The Fall of Outremer
Stumbling Toward the End
The following year, 1282, brought the Sicilian Vespers. This was a rebellion in Sicily against Angevin power there. The rebellion was so serious that Charles had to devote all his attentions to it, and this consumed his energies until he died a few years later. The Sicilian Vespers removed any chance that Roger of San Severino would become the new center of power in the Crusader States.
King Hugh died two years later, on 4 March 1284, leaving a son who was both young and sickly. John died a year later. After some discussion over various claimants, Henry II succeeded John in 1286. Meanwhile, another powerful Crusader castle, Marqab, fell in 1285.
Henry was young, strong and well liked. He was able to get Acre and the Temple to reconcile, and a notable celebration was held in Acre following Henry's coronation at Tyre. The festival lasted for two weeks and is sometimes held up as the height of foolishness. There was hardly anything left of the Crusader States, yet here were the survivors with the enemy at the gates holding feasts and jousts and listening to troubador songs as if nothing were wrong.
It may have been foolishness, but by now the barons knew that they were on their own. They had an agreement with Qalavun and had every reason to think that it would be respected. Muslims and Christians lived together and worked together in Acre, the arrangement bringing wealth to all. Why would Qalavun upset the cart? And, meanwhile, why not celebrate the new king?
But the cart was not at all stable, and the confidence of the barons was based on illusions. They were still talking of a great union of Christians and Mongols, but even as they clung to this hope, it was proving false. In 1287 the Mongols sent an ambassador to the West. He went to Constantinople, to Rome, Genoa, Paris and Bordeaux, then back to Rome again. He was not at all impressed by what he saw, and returned to the court of the Khan with the news that the Christians talked but would not act.
Meanwhile, yet another war broke out between Pisa and Genoa, which caused skirmishing all across the Mediterranean, including in Tyre and Acre. Tripoli rebelled and formed its own Commune as a result of family feuds there. They were still quarelling when Qalavun showed up on their doorstep with an army. The city fell in 1289 and he destroyed it utterly.
This event alarmed everyone, so much so that King Henry returned to Acre. The pope, Nicholas IV, called for a crusade, but only northern Italy responded, and many of those were commoners. Venice put them aboard twenty galleys and five more came from Aragon. Compare this to the two hundred built for the Fourth Crusade.
They were as much rabble as they were an army. When they arrived in Acre, filled with zeal to slay the infidel, they were dismayed to see Muslims freely walking the streets, were appalled at having to buy goods from the unbelievers, and anyway lacked the money to pay their bills. They got drunk, got in fights, and harassed the resident Muslims. Inevitably, a fight escalated into a riot and the crusaders went on a rampage, killing every Muslim they could find. In their ignorance, they defined anyone with a beard as being Muslim, and so killed a number of Jews and Syrian Christians as well.
Qalavun was furious. He'd long since decided to drive the Christians out; the riot in Acre gave him the excuse to break the treaty early.
The Loss of Tripoli
The bright promise dimmed quickly enough. Early in the following year, Genoa and Pisa renewed their rivalry and open warfare broke out in many of the coastal towns. Venice joined on the side of Pisa, and the whole business was ended only by the firm intervention of the military orders.
This was not the time for squabbles. In March 1287, Lattakiah was severely damaged by an earthquake. The Sultan Kalavan sent an army and the town capitulated almost immediately, its walls having been destroyed by the quake. This was the last stronghold of the old Principality of Antioch, so now both Edessa and Antioch were gone. Tripoli remained, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was anchored by Tyre and Acre.
And still the Latins could not keep unity among themselves. When Bohemond VII died in October, the citizens of Tripoli quarreled with the nobles over who should succeed. They took to the streets and soon had proclaimed an independent commune, calling on Genoa to protect them. This, naturally, meant that Pisa and Venice opposed the commune. Since the Templars were sympathetic with Venice, the Hospitallers were immediately on the side of Genoa and the commune.
At this point, emissaries from the Venetian side (it is not clear who sent them) contacted the Sultan and warned him that if Genoa should succeed, all of the Mediterranean trade would be controlled by that city. This was all the excuse Kalavun needed, and he raised an army and marched north. Only now, in February 1289, did the Latins finally realize the danger and send troops into Tripoli.
It was too little, too late. Kalavun was able to deploy his siege engines without any worry of a Latin army attacking him from the rear, and his catapults were massive enough to batter down the walls of Tripoli, which had not been kept in good repair. It appears that the citizens assumed that Kalavun would honor the truce and that there was no need to spend money on the walls.
When two of the towers collapsed, first the Venetians and then the Genoese abandoned the town. The next morning, April 26, Kalavun ordered a general assault and the town fell in hours. The Italians may have not behaved bravely, but they had behaved wisely; Tripoli was sacked and its citizens massacred. A handful of survivors made it out by ship, but nearly everyone else was killed. Some got rowboats and rowed to a little island, but the Mamluk cavalry followed them and killed them all.
The third Crusader state, the County of Tripoli, had now fallen. What few fortresses of the County remained soon fell in the wake of the city. King Henry had never even stirred from Cyprus, and the news was received in the West with expressions of sadness, but no men and no money were forthcoming.