People/Mamluks

c. 1262–1293 · Mamluk sultan (1290–1293)

al-Ashraf Khalil

Mamluk sultan who in 1291 took Acre and the last major Frankish centres on the Levantine mainland.

No verified depiction added

BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER

Life and historical role

01

Life and political setting

Al-Ashraf Khalil was a son of Sultan Qalawun. He succeeded his father in 1290 while preparations for the campaign against Acre were already under way. Despite rivalry among senior emirs, he continued the operation and used its success to strengthen a reign that remained politically contested.

02

Role in the Crusades

Khalil brought a large siege army before Acre in April 1291. Intensive use of trebuchets, mining and repeated assaults ended with the city's fall on 18 May. Tyre, Sidon, Beirut and other coastal centres were then evacuated or taken, and the abandonment of Tortosa and Atlit in August ended Latin rule on the Levantine mainland.

Method note

Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Related cases

10 November 1290 · Cairo

Death of Qalawun; Acre campaign passes to al-Ashraf

Having completed preparations for the campaign against Acre, Sultan Qalawun died shortly after leaving Cairo with his army in November 1290. His son al-Ashraf Khalil succeeded him, maintained his father's decision for war and besieged Acre in spring 1291.

Open record →6 April – 18 May 1291 · Acre

Fall of Acre

Al-Ashraf Khalil besieged Acre with a great Mamluk army on 6 April 1291. After a six-week siege the city was entered on 18 May through the “Accursed Tower”. The Templar master William of Beaujeu was mortally wounded; King Henry II fled to Cyprus, and with the fall of Acre the Kingdom of Jerusalem effectively came to an end.

Open record →May – July 1291 · Levantine coast

Evacuation of Tyre, Sidon and Beirut

After the fall of Acre, between May and July 1291, the other Latin cities on the Levantine coast were lost one by one. Tyre was abandoned without a fight, Beirut surrendered, and the Templars' sea castle at Sidon was evacuated after holding out for a time.

Open record →3–14 August 1291 · Tortosa – Atlit

Evacuation of Tortosa and Atlit

In August 1291 the Templars evacuated without a fight their last great castles on the Levantine coast, Tortosa (3 August) and Atlit (14 August), and withdrew to Cyprus. The Latin military presence on the Levantine mainland thus came to an end; only the island of Ruad off Tortosa remained in Templar hands for a few more years.

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