The fall of Jerusalem shook the Christian world. "The flock of God was driven out of Jerusalem, and the most holy things were thrown to the dogs," lamented the Holy Neophyte. Pope Urban III was said to have fallen dead on learning of the city's fate. The third crusade was inevitable…
The task of informing the princes and people of the West of this fell to his successor, Gregory VIII. On October 29, Grzegorz announced the Audita tremendi bull , calling on all the faithful to fulfill their duty to Christianity and to defend the states of the Cross (...).
Lionheart, strong arms
Thus, in the fall of 1187, preparations for the Third Crusade began. Frederick's imperial armies were making their way, while King Henry II of England, who had previously refused to abandon his throne in the West and accept the Jerusalem crown, finally succumbed to moral blackmail and took up the cross in January 1188. Earlier, he made peace with the young King of France, Philip II Augustus (...).
Richard the Lionheart during the third crusade wanted to capture Jerusalem from the hands of Saladin.
The energetic and brave son of Henry Richard, Count Poitou - later nicknamed "Lionheart" - took up the cross earlier, in November 1187, the day after he learned of the fall of Jerusalem. And it was Ryszard who led the English contingent of the Third Crusade, because on July 6, 1189, Henry died in Chinon Castle.
He deserved the nickname, and he proved to be worthy of his famous parents. According to a romantic biography created after his death, known as the chronicle of Itinerarium Peregrinorum , he was “tall and well built. His hair was a color between red and gold. Its limbs were firm and straight, while the long arms made it possible to use the sword skillfully ”.
Preparations for the Third Crusade.
He was leading the troops in an elegant red Flemish cap, a pink silk shirt, and a cloak trimmed with silver crescents and suns. "This sight pleased the eye," wrote the chronicler. The more critical authors pointed out Ryszard's pale complexion and overweight, adding that he was suffering from ulcers and fever attacks. However, everyone agreed that he adored and had a talent for warfare (...).
The fall of Akka
In the summer of 1190 it was a time of fond farewells, as the first contingent of the English fleet departed from Dartmouth. Richard had crossed the English Channel before and joined Philip, King of France. On July 4, the third anniversary of the Battle of the Horns of Hittin, the two rulers and their armies marched out of Lyon. They walked separately, but headed in the same direction, south, because unlike the German emperor, they chose the sea route. The French went to Genoa, and Richard to Marseilles. They would meet again in Sicily and join their fleets there. The ground trembled under the feet of the marching soldiers (…).
The siege of Akka by the Franks had been going on for almost two years. The city was captured by Saladin after the Battle of the Horns of Hittin. It was the most important commercial center on the coast, serving Italian merchants, Frankish pilgrims, and caravans traveling in the Middle East. Only Jerusalem could pass as a more precious prey.
Akki was guarded by a garrison of three thousand of Ayyubid warriors, commanded by Karakusz, an old officer in Saladin's army. The Sultan himself camped on Tall al-Ayyadiyya hill, a few kilometers east of the city. The size of his army fluctuated depending on how many soldiers he could keep with him. Between the walls of Akka and Saladin stationed Gwidon of Lusignan and an army consisting of surviving veterans from Hittin and soldiers brought from the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch, as well as the first volunteers from the West inspired by the call to a new crusade, and a Genoese fleet with a small bridgehead. on the northern coast line (…).
The Crusaders could neither fight back Saladin's troops nor maintain a complete naval blockade that would allow Akka to starve, while Saladin, in turn, lacked the strength to disperse the siege army, especially since from time to time there were reinforcements in the form of ships with volunteers from all over Europe. Among them were Pisans, Flemish, Germans, Bretons, Danes, Welsh and Cornish. The crusaders' army grew thanks to them and numbered about thirty thousand men, but even that was not enough to effectively defend itself and at the same time crush the thick walls of Akko. Only the arrival of the kings could lead to the breakthrough.
Major support
Frederick Barbarossa was expected to be first. His German army, assisted by thousands of Hungarian troops, advanced efficiently by land through the Byzantine Empire. On May 18, 1190, she won an important victory, defeating the Seljuk ruler of the Sultanate of Rum, Kilidja Arslan II, and looting his capital, Konya. However, on June 10, three weeks later, a misfortune occurred:Frederick drowned while bathing in the Göksu River. He probably had a heart attack or stroke, and a heavy robe pulled him under the water.
"A terrible grief reigned, and lamentations rose, fully justified, since such a great prince, who lives in the heart of every subject, has passed away," wrote the German chronicler. The army, plunged in shock, moved on towards Antioch, led by the son of Barbarossa, Frederick of Swabia. Soon, however, she received another blow:“A terrible disease and plague has struck almost everyone. […] Some died slowly, others quickly, but everyone faced the same fate ". Fryderyk was also among the dead. His army scattered into four winds. After a campaign that lasted almost a year, only a handful of Germans reached Akka - not enough to weigh the scales in favor of the Crusaders. So the siege continued.
Richard the Lionheart on his way to Jerusalem.
Philip August appeared in Akka on April 20, 1191 (...). He brought six ships and an impressive group of French aristocrats, including old veteran Philip, Earl of Flanders, and Hugh, Duke of Burgundy. The tired army stationed outside the city welcomed them with joy. The king was welcomed as an "angel of the Lord" (or so wrote a French chronicler). There was an immediate recovery (…).
Ryszard and the English crusaders landed near Akka on June 8. They were greeted even more joyfully than Philip (...). The rank and file of the rank and file were blowing surmas, horns and bagpipes. The wine poured in streams, songs were sung, great fires were lit. "Everyone was full of hope," wrote the chronicler Ambrose. For good reason:the king of England brought twenty-five galleys, thousands of warriors and a lot of treasures, which he generously distributed to the participants of the siege. Before he even arrived, he sank a mighty Ayyubid freighter to break the blockade from the sea. A thousand foot soldiers, seven emirs, a huge cache of weapons, a hundred camels and two hundred poisonous snakes went to the bottom, which were planned to be used as biological weapons (...).
The arrival of Richard and Philip meant that the end of the siege was near. The strict sea blockade caused famine in the city. The army besieging Akka had entrenched itself so well, building palisades and ramparts, and taking care of armed guards, that Saladin could no longer count on driving her away.
On July 3, the crusaders managed to tear down a huge fragment of the city walls. The next day, the defense lawyers asked for peace. (...) Akka was to be handed over to Christians along with a fragment of the Cross of Jesus that was taken from them. It was agreed to exchange prisoners - several thousand people in total - and the sultan was to pay Richard and Philip two hundred thousand Byzants. The contract was delivered to Saladin for his approval, while an army of crusaders, with a song of thanksgiving, entered the city.
"Bitter Torment"
The fall of Acre in 1191 could end the Third Crusade. Some Frankish leaders, moreover, decided that they would not fight any more. (...) Ryszard, on the other hand, did not abandon Akka. He treated his crusade commitments quite ambitiously, so he began to outline plans for a new campaign. He intended to use the momentum gained by his victory and regain the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem.
On August 20, fed up with waiting for Saladin to return the Cross of Jesus, pay the promised sums, and ratify the agreement made with the Akka garrison, Richard had two thousand six hundred unarmed and bound prisoners led to the plain outside the city. They were all killed there (…).
Saladin after the battle at the Horns of Hattu.
After the massacre in Acre, Richard marched south with his rested troops, following the coastal road to Jaffa and further to Jerusalem. In three weeks, the army traveled 120 kilometers. She was provided with supplies and cover, but she had to be careful of aggressive tarantulas and cannibal crocodiles. Saladin's army, running parallel to the crusaders on their left flank, made constant attacks. Meanwhile, Muslim garrisons were abandoning cities and fortresses, tearing down fortifications to make defense impossible in the future (unless a costly reconstruction would be made, burdening the Christians' coffers).
About halfway down the road outside Arsuf on the hot morning of September 7, the two armies faced each other in a great battle that one chronicler called a "bitter anguish". Saladin threw all his units into battle, including those of Black Africans and Bedouins. He hoped he could break Richard's lines and force him to flee, but thanks to the efficient command of the English king and perfectly timed cavalry charges, the Crusaders won a decisive victory. Three days later, they liberated Jaffa and entered into ceasefire negotiations (...).
Scare of naughty kids
Ryszard later tried to capture Jerusalem twice. In December 1191 and spring 1192 he was able to see the Holy City from a distance, but he lacked the people to repeat the feat of 1099 and take Jerusalem by force. The final stage of the campaign turned out to be too much of a challenge.
(...) In the summer of 1192, Richard's stay in the East was coming to an end. The ruler had spent over two years away from his kingdom and received word that his inept younger brother John was plotting against him with Philip, King of France. Now is the time to go home.
On August 8, Ryszard won the last victory in the fight against Saladin's troops on the beach near Jaffa. A truce was concluded. All the coastal towns between Jaffa and Akka were returned to the Crusaders, and Christian pilgrims gained access to the Holy City. Akka became the new capital of the Frankish kingdom. Religious idealism had to give way to harsh economic realities. We managed to develop a strategy of survival on the hostile land of the East, but instead we had to accept that the Crusader States would change forever.
Richard did not regain everything that was lost, nor did he bring the Ayyubids and Plantagenets together into one family. Even so, the Third Crusade he led was of great importance. It was not for nothing that for many years Muslim mothers scared their disobedient children that if they were not polite, King Richard would come for them.
Source:
The text is an excerpt from the latest book by Dan Jones, Crusaders , which has just been released by the Znak Horyzont publishing house. The author of the best-selling Templars describes the history of the crusades as seen through the eyes of all participants in the jihad.