The Kisrawan Expeditions against Heterodox Religious Minorities in Syria under Mamluk Rule

Abstract

In 1260 the Mamluks conquered Greater Syria after their victory over the Mongols in the 'Ayn Jalut battle, and thus gained control over this area as well as Egypt. Yet, in spite of their defeat in 1260, the Mongols never gave up hope to re-conquer the region. They made several attempts to do so and even succeeded in conquering several districts over which they ruled for several months until driven out once again by the Mamluks. Their attempts continued till the beginning of the 151 century. In addition to the Mongols, the Crusaders (1096-1291 y also endeavoured to control the area and for thirty years, from 1260 till 1291, both Crusaders and Mamluks shared the control of Greater Syria. The former mainly ruled along the Mediterranean coast, but in 1289 Tripoli was conquered by the Mamluks, while Acre was not conquered till 1291; soon afterwards, the cities of Tyre, Sidon and Beirut were also captured. The year 1291 also marked the end of the Crusader presence, but like the Mongols, they never gave up hope to re-conquer the regionl. Besides this, several districts in Greater Syria were held by the Ayyubids, such as al-Karak (1263), Homs (1264) Sahiun (1271) and Hamah, which was ruled by the Ayyubids, by permission of the Mamluks till 1341. (Poliak 1977:16) The areas surrounding some of the districts that were not under Mamluk rule were inhabited by different heterodox religious minorities who were accused by the Mamluks of collaborating with the Crusaders and the Mongols against the Muslims.