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===Campaign of winter 1300-1301=== [[Image:1301FrancoMongolOffensiveLevant.jpg|thumb|Combined offensives in 1300-1301.]] According to Demurger's account, the medieval historian the [[Templar of Tyre]] wrote that Ghazan sent ambassadors to Cyprus in 1300, led by the Italian [[Isol le Pisan]], the Mongols' chief ambassador to Cyprus. In agreement with the Cypriotes, a joint embassy was then sent to the Pope.<ref>Demurger, p.146</ref><ref>Demurger, p.136. "From the Tatars, the king of Armenia, the king of Cyprus, the Great Master of the Templars or other nobles from [[Outremer]], are arriving embassadors on a visit to the Pope. They are already in [[Apulia]] and should reach the Pope in the next few days" - Letter by Romeu de Marimundo, counsellor of the king of Aragon, dated July 2nd, 1300, in Barcelona, quoted by Demurger</ref> In 1300 the Templars sent men of arms to Cyprus for coordinated actions with the Mongols.<ref>”In 1300 , again, the Templars were able to send a few hundred combattants to Cyprus, in view of combined operations with the Mongols”. Demurger, “Croisades et croises”, p.189</ref> In May 1300, the king of Aragon announced that he was sending ships and warriors, in exchange for a fifth of the Holy Land.<ref>Jean Richard, p.481</ref> ====Frank bridgehead in Ruad==== In the end of 1300, another message came from Ghazan asking to coordinate operations, inviting the Cypriots to meet him in Armenia.<ref name=schein-811/> The Cypriots then prepared a land-based force of approximately 600 men: 300 under [[Amalric, Prince of Tyre|Amalric of Lusigan]], son of [[Hugh III of Cyprus]], and similar contingents from the Templars and Hospitallers.<ref name=schein-811/> The men and their horses were ferried from Cyprus to a staging area on the island of [[Arwad Island|Ruad]], a mile off the coast of [[Tortosa]].<ref name=demurger-147/><ref name=schein-811/> From there, they had a certain amount of success attacking Tortosa (some sources say they engaged in raids, others that they captured the city), but when the hoped-for Mongol reinforcements were delayed (sources differ on whether the delay was caused by weather or illness), the Crusaders had to retreat to Ruad.<ref>"The Trial of the Templars", [[Malcolm Barber]], 2nd edition, page 22: "In November, 1300, James of Molay and the king's brother, [[Amaury of Lusignan]], attempted to occupy the former Templar stronghold of [[Tortosa]]. A force of 600 men, of which the Templars supplied about 150, failed to establish itself in the town itself, although they were able to leave a garrison of 120 men on the island of [[Ruad]], just off the coast.</ref><ref>"That year [1300], a message came to Cyprus from Ghazan, king of the Tatars, saying that he would come during the winter, and that he wished that the Franks join him in Armenia (...) [[Amalric, Prince of Tyre|Amalric of Lusignan]], [[Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem|Constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem]], arrived in November (...) and brought with him 300 knights, and as many or more of the Templars and Hospitallers (...) In February a great admiral of the Tatars, named Cotlesser, came to Antioch with 60,000 horsemen, and requested the visit of the king of Armenia, who came with [[Guy of Ibelin]], [[County of Jaffa and Ascalon|Count of Jaffa]], and [[Jean II de Giblet|John, lord of Giblet]]. And when they arrived, Cotelesse told them that Ghazan had met great trouble of wind and cold on his way. Cotlesse raided the land from [[Aleppo|Haleppo]] to [[Homs|La Chemelle]], and returned to his country without doing more". - Le Templier de Tyre, Chap 620-622. Quoted in Demurger, p.147. Original:[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/GuillaumeTyr5.html Guillame de Tyr (William of Tyre), Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum #620-622]</ref> According to historian Malcom Barber, this suggests a considerable effort on the part of the Templars, as the manpower being engaged corresponds to "close to half the size of the normal complement for the twelfth-century Kingdom of Jerusalem".<ref>Malcom Barber, ''The New Knighthood'', p. 294</ref> However, when the Mongols still did not appear, the majority of the Christian forces returned to Cyprus, though they left a garrison on Ruad which was manned by rotating groups of different Cypriot forces. ====Mongol operations==== [[Image:Cours de la forteresse d'Arouad.jpg|thumb|[[Ruad]] was the bridgehead of the Franks for a coordinated offensive with the Mongols.]] In January 1301, the Mongols finally made a two-pronged advance into Syria. General [[Kutlushka]] went to Cilicia to fetch Armenian troops and moved south through Antioch. [[Ghazan]] crossed the [[Euphrates]] and reached the walls of Aleppo on January 6th, 1301. Soon however, on February 3rd, Ghazan retreated. According to Arab sources this was apparently due to a very cold winter and terrible road conditions. For the same reason, the Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir himself could not move his troops north due to heavy rains. According to [[Hayton]] the Mongols retreated because Ghazan had fallen ill. Kutlusha, with the Armenians and Georgians continued to ravage the region of Aleppo for three months.<ref>Luisetto, p.220</ref> He had a force of 60,000, but could do little else than engage in some raids around Syria. [[Kutlushah]] (Qutlugh-Shah for the Mongols, Cotelesse in Frank sources) stationed 20,000 horsemen in the [[Jordan valley]] to protect Damas, where a Mongol governor was stationed.<ref>Jean Richard, p.481</ref> Soon however, they had to withdraw: {{quote|"That year [1300], a message came to Cyprus from Ghazan, king of the Tatars, saying that he would come during the winter, and that he wished that the Franks join him in Armenia (...) [[Amalric, Prince of Tyre|Amalric of Lusignan]], [[Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem|Constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem]], arrived in November (...) and brought with him 300 knights, and as many or more of the Templars and Hospitallers (...) In February a great admiral of the Tatars, named Cotlesser, came to Antioch with 60,000 horsemen, and requested the visit of the king of Armenia, who came with [[Guy of Ibelin]], [[County of Jaffa and Ascalon|Count of Jaffa]], and [[Jean II de Giblet|John, lord of Giblet]]. And when they arrived, Cotelesse told them that Ghazan had met great trouble of wind and cold on his way. Cotlesse raided the land from [[Aleppo|Haleppo]] to [[Homs|La Chemelle]], and returned to his country without doing more".|Le Templier de Tyre, Chap 620-622<ref>Quoted in Demurger, p.147. Original:[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/GuillaumeTyr5.html Guillame de Tyr (William of Tyre), Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum #620-622]</ref>}} From mid-1301, the Knights Templar left a small garrison to maintain the island of Ruad, in anticipation of further operations with the Mongols.<ref>"From 1299, [[Jacques de Molay]] and his Order fully committed, with the other Christian forces of Cyprus and Armenia, to a reconquest of the [[Holy Land]] in liaison with the offensives of [[Ghazan]], the Mongol khan of [[Persia]]; the occupation of Ruad for two years, on the Syrian coast near [[Tortosa]], must be understood in this perspective, and would even add, in this perspective only." Alain Demurger, p.139</ref>
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