Siege of Mosul
1261 CE.
Shown on the map at 36.333°, 43.133°.
The Siege of Mosul took place from late 1261 to July–August 1262, during the Mamluk–Ilkhanate War. Mosul's ruler Badr al-Din Lu'lu' had made a gesture of submission to the Ilkhanate of Hulegu Khan by 1243. But after his death in 1261, his son and successor Al-Salih Isma'il repudiated Mongol sovereignty and entered into relations with Baybars, ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate. In 1261, Al-Salih travelled with his son and other notables of Mosul first to Syria and then to Cairo, where they were entertained by Baybars; they then accompanied the Mamluk army back into Syria. During his six-month absence, however, Al-Salih's wife Turkan Khatun seized control of Mosul and refused entry to a group of Mamluks. This action incited a popular revolt, which forced her and her supporters into the city's citadel and then persecuted the Christians of Mosul, who were suspected of being in league with the Mongols. A small Mongol force then arrived to assert authority and killed all the Mamluks in a short skirmish, before encircling Mosul and preparing to siege it.
Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Mosul (1261), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.