The Mamluks (AD 1260 - 1516)

The Mamluks (AD 1260 - 1516)

History of Palestine

The agreement between Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin had left the Crusaders confined to the Palestinian coastline, but they yearned to regain Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

In the Far East, the Mongols were moving westwards, leaving behind them a ghastly trail of death and destruction. The Crusaders struck an agreement with the Mongols against the Muslims and, in 1258, Haulage, the grandson of Mongol leader Genhgis Khan, swept through Iraq and thoroughly destroyed Baghdad. The Mongols burnt down Baghdad's splendid palaces, and its renowned libraries.

They also deliberately set out to destroy the irrigation systems, which had kept Iraq prosperous and populous since its ancient times. These blood-crazed horsemen then hacked their way through Syria and Palestine, leaving behind the only work of which they were capable; decapitated heads stacked in the shape of pyramids. Delighted with their victories, the Pope in Rome sent these pagan hordes his blessings.

In response, a large Mamluki cavalry in Cairo headed for Palestine and, in 1260, at Ain Jalut, near Nazareth, they routed and defeated the Mongols. Baybars, the Mamluki leader, then took his revenge on the Crusaders for their alliance with the Mongols. He mercilessly destroyed the Crusade strongholds along Palestine's coastline, leaving them clinging to Acre, Tyre and Tripoli. In 1291, the Mamluks overran Acre, the last Crusade stronghold, to become the undisputed leaders of Egypt and Palestine.

Rudolph of Suchem left us this impression of the Mamluk Sultan al Ashraf khalil besieging the Crusaders in Acre: 'He pitched his tents, set up sixty machines, dug many mounds beneath the city walls, and for forty days and nights, without any respite, assailed the city with fire, stones, and arrows so that the air seemed to be stiff with arrows. I have heard a very honorable knight say that a lance which he was about to hurl from a tower among the Saracens was all notched with arrows before it left his hand.'

The European inhabitants of Acre tried to evacuate by sea; many got away, but, because there were not enough boats, many were left on the quayside. One chronicler tells the story of 500 ladies of noble birth crowding around the harbor, promising sailors whatever they asked to get a place on a boat that would take them to safety.

Palestine was now sinking into a very long and depressive Dark Age that was to last some 600 years. The vicious plundering of the Mongols and the savage wars between the Mamluks and Crusaders overwhelmed this tiny land. In fear of the return of the Crusaders, the Mamluks destroyed the harbors, orchards, farmsteads, and irrigation systems in Palestine, paralyzing and crippling a shattered land.

The once prosperous Canaanite seaports now stood idle. Income from pilgrims dried up as the Mamluks succeeded in isolating Palestine from the West. Illiteracy became rampant, since the Mamluks were alien to Arab literature and Baghdad, the Arab cultural and scientific center, stood destroyed.

Two major discoveries in the fifteenth century added to Palestine's miseries. The discovery of a sea route around South Africa to the Far East, and the discovery of America, drastically shifted sea routes away from the eastern Mediterranean and the passage of foreign ships to Palestine almost ceased.

The Mamluks maintained their own oligarchy as they continuously imported more Turkish and Circassian slaves to replenish their ranks. Ironically, these ex-slaves are considered to be great patrons of arts, as they adorned Cairo to such an extent that it became one of the most beautiful mediaeval cities in the world. Palestine was largely ignored, although they continuously beautified the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

In Asia Minor, one of Islam's greatest dynasties was in the making. The Ottoman Turks had become the most powerful forces in Asia Minor after their cousins, the Seljuki Turks, had been greatly weakened by the Crusaders. In 1455, the Ottomans gave the long awaited deathblow to the Roman Byzantine when they overran Constantinople. In 1516, the modern Ottoman Turkish army invaded Palestine after decrimating the Mamluki cavalry with artillery and powder muskets, against which the proud Mamluks charged into battle with swords, lances and spears.