Siege; brought the Crusader period to an end in the Holy Land
Fall of Ruad
Part of the Crusades
Ruins of the fortress of Ruad, where the Crusaders attempted to set up a bridgehead to re-take the Holy Land
Date
1302
Location
Isle of Ruad
Result
Mamluk victory
Expulsion of the Crusaders from the Holy Land
Belligerents
Mamluk Sultanate
Knights Templar
Commanders and leaders
Sayf al-Din Salar
Barthélemy de Quincy †
Strength
Unknown
120 Knights Templar
500 Templar archers
400 Templar sergeants
Casualties and losses
Unknown
Almost all Knights Templar (except some 40 knights as prisoners). Most archers and sergeants were killed.
The fall of Ruad in 1302 was one of the culminating events of the Crusades in the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1291, the Crusaders had lost their main power base at the coastal city of Acre, and the Muslim Mamluks had been systematically destroying the remaining Crusader ports and fortresses in the region, forcing the Crusaders to relocate the dwindling Kingdom of Jerusalem to the island of Cyprus. In 1299–1300, the Cypriots sought to retake the Syrian port city of Tortosa, by setting up a staging area on Ruad, two miles (3 km) off the coast of Tortosa. The plans were to coordinate an offensive between the forces of the Crusaders, and those of the Ilkhanate (Mongol Persia). However, though the Crusaders successfully established a bridgehead on the island, the Mongols did not arrive, and the Crusaders were forced to withdraw the bulk of their forces to Cyprus. The Knights Templar set up a permanent garrison on the island in 1300, but the Mamluks besieged and captured Ruad in 1302. With the loss of the island, the Crusaders lost their last foothold in the Holy Land and it marked the end of
their presence in the Levant region.[1][2]
v
t
e
Crusades: battles in the Levant (1096–1303)
First Crusade
Xerigordos
Civetot
Nicaea
1st Dorylaeum
1st Antioch
Samosata
2nd Antioch
Ma'arra
Arqa
1st Jerusalem
1st Ascalon
Period post-First Crusade
Arsuf
Melitene
Mersivan
1st Heraclea
2nd Heraclea
1st Ramla
2nd Ramla
1st Tripoli
1st Acre
Harran
3rd Ramla
Artah
Beirut
Sidon
1st Shaizar
Al-Sannabra
Sarmin
Ager Sanguinis
Hab
Jaffa and Tyre
Yibneh
1st Aleppo
Azaz
Marj al-Saffar
al-Atharib
Rafaniyya
Antioch
Qinnasrin
Ba'rin
2nd Aleppo
2nd Shaizar
Edessa 1144
Edessa 1146
Bosra
Second Crusade
1st Constantinople
2nd Dorylaeum
Ephesus
Meander Valley
Mount Cadmus
Damascus
Period post-Second Crusade
Inab
Aintab
2nd Ascalon
Lake Huleh
Butaiha
al-Buqaia
Harim
1st Bilbeis
al-Babein
2nd Bilbeis
1st Damietta
Alexandria
Montgisard
Banias
Marj Ayyun
Jacob's Ford
Red Sea
1st Belvoir Castle
Al-Fule
Kerak
Cresson
Hattin
2nd Jerusalem
3rd Tyre
2nd Belvoir Castle
Laodicea
Sahyun
Al-Shughur
Bourzey
Safed
Third Crusade
Acre and Tyre
Philomelion
Iconium
1st Arsuf
1st Jaffa
Period post-Third Crusade
2nd Jaffa
Toron
Fourth Crusade
Zara
2nd Constantinople
3rd Constantinople
Fifth Crusade
Mount Tabor
Machghara
2nd Damietta
1st Fariskur
1st Mansurah
Sixth Crusade and aftermath
Gaza
3rd Jerusalem
Forbie
3rd Ascalon
Seventh Crusade
3rd Damietta
2nd Mansurah
2nd Fariskur
End of the Crusader states in the Levant
2nd Arsuf
Caesarea
Haifa
Safed
2nd Antioch
Eighth Crusade
Krak des Chevaliers
2nd Tripoli
Lord Edward's Crusade
Homs
Margat
3rd Tripoli
2nd Acre
Ruad
^Demurger, chapter "The Isle of Ruad", in The Last Templar.
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