REMOVAL OF CRUSADERS FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN IN THE MAMLUK-CRUSADER STRUGGLE

Abstract

One of the most important issues facing the Mamluk State since its establishment was to continue the struggle with the Crusaders who settled in the region. In fact, after the failure of the 3rd Crusade, Egypt became the new strategic target of the Crusaders under the Ayyubid administration. The developments that started during the reign of Sultan Baybars continued in the period of Kalavun and al-Eshref until the conquest of Akka. From this point on, ez-Zâhir Baybars marched at the head of a large army at the beginning of February 1265 and took over the cities of Kaysariyye, Yafa, Aslis, and Arsuf. In the summer of 1266, he tookover Safad and er-Remle. It caused a heavy blow to Armenia Minor. In 1267, Sultan Baybars looted the districts of Taberiyye and Akkâ and invaded the cities of Jaffa, es-Shakif, and Arnun the following year. Finally, he crowned the invasion wars against the Crusaders with the conquest of Antioch (April 1268). Baybars’ conquering of Antioch has been marked by contradictions. However, he will eliminate the crusader presence in Antioch and its surrounding by various methods and occupy the areas in the north of Syria, and finally narrow the area of the Crusader activity. It is an extremely important event that Antioch was conquered by Muslims in 1268. Because Antioch is the second principality established by the Crusaders in the East (1097) after Urfa, and the capture of this place is a piece of new evidence that the great structure that the Crusaders set up in Syria towards the end of the 11th century began to collapse. This eliminated the presence of crusaders on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, where they could indeed dominate until the First Crusade, and their withdrawal from the eastern Mediterranean is shown here. The struggle that took place in the period after Sultan Baybars and later, resulted in the fact that the defense against the Crusader attacks was first poured into the Mediterranean and then they were completely removed from there. The great Crusader attack in the 14th century spread over a century from different fronts and took place through the Balkans, the Aegean, and the Eastern Mediterranean. After the Crusaders’ main body was removed from Syria, the Armenian and Cypriot structures, which were their deputies, were also eliminated in the following periods. The Mamluks caused great losses to the Crusaders and their allies in the Eastern Mediterranean during the last period of the Crusades. This article examines how the Crusader presence was eliminated by the Mamluks in Antioch, Çukurova, and Cyprus.