Al-Ashraf Khalil
Al-Ashraf Khalil makes his triumphal entry into Damascus after Acre
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11 June 1291
A Mamluk chronicle records that Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil entered Damascus on Monday, 12 Jumada II 690, after leaving Acre seven days earlier. In conventional Julian chronology that is 11 June 1291.
Damascus was elaborately decorated, with ceremonial structures erected along the approach from the prayer ground to Bab al-Jadid.
Ibn Taghribirdi's account, as translated by Roger Crowley, describes Muslim scholars, mosque officials, Sufi shaykhs, Christians and Jews lining the route with candles even though the procession occurred before noon.
The prisoners
Frankish prisoners were displayed in fetters before the sultan, while captives carried captured Frankish standards upside down.
Ibn Taghribirdi puts the number of fettered prisoners at 280.
Narrative sources differ over whether a gruesome object carried on a spear was heads or hair from slain Franks.
Acre had fallen weeks earlier
This was not the fall of Acre. Khalil's army had captured the city on 18 May 1291, after a main siege of about six weeks, and overcome the last resistance in its Templar compound by 28 May.
He remained in Damascus for more than a month; the reduction or evacuation of the other Frankish coastal positions was carried out separately by his commanders over the following weeks and months.
Tortosa and Atlit were not lost within weeks of Acre — their evacuations occurred in August.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Date corrected
How this was checked
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Date corrected. The research places this at 1291-06-11.
What the sources leave uncertain
- The exact day comes from the chronicle's Islamic date and weekday. It is 11 June in the Julian calendar then in use, equivalent to 18 June in a proleptic Gregorian calendar.
- Modern summaries often give only June 1291, so the precise conversion should be explained rather than silently presented as a modern Gregorian date.
- Narrative sources differ in describing a gruesome object carried on a spear as either heads or hair from slain Franks; avoid choosing between those translations without consulting the critical Arabic edition.