| Siege of Laodicea (1188) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Crusades | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ayyubid Sultanate |  Principality of Antioch | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Saladin | Bohemond III of Antioch | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Loadicea took place in July 1188 between the Ayyubid Sultanate led by Saladin and the Principality of Antioch, who held modern-day Latakia. After a few days of siege, the city was captured.
Saladin had arrived before the city of Jableh on the 18th month of Jumada al-Awwal (15 July 1188). At Jabla, there happened to be a Muslim resident there with a Qadi to settle their dispute. Saladin gave him the city's government; he offered no resistance, but the Crusaders held out the castle the next day. The castle surrendered, and Saladin remained there until the 23rd of Jumada (20 July). [1]
Saladin then marched out of Jableh and headed towards Latakia, the city was attractive as it possess a lively harbor and two castles lying side by side on a hill overlooking the town, Saladin besieged both the city and the castles, he then ordered an assault on the city, they attacked the city vigorously with shouts this continued until 24th of Jumada (21 July) the city was taken though the two castles still resisted. [2]
Latakia was a wealthy city known as a trading post, and the Ayyubids earned a large booty full of treasures. Night had fallen when they left the city for the castles. On Friday morning, the attack on the castles was resumed, and a breach was made on the north section of the walls, which was 18 inches deep and four inches wide. The Ayyubids climbed the hill, got closer to the walls, and assaulted them. The battle raged, and both sides began throwing stones with their hands. [3]
When the Crusaders saw the ferocity of the attack and how close they approached, they offered to surrender on Friday, 25 Jumada (22 July). [4] [5] Saladin granted the request and allowed the Qadi of Jableh to set up the treaty. The Ayyubids returned to their tents fatigued, and the Crusaders were permitted to leave with their families and their belongings in exchange for leaving their weapons, horses, and other instruments. [6]
The marble facades of the city were ripped off and carried away. Saladin appointed Emir Sunkur al Kilati governor and garrisoned the city with strong men. [7]
The capture of the city cut off the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which contributed to a coastal sailing between them. [8] The capture of Latakia marked the end of the crusader occupation of the town; in 1190, the town was dismantled due to the upcoming German crusader force led by Frederick Barbarossa. In October 1191, Bohemond III of Antioch attempted to recapture the city but failed; another attempt was made in 1197 but again failed. By 1260, the Crusaders had recaptured the city temporarily, until they were defeated by the Mamluks of Qalawun on April 20, 1287. [9]
The Ayyubid dynasty, also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin had originally served the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din, leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt, where he was made Vizier. Following Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin was proclaimed as the first Sultan of Egypt by the Abbasid Caliphate, and rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant, in addition to Hijaz, Yemen, northern Nubia, Tarabulus, Cyrenaica, southern Anatolia, and northern Iraq, the homeland of his Kurdish family. By virtue of his sultanate including Hijaz, the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the first ruler to be hailed as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that would be held by all subsequent sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517. Saladin's military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders, set the general borders and sphere of influence of the sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s.
The Principality of Antioch was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.
Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer, was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of Poitiers. Bohemond ascended to the throne after the Antiochene noblemen dethroned his mother with the assistance of the lord of Armenian Cilicia, Thoros II. He fell into captivity in the Battle of Harim in 1164, but the victorious Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo released him to avoid coming into conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Bohemond went to Constantinople to pay homage to Manuel I Komnenos, who persuaded him to install a Greek Orthodox patriarch in Antioch. The Latin patriarch of Antioch, Aimery of Limoges, placed Antioch under interdict. Bohemond restored Aimery only after the Greek patriarch died during an earthquake in 1170.
Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed, was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III of Antioch. The dying Raymond III of Tripoli offered his county to Bohemond's elder brother, Raymond, but their father sent Bohemond to Tripoli in late 1187. Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, conquered the county, save for the capital and two fortresses, in summer 1188.
Margat, also known as Marqab, is a castle near Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress and one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller. It is located around 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the Mediterranean coast and approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Baniyas. The castle remained in a poor state of preservation until 2007 when some reconstruction and renovation began.
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Jableh is a Mediterranean coastal city in Syria, 25 km (16 mi) north of Baniyas and 25 km (16 mi) south of Latakia, with c. 80,000 inhabitants. As Ancient Gabala it was a Byzantine (arch)bishopric and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It contains the tomb and mosque of Ibrahim Bin Adham, a legendary Sufi mystic who renounced his throne of Balkh and devoted himself to prayers for the rest of his life.
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Bourzey castle is called also Mirza castle,. It is located at the border of Syria coastal mountains and Ghab valley, 25 km away from Jisr al-Shughur, at altitude 450 m. The inscriptions and mentioning of the castle relate it to the Byzantine era in 11th century. Architecturally it has triangle shape, the western façade is 175 m, the eastern is 50 m. The southern and eastern façades are adjacent to deep gorges, but the western façade is the least steep. There is 21 towers and a small church on the surface.
Al-Malik az-Zahir Ghiyath ud-din Ghazi ibn Yusuf ibn Ayyub was the Kurdish Ayyubid emir of Aleppo between 1186 and 1216. He was the third son of Saladin and his lands included northern Syria and a small part of Mesopotamia.
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The siege of Sahyun Castle took place in July 1188 between the Ayyubid Sultanate led by Saladin and the Knights Hospitaller, who held Sahyun Castle. After a few days of siege, the castle was captured.
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In 1188, the Ayyubid Sultanate led by Saladin attacked the castle of Bourzey castle held by the Principality of Antioch, Saladin captured the castle.