Fall of Jaffa (1268)
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| Fall of Jaffa (1268) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Crusades | |||||||
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Jerusalem |
 Mamluk Sultanate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Guy of Ibelin  |
Baibars | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy | Unknown | ||||||
The Fall of Jaffa in 1268 happened between the Crusader garrison of Jaffa and a Mamluk army led by Baybars. The Mamluks were victorious and demolished Jaffa, ending the Crusader presence there.
In the early year of 1268, the Mamluk Sultan Baybars had learned of Mongol plans to raid Aleppo. He gathered his forces and marched to Gaza on February 16. The Mongol threat however was a pretext he used to fool the Crusaders thinking they were not the target of his campaign. Before leaving Cairo, Baybars sent messages to this military commander in Damascus to mobilize his forces and bring them to Banias. Another message was sent to another commander to prepare his forces for an attack on Beaufort Castle but to take no action until he arrives.[1] Baybars then marched from Gaza to Jaffa. Jaffa once belonged to John of Ibelin. Baybars had a truce with him. After John passed away, his son, Guy of Ibelin succeeded him. Baybars saw that the truce did not extend to his son and decided to attack Jaffa.[2][3]