From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abaqa Khan (1234–1282), the son of Hulagu and Oroqina Khatun, a Mongol Christian. As the second Il-Khan emperor in Persia, he reigned from 1265–1282.

At the time of Hulagu's death from illness in 1265, Abaqa, on his father's behalf, continued to fight the Golden Horde forces of Berke Khan until 1267, the time of Berke's death. However, Baraq Khan of the Chagataid's tried to annex Iran in 1270 thus starting war against Abaqa in the city of Herat. Abaqa successfully defended Iran, leaving his people victorious.

Contents 1 Religion 2 Franco-Mongol relations 2.1 Campaigns during the 9th Crusade (1271) 3 Campaigns of 1280-1281 3.1 Campaign of autumn 1280 3.2 Campaign of Autumn 1281 4 Assassination 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

During his reign, Abaqa, a devout Buddhist, attempted to convert the Muslims and harassed them mercilessly by promoting Nestorian and Buddhist interests ahead of the Muslims, by sending embassies to Pope Gregory X and Edward I of England. In 1265, upon his succession, he received the hand of Maria Despina Palaiologina, the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, in marriage.

Some of the coins of Abaqa display the Christian cross, and bear in Arabic the Christian inscription "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, only one God".^[1]

Following the death of Hulagu in 1265, the Muslim leader Baibars attacked the Franks, and brought terrible devastation to the kingdom of Cilician Armenia. From 1265, Abaqa pursued Western cooperation to respond to the Mamluk threat. He corresponded with Pope Clement IV through 1267-1268, and reportedly sent a Mongol ambassador in 1268. Abaqa proposed a joint alliance between his forces, those of the West, and the father of Abaqa's wife, the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos. Abaqa received responses from Rome and from Jaume I of Aragon, though it is unclear if this was what led to Jaume's unsuccessful expedition to Acre in 1269.^[2]

In 1268, the Mamluk leader Baibars raided the area of Acre, taking the castle of Beaufort, and attacked Tripoli, where Bohemond VI was entrenched with his subjects. Baibars then arrived in front of Antioch, the largest of the Frankish cities, on May 14, 1268, and took the city after a siege of only 4 days.^[3] After this defeat, Bohemond obtained a truce with Baibars^[4] but this left Bohemond with no estates except Tripoli.^[5]

In 1271, Baibars sent a letter to Bohemond threatening him with total annihilation and taunted him for his alliance with the Mongols:

"Our yellow flags have repelled your red flags, and the sound of the bells has been replaced by the call: "Allâh Akbar!" (...) Warn your walls and your churches that soon our siege machinery will deal with them, your knights that soon our swords will invite themselves in their homes (...) We will see then what use will be your alliance with Abagha"

—Letter from Baibars to Bohemond VI, 1271^[6]

In May 1271, when Edward I of England arrived in Acre, trying to lead a Crusade in response to the fall of Antioch. He immediately sent an embassy to Abagha. The embassy was led by Reginald Rossel, Godefroi of Waus and John of Parker, and its mission was to obtain military support from the Mongols.^[7] In an answer dated September 4, 1271, Abagha agreed for cooperation and asked at what date the concerted attack on the Mamluks should take place. At the end of October 1271, the Mongol troops requested by Edward arrived in Syria and ravaged the land from Aleppo southward. Abagha, occupied by other conflicts in Turkestan could only send 10,000 Mongol horsemen under general Samagar from the occupation army in Seljuk Anatolia, plus auxiliary Seljukid troops, but they trigerred an exodus of Muslim populations (who remembered the previous campaigns of Kithuqa) as far south as Cairo.^[8] When Baibars mounted a counter-offensive from Egypt on November 12th, the Mongols had already retreated beyond the Euphrates, but these unsettling events allowed Edward to negotiate a ten year peace treaty with the Mamluks. When Abaqa sent a delegation to the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, the Mongol embassy visited Edward after the Council on January 28, 1275. A letter from Edward is known, in which he acknowledges Abagha's promise to fight together with the Crusaders.^[9]

In 1280-1281 Abaqa promoted a new attack against Syria. Without support from the Crusades, some Franks of Syria, particularly the Hospitallers, and to some extent the Franks of Cyprus and Antioch, joined in combined operations with the Mongols. The historian Zoe Oldenbourg in The Crusades mentions in 1280 the "Alliance of Franks and Mongols against Qalawun".^[10]

Following the death of Baibars in 1277, and the ensuing disorganisation of the Muslim realm, conditions were ripe for a new action in the Holy Land.^[11] The Mongols seized the opportunity and organized a new invasion of Syrian land. In September 1280, the Mongols occupied Baghras and Darbsak, and took Aleppo on October 20, where they massacred many inhabitants.

"Abagha ordered the Tartars to occupy Syria, the land and the cities, and remit them to be guarded by the Christians."

—Monk Hayton of Corycus, "Fleur des Histoires d'Orient", circa 1300^[12]

On the Frank side the king of Cyprus Hugues III and Bohemond VI also mobilized their army, but they could not intervene because the Mamluks had already positionned themselves between them and the Mongols.^[13] In October 1280, the Mongols sent envoys to Acre to request military support for the campaign, but the Vicar of the Patriarch invoked that the city was suffering from hunger, and that the king of Jerusalem was embroiled in another war.^[14]. The Mongols also requested support for a campaign the following winter, informing the Franks that they would bring 50,000 Mongol horsemen and 50,000 Mongol infantry, but the request apparently remained without a response.^[15]

According to Runciman, Abagha and Leo III of Armenia urged the Franks to start a new Crusade, but only the Hospitallers and Edward I (who could not come for lack of funds) responded favourably.^[16] The Hospitallers of Marquab made combined raids into the Buqaia, and won several engagements against the Sultan.^[17] They raided as far as the Krak des Chevaliers in October 1280, and defeated the mamluk army of the Krak in February 1281.^[18]

The Mongols finally retreated, pledging to come back for the winter of 1281.

In order to prevent new combined actions between the Franks and the Mongols, the new Muslim sultan Qalawun signed a new 10-year truce on May 3, 1281 (following the expiration of the old truce from 1271) with the Barons of Acre (a truce he would later breach)^[19] and a second 10-year truce with Bohemond VII of Tripoli, on July 16, 1281. The truce also authorized pilgrim access to Jerusalem.^[20]

The announced Mongol invasion started in September 1281. They were joined by the Armenians under Leo III, and by about 200 Hospitaliers knights of the fortress of Marqab,^[21][22] who considered they were not bound by the truce with the Mamluks.^[23] Some knights from Cyprus also probably accompanied them.^[24]

"In the year 1281 of the incarnation of Christ, the Tatars left their realm, crossed Aygues Froides with a very great army and invaded the land of Aleppo, Haman and La Chemele and did great damage to the Sarazins and killed many, and with them were the king of Armenia and some Frank knights of Syria."

—Le Chevalier de Tyre, Chap. 407^[25]

On October 30, 1281, 50,000 Mongol troops, together with 30,000 Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and the Hospitalier Knights of Marqab fought against the Muslim leader Qalawun at the Second Battle of Homs, but they were repelled, with heavy losses on both sides.^[23]

Abaqa was probably assassinated in 1282. During his harsh reign, many Muslims had attempted to assassinate Abaqa. The assassin viewed Maria as part of his rightful inheritance, but she fled back to Constantinople where her father, apparently wishing to spare his capital the fate that befell Baghdad, tried to marry her off again to another Mongol khan. Maria could not accept the offer, became a nun, and founded The Church of Panagia Mouchliotissa around 1285. Abaqa was succeeded by his Muslim brother Tekuder.

With Abaqa's death in 1282, and his replacement by the Muslim Mongol ruler Teguder, the Sultan Qalawun was free again to attacks Frankish territory. The Sultan finally captured the northern fortress of Margat in 1285, Lattakia in 1287, and Tripoli in 1289.^[26]

• Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-4671-9.
• Roux, Jean-Paul, Histoire de l'Empire Mongol, Fayard, ISBN 2213031649

• Khan genealogy
• The Islamic World to 1600: The Mongol Invasions (The Il-Khanate)

Preceded by Hulagu

Ilkhanid Dynasty 1265–1282

Succeeded by Tekuder