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Father of the poor and miserable, killer of the unbelievers and the polytheists, reviver of justice among all.
An engraving on Mamluk armour.
The war with the Mongols had become a stalemate but the risk of an invasion that coincided with a Crusade remained. Baybars had long ago realised where the Mongols might be vulnerable; it was time to make a play in Anatolia. Mongol control in the region was not strong and their puppet, the Pervane, had been secretly corresponding with the sultan since 1272. Mamluk raids and incursions began in 1274 from Aleppo into Anatolia as softening-up exercises and in 1275 Ayas, the main Ilkhanid port, was burnt and its inhabitants massacred.
In 1276 Baybars sent two Mamluk raids into Ilkhanate lands as a distraction, then he moved on Anatolia. Unfortunately the Anatolian princes started a rebellion against their Mongol overlords too early and Abagha sent 30,000 troopers to the Pervane along with a watchdog in the shape of General Tudawan. Many of the princes were caught and executed. Their organs were circulated around the province as a warning to others.
In February 1277 Baybars brought another army north. By April it was in the Taurus Mountains. A small force was sent ahead of the main army to reconnoitre. Methods of locating the enemy in mountainous terrain are discussed in Furusiyya treatises: the scout would take an empty wide-mouthed quiver, place it on the ground and then place his ear to its side to listen through this amplifier for the sound of hooves or of marching feet. Perhaps this was how they detected the scouts of the Mongol army that led them to the garrison town of Abulustayn. The Mamluk army entered a plain next to the city at its south-east corner. The Mongols, along with their unwilling ally the Pervane, were at the south-west corner.
The Mongols crashed into the Mamluks and reached Baybars’s sanjaqiyya or standard bearers. Baybars had been caught unprepared for once, and realising that if he lost his standards so far from home there would be panic among even his most battle-hardened troops, he rode with his bodyguard into the fray. The physical shock of the charge was enough to push the Mongols back and to relieve the centre, but the Mamluk left was also on the point of caving in. Baybars sent the army of Hama to the left and the battle was rebalanced. He then organised a counter-attack and the Mongols were pushed back.
The Mongols did not flee the field. They dismounted and many of them fought to the death. The Mamluks almost had to wade through the slaughter on their armoured horses but eventually they had slain enough of the brave Mongols to break their opponents’ will to hold the field. The Pervane fled but the Mongol commander, Tudawan, was killed.
Once again the Mongols had been defeated by better soldiers. Mamluk high-volume or ‘shower’ shooting put down a much higher rate of fire than that of any other force in the medieval world. The Mamluk archer held several arrows, up to five, by the nock end between his palm and the last three fingers of his bow-drawing hand during firing so he did not reach to his quiver between each shot. Prester John would not be enough to save Outremer.