Baibars takes Antioch

May 18, 1268

The great Crusader capital, founded by Bohemond of Taranto in 1098, fell to Mamluk assault. The city was sacked and burned; its inhabitants killed or enslaved in numbers that shocked even contemporaries. Antioch, ancient and Christian, ceased to exist as a Latin state. Baibars wrote a gloating letter to Bohemond VI, who had been absent during the siege, detailing the horrors his city had suffered.