A History of the Crusades-Vol 3 (4 page)

In April Guy came again with Sibylla to
Tyre and again demanded to be given control of the city. Finding Conrad as
obdurate as before, he encamped in front of its walls. About the same time
valuable reinforcements arrived from the West. At the time of the fall of
Jerusalem the Pisans and the Genoese were enjoying one of their habitual wars;
but amongst the triumphs of Pope Gregory VIII in his short pontificate was the
negotiation of a truce between them and the promise of a Pisan fleet for the
Crusade. The Pisans set out before the end of the year but wintered at Messina.
Their fifty-two ships arrived off Tyre on 6 April 1189, under the command of
their Archbishop, Ubaldo. Soon afterwards Ubaldo seems to have quarrelled with
Conrad; and when Guy appeared, the Pisans joined up with him. He also won the
support of the Sicilian auxiliaries. During the early summer there was some
slight skirmishing between the Franks and the Moslems. But Saladin still wished
to rest his armies, and the Christians awaited more help from the West.
Suddenly, at the end of August, King Guy broke his camp and set out to march
with his followers southward down the coast road to attack Acre, and the Pisan
and Sicilian ships sailed to keep him company.

It was a move of desperate foolhardiness,
the decision of a brave but very unwise man. Thwarted of his wish to reign in
Tyre, Guy urgently needed a city from which to reconstitute his kingdom. Conrad
was seriously ill at the time; and it seemed to Guy a fine opportunity to show
that he was the active leader of the Franks. But the risk was enormous. The
size of the Moslem garrison of Acre was more than twice that of Guy’s whole
army; and Saladin’s regular forces were in the offing. No one could have
foreseen that the adventure would succeed. But history has its surprises. If
Conrad’s ruthless energy had saved the remnant of Palestine for Christendom, it
was Guy’s gallant folly that turned the tide and began an era of reconquest.

1189: Guy arrives before Acre

When the news reached him of Guy’s expedition,
Saladin was in the hills beyond Sidon, laying siege to the castle of Beaufort.
The castle, perched on a high cliff above the river Litani, belonged to Reynald
of Sidon and had hitherto been preserved by the cunning of its lord. He had
gone to Saladin’s court and had charmed the Sultan and his entourage by his
deep appreciation of Arabic literature and his interest in Islam. He hinted
that, given a little time, he would settle as a convert in Damascus. But the
months passed and nothing happened except that the fortifications of Beaufort
were strengthened. At last, early in August, Saladin said that the time had
come for the surrender of Beaufort as a gage of Reynald’s intentions. Reynald
was taken under escort to the castle gate where he ordered the
garrison-commander in Arabic to yield up the castle and in French to resist.
The Arabs saw through the ruse but were powerless to take the castle by storm.
While Saladin brought up his forces to blockade it, Reynald was cast into
prison at Damascus. Saladin first thought that Guy’s march was intended to draw
the Saracen army away from Beaufort, but his spies soon told him that its
objective was Acre. He then wished to attack the Franks while they were
climbing over the Ladder of Tyre or the headlands of Naqura. But his Council
would not agree. It would be better, they said, to let them reach Acre and
catch them between the garrison and the Sultan’s main army. Saladin, who was
not well at the time, weakly gave way.

Guy arrived outside Acre on 28 August and
set up his camp on the hill of Turon, the modern Tel el-Fukhkhar, a mile east
of the city, by the little river Belus, which supplied his men with water. When
his first attempt, three days later, to take the city by assault failed, he
settled down to await reinforcements. Acre was built on a small peninsula that
jutted southward into the Gulf of Haifa. To the south and west it was protected
by the sea and a strong seawall. A broken mole ran out south-eastward to a rock
crowned with a fort called the Tower of Flies. Behind the mole was a harbour
sheltered against all but the off-shore wind. The north and east of the city
were protected by great walls, which met at a right angle at a fort called the
Cursed Tower, at the north-east corner. The two land-gates were at either end
of the walls, by the shore. A large sea-gate opened into the harbour, and a
second on to an anchorage exposed to the dominant west wind. Under the Frankish
kings Acre had been the richest town in the kingdom and their favourite
residence. Saladin had often visited it during the last months and had
carefully repaired the damage caused by his troops when he captured it. It was
a strong fortress now, well garrisoned and well provisioned, capable of a long
resistance.

Map 1. Environs of Acre.

1189: Saladin moves to Acre

Reinforcements began to arrive from the
West early in September. First came a large fleet of Danes and Frisians,
undisciplined soldiers but excellent sailors, whose galleys were invaluable for
blockading the city from the sea, especially when the death of William of
Sicily in November led to the withdrawal of the Sicilian squadron. A few days
later ships from Italy brought a Flemish and French contingent, led by the
gallant knight, James of Avesnes, the Counts of Bar, Brienne and Dreux, and
Philip, Bishop of Beauvais. Before the month was ended a party of Germans
arrived, under Louis, Margrave of Thuringia, who preferred to travel with his
followers by sea rather than accompany his Emperor. With him were the Count of
Guelders and a party of Italians under Gerard, Archbishop of Ravenna, and the
Bishop of Verona.

These arrivals alarmed Saladin, who began
to gather his vassals again and who came down with part of his army from
Beaufort, leaving a smaller detachment to finish the reduction of the castle.
His attack on Guy’s camp on 15 September failed, but his nephew Taki was able
to break round the Frankish lines and establish contact with the north gate of
the city. He himself established his camp a little to the east of the Christians.
Soon the Franks felt able to take the offensive. Louis of Thuringia, as he
passed through Tyre, was able to persuade Conrad of Montferrat to join the
Frankish army, so long as he did not have to serve under Guy’s command. On 4
October, after having fortified their camp, which was left under the command of
Guy’s brother Geoffrey, the Franks launched a great attack on Saladin’s lines.
It was a bitter battle. Taki, on the Saracen right, retired to lure on the
Templars, who were opposite to him; but Saladin himself was deceived by the
manoeuvre and weakened his centre to rescue him. As a result both his right and
his centre were put to flight with heavy losses, some of his troops never
reining their horses till they reached Tiberias. The Count of Brienne even
penetrated to the Sultan’s own tent. But the Saracen left was intact; and when
the Christians broke their ranks to pursue the fugitives Saladin charged with
it and drove them back in disorder to their camp, which was at the same time
assailed by a sortie from the garrison of Acre. Geoffrey of Lusignan held firm
there; and soon the greater part of the Christian army was safe behind its
defences, where Saladin did not venture to attack them. Many Frankish knights
fell on the field, including Andrew of Brienne. The German troops panicked and
suffered severely; and losses were high amongst the Templars. Their Grand
Master, Gerard of Ridfort, who had been King Guy’s evil genius in the days
before Hattin, was captured and paid for his follies with his death. Conrad
himself only escaped capture by the gallant intervention of his rival, King
Guy.

1190: Stalemate

The victory had been with the Moslems; but
it was not a complete victory. The Christians had not been dislodged; and
during the autumn more help came from the West. The Londoners’ fleet arrived in
November, heartened by their success in Portugal. The chroniclers tell of many
other Crusaders drawn from the nobility of France, Flanders and Italy and even
from Hungary and Denmark. Many Western knights had refused to wait for their
dilatory sovereigns. Thanks to this added strength the Franks were able to
complete the blockade of Acre by land. But Saladin too was receiving
reinforcements. The news of the Emperor Frederick’s journey, while it
encouraged the Christians, induced him to summon his vassals from all over
Asia; and he even wrote to the Moslems of Morocco and Spain to say that if
Western Christendom was sending its knights to fight for the Holy Land Western
Islam should do likewise. They answered him with sympathy but very little
positive help. Nevertheless his army soon was large enough for him in his turn
almost entirely to blockade the Christians. The besiegers were themselves
besieged. On 31 October fifty of his galleys broke through the Frankish fleet,
though with the loss of some ships, to bring food and munitions into Acre; and
on 26 December a larger armada from Egypt reopened communications with the
harbour.

Throughout the winter the armies faced
each other, neither venturing on a major engagement. There were skirmishes and
duels, but at the same time there was growing fraternization. The knights on
either side began to know and to respect each other. A fight would be
interrupted while the protagonists enjoyed a friendly conversation. Enemy
soldiers would be invited to come to the feasts and entertainments arranged in
either camp. One day the little boys living in the Saracen camp challenged the
Christian boys to a gay mock-combat. Saladin himself was distinguished by the
kindness that he showed to Christian prisoners and the courteous messages and
gifts that he would send to the Christian princes. The more fanatical of his
followers wondered what had happened to the Holy War that he had begged the
Caliph to preach; nor did newly-come knights from the West find the atmosphere
easy to comprehend. Superficially the bitterness had gone out of the war. But
both sides kept a grim determination for victory.

Despite these pleasant courtesies life in
the Christian camp was harsh that winter. Food was short, especially as the
Franks had lost command of the sea. As the warmer weather approached, water
became a problem and sanitary arrangements broke down. Disease spread through
the troops. Chastened by the difficulties of their men, Guy and Conrad patched
up an agreement. Conrad was to hold Tyre, with Beirut and Sidon when they
should be recovered, and was to recognize Guy as king. When peace between them
was thus made, Conrad left the camp in March and at the end of the month
returned from Tyre with ships laden with food and armaments. Saladin’s fleet
sailed out of the harbour of Acre to intercept him; but after a sharp battle
the Saracen ships were driven back, in spite of their use of Greek fire, and
Conrad was able to land the goods. With the help of the material that he
brought, the Franks constructed wooden siege-towers, with which on 5 May they
tried to assault the city. But the towers were burnt. Soon famine and sickness
reappeared in the Christian camp; and it was little consolation to know that in
Acre too there was famine, although from time to time Saracen ships fought
their way into the harbour bringing new provisions. Throughout the spring
contingents of Moslems joined Saladin’s army. On 19 May, Whit Saturday, he
began an attack on the camp, which was only beaten off after eight days’
fighting. The next full-scale battle was on St James’s Day, 25 July, when the
Frankish soldiers, led by their sergeants and against the wishes of their
leaders, boldly attacked Taki’s camp, on Saladin’s right. They were terribly
defeated and many perished. A distinguished English Crusader, Ralph of Alta
Ripa, Archdeacon of Colchester, went to their rescue and was killed.

1190: Desultory Fighting

During the summer other high-born
Crusaders arrived in the camp and were made welcome, though every new soldier
meant another mouth to feed. Many of the greatest French and Burgundian nobles
were among them, hurrying ahead of their King. There were Tibald, Count of
Blois, and his brother Stephen of Sancerre, once a reluctant candidate for
Queen Sibylla’s hand, Ralph, Count of Clermont, John, Count of Fontigny, and
Alan of Saint-Valery, together with the Archbishop of Besancon and the Bishops
of Blois and Toul and other prominent ecclesiastics. Their leader was Henry of Troyes,
Count of Champagne, a young man of great distinction, for his mother, the
daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine by her French marriage, was half-sister to the
Kings of England and France; and both his uncles thought highly of him. He was
at once given a special position as representative and forerunner to the Kings.
He took command of the actual siege operations, which hitherto James of Avesnes
and the Landgrave of Thuringia had directed. The Landgrave, who had been ill
for some time, probably with malaria, used his coming as an excuse to return to
Europe. Frederick of Swabia, with the remnant of Barbarossa’s army, arrived at
Acre early in October. A few days later an English contingent landed at Tyre
and came down to Acre. At its head was Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury.

There was desultory fighting throughout
the summer, each side awaiting the reinforcements that would enable it to take
the offensive. The fall of Beaufort in July relieved men for Saladin’s army,
but he had sent troops to the north to intercept Frederick Barbarossa and they
did not return till the winter. Meanwhile skirmishes alternated with
fraternization. The Christian chroniclers noted with complacency several
incidents in which, by the hand of God, Saracens were discomfited and Crusader
heroism rewarded; but every attempt to scale the walls of the city failed.
Frederick of Swabia launched a fierce attack soon after his arrival and the
Archbishop of Besancon soon afterwards tried out some newly constructed
battering-ram. Both efforts were in vain. In November the Crusaders managed to
dislodge Saladin from his position at Tel Keisan, five miles from the city; but
he established himself in a stronger position at Tel Kharruba, a little further
away. This enabled them to break through to Haifa on a foraging expedition,
which slightly relieved the hunger in the camp. But both in the city and in the
two camps there was hunger and illness. Neither side was fitted to make a
supreme effort.