Editing Kingdom of Jerusalem (section)

=== Mongols ===
It was during this period that the Mongols arrived in the Near East. Their presence further east had already displaced the Khwarazmians, and emissaries had been sent by various popes as well as Louis IX to ally or negotiate with them, but they were [[Franco-Mongol alliance|uninterested in alliances]]. They [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|sacked Baghdad]] in 1258, [[Siege of Aleppo (1260)|and Aleppo]] and Damascus in 1260, destroying both the Abbasid caliphate and the last vestiges of the Ayyubid dynasty. [[Hethum I, King of Armenia|Hethum I of Armenia]] and Bohemond VI of Antioch had already submitted to the Mongols as vassals. Some of the Mongols were Nestorian Christians, including [[Kitbuqa]], one of the generals at the sieges of Baghdad and Damascus, but despite this, the nobles of Acre refused to submit. As the kingdom was by now a relatively unimportant state, the Mongols paid little attention to it, but there were a few skirmishes in 1260: the forces of [[Julian Grenier|Julian of Sidon]] killed the nephew of Kitbuqa, who responded by sacking Sidon, and John II of Beirut was also captured by the Mongols during another raid. The apparently inevitable Mongol conquest was stalled when [[Hulagu Khan|Hulagu]], the Mongol commander in Syria, returned home after the death of his brother [[Möngke Khan]], leaving Kitbuqa with a small garrison. The Mamluks of Egypt then sought, and were granted, permission to advance through Frankish territory, and defeated the Mongols at the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]] in September 1260. Kitbuqa was killed and all of Syria fell under Mamluk control. On the way back to Egypt, the Mamluk sultan [[Qutuz]] was assassinated by the general Baibars, who was far less favourable than his predecessor to alliances with the Franks.<ref>Runciman, "The Crusader States, 1243–1291", pp. 570–575.</ref>