Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (118 page)

The Mamluk defense had lost all ability to hold back an invading army. Whatever changes Barqūq had made among the governors, it did not prepare them to resist the coming Mongol invasion. No alert was sounded and the garrisons of the inland towns of Sivas,
, Bahasnā and
were overrun.
³³
According to Ibn Taghrī Birdī, “No one in Egypt made preparations for war against Temür.”
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Temür’s armies headed straight to the central Syrian cities. The Syrian Mamluk armies were defeated outside Aleppo and the city was left in ruins and abandoned by its inhabitants. The Egyptian army eventually left Cairo in an attempt to save Damascus from a similar fate, but to no avail. The army withdew before the battle began. The inhabit ants of Damascus were tortured and massacred, the city plundered and large parts of it thoroughly destroyed.
³⁵

At the beginning of his account, Ibn Taghrī Birdī sums up the reasons for the Mamluk failure: “neglect and inattention marked affairs at Cairo because of the absence of centralized authority and because of the varied opinions that were held.”
³⁶

Matters did not improve later in the century. A description of al-Bīra and
dating to the last quarter of the fifteenth century gives a clear idea of the state of affairs along the Euphrates. In 877/1472 the Aqquyunlu, led by Uzun
(d. 1478/883) took several of the fortresses and towns along the river, invested al-Bīra and arrived at the outskirts of Aleppo,
³⁷
but soon retreated.

The Mamluk sultan Qaytbāy (r.872/1468–901/1496) set out in 882/1477 on a four-month tour of his sultanate, the Euphrates being one of the regions visited. The journey was organized in a somewhat pretentious manner. The sultan was accompanied by a fairly large staff, and received by the governors at each site. While some fortresses were inspected by the sultan himself others were visited only by his staff. A detailed itinerary was written by Badr al-Dīn
, deputy to Qaytbāy’s personal secretary. It was titled
Al-qawl
fī safar mawlānā al-malik al-ashraf
(“The elegant report recounting the voyage of our lord the esteemed monarch”).
³⁸
Some of the fortresses along the Euphrates were inspected. According to Ibn
al-Bīra’s houses and curtain wall were destroyed by the Aqquyunlu leader
Bak (1457–1478).
³⁹
The sultan’s entourage stayed at al-Bīra where they were received by the nā’ib. A short account is given of
, described as a large town. A group of rebels settled in the fortress, their strength steadily growing as people from al-Bīra and
flocked to it. While al-Bīra was reinforced, nothing was done to regain
. The sultan did not personally visit the site, and it appears that only a small detachment was sent. Qaytbāy saw to the repairs of al-Bīra’s town fortifications. His work is commemorated in three inscriptions set along the walls and gates.
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Though Ibn al-Iyās only briefly mentions the works of Qāytbāy at al-Bīra (887/1482) he adds a few interesting details which show the financial advantages of having the sultan initiate and sponsor fortification projects: