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The End of the Crusader States

As a background to the history of New Armenia succeeding Levon II, let us briefly review the picture of the Middle East during the 13th century.

Following the conquests of Saladin, which ended in the fall of Jerusalem the crusaders' focus of attention during the 13th century, the fifth (1219-1221) and seventh (1248-1249) crusades, was turned to Egypt, which had become the centre of power of the Islamic world. None of these crusades ended in a decisive victory. The fourth crusade (1201-1204), which started entirely as a result of the blind hatred and envy of Venice towards Byzantine and Constantinople, ended in the final destruction of the small crusader defence force which was left in Byzantine.

Bordering Syria, Armenia and the crusader states were in a tight corner, constantly under the threat of allied Muslim forces.

The chief success achieved by the crusaders was the re-taking of the city of Jerusalem, which they held only from 1229 to 1234, not by arms but through the negotiation of Kaiser Fredrik II with the successor to sultan Saladin.

In the middle of the 13th century, a new factor came into play in the Middle East - the appearance of the Mongols. At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan conquered Mesopotamia and Syria, and drove the forces of the Egyptian Mamelukes out from Syria, and killing both Arabs and Turks who stood in his path.

The Mongol occupation of Armenia Major was disastrous for the Armenians, but this fate did not befall New Armenia. The Mongols attacked neither New Armenia nor the crusader states and instead concentrated all their strength against the Arabs and the Turks, and as a consequence the balance of power in favour of the Christian countries was re-established.

Armenia attempted to convert the Mongols to Christianity, but failed. Although the Mongols obliterated the Arab and Seljuk Turk defences, arriving at the gates of Egypt, their campaign was brought to an end by the Mamelukes. The Mamelukes had grown much stronger since the time of Saladin, replacing the Mongols as the most dangerous opponent of the Latin countries in the East, and of New Armenia.

The Mongols made a rapid retreat to Armenia Major and Persia, leading to the conquest of Damascus and Aleppo by the Mamelukes of Egypt, who also attacked the remaining land of the crusaders in the east. The principality of Antiochia fell in 1268. The famous fortress of Krak, the most important fortress for the Knights Hospitaller, who belonged to the Latin nobility, fell in 1271; followed in 1289 by the principality of Tripoli. In 1291 final old Christian states, which were limited to certain southern harbours of Jerusalem, disappeared.

By 1291, little over two centuries after the first crusader warriors had disembarked on the eastern shore of Mediterranean Sea, there remained only one Christian country in the region. New Armenia, left to its own defence, nonetheless continued its resistance for another hundred years.