Year 1291 (MCCXCI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX Against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see any significant fighting as Louis died of dysentery shortly after arriving on the shores of Tunisia. The Treaty of Tunis was negotiated between the Crusaders and the Hafsids. No changes in territory occurred, though there were commercial and some political rights granted to the Christians. The Crusaders withdrew back to Europe soon after.
Hethum I ruled the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from 1226 to 1270. He was the son of Constantine of Baberon and Princess Alix Pahlavouni of Lampron and was the founder of the dynasty which bears his name: the Hethumids also known as the House of Lampron. Having accepted the suzerainty of the Mongol Empire, Hethum himself traveled to the Mongol court in Karakorum, Mongolia, a famous account of which is given by Hethum's companion, the historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi, in his History of Armenia. He allied with the Mongols to fight against the Muslim Mamluks and also encouraged other Crusader states to do the same.
Shajar al-Durr, also Shajarat al-Durr, whose royal name was al-Malika ʿAṣmat ad-Dīn ʾUmm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr, was a ruler of Egypt. She was the wife of As-Salih Ayyub, and later of Izz al-Din Aybak, the first sultan of the Mamluk Bahri dynasty. Prior to becoming Ayyub's wife, she was a child slave and Ayyub's concubine.
The Battle of Fariskur was the last major battle of the Seventh Crusade. The battle was fought on 6 April 1250, between the Crusaders led by King Louis IX of France and Egyptian forces led by Turanshah of the Ayyubid dynasty.
The siege of Acre took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders' losing control of Acre to the Mamluks. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the Levant. When Acre fell, the Crusaders lost their last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. They still maintained a fortress at the northern city of Tartus, engaged in some coastal raids, and attempted an incursion from the tiny island of Ruad; but, when they lost that, too, in a siege in 1302, the Crusaders no longer controlled any part of the Holy Land.
Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari, commonly known as Baibars or Baybars and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh, was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Bahri dynasty, succeeding Qutuz. He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. He also led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army and is considered a turning point in history.
Guillaume de Beaujeu, aka William of Beaujeu was the 21st Grand Master of the Knights Templar, from 1273 until his death during the siege of Acre in 1291. He was the last Grand Master to preside in Palestine.
Robyn Young is an English author of historical fiction. She is most widely known for her Brethren trilogy, set in the Middle Ages. Her books have been published in more than 15 languages.
The Fall of Tripoli was the capture and destruction of the Crusader state, the County of Tripoli, by the Muslim Mamluks. The battle occurred in 1289 and was an important event in the Crusades, as it marked the capture of one of the few remaining major possessions of the Crusaders. The event is represented in a rare surviving illustration from a now fragmentary manuscript known as the 'Cocharelli Codex', thought to have been created in Genoa in the 1330s. The image shows the countess Lucia, Countess of Tripoli and Bartholomew, Bishop of Tortosa sitting in state in the centre of the fortified city, and Qalawun's assault in 1289, with his army depicted massacring the inhabitants fleeing to boats in the harbour and to the nearby island of St Thomas.
Isabella of Ibelin (1252–1282) was lady of Beirut from 1264 until her death in 1282, and also held the title of Queen of Cyprus. She was the daughter of John II of Beirut, lord of Beirut, and of Alice de la Roche sur Ognon.
Edward I of England has been portrayed in popular culture a number of times.
The original historic Knights Templar were a Christian military order, the Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, that existed from the 12th to 14th centuries to provide warriors in the Crusades. These men were famous in the high and late Middle Ages, but the Order was disbanded very suddenly by King Philip IV of France, who took action against the Templars in order to avoid repaying his own financial debts. He accused them of heresy, ordered the arrest of all Templars within his realm, put the Order under trial and many of them burned at the stake. The dramatic and rapid end of the Order led to many stories and legends developing about them over the following centuries. The Order and its members increasingly appear in modern fiction, though most of these references portray the medieval organization inaccurately.
Crusade is a novel by Robyn Young set during the end of the ninth and final crusade. It was first published by Dutton in 2007.
The Mamluk Sultanate, also known as MamlukEgypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks headed by a sultan. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), called after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras.
Requiem is a novel by Robyn Young set during the end of the ninth and final crusade. It was first published by E.P. Dutton in 2008.
The Templar Salvation is a 2010 novel by Raymond Khoury, and the sequel to his debut work The Last Templar. The novel features the characters of FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin, who were also the main characters in The Last Templar.
Latin Diocese of Tortosa in Syria was a Roman Catholic diocese established in the Syrian city of Tartus after the First Crusade. It had a resident bishop between 1128 and 1291. The cathedral of Tortosa became the site of a Marian shrine.
The fall of Outremer describes the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from the end of the last European Crusade to the Holy Land in 1272 until the final loss in 1302. The kingdom was the center of Outremer—the four Crusader states—formed after the First Crusade in 1099 and reached its peak in 1187. The loss of Jerusalem in that year began the century-long decline. The years 1272–1302 are fraught with many conflicts throughout the Levant as well as the Mediterranean and Western European regions, and many Crusades were proposed to free the Holy Land from Mamluk control. The major players fighting the Muslims included the kings of England and France, the kingdoms of Cyprus and Sicily, the three Military Orders and Mongol Ilkhanate. Traditionally, the end of Western European presence in the Holy Land is identified as their defeat at the Siege of Acre in 1291, but the Christian forces managed to hold on to the small island fortress of Ruad until 1302.
The Citadel of Safed is a now-defunct fortress castle situated on the peak of the mountain housing the modern city of Safed. Furthermore, fortifications existed during the late period of the Second Temple as well as the Roman Empire. However most of the remains left in the place are from the Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. The citadel was an important administrative center of the crusaders. The citadel was severely damaged in the strong earthquake that struck Safed in 1837. During the last few decades, extensive archaeological excavations have been carried out at the site, revealing remains and ancient findings from all periods of the citadel's existence. Today, the citadel is visited by tourists for its historical value as well as the view, since due to its high location you can see from it the surroundings of Safed, from the Meron mountain massif in the west, the Sea of Galilee in the east, the lower Galilee in the south, and the Naftali and Hermon mountains to the north. The citadel garden was established in 1950, designed by landscape architect Shlomo Oren Weinberg. A memorial monument was erected to the Safed residents who lost their lives in the 1948 Palestine War.
