Mideast during Crusades 1193-1300

In 1193 Saladin died in Damascus. This city was claimed by his oldest son al-Afdal, who ceded Judea to his brother al-Aziz, ruler of Egypt. Another son az-Zahr governed Aleppo and gained Latakia and Jabala for recognizing al-Afdal as Sultan. Saladin's brother al-Adil tried to negotiate these arrangements and intervened in the civil war between Al-Afdal and al-Aziz, first for one and then the other, until al-Aziz became Sultan in 1196. After he died falling from his horse two years later, al-Afdal failed to take control. Al-Adil started making peace treaties with the Franks in 1198, and by 1201 he had become Sultan over the entire Aiyubid empire, which he would rule until 1218. He allowed Venetians to establish markets in Alexandria and the Pisans consulates.
In Afghanistan Khusrau-Malik (r. 1152-87) was the last Ghuzz ruler over Ghazna; but he was deposed and imprisoned when Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad (r. 1163-1203) annexed the Punjab. 'Ala' al-Din Husain was succeeded by his son Saif al-Din Muhammad (r. 1161-63), who expelled the Isma'ilis from Ghurr and became an orthodox Sunni. The Ghurid dynasty divided; Ghiyath maintained close relations with the 'Abbasid caliphs and ruled in Firuzkuh while his younger brother Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad (r. 1173-1206) campaigned in the Punjab and captured Delhi in 1193. These brothers invaded Khurasan, taking over Marv, Sarakhs, Nasa, Abivard, Tus, and Nishapur, and tried to impose a Ghurid prince there in 1200. A few years after Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad died in 1206, the Ghurid empire fell apart.
Caliph an-Nasir (1180-1225) ignored the crusades in the west and focused his diplomatic efforts in the east. In 1184 he ordered all non-Muslims dismissed from the government, and he transformed fraternal societies (futuwa) into loyal orders of chivalry. Khwarezm-Shah Tokush (r. 1172-1200) became independent of Kara-Kitai domination when he captured Nishapur and Tus in 1181. He invaded the west in 1192, and two years later he defeated the last Seljuk Sultan Tughril ibn Arslan outside Ray, taking his head to Baghdad. Tokush ruled Jibal from Hamadan; but after he died in 1200, the people of Jibal massacred the remaining Khwarezmians. Caliph an-Nasir divided Iran between himself and the Eldiguzids in the north. In Azerbaijan Oz-beg ibn Pahlavan patronized learning. In Khwarezm Tokush was succeeded by his son 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad, who used Isma'ili assassins to eliminate his opponents, got a fatwa to declare an-Nasir unfit, and proclaimed a Sayyid Caliph. He invaded Khurasan and took it over from the unpopular Ghurids by defeating Mu'izz al-Din Ghuri after the latter returned from India in 1204. In 1211 an-Nasir persuaded the Isma'ili Grand Master Jalal al-Din Hasan III to become an orthodox Muslim and burn heretical books. 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad marched on Baghdad in 1218, but snowstorms and news of the Mongols stopped him.
In the north Georgia was Christian under Dmitri (r. 1124-56) and confined itself to internal affairs; but under his son Giorgi III (1156-84) they fought the Muslims. Queen Tamara (r. 1184-1212) expanded Georgia somewhat; but the country began to decline under Giorgi IV (r. 1212-23) after the Mongols arrived.
In 1218 after the Utrar governor massacred a caravan of Muslims, who were under the protection of Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad aggravated the situation by killing the Mongol ambassadors. Muhammad retreated from Samarkand toward Nishapur as the Mongol army quickly conquered Transoxiana in 1219. Genghis Khan left his sons Chagatai and Ogedei to besiege Utrar while he destroyed resisting Bukara. Mongol generals Jebe and Subedei pursued Kwarezmian Shah Muhammad across Persia to Ray, where he died. Genghis Khan occupied Samarkand and devastated Tirmidh for refusing to surrender. Balkh capitulated, and Genghis Khan besieged Taliqan. His son Tolui subjugated Khurasan. Mongols stormed and massacred the city of Marv, killing according to two Muslim historians, 700,000 or 1,300,000. The Mongols invaded Georgia in 1221 and defeated Giorgi IV at Khumani. Nishapur with a force of 10,000 managed to killed Genghis Khan's son-in-law Toghachar. Because of this, Tolui ordered everyone killed there except 400 craftsmen, who were deported to Mongolia. Herat killed Tolui's envoy but was allowed to surrender except that 12,000 troops were killed. However, a later rebellion in Herat led to the extermination of 1,600,000 people. Tolui returned to help complete the siege of Taliqan.
Muhammad's heir Uzlaq-Sultan was accused of plotting against his brother Jalal al-Din but was killed in battle. Jalal al-Din left Nishapur in February 1221 to go to Ghazna, where he pulled together an army of 60,000. Operating from Parwan, he attacked the Mongol vanguard, killing a thousand men. Genghis Khan sent a Tatar army of 30,000 led by Shigi-Qutuqu, and Jalal al-Din's army gave the Mongols their only major defeat in this campaign. Jalal al-Din retreated to the Indus. In a battle there he had to escape by jumping from a height with his horse into the river and swimming away as Genghis Khan gallantly restrained his archers from shooting at the Sultan. Genghis Khan returned to Mongolia by 1225, and he died fighting the Tangut in 1227. Jalal al-Din stayed in India for three years where 10,000 troops joined him. He learned that his brother Ghiyath al-Din was governing Iraq but that the military wanted him there. Baraq Hajib was governing Isfahan and quarreled with Ghiyath. He wanted to join Jalal al-Din but instead managed to keep Kirman for himself, founding the Qutlugh-Khan dynasty (1224-1303). Jalal al-Din found his brother Ghiyath at Ray and defeated him, taking over his army. Then Jalal al-Din drove the Caliph's army back to Baghdad and massacred Daquqa for resisting.
After making a peace treaty with Muzaffar al-Din (r. 1190-1232) of Irbil, Jalal al-Din invaded Azerbaijan. The daughter of Tughril II, the last Seljuk of Iraq, agreed to marry Jalal al-Din and arranged the surrender of Tabriz in 1225. That summer Jalal al-Din met and defeated a Georgian army of 70,000 in Armenia. Strategy helped Jalal al-Din conquer the important city of Tiflis for the Muslims. However, his siege of Akhlat in Armenia was failing, and in 1227 the Georgians attacked and burned Tiflis. After his best commander Orkhan was murdered by an Isma'ili assassin, Jalal al-Din tried to hunt them down. The Mongols returned, and the next summer both sides suffered devastating losses in the battle of Isfahan. Ghiyath al-Din fled to Khuzistan, Alamut, and Kirman, where he was murdered by Baraq. Jalal al-Din finally captured Akhlat in 1230. There he made a treaty to respect the territories of the Seljuks and the Aiyubids. Mongols led by Genghis Khan's son Ogedei (r. 1229-41) invaded Persia again. In 1231 Jalal al-Din fled to Irbil, Isfahan, and then to the mountains, where he was murdered by Kurds, probably for his clothes and horse.
Aiyubid ruler al-Adil was succeeded by his son al-Kamil (r. 1218-38), who had made a trade treaty with Venice in 1208. Many Muslims protested when al-Kamil's brother al-Mu'azzam tore down the walls of Jerusalem so that it could be given to the Franks by a treaty. Crusaders conquered Damietta in Egypt by besieging them into starvation in 1219; but the next year al-Kamil's refurbished navy devastated the crusaders' fleet off Cyprus, capturing thousands. The army led by Pelagius was surrounded by the Egyptians in 1221 and had to evacuate Damietta and agree to a truce for eight years. After al-Mu'azzam died in 1227, al-Kamil invaded Palestine and took over Jerusalem; but he had to divide lands with his brother al-Ashraf, who was ruling al-Jazira, and al-Mu'azzam's son an-Nasir, who fled to Damascus. In 1229 al-Kamil made a treaty with Friedrich II, giving crusaders Jerusalem and a narrow corridor to the coast, but Muslims kept their holy places in the Temple area.
Al-Salih (r. 1240-49) was also Sultan over the Aiyubid empire, though after Saladin there were six Aiyubid principalities. In Damascus 63 madrasas were founded, and building went up in al-Jazira (Mesopotamia). Rivalries between Aiyubids even caused them to give Jerusalem back to the Franks in 1243, and the next year Aiyubid sultan Najm al-Din allied with Khwarezmians in sacking Jerusalem and desecrating its Christian churches. In October 1244 the alliance of Egyptian Aiyubids and Khwarezmians fought an alliance of Syrian Aiyubids and Franks at Harbiyya. Al-Salih's widow Shajar ad-Durr ruled Egypt for eighty days before she was compelled to marry the first Mamluk Sultan Aybeg in 1250.
Mongol Khan Ogedei appointed Chin-Temur governor of Khurasan and Mazandaran; but he died in 1235 and was succeeded by a centenarian, who lasted four years. Then the Uighur Korguz, a Buddhist who converted to Islam, held a census and revised taxes. He rebuilt Tus and took over Azerbaijan. After the Great Khan Ogedei died in 1241, Korguz was accused of offending the widow of Chaghatai and put to death by Chaghatai's grandson Qara-Hulegu (r. 1242-46). Arghun Aqa was appointed to govern the conquered territories in the west for the Mongols. He visited Tabriz and the Mongol assembly (quriltai) that elected Ogedei's son Guyuk before returning to Khurasan in 1247. Guyuk died the next year; but news traveled slowly, and Arghun Aqa did not get to the quriltai until a year after Mongke (1251-59) had been enthroned. Arghun Aqa reported that finances in his region were a mess, and a new form of taxation was devised. 'Ata Malik Juvaini accompanied Arghun Aqa and began writing a history of the Mongol conquests. Arghun Aqa implemented the new qubchur tax in Georgia, Arran, and Azerbaijan. He was investigated for his finances but survived it, governing until he died in 1275.
Great Khan Mongke assigned his brothers Khubilai to rule China and Hulegu over western Asia. Hulegu was ordered to destroy the Isma'ilis and their castles, then suppress the Kurds and Lurs. In 1254 he was visited in Transoxiana by Herat's Shams al-Din Muhammad, founder of the Kart dynasty (1245-78), who had supported the Mongol invasion of India in 1246. Arghun Aqa accommodated Hulegu at Tus. The philosopher Nasir al-Din Tusi urged the Isma'ili grand master Rukn al-Din to submit. Scores of their castles were demolished, but Rukn al-Din never returned from his visit to the Mongol court. Mongols by order of Mongke massacred many Isma'ilis. In 1258 the Mongols attacked Baghdad, first by opening a dyke and flooding the caliph's army. After the caliph's commander went to parley and was executed, Caliph Musta'sim surrendered. The violence, looting, and burning went on for a week, as the caliph and about 800,000 people were killed. Hulegu took Aleppo after a short siege, and Damascus surrendered; but news of the death of Mongke caused Hulegu to return east in 1260, leaving Kitbogha in command of a small army. When Hulegu learned that his brother Kublai was elected, he returned to Tabriz. Hulegu went to war against the Golden Horde’s ruler Berke (r. 1257-66) and died in 1265.
In 1250 the Mamluk dynasty was established in Egypt. Hulegu sent envoys to Mamluk ruler Kutuz, whose General Baybars had them killed. Baybars trapped the smaller Mongol army in Galilee and defeated them at 'Ain Jalut, beheading Kitbogha. Baybars (r. 1260-77) killed Kutuz while he was hunting and became sultan. Baybars made truces with Jaffa and Beirut in 1261; but he raided Palestine two years later, and his army captured Caesarea and Haifa in 1265. Baybars made a series of treaties with Tyre, Hospitallers, Templars, and Tripoli between 1267 and 1271; but he often complained of treaty violations, and he took Acre and destroyed Antioch in 1268. Baybars had an Assassin murder Philip of Montfort in 1270. He made a ten-year truce with Edward, who was stabbed with a poison dagger by an Assassin but survived to become King of England. Baybars led 38 campaigns in Syria, but only 21 of them were against Franks.
Abagha (Abaqa) succeeded his father Hulegu as Il-Khan in 1265 and retained his Vizier Shams al-Din Juvaini, brother of the historian 'Ata Malik Juvaini, who became Governor of Baghdad. Abagha made Tabriz his capital and sent Yoshmut to fight off the Golden Horde's invasion led by Noqai. Abagha followed with 300,000 cavalry, defeating and killing Berke. Chaghatai Khan Baraq sent Ma'sud Beg to collect revenues. In 1270 Baraq came into conflict with Abagha and conquered most of Khurasan until he was defeated by the Il-Khan in the battle of Herat that summer. Abagha regained Khurasan and sacked Bukhara. In Rum a Vizier called Parvana put to death Sultan Qilich Arslan IV and appealed to Baybars, who defeated the Mongols at Abulustan in 1277. The upset Abagha ordered slaughter; but this was moderated by his Vizier Shams al-Din Juvaini. Parvana was put on trial and executed. The Il-Khan's brother Mengu-Temur and his army of 40,000 did not invade Syria until 1281; but the young commander was wounded by an Egyptian officer and fled from the larger Mamluk army of Sultan Kalavun (r. 1279-90). Angry Abagha went to Baghdad, where he drank himself to death in 1282.
Abagha's eldest son Arghun yielded to Hulegu's son Teguder, who took the Islamic name Ahmad. He developed friendly relations with Egypt. Arghun was Governor of Khurasan and plotted rebellion, and Teguder executed Prince Qongqurtai. Arghun was outnumbered and surrendered. The emir Buqa secretly supported Arghun, and with other princes they killed those loyal to Teguder, making Arghun Sultan. Teguder tried to escape but was captured, tried, and executed in 1284 for having killed Qongqurtai. Arghun put his son Ghazan over Khurasan, Mazandaran, Qumis, and Ray. Buqa engaged in much peculation and was put to death in 1289 as the Jew Sa'd al-Daula became Arghun's financial administrator. Arghun repelled invasions by the Golden Horde’s ruler Tole-Buqa in 1288 and 1290. Arghun imported Buddhist priests from India and eventually died from treatment by an Indian yogi. Emirs resenting Sa'd al-Daula killed him in 1291, and Arghun died five days later, resulting in pogroms against Jews in Baghdad and Tabriz.
Kalavun made a treaty with the Franks in 1283 but captured the last Hospitaller castle at al-Marqab two years later. After an earthquake in 1287 Kalavun took over damaged Latakia. Two years later his Egyptian army besieged Tripoli and forced the Venetians and Genoese to flee, killing the men and enslaving the women and children. Kalavun closed Alexandria to the Genoese traders until they made peace. He died on his way to defend Acre in 1290. His son al-Ashraf Kahlil took over Acre in another massacre. In 1291 the Mamluk army captured the remaining crusader cities of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Haifa, and the Templars abandoned their castles at Tortosa and Ahlit. The Muslims had pushed the crusaders off the mainland of Asia, as the Templars and Hospitallers retreated to the island of Cyprus. Al-Ashraf was murdered in 1293 for wanting to attack the Mongols and Baghdad. In 1297 Mamluk Sultan Lajin asked Ibn Taymiyya to decree a jihad against Christian Armenians in Cilicia, and three years later Taymiyya joined the sultan in a campaign against Shi'as in Lebanon accused of supporting Mongols and Christians. When traveler ibn Battuta visited Palestine and Syria in 1326 he found nothing but ruins in Ascalon, Acre, Tyre, and Tiberias.
In 1291 Arghun's brother Geikhatu was elected Il-Khan, and he forgave his rivals. In Khurasan Arghun's son Ghazna spent five years fighting a rebellion led by Nauruz. Geikhatu made peace in 1294 with the Golden Horde's Toqta (r. 1291-1312). Depletion of the treasury led to an experiment with paper money pioneered by Khubilai Khan; but this failed after two months, though it was the first block printing outside of China. Geikhatu's clemency allowed Baidu to rebel, and the Il-Khan was strangled with a bowstring. Baidu's reign was short before he was executed by Ghazan in 1295.

Ghazan (r. 1295-1304) had been a Buddhist but converted to Islam, taking the name Mahmud and proclaiming Islam the Mongol state religion. In the first year of Ghazan's reign five princes were killed in civil war; but the rebellion ended after General Qutlugh-Shah was executed in 1296. Ghazan's army invaded Syria in 1299 and defeated the Mamluks near Homs. Damascus surrendered to the Mongols the next year; but the Mongols soon retreated from Syria. Ghazan promoted learning and was considered the greatest of the Il-Khans. He was aided by his outstanding Jewish Vizier Rashid al-Din (1247-1318), who also wrote on history and theology with encyclopedic learning. The land tax was made more precise and semi-annual, and imposts on trade and crafts were cut in half or eliminated in some towns. The burdensome system of paying state officials, pensioners, and creditors was abolished. These reforms relieved the peasants and improved the Persian economy from the devastation of the Mongol conquest and the exploitation by feudal lords.