The Siege of Jerusalem: Crusade and Conquest in 1099

by Conor Kostick

  ey were busy reinforcing

  their defences, bringing up rocks, water, vinegar and Greek Fire ready for a resumption of battle the next day, with every chance that they could hold off the assault. Aft er all, the southern tower had not proved so sturdy in the face of the fi re of a great number of mangonels. Even better, an especially powerful new machine was nearly ready, the missiles from which should be able to reach all the way to the Christian camp.

  Th

  e garrison also had a plan to deal with the northern siege tower. Th ey had

  prepared a huge length of timber with iron nails and hooks all over it, covering these with rags soaked and impregnated with pitch, wax, oil and all the kindling they could fi nd. A sturdy chain was attached to the centre of the beam.

  Once the enemy tower came close enough, the timber would be fl ung over the wall to the base of the tower and set alight with the assistance of Greek Fire, while the chain would prevent the Christians from being able to pull it away, allowing it to burn up along with the tower. Hard at work throughout the night, the garrison and the non-Christian population of Jerusalem had good reason to hope they might survive the coming assault and therefore be able to hold the crusaders at bay until the arrival of al-Afdal.

  On the Christian side an extremely great despondency came over the army, spread by two particular sources of fear. One was a rumour that the Egyptian army was close; the other was that their enemies in the city, buoyant with

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  success, would organize a night-time sortie and burn the siege towers. As regular patrols scoured the darkness around the camps, those who were supposed to be resting lay awake in a turmoil of spirit. What if they could not break into the city, despite the enormous eff orts that had gone into preparing the ram, the siege towers and stone throwers? How long did they have before the vizier of Cairo came up with his army? Would they ever see the Holy Places? Th e same

  refrains could be heard again and again among the tents, along with heavy sighs. How cruel to be so near the Holy Places yet unable to approach them.

  Th

  ey had crossed so many seas and rivers, endured so much poverty, disease and sickness, had fought in so many great battles and yet were kept from seeing Christ’s Sepulchre by the fortifi cations in front of them.

  Up on the top of Mount Zion, at the Church of the Virgin, the Provençal clergy were particularly disheartened. Th

  ey had heard talk among the soldiers

  about lift ing the siege while they still could hope to fi ght their way to a friendly port. Worse, the men were reminiscing about the sweet embraces of their wives, far from this place of thirst and hardship. Th

  e clergy were resolved to pray

  throughout the night, repeatedly asking God why he was torturing them to the point that they were losing their sanity. An idle question, of course, as they all knew the answer. It was because of the sins of the army that they were suff ering.

  If it risked sounding prideful to plead God on their own account, they prayed that He would assist the crusading army on His own account. For their enemies had humiliated His people, damaged His possessions and were ‘polluting’ the Holy Sepulchre.8

  Polluere: a powerful term and a reminder that this was no ordinary army and no ordinary siege. Th

  e enemies of the Christians were befouling the Holy

  Places, simply by their presence. Th

  at, at least, was how the crusading clergy

  looked at the situation and the clergy were a very eff ective body in shaping the public opinion of the army, especially of the poorer crusaders whom they supported with the distribution of alms. What would it mean for such a force to conquer the city? Was talk of ‘pollution’ just an exercise in rhetoric? Or had it become a widely held tenet of the crusading army that Jerusalem should cease to be a multi-faith city and become a city for Christians only?

  And how was this to be achieved? What was to happen to its approximately 40,000 inhabitants? Not that there was any enthusiasm among the crusaders for talk of how they should conduct themselves on the fall of the city; not while they mourned the failure of their attack.

  Yet at some point during the hours of darkness a subtle shift took place in the morale of the Christian army. Th

  e rumours of an imminent arrival of the

  Egyptian army were quelled; while as the night hours passed, the dread that

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  the garrison of the city would assault the siege towers abated. It was clear from the constant movement of torches around the city walls that the defenders of the city were more concerned that the Christians might make a night-time attack than they were to attempt a counter-attack. Th

  e urgent measures being

  undertaken by the townspeople made it seem as though they were afraid and that there was no danger they would launching counter-attacks against the towers. As this belief communicated itself through the crusaders’ camps, their spirits rose. 9

  In setting his troops and the people of the city to work in preparation for the coming day, Ift ikhār had taken a dangerously passive approach. It was clear that no intelligence was reaching him from the Christian camps, or he would have taken advantage of the enormous sense of discouragement that passed through their ranks aft er their retreat from the walls of the city. Th e Fatimid

  general could have sent parties out to try and destroy the siege towers during the night; at the very least these skirmishes would have kept the crusaders in a state of alarm. It was all very well rousing the elderly and the children of the city to help make the rounds, to dig pits and traps around the gates and to bring up rocks to the mangonels. It was sensible too, to have his skilled workers improve the torsion of the ropes of the stone-throwing machines. But the vigorous patrols of the city walls, with vigilant offi

  cers appointed to every tower, only

  served to give the Christians outside the impression that Jerusalem was trembling.

  By dawn the crusaders had completely recovered their enthusiasm for the assault. Th

  e tops of their siege towers caught the light before the towers of the city walls and the Lotharingian cross of gold glittered brightly. Th ere were even

  jests and hearty cheers as the crews of the machines took up their stations, with the clergy once standing among them and invoking God’s aid. Perhaps they would fare better this day and make the breakthrough that would lead to the fulfi lment of their three-year dream.

  Chapter 8

  Friday, 15 July 1099

  Friday, 15 July 1099. As soon as the brightening eastern sky allowed the besiegers and defenders of Jerusalem to see one another they resumed the fi ghting that had petered out the night before. Yet it was not the Christians who began the battle. A brand new mangonel was ready on the southern gate that faced Count Raymond’s camp. Th

  e garrison of Jerusalem had completed the machine

  and hauled it into place during the night and now stood ready to test the range. With an enormous thump, it cast a rock right up the hillside and sent it crashing into the palisade of the crusader camp. Greatly encouraged by the success of their fi rst shot, the Fatimid soldiers next loaded the machine with carefully prepared bundles. Th

  ese were giant clumps of coagulated fi bres, fl ax,

  resin and pitch. It was too dangerous to light such missiles while they were still in the cup of the mangonel; instead archers stood ready beside braziers with arrows whose heads were also covered by a clump of fi bre and resin. As soon as the massive wads of pitch thrown from the mangonel had landed and rolled up towards the gates of the Christian camp, the archers lit their arrows and sent them blazing through the dawn air to ignite the bundles.

  Ift ikhār’s preparations had not been in vain. Th

  e gateposts of the Provençal

  camp soon caught fi re and as the heat from the fl ames grew in force the pitch h
olding the fi bres of the projectiles together melted, so that very quickly the fi re took hold all along the gate. Before long an enormous blaze was roaring as it consumed the entrance to the Christian camp. When Count Raymond had set up his base on Mount Zion he had taken a calculated risk that although he was too close to the city for comfort, it would be worth the danger to gain the slightly downhill run for a siege tower. Now, it seemed, his judgement had been in error, for the gate of his camp was in the process of being completely destroyed by fi re, leaving him defenceless against a sortie from the city. If the siege were to continue beyond this day, it would probably be necessary to abandon the position on the hill.

  For the moment though, the Provençal army concentrated on dousing the fi res and keeping them from spreading. Th

  ere was no point expending precious

  water on saving the gate, the blaze was too great, but they did have to deal with

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  the fl ames licking along the palisade. It was heartbreaking that water, which had either been bought at a great price or else carried to the camp aft er expeditions involving the labour of thousands of people, now had to be dispensed to quell the unexpected and shocking inferno.

  Th

  roughout the crusade there had been a persistent underlying hostility by the clergy towards the women present in the Christian army, but at this moment that feeling was transformed to a belief that God had allowed them to undertake the pilgrimage for a purpose, because the women were indispensable in bringing up water to extinguish the fi res. Although it was hard work for women laden with water to come up the hill to the camp gate, all the while exposed to the impact of enemy stones, they did so eagerly. Moreover, once the fi res were in hand and the battle focused on the exchange of missile fi re, the women took up wood and stones with both hands and ran to fi ll more of the ditch that obstructed the route of the siege tower.1

  Th

  e eff orts by the women of the camp were impressive and their bravery gave great encouragement to the Provençal men. Th

  e priority of the soldiers

  of the southern camp was now that of damaging the new Fatimid machine before it ruined their siege tower and so all the Christian trebuchets were focused on fl inging rocks at new mangonel. Once again, however, a layer of leather sacks full of chaff was warding off the missiles of the attackers. Th e bags

  were lying on the machine itself and provided enough padding to defl ect the incoming blows.

  Despite a consistent success in hitting the mangonel, the Christian trebuchet crews realized that they were not going to destroy it so long as the bags remained in place. Some of the artisans in the southern camp therefore began work on a counter-measure. Th

  ey fastened a powerful iron hook on a long pole, and then

  they covered the pole in metal plates, so that it could not be easily burnt. Th is

  whole device was carried forward while their comrades with wicker mantels protected them. What made the hook eff ective was a long iron chain fastened to the head of the pole that ran back over a prop. By hauling on the chain the crusaders could lift the sagging hook and then a group of them could manoeuvre the pole back and forth, cutting away at the bags.

  Th

  ey had to come right up in front of the gate to do work this ‘crow’ and many crusaders fell, pierced by arrows, but the crude implement worked. Once they had the hook caught on a rope they pulled it in and the rope with its bag was torn away. Soon the stones from the Christian trebuchets were able to hit the wooden frame of the mangonel, causing it to crack and shed great splinters. Th

  e deadly game continued and despite their losses the crusaders kept up their eff orts with the long pole until the enemy machine was inoperative.

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  Th

  eir improvisation was a surprising success. Cheering one another on, the Christians next aimed the crow at a massive beam that had been bound to sacks and chaff and put over the walls of the city to prevent them suff ering any damage from stones. Once again the hook caught in the ropes and the Christians began to pull the beam away along with the bags. Th

  e Sudanese

  soldiers lining the walls of the city at this gate looked on at this crude but eff ective activity with dismay, until one of their number saw an opportunity and without shield or armour climbed over the wall and out onto the beam. While the hook was caught tight he hacked away at the guiding pole until it parted.

  Th

  is was an extraordinary feat and should have cost him his life from the arrows, javelins and stones that were propelled at him. But the hero climbed back unhurt and now the cheering was entirely coming from the top of the walls.2

  Once more the pattern of the assault became that of an uneven exchange of fi re where the defenders of Jerusalem had the upper hand. From Count Raymond’s perspective there was nothing for it but for his soldiers to cope as best they could with the losses, while trying to get the siege tower to the walls.

  Th

  e fact that nine or ten stones were fl ying back against the Christians for every one that they sent towards the city was deeply discouraging but so long as they had their tower and a few working machines, the attackers persisted. And indeed the balance of the day moved slightly towards the crusaders with the outcome of a curious duel. Standing right out on the walls of Jerusalem were two women whose gestures made it seem that they were casting some kind of enchantment at the nearest Christian trebuchet. Th

  e captain of this machine

  took careful aim and the crusaders fl ung their rock so successfully that it fell upon the women, crushing them instantly along with three girls behind them.

  Th

  is success was greeted with immense delight by the attackers and the clergy sent up prayers and thanks to God. 3

  Overall though, just as on the Wednesday, the assault was failing. One by one the Christian machines were destroyed, burnt or shattered. And their greatest hope, the siege tower, had proven unable to withstand the constant impact of stones and fi ery missiles. Partly eaten by fl ame, partly splintered by rocks and missiles, the upper fl oor of the tower was in ruins and no knight was willing to stand there. Even the bravest and most eager to win the fame of being the fi rst into Jerusalem saw that it meant death to mount the tower now that it was so damaged and all the protection had been stripped away.

  Many of the Provençal army could see that the battle in the south was becoming quite precarious. With the entrance to the camp in ruins, a sortie from the city had the potential to scatter the Christian forces before they could

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  gain assistance from the northern crusaders. Ift ikhār was indeed weighing up this possibility and began to mass his troops. His 400 cavalry were all remounted and while some had the duty of riding back and forth across the city to keep him informed of all developments, a great number were kept by the southern exits in case the opportunity arose to turn the faltering assault into a rout.

  Th

  e Muslim general had successfully stymied the Christian attack at the point he considered to have been the most vulnerable for the city. If the northern assault could be beaten back too there was every chance that Jerusalem would remain in Fatimid hands. Here the confl ict had centred around the great beam that the defenders had readied during the night. In the morning Duke Godfrey had once more mounted the siege tower and, in noticeable contrast to Count Raymond who directed aff airs on the south side from his headquarters on Mount Zion, led the renewed attack in person. He was joined by Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, Tancred and Gaston who brought their troops up under protection of mantels to resume the bombardment of the battlements of the city with arrows, javelins and the stones cast from the trebuchets allocated to them.

  Th

  e collapsed ram still remained lodged against the wall as an obstacle,
but with the new morning the attackers had the opportunity to run the siege tower up towards the defences on a slightly diff erent angle and squeeze past the ruined machine. Hundreds of eager hands pushed the poles that, along with the eff orts of those on the ground fl oor, moved the siege tower slowly forward.

  Th

  e Fatimid soldiers and their allies from the city were all focused on the tower, which soon bristled with their arrows. Although the crossbow was not as honourable a weapon as the sword, Duke Godfrey was an expert in all forms of warfare including archery. Despite the deadly rain of missiles he calmly picked out targets from the crews of the enemy mangonels and invariably hit them. Th

  at this performance was a genuinely brave and dangerous one was

  soon proved when a rock crashed through the defences of the tower and into the head of the soldier standing next to Godfrey, breaking his neck and killing him instantly.4

  Th

  e period of greatest risk for those in the tower, however, was soon over, for once the Christian army had pushed the siege machine as close as they could to the walls, the fi ve Fatimid mangonels assigned to this sector could not fi nd a line of fi re to it. If their rocks were to clear the city wall they invariably also now fl ew past the tower, whereas when some mangonel crews attempted to pitch their missiles so that they only just landed past the wall, as oft en as not the stone landed short of the tower and even among their own defenders at that

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  critical spot. Despite its tendency to lean to the left and despite having shakier joints than the tower of the southern army, the northern tower had done its job and was providing a platform for the crusaders directly above a section of the northern wall of Jerusalem.5

  If there remained a few feet between the tower and the city wall, it was due to the preparation by Ift ikhār of a great tree trunk that was now heaved over the defences and, hanging from a chain, was interposed between the defenders and Godfrey’s position. Having fi rst been soaked in Greek Fire the beam was lowered towards the very bottom of the tower, with the defenders having high hopes of it being able to ignite and burn up the siege machine that now represented the Christian army’s greatest chance of taking the city. But Tancred had been forewarned by the local Christian population about the method for dealing with this kind of fi re. Th