ABSTRACT
During much of the twelfth century the Franks dominated the military scene in the Levant. e unification of Egypt and a large part of Syria under the rule of Salaḥ al-Dīn gradually changed the balance of power in the region. ough the Franks had lost much of their military strength, Salaḥ al-Dīn’s successors could not maintain a firm united political or military front against the Franks. is situation led to a new status quo, and for a period of 67 years (1193-1260) the Frankish states and the Ayyubid principalities were engaged in a struggle in which no side managed to gain a definite advantage over its adversary. It is important to note, however, that between 1292 and 1244 there were also relatively long periods in which both sides coexisted peacefully. e balance of power tilted in favor of the Franks only when a
new Crusade arrived and the local armies received substantial reinforcements (the fifth Crusade, 1217-21; the expedition of 1228 led by Fredrick II; the Crusade of eobald of Champagne and Richard of Cornwall, 1239-41; and the Crusade of Louis IX, 1250-54). After the battle of La Forbie (1244) the Franks’ dependence on western aid became even greater. Other changes in the military balance of power occurred when Ayyubid-Frankish alliances were formed between various factions. ese only increased the already existing tension among the Ayyubid rulers. It is against this background of the declining power of the Crusader states that the first Ayyubid fortresses were built. e fall of the Ayyubid dynasty and the rise of the Mamluks to power stretched
over almost a decade (1250-60). e establishment of al-Muẓaffar Quṭuz (r. 125960) as sultan coincided with the Mongol invasion of Syria led by Hülegü (1260). e first Mamluk-Mongol full-scale battle occurred in the Jizrael Valley, near the spring of ʿAyn Jalūt, on 3 September 1260. e Mongols suffered a humiliating defeat. eir forces in Syria and those who survived the battle fled back east and across the Euphrates. During the next 32 years (1260-91) the Mamluks slowly eradicated the Frankish
settlement and fought to prevent the Mongol-Īkhānids from crossing the Euphrates and invading Syria. e Franks, who had been the main political and military entity in the region during the Ayyubid period, played a lesser part in the politics of the region between 1260 and the fall of Acre in 1291. Although the Mongol invasion had been repelled, once the Īkhānid state was established it became the Mamluks’ chief concern and remained the main threat to the Sultanate’s existence until 1323, the year the Mamluk-Īlkhānid peace treaty was signed.
