The Fall of Ruad (Arwad) Island on 29 September 1302: The Last Templar Bridgehead Lost

By 1302 the Crusader enterprise in the Levant had reached its terminal phase. The Fall of Ruad (Arwad) on 29 September 1302 represented not only a military defeat, but also a symbolic and institutional turning point, particularly for the Knights Templar. The struggle over Ruad, an islet about 3 km off the Syrian coast near Tortosa, offers a concentrated case study of late Crusader strategy, the limitations of cross-cultural alliances (notably with the Mongols), and the final role of the military orders. 

Strategic setting and plan

After the dramatic loss of Acre in 1291, the Crusader states lost their principal onshore strongholds. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem became essentially an exilic title, and residual operations were redirected from Cyprus. Between 1299 and 1300, Crusader forces (notably from Cyprus) attempted to re-establish a foothold on the Syrian coastline by targeting Tortosa. To that end, the islet of Ruad was seized to serve as a staging base, a “bridgehead” from which further operations might be launched. 

In November 1301 Pope Boniface VIII formally granted the island to the Templars, who promptly fortified it and installed a standing garrison under the command of their Marshal, Barthélemy de Quincy, probably originating from the Dutchy of Burgundy (Marshal ca 1294-1302 under Master Jacques de Molay). 

The composition of the garrison, 120 knights, 500 archers (or bowmen), and 400 “sergeants” or auxiliary troops (largely Syrian Christian helpers), was a substantial commitment. Some chronicle authors remark that this represented “close to half the size of the normal complement [of Templars] for the twelfth-century Kingdom of Jerusalem.” 

Crusader planners hoped to coordinate a joint offensive with the Mongols from the Ilkhanate Persia under Ghazan. Some chronicles assert that Mongol contingents (reportedly up to 60,000 troops) did enter Syrian territory between late 1300 and early 1301. However, an unusually severe winter halted the Mongol advance, and Ghazan was forced to delay attacking the Mamluks until a later date. Meanwhile, the Templars held the island and from there repeatedly made forays into the mainland. 

Thus, Ruad was intended less as a final bastion than as a forward outpost enabling recurring raids or even a reprise of major territorial recovery, if only the logistics and timing permitted.

The Siege, Surrender, and Betrayal

In 1302 a Mamluk expedition sailed from Egypt (some sources mention 16 ships) to Tripoli, then disembarked at two beaches on or near Ruad, establishing siege lines. The Templars resisted by day, but their situation deteriorated through attritional pressure and blockade tactics. A relief fleet from Cyprus, based in Famagusta, set out too late to arrive in time to relieve the garrison. 

 

On 26 September 1302, Brother Hugh de Dampierre negotiated terms of surrender, supposedly guaranteeing safe passage to a Christian destination. But once the defenders came out, violence erupted. Marshal De Quincy was killed in the melee, the archers and the Syrian auxiliaries were executed on the spot, and dozens of Templar knights were taken prisoner and transported to Cairo. 

Of the prisoners, around 40 survived in captivity in Cairo for several years despite offers of rich rewards if they renounced their order. That they refused is attested by a Genoese fellow-prisoner, Matthew Zaccaria, who recorded that some died by starvation rather than apostasy. 

The broken promise of safe conduct, and the wholesale slaughter or imprisonment of the defenders, added a dark coda to the siege, reinforcing the sense that the Crusader cause had passed its point of return. With Ruad lost, no Christian force had a permanent base on the Syrian littoral. The loss is often considered the effective end of Crusader territorial presence in the Levant.

For the Templars, the fall of Ruad was more than another defeat: it removed their last credible military foothold in the theatre where their original raison d’être was exercised. Their order henceforth became increasingly abstract: wealth, property, influence, rather than actively crusading. 

This blog is based on the article Fall of Ruad on Wikipedia1 with additional information from Arwad, Fortress at Sea on aramcoworld.com, and the article on Barthélemy de Quincy on Wikipedia2. The illustration is also from Wikipedia1, picture by Michel Benoist, Own work, CC BY 2.5.

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