Siege of Antioch ( 1268 ) The Siege of Antioch occurred in 1268 when the Mamelukes under Baibars finally succeeded in capturing the city of Antioch . Prior to the siege , the Crusader Principality was oblivious to the loss of the city as demonstrated when Baibars sent negotiators to the leader of the former Crusader state and mocking his use of " Prince " in the title Prince of Antioch . Prelude to the Siege . In 1260 Baibars , the Sultan of Egypt and Syria , began to threaten the Principality of Antioch , a Crusader state , which ( as a vassal of the Armenians ) had supported the Mongols , the traditional enemies of the Turks . In 1265 , Baibars took Caesarea , Haifa and Arsuf and massacred the inhabitants . A year later , Baibars conquered Galilee and devastated Cilician Armenia . As Steven Runciman relates in his last book about the Crusades , time ago before the siege of Antioch ( 1268 ) , prince Bohemond IV of Antioch had settled his court in the city of Tripoli , capital of his other state , the County of Tripoli . In 1268 , the Antiochene knights and garrison were under the command of Simon Mansel , Constable of Antioch , whose wife was an Armenian Lady who was relative to Sybilla of Armenia , wife of prince Bohemond VI . Siege of Antioch . In 1268 Baibars besieged the city of Antioch which was " badly defended by its patriarch and abandoned by most of its inhabitants , " capturing it on 18 May ( the citadel fell two days later ) after a relatively feeble defense . Antioch had been weakened by its previous struggles with Armenia and internal power struggles , and Antioch ' s inhabitants were quick to agree to a surrender on the condition that the lives of the citizens within the walls would be spared . Before Baibars ' forces laid siege on Antioch , the Constable Simon Mansel , along with a group of knights led an unsuccessful attack against the Muslim army in order that the city could not be encircled . The defenses were in good conditions , but the garrison was unable to defend the long walls of the city . Mansel was captured during the Antiochene cavalry attack , and Baibars ordered him to command his lieutenants in Antioch to surrender immediately to him . The garrison refused to capitulate , and continued the defense of the walls . Baibars reneged on this pledge ; as soon as his troops were within the gates , Baibars ordered the gates shut and brutally massacred everyone in the city . It is thought that 40 , 000 Christians were massacred and another 100 , 000 enslaved . Afterward , lamenting that Antioch ' s ruler had not been present either for the siege or the ransacking and murder , Baibars secretary ( who was also his biographer ) wrote a detailed letter describing exactly what had been done to the people and the city : ' Death came among the besieged from all sides and by all roads : we killed all that thou hadst appointed to guard the city or defend its approaches . If thou hadst seen thy knights trampled under the feet of the horses , thy provinces given up to pillage , thy riches distributed by measures full , the wives of thy subjects put to public sale ; if thou hadst seen the pulpits and crosses overturned , the leaves of the Gospel torn and cast to the winds , and the sepulchres of thy patriarchs profaned ; if thou hadst seen thy enemies , the Mussulmans trampling upon the tabernacle , and immolating in the sanctuary , monk , priest and deacon ; in short , if thou hadst seen thy palaces given up to the flames , the dead devoured by the fire of this world , the Church of St Paul and that of St Peter completely and entirely destroyed , certes , thou wouldst have cried out " " Would to Heaven that I were become dust ! " " ' . Michaud after quoting the letter of Baibar ' s concludes the sacking thus : ' Baibars distributed the booty among his soldiers the Mamelukes reserving as their portion the women girls and children [ . . . ] A little boy was worth twelve dirhems , a little girl five dirhems . In a single day the city of Antioch lost all its inhabitants and a conflagration lighted by order of Bibars completed the work of the barbarians . Most historians agree in saying that fourteen thousand Christians were slaughtered and a hundred thousand dragged away into slavery . ' Aftermath . The Hospitaller fortress Krak des Chevaliers fell three years later . While Louis IX of France launched the Eighth Crusade ostensibly to reverse these setbacks , it went to Tunis , instead of Constantinople , as Louis ' brother , Charles of Anjou , had initially advised , though Charles I clearly benefited from the treaty between Antioch and Tunis that ultimately resulted from the Crusade . By the time of his death in 1277 , Baibars had forced the Crusaders to a few strongholds along the coast and the Crusaders were forced out of the Middle East by the beginning of the fourteenth century . The fall of Antioch was to prove as detrimental to the crusaders cause , as its capture was instrumental to the initial success of the first Crusade . The population of Antioch consisting primarily of Armenians was put to the sword . Later , the Mamelukes would repeat the same destruction in Acre where the massacre of the civilians there was frustrated by the evacuation attempts of the Templar Knights , who managed to save a number of civilians to the relative safety of Cyprus .