalileeGalilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country...
.
However, most relations with the Mamluks were not as cordial. With the rise of the Mamluk Sultanate in
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
in 1250, the destruction of the remaining Crusader territories gathered pace. After the Battle of Ain Jalut, Mamluk forces began attacking Crusader holdings as early as 1261 under
SultanSultan is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. Originally it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", or "rulership", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power"...
BaibarsBaibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu al-Futuh
, was an important Mamluk Sultan of Egypt and Syria...
. In 1265, Caesarea,
HaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 264,900. Haifa has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs giving an example for peaceful co-existence. The Arab population used to be predominantly Christian, while some of the Jewish...
, and
ArsufArsuf also known as Arsur or Apollonia, was an ancient city and fortress located in Israel, about 15 kilometres north of modern Tel Aviv, on a cliff above the Mediterranean Sea. The city site, Tel Arsuf, was intensively excavated from 1994...
all fell to the Sultan. The following year saw the loss of all the important Latin holdings in
GalileeGalilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country...
. In 1268
Antioch was takenThe Siege of Antioch occurred in 1268 when the Mamelukes under Baibars finally succeeded in capturing the city of Antioch. 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...
.
To help redress these losses, a number of minor Crusading expeditions left Europe for the East. The
abortive CrusadeThe Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
of
Louis IX of FranceLouis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was a member of the House of Capet, the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile...
to
TunisTunis is the capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis Governorate, with a population of 1,200,000 in 2008 and over 3,980,500 in the greater Tunis area...
in 1270 was one such attempt. The minor
Ninth CrusadeThe Ninth Crusade, which is sometimes grouped with the Eighth Crusade, is commonly considered to be the last major medieval Crusade to the Holy Land. It took place in 1271–1272....
of Prince Edward (later
King Edward IEdward I , also known as Edward Longshanks, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English Barons. In 1259 he briefly sided with a baronial...
) of England in 1271-1272 was another. Neither of these expeditions was capable of giving any sound assistance to the beleaguered Latin states. The forces involved were too small, the duration of each of the Crusades too short, the interests of the participants too diverse to allow any solid accomplishment.
Pope Gregory XPope Blessed Gregory X , born Tebaldo Visconti, was Pope from 1271 to 1276. He was elected by the papal election, 1268–1271, the longest papal election in the history of the Roman Catholic Church....
labored valiantly to excite some general enthusiasm for another great Crusade, but he labored in vain. The failure of his appeal was variously ascribed by the Pope's advisors to the laziness and vice of the European nobility and to clerical corruption. Though each of these factors may have been in part to blame, a more basic reason for the failure seems to have been the debasement of the ideal of the Crusade itself. The use by Gregory X's predecessors of the label and privileges of the Crusade to recruit armies which could fight the Papacy's European enemies had done much to throw the whole movement into disrepute.
In any event, no Crusade of any major importance was forthcoming, despite the Pope's best efforts. Meanwhile the attacks on the Latin East continued, as did also the internal difficulties within what was left of the Latin Kingdom. By 1276, the situation, both external and internal, had become so perilous that the "King of Jerusalem"
Henry IIHenry II of Jerusalem and Henry II of Cyprus, born Henri de Lusignan was the last ruling and first titular King of Jerusalem and also ruled as King of Cyprus as Henry II...
withdrew from Palestine altogether to take up his abode on the Island of
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon....
. The desperate plight of the Latin Kingdom worsened. In 1278, Lattakia fell. In 1289
TripoliTripoli is a city in Lebanon. Situated north of Batroun and the cape of Lithoprosopon, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District...
was lost in the
Fall of TripoliThe Fall of Tripoli was the capture and destruction of the Crusader state, the County of Tripoli , by the Muslim Mamluks...
.
The Mamluks were led by Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil, son of
QalawunSaif ad-Dīn Qalawun aṣ-Ṣāliḥī was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt...
. Qalawun had begun preparations for the siege but died in November 1290.
Defensive efforts
Decades of communications between the Europeans and the Mongols, towards the possibility of creating a
Franco-Mongol allianceMany attempts were made towards forming a Franco-Mongol alliance between the mid-13th and early 14th centuries, starting around the time of the Seventh Crusade. Historians note that in hindsight an alliance between the Mongols and the "Franks" often appears a logical choice...
, had not produced any noticeable result, and attempts to raise a new army from Italy merely gave an excuse for the final attack by the Egyptians.
Muslim Attack on the City
Following the fall of Tripoli, king Henry of Cyprus sent the senechal
Jean de GraillyJean I de Grailly was the seneschal of the Duchy of Gascony from 1266 to 1268, of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from about 1272 until about 1276, and of Gascony again from 1278 until 1286 or 1287.-Early life:...
to Europe to warn European monarchs about the critical situation in the Levant. Jean met with
Pope Nicholas IVPope Nicholas IV , born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan monk, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as general of his order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and Latin Patriarch of...
who shared his worries and wrote a letter to European potentates to do something about the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
. Most however were too preoccupied by the Sicilian question to organize a Crusade, as was king Edward I too entangled in troubles at home.
Only a small army of peasants and unemployed townfolks from
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
and
LombardyLombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region...
could be raised. They were transported in 20 Venetian galleys. They were led by Nicholas Tiepolo, the son of the
DogeDoge is a dialectal Italian word that descends from the Latin dux , meaning "leader", especially in a military context. The wife of a Doge is styled a Dogaressa.The title of Doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italian "crowned republics"...
, who was assisted by the returning Jean de Grailly and Roux of Sully. As they sailed eastward, the fleet was joined by five galleys from king
James II of AragonJames II , called the Just was the King of Sicily from 1285 to 1296 and King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. In 1297 he was granted the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica...
who wished to help despite his conflict with the Pope and Venice.
The inexperienced and poorly controlled mass of peasants from Italy attacked and killed some Muslim merchants around Acre in August of 1290. These killings gave the
MamlukA mamluk was a soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim Arab caliphs from the 9th to the 16th centuries. They were of mixed ancestry but mainly Kipchak Turks...
Sultan
QalawunSaif ad-Dīn Qalawun aṣ-Ṣāliḥī was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt...
a pretext to attack the city. Qalawun asked for the men guilty of the killing to be remitted to him so that he could apply justice. After discussions of the apparent remitting the Christian criminals from Acre's jails, an idea of
Guillaume de BeaujeuGuillaume de Beaujeu, aka William of Beaujeu, was the 21st Grand Master of the Knights Templar, from 1273 until his death during the siege of Acre in 1291....
, the Council of Acre finally refused to remit anybody to Qalawun, and instead tried to argue that the killed Muslims had died because of their own fault.
Although a ten-year truce had been signed in 1289, Qalawun deemed the truce void following the killings. By October, Qalawun had ordered a general mobilization. Though the Sultan died in November, he was succeeded by his son
Khalilal-Malik al-Ashraf Salāh al-Dīn Khalil ibn Qalawūn ; . Was the eighth Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 1290 until his assassination in December, 1293. He is most famous for conquering the last of the Crusader states in Palestine.-Background:Al-Ashraf Khalil, the 8th Kipchak Turkic Sultan of Egypt was...
, who would lead the forces attacking Acre.
Siege
Qalawun, father of Khalil, conquered the
County of TripoliThe County of Tripoli was the last Crusader state founded in the Levant, located in what today is known as northern Lebanon, where exists the modern city of Tripoli. The Crusader state was captured and created by Christian forces in 1109, originally held by Bertrand of Toulouse as a vassal of...
in 1289, and in 1290 marched on Acre, the capital of the remnant of the
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
, but, to the relief of the Franks of Acre, he died in November before launching the attack. He was succeeded by Khalil who decided to continue the attack. Khalil sent a message to William of Beaujeu, the Master of the Temple, telling him about his intentions to attack Acre and urging him not to send messengers or gifts. But a delegation from Acre led by Sir Philip Mainebeuf, arrived in Cairo with gifts and appealed to Khalil not to attack Acre. Khalil did not accept the request and imprisoned the Frank messengers.
Al-Ashraf Khalil assembled the forces of Egypt and
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, which included a great number of volunteers and siege engines from everywhere at
Hisn al-AkradKrak des Chevaliers , transliterated Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader fortress in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the world. In Arabic, the fortress is called Qal'at al-Ḥiṣn , the word Krak coming from the Syriac karak, meaning fortress...
. Some of Khalil's
catapultA catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive substances—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it is proven...
s were huge and had such names as "Al Mansuri" and "The Furious" in addition to lighter, but potent,
mangonelA mangonel was a type of catapult or siege machine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested...
s called "Black Bulls". Four armies from Damascus (led by Lajin),
HamaHama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. The city is the location of the historical city Hamath...
(led by al-Muzaffar Taqai ad-Din),
TripoliTripoli is a city in Lebanon. Situated north of Batroun and the cape of Lithoprosopon, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District...
(led by Bilban) and Al Kark (led by Baibars al-Dewadar) marched to Acre to join the Egyptian army of Khalil.
In addition to the historian Baibars al-Dewadar who led the army of Al Karak, Abu al-Fida was another prominent historian who accompanied al-Ashraf in his
LevantThe Levant describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the south by...
iane expedition .
The Franks of Acre were for some time aware of the seriousness of the situation. They asked for help from Europe which resulted in nothing significant. A small group of knights, among them the Swiss Otto of Grandson, were sent by king
Edward I of EnglandEdward I , also known as Edward Longshanks, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English Barons. In 1259 he briefly sided with a baronial...
. Burchard of Schwanden, the
Grand MasterThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta is a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy...
of the
GermanThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
Teutonic KnightsThe Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order , is a German Roman Catholic religious order. It was formed to aid Catholics on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to care for the sick and injured...
, resigned and was replaced by
Konrad von FeuchtwangenKonrad von Feuchtwangen was the 13th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1291-96. He was a relative of the later Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen....
who suddenly left Acre for Europe. The only noteworthy reinforcement came from king
Henry IIHenry II of Jerusalem and Henry II of Cyprus, born Henri de Lusignan was the last ruling and first titular King of Jerusalem and also ruled as King of Cyprus as Henry II...
of Cyprus who fortified the walls and sent forces led by his brother
AmalricAmalric de Lusignan or Amaury II de Lusignan, Prince of Tyre , of the Lusignan family, was a son of Hugh III of Cyprus and Isabella of Ibelin.-Biography:...
to defend the city. Acre was well defended by two lines of thick walls and had Twelve towers which were built by European kings and rich pilgrims.
On the 5th of April 1291, Khalil's forces stood in front of Acre. The army of Hama took its position on front of the Templars' tower, while the Egyptian army stretched out from the end of the wall of Montmusard up to the Gulf of Acre. The
Dihliz (red tent of the Sultan and the headquarters) stood on a small hill near the shore on front of the Tower of the Legate. On April 6, the catapults began to hurl stones and fire over the walls of Acre. For eight days the walls were hurled and both armies engaged in occasional clashes. At the end of the eight days the Muslims set up barricades and began to move further towards the city, using wicker screens, till in the end they reached the edge of the wall. Carabohas were brought up and parts of the wall were mined out. Despite the continual arrival of reinforcements from Cyprus to Acre by sea, the Franks became convinced of their lack of strength against Khalil's army. On April 15, under moonlight, the Templars, led by Jean Grailly and Otto of Grandson, launched a sudden attack against the camp of the contingent of Hama but their horses got their legs tangled in the ropes of the Muslims' tents and were caught and many were killed. Another attack, after a few days and this time under cover of darkness, by the Hospitallers also ended badly. On May 5, some hope was revived when Henry II of Cyprus arrived with forces transported by 40 ships. But soon Henry, too, became convinced of his helplessness. The Franks sent messengers to Al-Ashraf Khalil who saluted him on their knees. Khalil asked them whether they brought him the keys of the city, but they replied that the city could not be surrendered so easily and that they only came to plea for mercy for the poor inhabitants and that the Franks were willing to discuss any injustice done by them earlier to the Muslims and to restore the truce signed by them and the Muslims. Khalil promised the messengers to spare the life of everyone if the Franks hand him Acre peacefully but the messengers refused his offer. While the messengers were still there a huge catapult stone launched from the city struck the ground near the sultan's tent. Khalil, believing that the crusaders were negotiating in bad faith, reacted furiously and wanted to kill the two messenger but Emir Sanjar al-Shuja' pleaded for them and they were sent back to the city.
From May 8, Acre's towers began to cave in one after one. On May 18, early in the morning at sunrise, the Sultan gave his order to launch an all-out attack on all points, accompanied by sound of trumpets and drums carried on 300 camels. The Muslim forces advanced towards a great tower that was called the Accursed Tower and forced the Frankish garrison to retreat to the side of the Gate of St. Anthony. Muslim standards were placed on the walls. All counter-attacks and attempts made by the Hospitallers and the Templars to recapture the tower were in vain. King Henry II and the Master of the Hospital boarded their galleys and fled from Acre. William of Beaujeu, the Master of the Temple, and Matthew of Clermont were killed. By capturing these positions, the Muslim forces were now inside the city fighting the Franks in the streets and alleys of Acre, which turned into a terrifying chaos as the inhabitants were fleeing towards the sea. How many inhabitants perished on land and in sea is unknown. Before night, Acre, after being in the hands of the Franks for 100 years , was in the hands of Al-Ashraf Khalil and his army after a siege of 43 days, with exception of the huge headquarters of the Templars which stood on the west side of the city seashore. After a week, Al-Asraf Khalil negotiated with Peter de Severy, who was in charge of the Templars, and it was agreed that the Templars and everyone inside the fortress would have free passage to Cyprus, but the Sultan's men who were sent to the fortress to supervise the evacuation seemed not disciplined enough to handle the matter and were massacred by the Templars. Under the cover of darkness, Theobald Gaudin, the new Master of the Temple, left the fortress for
SidonSidon,or Saïda, is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. Its name means a fishery...
with a few people and the fortune of the Templars. In the morning, Peter de Severy went to the Sultan to settle a new negotiation but he was arrested with his followers and they were executed in retaliation for the Sultan's men who were masscared earlier by the Templars inside the fortress. When the besieged Templars in the fortress saw what happened to Peter de Severy, they continued the fight. On May 28, after a wide breach was made under the fortress, the Sultan sent about 2000 men to take it. The Frankish fortress collapsed killing everyone inside, including Sultan's men.
The news of the conquest of Acre reached Damascus and Cairo. Al-Ashraf Khalil entered the decorated city of Damascus with Franks chained at the feet and the captured crusader standards which were carried upside-down as a sign of their defeat. After celebrating his victory in Damascus, Khalil left for Cairo which was also decorated and celebrating. Arriving at Cairo, he ordered the release of Philip Mainebeuf and the men who accompanied him to Cairo earlier.
Aftermath
The fall of Acre signaled the end of the Jerusalem crusades. No effective crusade was raised to recapture the Holy Land afterwards, though talk of further crusades was common enough. By 1291, other ideals had captured the interest and enthusiasm of the monarchs and nobility of Europe and even strenuous papal efforts to raise expeditions to liberate the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
met with little response.
The Latin Kingdom continued to exist, theoretically, on the island of Cyprus. There the
Latin kingsThe Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
schemed and planned to recapture the mainland, but in vain. Money, men, and the will to do the task were all lacking. One last effort was made by
King Peter IPeter I of Cyprus or Pierre I de Lusignan was King of Cyprus, and Titular King of Jerusalem from his father's abdication on November 24, 1358 until his own death in 1369. He was also Latin King of Armenia from either 1361 or 1368...
in 1365, when he successfully landed in Egypt and
sacked AlexandriaThe brief Alexandrian Crusade occurred in October of 1365 and was led by Peter I of Cyprus against Alexandria. Almost completely devoid of religious impetus, it differs from the more prominent Crusades in that it seems to have been motivated entirely by economic interests.-History:Peter I spent...
. Once the city was pillaged, however, the Crusaders returned as speedily as possible to Cyprus to divide their loot. As a crusade, the episode was utterly futile.
The fourteenth century saw some other crusades organized, but these enterprises differed in many ways from the eleventh and twelfth century expeditions which are properly called Crusades. The crusades of the fourteenth century aimed not at the recapture of Jerusalem and the Christian shrines of the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
, but rather at checking the advance of the
Ottoman TurksThe Ottoman Turks were the subdivision of the Ottoman Muslim Millet that dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. Reliable information about the early history of the Ottomans is scarce. According to some sources , the leader of the Kayi tribe of the Oguz Turks, Ertugrul, left Persia in...
into Europe. While many of the crusaders in these fourteenth century undertakings looked upon the defeat of the Ottomans as a preliminary to the ultimate recapture of the Holy Land, none of the later crusades attempted any direct attack upon Palestine or Syria.
Further reading
- Nicolle, David Acre 1291 (Osprey Campaign 154) Osprey, 2005.