Armeno-Mongol alliance

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Cilician Armenia was bordered by the Mongol Ilkhanate to the east, and the Crusader state of the Principality of Antioch to the South, another ally of the Mongols.
Cilician Armenia was bordered by the Mongol Ilkhanate to the east, and the Crusader state of the Principality of Antioch to the South, another ally of the Mongols.

The Armeno-Mongol alliance[1][2][3][4] occurred between the Christian kingdom of Cilician Armenia and the Mongol Empire (primarily the Ilkhanate) in the 13th and 14th centuries, from around 1247 to around 1322. United in their opposition to the Muslims (mainly the Mamluks), the Mongols and the Armenians engaged in effective cooperation against their common enemy. The alliance allowed Cilician Armenia to survive much longer than the Crusader States of the Levant until 1373.

The Armenians were also allied to the Crusader states, especially from 1254 when Bohemond VI, ruler of the Principality of Antioch and County of Tripoli, married with Princess Sibylla of Armenia, the daughter of Hetoum I, upon the recommendation of King Louis IX of France. This encouraged the Franks to develop contacts with the Mongols, leading to the emergence of a Franco-Mongol alliance which involved a lot of diplomatic interaction between Europe and the Mongols, and some military cooperation in the Levant.

These contacts were part of a broader web of Mongol alliances in the Middle-East which occurred throughout the second half of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, and involved widely spread polities. These multiples alliances were organized between, on the one hand a North-South axis consisting of the Mongol Golden Horde, the Egyptian Mamluks and the Genoese, and on the other, an East-West axis consisting of the Mongol Il-Khanids, the Armenians, the Franks. The Byzantine Empire would ally with the two parties alternatively.

Contents

[edit] Early contacts (1209-1244)

Main article: Christianity among the Mongols
Main article: Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia
Archibishop John of Cilician Armenia. His dress displays a Chinese dragon, an indication of the thriving exchanges with the Mongols during the period. 1287 painting.
Archibishop John of Cilician Armenia. His dress displays a Chinese dragon, an indication of the thriving exchanges with the Mongols during the period. 1287 painting.[5]

In 1220, the Mongols invaded Persian territory, successfully destroying the Turkish Khwarezmian Empire (some of the remains of which moved West in 1244 to ally with the Egyptian Mamluks, taking Jerusalem from the Christians along the way). But Genghis Khan then returned to Mongolia, and Persia was reconquered by Muslim forces.[6] In 1231, a much larger Mongol army arrived, under the general Chormaqan. He ruled over Persia and Azerbaijan from 1231 to 1241.[7] In 1242, Baichu further invaded the Seldjuk kingdom, ruled by Kaikhosrau, in modern Turkey. The Mongol conquest was seen by the Europeans as a positive one, since the Mongols were eliminating an enemy of Christendom.[8]

Genghis Khan died in 1227, and his Empire was split up into four sections, for each of his sons. The northern section, known as the Golden Horde began to encroach upon Europe, primarily via Hungary and Poland. The southwestern section, known as the Ilkhanid, under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson Hulagu, continued to advance towards Persia and the Holy Land. City after city fell to the Mongols, including some Christian realms in their path. Christian Georgia was repeatedly attacked starting in 1220,[9] and in 1243 Queen Rusudan formally submitted to the Mongols, turning Georgia into a vassal state which then became a regular ally in the Mongol military conquests.[10][11] This was a common practice in use by the growing Mongol empire -- as they conquered new territories, they would absorb the populace and warriors into their own Mongol army, which they would then use to further expand the empire.

[edit] Alliance of Hetoum I with the Mongols (1247)

Hetoum I and Queen Zabel on a coin.
Hetoum I and Queen Zabel on a coin.

The Mongols reached the Middle East and conquered Greater Armenia. The Mongol conquest was disastrous for the Armenians who still inhabited Greater Armenia, but this wasn't the case for those in Cilicia, as the Mongols never attacked them. Instead, Hethoum allied,[12][13][14] or submitted, to the Il-Khanate in 1247,[15] and in doing so, he guaranteed the safety of the Armenians outside Cilicia. In this choice, he seems to have been advised by some of the Barons of Greater Armenia, a land which had been ravaged by the Mongols, and especially by the Grand Prince of Karabagh, Hasan Jalal,[16] who had already forged an alliance with the Mongols.

14th century copy of the February 7, 1248, letter of Sempad to Henry I of Cyprus and Jean d'Ibelin, stating that "If God hadn't brought the Tartars who then massacred the pagans, they [the Sarasins] would have been able to invade the whole land as far as the sea." The letter was also shown to Louis IX.
14th century copy of the February 7, 1248, letter of Sempad to Henry I of Cyprus and Jean d'Ibelin, stating that "If God hadn't brought the Tartars who then massacred the pagans, they [the Sarasins] would have been able to invade the whole land as far as the sea."[17] The letter was also shown to Louis IX.

To formalize the alliance, Hetoum I sent his brother the Constable Sempad to the Mongol court in Karakorum. Sempad met with Güyük Khan and his successor, Kublai Khan's brother Möngke Khan, and made a formal alliance in 1247 between Cilicia and the Mongols, against their common enemy the Muslims.[18] The nature of this relationship is disputed by various historians, some of whom call it an alliance,[19] and others who say that the Armenians had submitted to Mongol overlordship, and had become a vassal state similar to any other conquered region.[11][20]

Sempad was enthusiastic about his travel to the Mongol realm, which lasted between 1247 to 1250.[21] He discovered many Christians in Mongol lands, even among the Mongols themselves. On February 7th, 1248, he sent a letter from Samarkand to his brother-in-law Henry I, king of Cyprus (who was married to the Armenian princess, Stephanie or Etienette, sister of Hetoum I and Sempad),[22] describing a Central Asian realm of oasis with many Christians, generally of the Nestorian rite:[23]

"We have found many Christians throughout the land of the Orient, and many churches, large and beautiful... The Christians of the Orient went to the Khan of the Tartars who now rules (Guyuk), and he received them with great honour and gave them freedom and let it know everywhere that no-one should dare antagonize them, be it in deeds or in words."

—Letter from Sempad to Henry I.[24]

Louis IX of France also read the letter, and was encouraged to dispatch an envoy to the Mongol court in the person of the Franciscan William of Rubruck, who went to visit the Great Khan Möngke in Mongolia.

During his visit to the Mongol court, Sempad received a relative of the Great Khan as a bride. He had a child with her, named Vasil Tatar,[25] who would later be captured by the Mamluks at the Battle of Mari in 1266.[26]

In the early 1250s, the Latin emperor of Constantinople Baldwin II also sent an embassy to Mongolia in the person of the knight Baudoin de Hainaut, who, following his return, met in Constantinople with the departing William of Rubruck.[27]

[edit] Hetoum' embassy to the Mongol court (1254)

In 1254 Hetoum himself traveled through Central Asia to Mongolia to renew the agreement.[28] He brought many sumptuous presents, and met with Mongke Khan (Guyuk's cousin) at Karakorum. The account of his travels was recorded by a member of his suite, Kirakos Gandzaketsi as "The Journey of Haithon, King of Little Armenia, To Mongolia and Back". The Journey of Hethoum was later translated into Russian, French, English,[29] and Chinese languages.

Hetoum, who came spontaneously as a vassal, was very well received by the Mongols. He had an audience with Mongke on September 13th, 1254, and obtained from the Khan documents garantying the inviolability of his person and his kingdom. He also apparently played a key role in advising the Khan on Christian matters in Western Asia. Mongke also informed informed him that he was preparing to mount an attack on Baghdad and that he would remit Jerusalem to the Christians if they collaborated with him.[30]

Hetoum I (seated) in the Mongol court of Karakorum, "receiving the homage of the Mongols". "Histoire des Tartars", Hayton of Corycus, 1307.
Hetoum I (seated) in the Mongol court of Karakorum, "receiving the homage of the Mongols".[31] "Histoire des Tartars", Hayton of Corycus, 1307.

The monk Hayton of Corycus in "La Flor des Estoires d'Orient" ("The flower of the stories of the Orient") later wrote about the meeting:

"The Khan wanted to go to Jerusalem in order to deliver the Saint Lands from the Saracens and to remit it to the Christians. The king Hetoum was very happy with this request, and assembled a great score of men on foot and on horse, because, in that time, the Kingdom of Armenia was in such a good state that it easily had 12.000 soldiers on horse and 60,000 soldiers on foot".

—"La Flor des Estoires d'Orient", circa 1300, Haiton, Doc. Arm II, p170 [32]

Hetoum left Karakorum in November 1st. On his way back, he visited the Mongol leader Bayju, and was present in his camp to witness Bayju's victory in Asia Minor against the Seljuq Turks.[33] He was back in Armenia in July 1255.[34]

With assistance from their Christian subjects, including Georgians and Armenians, the Mongols were able to invade Syria and Mesopotamia, and capture Baghdad in 1258. Armenia also engaged in an economic battle with Egypt, for control of the spice trade.[35]

Hetoum strongly encouraged other Frankish rulers to follow his example and submit to Mongol overlordship, but the only one that did was Hetoum's son-in-law, Bohemond VI, who joined the alliance sometime in the 1250s. Bohemond resided permanently in Tripoli and from 1254 left the daily management of his dominion of Antioch to the Armenians, so that Antiochian Franks were drawn into the long-standing Armeno-Mongol alliance.[36]

[edit] Collaboration in the Middle East (1258-1260)

A certain amount of military collaboration between the Christians and the Mongols did not really take place until 1258-1260, when Bohemond VI of Antioch and Tripoli, the Christian Armenians under his father-in-law Hetoum I, and the Christian Georgians combined forces with the Mongols under Hulagu. Hetoum I had also himself visited the court of Mangu Khan at Karakorum in 1254 to renew the Cilician-Mongol alliance.[37][38]

The leader of the Ilkhanid section of the Mongol Empire, Hulagu, was generally favourable to Christianity. He was the son of a Christian woman, Sorghaghtani Beki, and one of his most important generals, Kitbuqa, was a Naiman Christian.

Hulagu with his Christian queen Dokuz Khatun. Hulagu conquered Muslim Syria, in collaboration with Christian forces from Cilician Armenia, Georgia, and Antioch.
Hulagu with his Christian queen Dokuz Khatun. Hulagu conquered Muslim Syria, in collaboration with Christian forces from Cilician Armenia, Georgia, and Antioch.

The years from 1258 to 1260 brought both some of the greatest Mongol victories in the region, and their first major defeat. On the one hand, the combined forces of the Mongols with their Christian allies (or vassals) successfully conquered Syria, and in Iraq they conquered the center of the most powerful Islamic dynasty in existence at that time, that of the Abbasids in Baghdad. On the other hand, because of the neutrality of the Franks in Acre, and the passive alliance which was struck between the Franks and the Egyptian Mamluks, in late 1260 the Mamluks achieved a decisive victory against the Mongols at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut. This action effectively stopped the Mongol expansion into the area, and set the western border for the Mongol Empire.

The Crusader ruler Bohemond VI was induced into this alliance by his father-in-law the Armenian king Hetoum I, with whom he was closely connected since a rapprochement organized by Louis IX in 1254, and concretized by Bohemond's marriage with the daughter of the Armenian ruler.[39] Hetoum's own association with the Mongols had netted him some rich rewards, since his own submission in 1247. Bohemond resided permanently in Tripoli and from 1254 left the daily management of his dominion of Antioch to the Armenians, so that Antiochian Franks were drawn into the long-standing Armeno-Mongol alliance.[40]

[edit] Armenian involvement in the conquest of Baghdad (1258)

Main article: Battle of Baghdad (1258)
Mongol attack of Baghdad (1258).
Mongol attack of Baghdad (1258).

On February 15, 1258, the Mongols were successful in the Siege of Baghdad, an event often considered as the single most catastrophic event in the history of Islam. The attacking army also had a large contingent of Christian forces. The Georgians and Armenians participated in the offensive.[41][42] According to Alain Demurger, Frankish troops from the Principality of Antioch also participated, and Bohemond VI was present at Baghdad in 1258.[43]

When they conquered the city, the Mongols demolished buildings, burned entire neighborhoods, and massacred nearly 80,000 men, women, and children. The Georgians had been the first to breach the walls, and were among the fiercest in their destruction.[44] At the intervention of the Mongol Hulagu's Nestorian Christian wife Dokuz Khatun, the Christian inhabitants were spared.[45][46] Hulagu offered the royal palace to the Nestorian Catholicus Mar Makikha, and ordered a cathedral to be built for him.[47]

The conquest of Baghdad marked the tragic end of the Abbasid Caliphate. The city of Baghdad, which had been the jewel of Islam and one of the largest and most powerful cities in the world for 500 years, became a minor provincial town.

[edit] The Armenians in the Mongol invasion of the Levant (1260)

1260 Mongol offensive in the Levant.
1260 Mongol offensive in the Levant.

After Baghdad, in 1260 the Mongol forces, along with their Christian allies, conquered Muslim Syria, domain of the Ayyubid dynasty. They took the city of Aleppo with the help of the Franks of Antioch,[48] and on March 1, 1260 proceeded to capture Damascus,[49][50] under the Christian Mongol general Kitbuqa. Numerous historians, some of them quoting Le Templier de Tyr, explain that Kitbuqa entered the city of Damascus in triumph together with Hethoum and Bohemond VI, and that great Christian celebrations were made.[51][52][53][54][55] According to Peter Jackson however, Bohemond VI of Antioch was said to be present in some later accounts but not in contemporary sources, and it is likely a later legend.[56] The historian De Reuven Amitai-Preiss concludes that the accounts may be exaggerated, but have some truth to them.[57]

According to the contemporary account of Le Templier de Tyr, mass was celebrated in the Grand Mosque of the Umayyads (the former cathedral of Saint John the Baptist),[58], and numerous mosques were profaned:

"The king of Armenia and the Prince of Antioch went to the army of the Tatars, and they all went off to take Damascus. When Damascus was taken, the Prince, to the shame of the Sarasins, established a beautiful church, which at the time of the Greeks used to belong to the Christians, and where since then the Sarasins had prayed Mahomet. The Prince had mass held for the Franks and the bells rung. In the other mosques of Mahomet, where the Sarazins were, shrubs were placed, wine was sprayed on the walls, and fresh pork grease was smeared. And if he commanded his people to do some dirt, they would do tenfold."

—Gestes des Chiprois, Le Templier de Tyr, quoted in "Histoire des Croisades III", René Grousset[59]

The Mongol invasion effectively destroyed the Ayyubid Dynasty, who had been overthrown in Egypt ten years before but had held on in Syria. The last Ayyubid king An-Nasir Yusuf died in 1260.[60] With the Islamic power centers of Baghdad and Damascus gone, the center of Islamic power transferred to the Egyptian Mamluks in Cairo.

[edit] Battle of Ain Jalut (1260)

The Franks of the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli and the Armenians aside, in 1260, the Franks of Acre maintained a position of cautious neutrality between the Mongols and the Mamluks. The powerful Venetian commercial interests in the city regarded with concern the expansion of the northern trade routes opened by the Mongols and serviced by the Genoese, and they favoured an appeasement policy with the Mamluks, that would support their traditional trade routes to the south. In May 1260 they sent a letter to Charles of Anjou, complaining about Mongol expansion and Bohemond's subservience to them, and asking for his support.[61]

They did send the Dominican David of Ashby to the court of Hulagu in 1260,[62] but also entered into a passive alliance with the Egyptian Mamluks, which allowed the Mamluk forces to move through Christian territory unhampered,[63] in exchange for an agreement to purchase captured Mongol horses at a low price in the event of a Mamluk victory (a promise which was not honoured by the Mamluks).[64] This allowed the Mamluks to counter-attack the Mongols, at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut on September 3, 1260. It was the first major battle that the Mongols lost, and effectively set the western border for what had seemed an unstoppable Mongol expansion. According to the 13th century historian Kirakos, many Armenians and Georgians were also fighting in the ranks of Kitbuqa.[65] The Armenian historian Smpad writes that about 500 troops from Armenia accompanied the Mongols.[66]

Following Ain Jalut, the remainder of the Mongol army retreated to Cilician Armenia under the commander Ilka, where it was received and re-equipped by Hetoum I. Hulagu sent a counter-attack which briefly occupied Aleppo, but it was repelled by the princes of Hama and Homs, subjects to the Sultan.[67]

The Mamluk leader Baibars began to threaten Antioch, which (as a vassal of the Armenians) had earlier supported the Mongols.[68] In the summer of 1262, the king of Armenia went to the Mongols and again obtained their intervention to deliver the city.[69][70] The city was saved through Mongol intervention.[71]

"In 1264, l'Il-Khan had me called, as well as the vartabeds Sarkis (Serge) and Krikor (Gregory), and Avak, priest of Tiflis. We arrived at the place of this powerful monarch at the beginning of the Tartar year, in July, period of the solemn assembly of the kuriltai. Here were all the Princes, Kings and Sultans submitted by the Tartars, with wonderful presents. Among them, I saw Hetoum I, king of Armenia, David, king of Georgia, the Prince of Antioch (Bohemond VI), and a quantity of Sultans from Persia.

—Vartan, trad. Dulaurier.[72]

However, in response to Hetoum I and Bohemond VI's request for help, Hulagu was only capable of attacking the frontier fort of Al-Bira (1264-1265).[73]

[edit] Mamluk attacks on Armenia

The Mamluks defeated the Armenians at the Battle of Mari in 1266, killing one of Hetoum I's sons and capturing another (the future king Leon II). They then ravaged the land of Armenia.
The Mamluks defeated the Armenians at the Battle of Mari in 1266, killing one of Hetoum I's sons and capturing another (the future king Leon II). They then ravaged the land of Armenia.[74]

Following the death of Hulagu in 1265, the Muslim leader Baibars attacked the Franks, and brought terrible devastation to the kingdom of Little Armenia. In 1266, Baibars summoned Hetoum I to abandon his allegiance to the Mongols, to accept Mamluk suzerainty, and remit to the Mamluks the territories and fortresses Hetoum had acquired through his submission to the Mongols. Following these threats, Hetoum I went to the Mongol court of the Il-Khan in Persia to obtain military support. During his absence however, the Mamluks marched on Cilician Armenia, led by Mansur II and the Mamluk commander Qalawun, and defeated the Armenians at the Battle of Mari, causing great devastation to the country. In 1269, Hetoum I abdicated in favour of his son Leon II, who was forced to pay large annual tributes to the Mamluks. Even with the tributes though, the Mamluks continued to attack Cilicia every few years. In 1292 they sacked Hromkla, which required the Holy See to move to Sis.

[edit] Joint invasion of Syria (1280-1281)

Without support from the Crusades, some Franks of Syria, particularly the Hospitallers, and to some extent the Franks of Cyprus and Antioch, joined in combined operations with the Armenians and the Mongols in 1280-1281. The historian Zoe Oldenbourg in The Crusades mentions in 1280 the "Alliance of Franks and Mongols against Qalawun".[75]

[edit] Campaign of autumn 1280

The Hospitaller Knights of the fortress of Marqab fought together with the Mongols.
The Hospitaller Knights of the fortress of Marqab fought together with the Mongols.

Following the death of Baibars in 1277, and the ensuing disorganisation of the Muslim realm, conditions were ripe for a new action in the Holy Land.[76] The Mongols seized the opportunity and organized a new invasion of Syrian land. In September 1280, the Mongols occupied Baghras and Darbsak, and took Aleppo on October 20, where they massacred many inhabitants.

"Abagha ordered the Tartars to occupy Syria, the land and the cities, and remit them to be guarded by the Christians."

—Monk Hayton of Corycus, "Fleur des Histoires d'Orient", circa 1300[77]

On the Frank side the king of Cyprus Hugues III and Bohemond VI also mobilized their army, but they could not intervene because the Mamluks had already positionned themselves between them and the Mongols.[78] In October 1280, the Mongols sent envoys to Acre to request military support for the campaign, but the Vicar of the Patriarch invoked that the city was suffering from hunger, and that the king of Jerusalem was embroiled in another war.[79] The Mongols also requested support for a campaign the following winter, informing the Franks that they would bring 50,000 Mongol horsemen and 50,000 Mongol infantry, but the request apparently remained without a response.[80]

According to Runciman, Abagha and Leo III of Armenia urged the Franks to start a new Crusade, but only the Hospitallers and Edward I (who could not come for lack of funds) responded favourably.[81] The Hospitallers of Marquab made combined raids into the Buqaia, and won several engagements against the Sultan.[82] They raided as far as the Krak des Chevaliers in October 1280, and defeated the Mamluk army of the Krak in February 1281.[83]

The Mongols finally retreated, pledging to come back for the winter of 1281.

[edit] Campaign of Autumn 1281

Defeat of the Mongols (left) at the 1281 Battle of Homs.
Defeat of the Mongols (left) at the 1281 Battle of Homs.

In order to prevent new combined actions between the Franks and the Mongols, the new Muslim sultan Qalawun signed a new 10-year truce on May 3, 1281 (following the expiration of the old truce from 1271) with the Barons of Acre (a truce he would later breach)[84] and a second 10-year truce with Bohemond VII of Tripoli, on July 16, 1281. The truce also authorized pilgrim access to Jerusalem.[85]

The announced Mongol invasion started in September 1281. They were joined by the Armenians under Leo II, and by about 200 Hospitaliers knights of the fortress of Marqab,[86][87] who considered they were not bound by the truce with the Mamluks.[88] Some knights from Cyprus also probably accompanied them.[89]

"In the year 1281 of the incarnation of Christ, the Tatars left their realm, crossed Aygues Froides with a very great army and invaded the land of Aleppo, Haman and La Chemele and did great damage to the Sarazins and killed many, and with them were the king of Armenia and some Frank knights of Syria."

—Le Chevalier de Tyre, Chap. 407[90]

On October 30, 1281, 50,000 Mongol troops, together with 30,000 Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and the Hospitalier Knights of Marqab fought against the Muslim leader Qalawun at the Second Battle of Homs, but they were repelled, with heavy losses on both sides.[88]

With Abaqa's death in 1282, and his replacement by the Muslim Mongol ruler Teguder, the Sultan Qalawun was free again to attacks Frankish territory.[91]

[edit] Continued Armeno-Mongol relations

In 1284, the Dominican Burchard of Mount Sion visited Cilician Armenia and left an account of his travel there. He stayed at the royal court of Sis, and at the catholicossal seat of Hromgla.

Burchard described the country as submitted to Mongol domination,[92] and explains that Mongols were present at the royal Armenian court:

"Actually, I spent three weeks with the king of Armenia and Cilicia, who had with him some Tartars. The rest of the attendants were Christians, to the number of about 200. I saw them gather to go to church, listen to the office, bend the knee, and pray with devotion."

—Burchard of Mount Sion, 1282.[93]

In 1293, during the reign of the Ilkhan Gaykhatu, Hethoum II was again attacked by the Mamluks and could not receive Mongol help. He had to abandon a considerable amount of territory in the eastern part of the country. He then abandonned his throne to enter a Franciscan convent under the name John (an apparent hommage to John of Monte Corvino).[94], leaving official rule to his brother Thoros for two years, before he regained the throne.

With the rise of Ghazan in 1295, Hethoum II was able to again reinforce relations with the Mongols. Hethoum visited Ghazan at his court, who renewed the traditional alliance, and would remain faithful to it by continuously fighting the Mamluks.[95]

In 1296, Hethoum II visited Constantinople to reinforce contacts there as well. He married his sister Rita to Michael VIII Palaiologos. During his absence, Smpad of Armenia captured the throne and also attempted to obtain Mongol support, and married a relative of Ghazan.[96][97] Hethoum II would regain the throne in 1298 and continue relations with the Mongols.

[edit] Alliance to recapture the Levant (1297-1303)

Ghazan (center) was raised a Christian but converted to Islam upon accession to the throne. He still considered the Mamluks as his mortal enemies.
Ghazan (center) was raised a Christian but converted to Islam upon accession to the throne. He still considered the Mamluks as his mortal enemies.

In 1297, the new Mongol ruler Ghazan was able to resume offensives against the Mamluks and revive the Franco-Mongol alliance.[98] Ghazan had been baptized and raised as a Christian, though he had became a Muslim upon accession to the throne.[99] He retained however a strong enmity towards the Egyptian Mamluks.

These coordinated actions between the Mongols and the Franks of Cyprus came very close to succeeding.[100] The plan was to coordinate actions between the Christian military orders, the King of Cyprus, the aristocracy of Cyprus and Little Armenia and the Mongols of the khanate of Ilkhan (Persia).[101] The Christian forces of Cyprus and Armenia were determined to reconquer the Holy Land in liaison with the Mongol offensives. However, they had little support from Europe, and Crusades to help sustain their actions.[102]

[edit] Armenian campaigns (1298-1299)

In 1298 or 1299, the military orders—the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller—and their leaders, including Jacques de Molay, Otton de Grandson and the Great Master of the Hospitallers, briefly campaigned in Armenia, in order to fight off an invasion by the Mamluks.[103][104][105] However, they were not successful, and soon, the fortress of Roche-Guillaume in the Belen pass, the last Templar stronghold in Antioch, was lost to the Muslims.[106]

[edit] Campaign of winter 1299-1300

Franco-Mongol operations in the Levant, in 1299-1300.
Franco-Mongol operations in the Levant, in 1299-1300.
Victory of the Mongols (left) over the Mamluks (right) at the 1299 Battle of Homs.
Victory of the Mongols (left) over the Mamluks (right) at the 1299 Battle of Homs.

In the summer of 1299, King Hetoum II of Armenia sent a message to the Mongol khan of Persia, Ghâzân to obtain his support. In response, Ghazan marched with his forces towards Syria and sent letters to the Franks of Cyprus (the King of Cyprus, and the heads of the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights), inviting them to come join him in his attack on the Mamluks in Syria. Ghazan's first letter was sent on October 21, which arrived 15 days later. He sent a second letter in November.[107]

There is no record of any reply, and Ghazan moved ahead, the Mongols successfully taking the city of Aleppo. There, Ghazan was joined by King Hetoum, whose forces included some Templars and Hospitallers from the kingdom of Armenia, who participated in the rest of the offensive.[108] The Mongols and their allies defeated the Mamluks in the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, on December 23 or 24, 1299.[109] One group of Mongols then split off from Ghazan's army, and pursued the retreating Mamluk troops as far as Gaza,[110] pushing them back to Egypt. The bulk of Ghazan's forces then proceeded on to Damascus, which surrendered somewhere between December 30, 1299, and January 6, 1300, though its Citadel resisted.[111][112] A contemporary Arab writer mentions the exactions in Damas of the Armenian and Georgian Christians together with the Mongols.[113] Ghazan then retreated most of his forces in February, probably because their horses needed fodder. He promised to return in the winter of 1300-1301 to attack Egypt.[114]

In the meantime the remaining forces of the Mongols, about 10,000 horsemen under the Mongol general Mulay, ruled over Syria,[115] and engaged in raids as far south as Jerusalem and Gaza.[116][117][118][119] But that small force had to retreat when the Mamluks returned in May 1300.

[edit] Mongols and Armenians in Jerusalem in early 1300

It may be on the occasion of a visit to Jerusalem in 1300 that Hetoum II remitted his amber scepter to the Armenian convent of Saint James of Jerusalem.
It may be on the occasion of a visit to Jerusalem in 1300 that Hetoum II remitted his amber scepter to the Armenian convent of Saint James of Jerusalem.

Mongol raids on Jerusalem are sometimes thought to have occurred during the Mongol invasions of Syria and Palestine by Ghazan in the year 1300. There are pervasive Medieval accounts, whether from European, Armenian or Arab sources, claiming that the Mongols occupied Jerusalem in 1300. There is little evidence however that this actually happened, and modern scholars are divided on the question. After the Mamluk forces retreated south to Egypt, the main Mongol forces retreated north in February, and Ghazan left his general Mulay to rule in Syria.[120] Accordingly, there existed a period of about four months from February to May 1300, when the Mongol il-Khan was the "de facto" lord of the Holy Land.[121] According to Alain Demurger, Ghazan captured Jerusalem after he had taken Damascus,[122] and his general Mulay was in Jerusalem in 1299/1300.[123] But Mulay's small force had to retreat when the Mamluks returned in May 1300.[124][125] Ghazan also promised to return in the winter of 1300-1301 to attack Egypt.[126]

An Armenian monk named Nerses Balients, converted to Catholicism by the Dominicans,[127] stated that the Armenian King Hetoum II, with a small force, had reached the outskirts of Cairo and then spent some fifteen days in Jerusalem visiting the Holy Places:

"The king of Armenia, back from his raid against the Sultan, went to Jerusalem. He found that all the enemies had been put to flight or exterminated by the Tatars, who had arrived before him. As he entered into Jerusalem, he gathered the Christians, who had been hiding in caverns out of fright. During the 15 days he spent in Jerusalem, he held Christian ceremonies and solemn festivities in the Holy Sepulchre. He was greatly comforted by his visits to the places of the pilgrims. He was still in Jerusalem when he received a certificate from the Khan, bestowing him Jerusalem and the surrounding country. He then returned to join Ghazan in Damas, and spend the winter with him"

—Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Historiens Armeniens I, p.660[128]
Ghazan ordering the King Of Armenia Hetoum II to accompany Kutlushka on the 1303 attack on Damascus.
Ghazan ordering the King Of Armenia Hetoum II to accompany Kutlushka on the 1303 attack on Damascus.[129]
Hetoum II (left) parting with Ghazan and his Mongols (right) in 1303. By the Armenia monk Hayton "La Flor des Estoires d'Orient".
Hetoum II (left) parting with Ghazan and his Mongols (right) in 1303. By the Armenia monk Hayton "La Flor des Estoires d'Orient".

According to the historian Claude Mutafian, this may be on this occasion that Hetoum II remitted his amber scepter to the Armenian convent of Saint James of Jerusalem.[130]

[edit] Defeat of Shaqhab

The remaining Templars from Cyprus continued making raids on the Syrian coast in early 1303, and ravaged the city of Damour, south of Beyrouth. As they had lost Ruad, though, they were not capable of providing important troops.[131]

In 1303, the Mongols appeared in great strength (about 80,000) together with the Armenians, but they were defeated at Homs on March 30, 1303, and at the decisive Battle of Shaqhab, south of Damas, on April 21, 1303.[131] It is considered to be the last major Mongol invasion of Syria.[132] Also in 1303, Ghazan had again sent a letter to Edward I, in the person of Buscarello de Ghizolfi, reinterating Hulagu's promise that they would give Jerusalem to the Franks in exchange for help against the Mamluks.[133] But Ghazan died on May 10, 1304, and dreams of a rapid reconquest of the Holy Land were destroyed.

In 1304, the Mamluks continued their assault on Cilician Armenia, and succeeded in taking back all the lands which the Armenians had acquired during the Mongol invasion. Until its final fall in 1375, Cilician Armenia received a succession of attacks from the Mamluks, with only few successes, such as the Battle of Ayas in 1305.

In 1307, Hetoum II and Leon III were assassinated with their retinue by the Mongol general of Cilicia,[134] Bilarghu,[135] following an internal plot against Hetoum's efforts to unite the Armenian Church with Rome. The Mongol ruler Oljeitu later executed Bilarghu for his crime.

[edit] Advocating a new Crusade with the Mongols (1307)

Hayton of Corycus remitting his report on the Mongols, to Pope Clement V, in 1307.
Hayton of Corycus remitting his report on the Mongols, to Pope Clement V, in 1307.

The Armenian monk Hayton of Corycus went to visit Pope Clement V in Poitiers, where he wrote his famous "Flor des Histoires d'Orient", a compilation of the events of the Holy Land describing the alliance with the Mongols, and setting recommendations for a new Crusade:

"God has also shown the Christians that the time is right because the Tartars themselves have offered to give help to the Christians against the Saracens. For this reason Gharbanda, King of the Tartars, sent his messengers offering to use all his power to undo the enemies of the Christian land. Thus, at present, the Holy Land might be recovered with the help of the Tartars and the realm of Egypt, easily conquered without peril or danger. And so Christian forces ought to leave for the Holy Land without any delay.

—Hayton, Flor des Estoires d'Orient, Book IV.[136]

On April 4, 1312, a Crusade was promulgated by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne. Another embassy was sent by Oljeitu to the West and to Edward II in 1313.[137] That same year, the French king Philippe le Bel "took the cross", making the vow to go on a Crusade in the Levant, thus responding to Clement V's call for a Crusade. He was however warned against leaving by Enguerrand de Marigny,[138] and died soon after in a hunting accident.[139] Oljeitu finally launched a last campaign against the Mamluks (1312-13), in which he was unsuccessful.

[edit] Last Mongol intervention in Cilician Armenia (1322)

The French Pope John XXII requested, and obtained, the help of the Mongols in 1322 to rescue Cilician Armenia.
The French Pope John XXII requested, and obtained, the help of the Mongols in 1322 to rescue Cilician Armenia.

In 1320, the Egyptian sultan Naser Mohammed ibn Kelaoun invaded and ravaged Christian Armenian Cilicia. Pope John XXII sent a letter, dated July 1, 1322, from Avignon to the Mongol ruler Abu Sa'id, reminding him of the alliance of his ancestors with Christians and asking him to intervene in Cilicia. At the same time he advocated that he abandon Islam in favor of Christianity. Mongol troops were sent to Cilicia, but only arrived after a ceasefire had been negotiated for 15 years between Constantin, patriarch of the Armenians, and the sultan of Egypt. After Abu Sa'id, relations between Christian princes and the Mongols were totally abandoned.[citation needed][140] He died without heir and successor. The state lost its status after his death, becoming a plethora of little kingdoms run by Mongols, Turks, and Persians.

Relations with the Mongols would essentially disappear after 1320, but on the contrary, relations with the Franks were reinforced, with the establishment of the French Lusignan dynasty as the ruling familly in Cilician Armenia, due the policy of inter-marriage between the royal famillies of Cyprus and Cilician Armenia, starting from the time of Bohemond VI in 1254. Following the murder of Leo IV in 1341, his cousin Guy Lusignan was elected king. However, when the pro-Latin Lusignans took power, they tried to impose Catholicism and the European way of life. The Armenian leadership largely accepted this, but the peasantry opposed the changes. Eventually, this led the way to civil strife. [141]

In the late 14th century, Cilicia was invaded by the Mameluks. The fall of Sis in April, 1375 put an end to the kingdom; its last King, Leo V, was granted safe passage and died in exile in Paris in 1393 after calling in vain for another Crusade. The title was claimed by his cousin, James I of Cyprus, uniting it with the titles of Cyprus and Jerusalem. [141] Thus ended the last fully independent Armenian entity of the Middle Ages after three centuries of sovereignty and bloom. The Mongol alliance had allowed it to significantly outlive the Crusader states, and to survive for about an additional century in the face of the Muslim expansion.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Claude Mutafian describes "The Armeno-Mongol Alliance" in Le Royaume Armenien de Cilicie, p.56
  2. ^ Amin Maalouf in The Crusades through Arab eyes is extensive and specific on the alliance (page numbers refer to the French edition): “The Armenians, in the person of their king Hetoum, sided with the Mongols, as well as Prince Bohemond, his son-in-law. The Franks of Acre however adopted a position of neutrality favourable to the Muslims” (p.261), “Bohemond of Antioch and Hethoum of Armenia, principal allies of the Mongols” (p.265)
  3. ^ Also "Mongolian-Armenian alliance": in The Islamic World in Ascendency: From the Arab conquest to the Siege of Vienna by Dr. Martin Sicker (p.111): "Bohemond, however, resided exclusively in Tripoli and, as a practical matter, Hetoum, whose realm was contiguous with it, ruled Antioch. Accordingly, Antioch was drawn into the Mongolian-Armenian alliance".
  4. ^ "An attempt to break the Armeno-Mongol alliance", Luisetto, p.131
  5. ^ Mutafian, p.55
  6. ^ Runciman, p.249
  7. ^ Runciman, p.250
  8. ^ Runciman, p.253
  9. ^ Runciman, p.246-247
  10. ^ Runciman, p.250
  11. ^ a b Weatherford, p. 181. "To supplement his own army, Hulegu summoned the armies of the vassal states of Armenia and Georgia"
  12. ^ Claude Mutafian in Le Royaume Arménien de Cilicie describes "the Mongol alliance" entered into by the king of Armenia and the Franks of Antioch ("the King of Armenia decided to engage into the Mongol alliance, an intelligence that the Latin barons lacked, except for Antioch"), and "the Franco-Mongol collaboration" (Mutafian, p.55).
  13. ^ Claude Lebedel in Les Croisades describes the alliance of the Franks of Antioch and Tripoli with the Mongols: (in 1260) "the Frank barons refused an alliance with the Mongols, except for the Armenians and the Prince of Antioch and Tripoli".
  14. ^ Amin Maalouf in The Crusades through Arab eyes is extensive and specific on the alliance (page numbers refer to the French edition): “The Armenians, in the person of their king Hetoum, sided with the Mongols, as well as Prince Bohemond, his son-in-law. The Franks of Acre however adopted a position of neutrality favourable to the muslims” (p.261), “Bohemond of Antioch and Hethoum of Armenia, principal allies of the Mongols” (p.265), “Hulagu (…) still had enough strength to prevent the punishment of his allies [Bohemond and Hethoum]” (p.267).
  15. ^ Frederic Luisetto states that Hetoum submitted as early as 1244. Luisetto, p. 237
  16. ^ Mutafian, p.55
  17. ^ "Le Royaume Armenien de Cilicie", p66
  18. ^ Bournotian, p. 100. "Smbat met Kubali's brother, Mongke Khan and in 1247, made an alliance against the Muslims"
  19. ^ Mutafian describes it as "The Armeno-Mongol Alliance", p.56
  20. ^ Stewart, "Logic of Conquest", p. 8. "The Armenian king saw alliance with the Mongols -- or, more accurately, swift and peaceful subjection to them -- as the best course of action."
  21. ^ Grousset, p.529, Note 273
  22. ^ Grousset, p.529, note 272
  23. ^ Jean Richard, “Histoire des Croissades”, p. 376
  24. ^ Extract quoted in Grousset, p. 529
  25. ^ Luisetto, p.122, who references introduction and notes in G.Dedeyan La Chronique attribuée au Connétable Sempad, 1980
  26. ^ The Armenian Kingdom and the Mamluks p.49, Angus Donal
  27. ^ Jean Richard, p. 377
  28. ^ Bournotian, p. 101
  29. ^ Emil Bretschneider tr.,The Journey of Haithon, King of Little Armenia, To Mongolia and Back, Mediaeval Researches Vol 1, Trubner Oriental Series 1888 London, facimile reprint 2005 Elibron Classics ISBN 1-4021-9303-3
  30. ^ Runciman, p.297
  31. ^ "Hethoum I receiving the homage of the Tatars: during his voyage to Mongolia in 1254, Hethoum I was received with honours by the Mongol Khan who "ordered several of his noble subjects to honour and attend him"" in Le Royaume Armenien de Cilicie Claude Mutafian, p.58, quoting Hayton of Corycus.
  32. ^ Grousset, p. 580. Translated from the Old French
  33. ^ Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, pp. 275-276
  34. ^ Runciman, p.298
  35. ^ Cambridge Medieval History, Volume IV, p. 634
  36. ^ The Islamic World in Ascendency: From the Arab conquest to the Siege of Vienna by Dr. Martin Sicker (p.111): "Bohemond, however, resided exclusively in Tripoli and, as a practical matter, Hetoum, whose realm was contiguous with it, ruled Antioch. Accordingly, Antioch was drawn into the Mongolian-Armenian alliance".
  37. ^ Bournotian, p. 101
  38. ^ Guillaume de Tyr, Chap. II. The event is mentionned and quoted in Runciman.
  39. ^ Bohemond entered in a relationship with the Mongols because of pressure from his father-in-law Hethoum I: "The principality of Antioch was dominated by its Armenian neighbour -- it was through the will of the Armenian king that the Antiochenes came to aid Hulegu in 1259-60." ("The Logic of Conquest" Al-Masaq, v. 14, No.1, March 2002, p. 8)
  40. ^ The Islamic World in Ascendency: From the Arab conquest to the Siege of Vienna by Dr. Martin Sicker (p.111): "Bohemond, however, resided exclusively in Tripoli and, as a practical matter, Hetoum, whose realm was contiguous with it, ruled Antioch. Accordingly, Antioch was drawn into the Mongolian-Armenian alliance".
  41. ^ Grousset, p.574, mentionning the account of Kirakos, Kirakos, #12
  42. ^ "After this, [the Mongols] convened a great assembly of the old and new cavalry of the Georgians and Armenians and went against the city of Baghdad with a countless multitude." Grigor of Akner's History of the Nation of Archers, Chap 12, circa 1300
  43. ^ In Demurger Les Templiers (p.80-81): "The main adversary of the Mongols in the Middle-East was the Mamluk Sultanate and the Califate of Baghdad; in 1258 they take the city, sack it, massacre the population and exterminate the Abassid familly who ruled the Califate since 750; the king of Little Armenia (of Cilicia) and the troops of Antioch participated to the fight and the looting together with the Mongols." In Demurger Croisades et Croisés au Moyen-Age (p.284): "The Franks of Tripoli and Antioch, just as the Armenians of Cilicia who since the submission of Asia Minor in 1243 had to recognize Mongol overlordship and pay tribute, participated to the capture of Baghdad."
  44. ^ "The Georgian troops, who had been the first to break through the walls, were particularly fiercest in their destruction" Runciman, p.303
  45. ^ Maalouf, p. 243
  46. ^ "A history of the Crusades", Steven Runciman, p.306
  47. ^ Foltz, p.123
  48. ^ Tyerman, p.806 "The Frankish Antiochenes assisted the Mongols' capture of Aleppo".
  49. ^ Saudi Aramco World "The Battle of Ain Jalut"
  50. ^ Grousset-p.581
  51. ^ Grousset, p.586: "We known from Le Templier de Tyr that the king of Armenia Hetoum I and the Prince of Antioch Bohemond VI accompanied Kitbuqa in this offensive: "The king of Armenia and the Prince of Antioch went to the army of the Tartars and went to take Damas"."
  52. ^ "On 1 March Kitbuqa entered Damascus at the head of a Mongol army. With him were the King of Armenia and the Prince of Antioch. The citizens of the ancient capital of the Caliphate saw for the first time for six centuries three Christian potentates ride in triumph through their streets", Runciman, p.307
  53. ^ Jean Richard, p.423: "Bohemond... supported Hulegu with his troops in the siege of Aleppo; he also occupied Baalbek, and entering into Damascus with the Mongols, had the satisfaction of celebrating mass in the great Mosque"
  54. ^ "On March 1st 1260, Damascus had to let general Kitbuqa inside its walls. He was accompanied by king Hetoum and Prince Bohemond" Jean-Paul Roux, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, p.346
  55. ^ "The Mongols then attacked Muslim Syria, and they were accompanied by Hetoum and his son-in-law Bohemond when they took Aleppo and Damascus", Claude Mutafian, p.58
  56. ^ Peter Jackson, "Crisis in the Holy Land in 1260," English Historical Review 376 (1980) 486
  57. ^ "While this report cannot be taken literally, it may contain a grain of truth. Armenian troops were part of Ketbuqa's force, while some time during the Mongol occupation Bohemond visited Baalbek and even intended to ask Hulegu for possession of the town. (...) If this prince reached as far as Baalbek, it is most probable that he also passed through Damascus." De Reuven Amitai-Preiss, "Mongols and Mamluks", p.31
  58. ^ Jean Richard, p.423
  59. ^ "Le roy d'Arménie et le Prince d'Antioche alèrent en l'ost des Tatars et furent à prendre Damas...". Quoted in "Histoire des Croisades III", Rene Grousset, p586
  60. ^ Atlas des Croisades, p.108
  61. ^ Runciman, p.307
  62. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica article
  63. ^ Runciman, p.312
  64. ^ "They allowed the Mamluks to cross their territory, in exchange for a promesse to be able to purchase at a low price the horses captured from the Mongols", Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.425
  65. ^ "Among Ket-Bugha's warriors were many Armenians and Georgians who were killed with him" Kirikos, Chap. 62
  66. ^ "These, however, were not all Mongol horsemen, but included contingents from Georgia and Lesser Armenia; Smpad writes that the latter numbered 500 men." Mongols and Mamluks, p.40
  67. ^ Jean Richard, p.428
  68. ^ Runciman, p.313
  69. ^ "Antioch was only saved (...) by the intervention of Hethoum who called the Mongols to intervene in favour of Bohemond. Les Gestes des Chiprois even seems to say that the Armenia monarch went in person to fetch the nearest Mongol troops". Grousset, p.609
  70. ^ Mentionned in Grousset, p.609. In 1262, the king of Armenia went to the Mongols and again obtained their intervention to deliver the city. - "In the year 1262, the sultan Bendocdar of Babiloine, who had taken the name of Melec el Vaher, put the city of Antioch under siege, but the king of Armenia went to see the Tatars and had them come, so that the Sarazins had to leave the siege and return to Babiloine.". Original French:"Et en lan de lincarnasion .mcc. et .lxii. le soudan de Babiloine Bendocdar quy se fist nomer Melec el Vaher ala aseger Antioche mais le roy dermenie si estoit ale a Tatars et les fist ehmeuer de venir et les Sarazins laiserent le siege dantioche et sen tornerent en Babiloine."Guillame de Tyr "Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum" #316
  71. ^ ”In the meantime, [Baibars] condicted his troops to Antioch, and started to besiege the city, which was saved by a Mongol intervention” Jean Richard, p.429
  72. ^ Quoted in Grousset, p.565
  73. ^ Jean Richard, p.428
  74. ^ Mutafian, p.58
  75. ^ Oldenbourg, "The Crusades", p.620 "1280: Alliance of Franks and Mongols against Qalawun")
  76. ^ Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.465
  77. ^ Quoted in Grousset, p.689
  78. ^ Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.465
  79. ^ Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.466
  80. ^ Runciman, p.390
  81. ^ Runciman, p.387
  82. ^ Runciman, p.390
  83. ^ Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.466
  84. ^ Qalawun inadvertanly laid siege to, and captured, Marqab in the spring of 1285. Grousset, p.692
  85. ^ Grousset, p. 688
  86. ^ Grousset, p.687
  87. ^ "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes", p. 253: The fortress of Marqab was held by the Knights Hospitallers, called al-osbitar by the Arabs, "These monk-knights had supported the Mongols wholeheartedly, going so far as to fight alongside them during a fresh attempted invasion in 1281."
  88. ^ a b "Mangu Timur commanded the Mongol centre, with other Mongol princes on his left, and on his right his Georgian auxiliaries, with King Leo and the Hospitallers", Runciman, p391-392
  89. ^ The “Syrian knights” were probably including knights from Cyprus. in Jean Richard, p.466
  90. ^ Original French:"En lan de .m. et .cc. et .lxxxi. de lincarnasion de Crist les Tatars nyssirent de lor terres et passerent les Aygues Froides a mout grant host et coururent la terre de Halape et de Haman et de La Chemele et la saresterent et firent grant damage as Sarazins et en tuerent ases et fu le roy dermenie aveuc yaus et aucuns chevaliers frans de Surie." Guillame de Tyr "Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum". Nota: "Aucuns" means "several", "some" in 13th century French Online French dictionary, and is always used with this meaning in Le Chevalier de Tyre.
  91. ^ Tyerman, p.817
  92. ^ "He starts by explaining that the country was "submitted to the domination of the Mongols"", in Mutaffian, p.66
  93. ^ Quoted in Mutaffian, p.66
  94. ^ Muttafian, p.71
  95. ^ Mutaffian, p.71
  96. ^ Mutaffian, p.71
  97. ^ Luisetto, p.122, referencing Gestes des Chiprois par.553
  98. ^ ”Ghazan resumed his plans against Egypt in 1297: the Franco-Mongol cooperation had thus survived, in spite of the loss of Acre by the Franks, and the conversion of the Persian Mongols to Islam. It was to remain one of the political factors of the policy of the Crusades, until the peace treaty with the Mumluks, which was only signed in 1322 by the khan Abu Said”, Jean Richard, p.468
  99. ^ Foltz, p.128
  100. ^ ”The renewed offensives of the Mongol Khan, the Il-Khan Ghazan, in the year 1299-1302, deployed in collaboration with the Christians forces of Cyprus, were very close to succeed”. Demurger, “Croisades et croises”, p.287
  101. ^ "The Trial of the Templars", Malcolm Barber, 2nd edition, page 22: "The aim was to link up with Ghazan, the Mongol Il-Khan of Persia, who had invited the Cypriots to participate in joint operations against the Mamluks".
  102. ^ ”During these years, no Crusade was preached in the Occident. Only the Frank forces of Cyprus and Little Armenia did cooperate with the Mongols”. Demurger, “Croisades et croises”, p287
  103. ^ Demurger, p.142-143
  104. ^ Hayton of Corycus mentions "Otton de Grandson and the Masters of the Temple and of the Hospitallers as well as their convents, who were at that time [1298 or 1299] in these regions [Cilician Armenia]", quoted in Demurger, p.116
  105. ^ Newman, p. 231, that says that De Molay had an "ill-fated expedition to Armenia around 1299, in which the last Templar holding in that kingdom was lost."
  106. ^ Demurger, p.142
  107. ^ Demurger, p.143
  108. ^ Demurger, p.142 (French edition) "He was soon joined by King Hethum, whose forces seem to have included Hospitallers and Templars from the kingdom of Armenia, who participate to the rest of the campaign."
  109. ^ Demurger, p.142
  110. ^ Demurger, p.142 "The Mongols pursued the retreating troops towards the south, but stopped at the level of Gaza"
  111. ^ Demurger 142-143
  112. ^ Runciman, p.439
  113. ^ "Ibn Kathir attributes partially the responsibility of these massacres and destructions to the Georgian and Armenian Christians that were accompanying the Mongols", "Textes Spirituels D'Ibn Taymiyya", Chap XI
  114. ^ Demurger, p.146
  115. ^ Demurger (p.146, French edition): "After the Mamluk forces retreated south to Egypt, the main Mongol forces retreated north in February, Ghazan leaving his general Mulay to rule in Syria".
  116. ^ "Meanwhile the Mongol and Armenian troops raided the country as far south as Gaza." Schein, 1979, p. 810
  117. ^ "He pursued the Sarazins as far as Gaza, and then turn to Damas, conquering and destroying the Sarazins". Original French: "Il chevaucha apres les Sarazins jusques a Guadres et puis se mist vers Domas concuillant et destruyant les Sarazins." Le Templier de Tyr, #609
  118. ^ "Arab historians however, like Moufazzal Ibn Abil Fazzail, an-Nuwairi and Makrizi, report that the Mongols raided the country as far as Jerusalem and Gaza"— Sylvia Schein, p.810
  119. ^ The Arab historian Yahia Michaud, in the 2002 book Ibn Taymiyya, Textes Spirituels I-XVI, Chap XI, describes that there were some firsthand accounts at the time, of forays of the Mongols into Palestine, and quotes two ancient Arab sources stating that Jerusalem was one of the cities that was invaded by the Mongols
  120. ^ Demurger, p.146
  121. ^ "For a brief period, some four months in all, the Mongol Il-Khan was de facto the lord of the Holy Land", Schein, p810
  122. ^ "In December 1299, he (Ghazan) vanquishes the Mamluks in the Second Battle of Homs, and captures Damascus and even Jerusalem", Demurger Les Templiers, p.84
  123. ^ "Mûlay, a Mongol general who was effectively present at Jerusalem in 1299/1300", Les Templiers, p.84
  124. ^ Schein, 1979, p. 810
  125. ^ Le Templier de Tyr mentions that one of the generals of Ghazan was named Molay, whom he left in Damas with 10,000 Mongols - "611. Ghazan, when he had vanquished the Sarazins returned in his country, and left in Damas one of his Admirals, who was named Molay, who had with him 10,000 Tatars and 4 general."611. Cacan quant il eut desconfit les Sarazins se retorna en son pais et laissa a Domas .i. sien amiraill en son leuc quy ot a nom Molay qui ot o luy .xm. Tatars et .iiii. amiraus.", but it is thought that this could instead designate a Mongol general "Mûlay". - Demurger, p.279
  126. ^ Demurger, p.146
  127. ^ Mutafian, p.73
  128. ^ Historiens Armeniens, p.660
  129. ^ In "Le Royaume Armenien de Cilicie", p.74-75
  130. ^ Mutafian, p.73
  131. ^ a b Demurger, p158
  132. ^ Nicolle, p. 80
  133. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica article
  134. ^ Mutafian, p.73
  135. ^ Receuil des Historiens des Croisades, Documents arméniens I, p.664
  136. ^ Flor des Estoires d'Orient, Book IV
  137. ^ Peter Jackson, p.172
  138. ^ Jean Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.485
  139. ^ Richard, p.485
  140. ^ Les hégémonies mongoles
  141. ^ a b (Armenian) Kurdoghlian, Mihran (1996). Badmoutioun Hayots, Volume II. Athens, Greece: Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Oussoumnagan Khorhourti, p. 29-56. 

[edit] References

[edit] Medieval sources

  • Adh-Dhababi, Record of the Destruction of Damascus by the Mongols in 1299-1301 Translated by Joseph Somogyi. From: Ignace Goldziher Memorial Volume, Part 1, Online (English translation).
  • Jean de Joinville, The Memoirs of Lord of Joinville, translated by Ethel Wedwood Online (English translation).
  • Le Templier de Tyr (circa 1300). Chronicle du Templier de Tyr, Online (Original French).
  • Hayton of Corycus (1307). Flowers of the Histories of the East, Online (English translation).
  • Guillaume de Tyr (circa 1300). History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, Online (Original French).
  • Kirakos (circa 1300). History of the Armenians, Online, (English translation).
  • The history and Life of Rabban Bar Sauma (translated from the Syriac by Budge, Sir E.A.Wallis).  (online)

[edit] Modern sources

  • Amitai, Reuven (1987). "Mongol Raids into Palestine (AD 1260 and 1300)". JRAS: 236-255. 
  • Balard, Michel (2006). Les Latins en Orient (XIe-XVe siècle). Presses Universitaires de France, Paris. ISBN 2130518117. 
  • Barber, Malcolm (2001). The Trial of the Templars, 2nd edition, University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-67236-8. 
  • Bournoutian, George A. (2002). A Concise History of the Armenian People: From Ancient Times to the Present. Mazda Publishers. ISBN 1568591411. 
  • "The Monks of Kublai Khan Emperor of China", Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. Online
  • Dailliez, Laurent (1972). Les Templiers (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 2-262-02006-X. 
  • Demurger, Alain (2007). Les Templiers (in French). Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot. ISBN 2877479552. 
  • Grousset, René (1935). Histoire des Croisades III, 1188-1291 (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 2-262-02569-X. 
  • Grousset, René (1935). L'épopée des Croisades (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 2262018642. 
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