Antioch
Fall of Antioch
In 1259 the Mongols captured Damascus and in 1260, Aleppo. The Mameluk sultan Qutuz sought an alliance with the Franks against the Mongols but the Latins, though allowing free passage, declined the invitation. In September 1260, the Mameluks finally defeated the Mongols at the battle of Ain Jalud. Shortly thereafter the sultan was murdered and his general Baibars (1260-77) was named sultan. In 1263 Baibars sacked Nazareth, threatened Antioch, and appeared before the walls of Acre, ostensibly as an ally of the Genoese in the internecine struggles there. In January 1265 Baibars launched his great offensive against the Latins, first in the rump Jerusalem and one year later simultaneously on all fronts. By 1268 Baibars was before the walls of Antioch and when the walls there were breached, the citizens paid dearly in blood for their unwanted Mongol support.
At last the Norman principality of Antioch, despite its 400 Byzantine towers, was defeated, its violent death echoing its violent birth 170 years earlier. During its first 90 years Antioch was a vibrant entity whose rulers imitated their Mediterranean cousins in their animosity toward Byzantium and their embrace of diverse cultures. Up to the Battle of Hattin, the principality was a powerful military force which all surrounding states and territories had to reckon with. Once the Latin states were decimated by Saladin, however, the necessity of a strong Tripoli and Jerusalem to its survival became blindingly apparent. Without those southern bulwarks, Antioch alone could not withstand the onslaught of the resurgent Muslim forces. With the fall of the city, the remainder of northern Syria capitulated and the Latin presence in Syria was at an end forever.