# Fall of Acre (28 May 1291)

URL: https://allhistories.com/cyprus/timeline/1291-fall-of-acre
Location: Acre (Israel); Famagusta, Cyprus
Themes: Key Events

By the late thirteenth century the crusader states had been reduced to a few coastal towns. In April 1291 the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil laid siege to Acre with a very large army and siege train. King Henry II of Cyprus, who was also King of Jerusalem, sailed to Acre with reinforcements, and the city was defended by the military orders and the Italian communes. After weeks of bombardment and mining, the Mamluks stormed the city; Acre fell on 28 May 1291 after a last stand in the Templar fortress. Henry II escaped to Cyprus with most of his nobles, and thousands of refugees fled by sea to Famagusta and Limassol. Tyre, Sidon, Beirut and the remaining castles were abandoned within weeks, ending the Latin presence on the Syrian mainland. Cyprus became the last outpost of the crusaders in the East. The military orders, merchants, clergy and noble families of the lost kingdom settled on the island, swelling its Latin population. Papal bans on trade with Mamluk Egypt turned Cyprus, and especially Famagusta, into the main meeting point between Western and Eastern commerce, while the island also became the springboard for later crusading projects.

## Why it matters
The fall of Acre made Cyprus the frontier of Latin Christendom in the East and the hub of its Levantine trade.

Ruler at the Time: [Henry II](https://allhistories.com/cyprus/rulers/henry-ii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Siege of Acre (1291)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Acre_(1291))
- [Wikipedia — Henry II of Cyprus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_Cyprus)
- [Wikipedia — Kingdom of Cyprus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Cyprus)