Seeking Jerusalem

by H A CULLEY

  He was drifting in and out of consciousness when he heard a great commotion that heralded the arrival of a large body of men. About half an hour later he heard someone kneel by his side and then a leather jack of water was put to his lips from which he drank greedily. He looked up to thank his good Samaritan and saw with some surprise that it was Simon de Chalons, the same squire who had cared for his head wound.

  ‘It seems that you always need to take care of me, Simon.’ He smiled at the boy weakly. ‘ But I thought you were in Acre with Henry of Champagne?’

  ‘I was, but the count has just returned with reinforcements. When we arrived at Latrun we found everyone packing up the camp so we came on ahead. But where is your squire? He is doing a pretty poor job of looking after you.’

  ‘I haven’t found one yet. There is a shortage it seems.’

  Simon pursed his lips for a moment. ‘Ah, I see. Wait here.’

  Tristan thought that was a wasted comment. He couldn’t have moved even if he was about to be eaten by the buzzards. He drifted back to sleep thinking what a godsend Simon was.

  When he awoke it was to see Simon’s face peering down at him again. It was a pleasant face rather than a handsome one and was topped by a mop of unruly hair, which was an unusual shade of dark bronze. Simon was going through a growing spurt and he hadn’t quite got used to his gangly body, but he was far from clumsy when looking after Tristan. His touch was surprisingly gentle for a boy, despite his grimy, calloused hands. The thought crossed Tristan’s mind that he needed a squire like him, especially if he was going to keep getting wounded.

  Suddenly he found himself being lifted gently by four burly men-at-arms and carried into a tent. They laid him on a folding bed and left the tent. Simon came in but seemed a little nervous. The move had sent stabbing pains through Tristan’s side but they were easing now. He wondered for a moment if it was the momentary discomfort that he had suffered that was bothering Simon. It wasn’t.

  ‘Sir Tristan I have been somewhat presumptuous, but I hope you will forgive me.’

  ‘You’re sounding like a pompous prelate. Come on, spit it out Simon.’

  ‘When I said that I was the Count of Champagne’s second squire that wasn’t quite true. I was the second whilst Yves was recovering from dysentery but, now that he is better, I’m his third squire again and, frankly, somewhat surplus to requirements. I’m just a messenger and I pick up all the dirty little jobs; it’s worse than being a page again.’

  ‘I was wondering about that. You do seem to have a lot of spare time to look after me.’

  ‘Well, Count Henry only took me on as a favour to my father and he did say that he would try and find a knight for me to be a proper squire to, so I…’ the boy’s voice trailed away.

  ‘So you asked him if you could serve me?’

  ‘Yes, how did you know?’

  Tristan gave a little laugh and then winced. ‘I was going to ask you if you would be prepared to be my squire then, if you agreed, ask Lord Richard if he would approach Count Henry for me.’

  ‘Well, he seemed almost relieved when I suggested it. I just wasn’t sure if you would be prepared to take me on. It’s pretty unusual for a squire to foist himself on a knight.’

  ‘I couldn’t be more delighted.’ He smiled at Simon who grinned back. ‘Now, if you don’t mind I think my wound needs bathing and dressing again. After that go and find Warin when his patrol returns and he will show you where my kit and horses are; that’s if some thieving bastard hasn’t stolen them.’

  ~#~

  King Richard sat on the hilltop known as Montjoie and gazed at the Holy City. He had taken de Cuille’s bataille with him as escort so Lord Richard joined the king, the Earl of Leicester, Balian of Ibelin and Humphrey of Toron in their contemplation of the walls surrounding Jerusalem. These had been repaired and strengthened since Balian’s defence of the city five years previously. Those who hadn’t seen the city before were awed by the size of Jerusalem and the length of the walls which defended it.

  ‘We would need an army five times the size of ours to invest that place properly. I have never seen a city so large,’ the king said quietly.

  ‘And we would be vulnerable to attack if we were spread out investing the city’ added Balian. ‘Saladin was only able to capture it because the majority of the kingdom’s army had been destroyed at Hattin, so he didn’t need to guard against an attack from outside the city.’

  After a few more moments, Richard the Lionheart turned away despondently and rode back to Beit Nuba. As he approached the army encamped around the old crusader castle and the olive groves that surrounded, it he was surprised to see that the camp had expanded; then he noticed a banner of gold and blue bends within a red border flying over a large and gaudy pavilion at the centre of the newcomers’ tents. It seemed that Hugh of Burgundy had returned to the fold.

  ‘My lord duke, I rejoice to see you again but I do confess to being somewhat puzzled by your return to the army,’ Richard greeted him half an hour later.

  Duke Hugh sniffed. ‘It seems that, with the removal of Guy de Lusignan to Cyprus and the recognition of Count Henry as the de facto king of Jerusalem, Philip Augustus is minded to forgive you. At any rate he has instructed me to join you in the siege of Jerusalem.’

  ‘Then your timing is sadly inopportune, Hugh.’ Richard sat in one of his camp chairs and invited the Duke of Burgundy to do the same. ‘Our supplies are getting low and your arrival with another two thousand men will make that problem worse. Barely one in three of our resupply caravans is getting past Saladin’s raiding columns.’

  ‘Then we must press on to capture Jerusalem with all speed,’ Hugh replied, his eyes alight with enthusiasm.

  ‘I only wish it was that simple. Balian, tell the duke about our reconnaissance this morning.’ Richard felt that Hugh was more likely to believe the former Governor of Jerusalem than he was the King of England.

  After Balian had finished the three of them sat lost in thought.

  ‘So what’s your plan?’ Hugh asked, somewhat bluntly.

  ‘To return to the coast and conquer Egypt first, as we should have done months ago when I first proposed it.’

  ‘Never! Our task is to take the Holy City, not seek to expand your empire.’

  ‘Not mine, Henry of Champagne’s kingdom,’ the king replied brusquely and glared at Duke Hugh.

  ‘Hmmm. Perhaps. But my orders are to help you to take Jerusalem, nothing else.’

  ‘Then I wish you joy. You may besiege the place if you wish but you won’t find me foolish enough to join you in a venture that is doomed to disaster.’

  The long tense silence that followed this exchange was eventually broken by King Richard. ‘Well, if we can’t succeed by military means perhaps it is time to negotiate.’

  Chapter Twelve – The Fight for Peace – Summer and Autumn 1192

  In July the army returned to Jaffa on the coast. Tristan still hadn’t recovered enough to ride all that way so he sat beside the driver of one of the carts for the journey. However, his wound was healing well and the stitches had been removed. He was thankful that it was clean and that he had avoided an infection; something which had killed any number of crusaders with similar injuries.

  Once back in Jaffa he concentrated on getting back to full fitness and started to teach Simon the rudimentary moves in using a sword and shield. This also helped with his own recovery. One evening Miles came to see him. The knight was looking careworn and considerably older than his thirty six years.

  ‘How are you feeling now Tristan?’ he enquired after the usual exchange of greetings, though Tristan suspected that the visit wasn’t purely solicitous of his health.

  ‘Much better, Miles, thank you. I can now ride without discomfort and my weapon handling is nearly back to normal. Why do you ask?’

  Miles sighed before replying. ‘You will be well aware that much of the army broke up after our second retreat to the coast without making any attempt to capture Jeru
salem. Many of the crusaders have left for home which is why King Richard has returned to Acre in a bid to persuade the backsliders, who have slunk away to enjoy its delights again, to return to duty once more. Unfortunately, this means that he has left Jaffa poorly defended. There are only a hundred knights and three thousand serjeants, crossbowmen and men-at-arms to defend the town.’

  ‘I hadn’t realised it was that bad. There must be more than that who have remained loyal to the king?’

  ‘There are, but Henry of Champagne has returned to Queen Isabella in Tyre and sent most of his men to defend Darum on the Egyptian border, whilst Balian of Ibelin is garrisoning Ascalon. I suppose the king considered Jaffa safe whilst Humphrey of Toron was in negotiations with Saladin’s emissaries.’

  ’And isn’t it?’

  Miles shook his head. ‘No, our patrols report increasing activity by the Saracens all around Jaffa. It looks to me as if they are preparing to attack.’

  ‘What does Lord Richard think?’

  ‘He, the Earl of Leicester and the other barons are all in Acre with the king.’

  ‘Oh. Who is left in command here then?’

  ‘Alberi of Reims.’ Miles spat into the dust to show his disgust.

  ‘That coward? Is the king mad?’

  Alberi was a Norman baron who had a reputation of always being found in the rear during a skirmish and, moreover, he was faint hearted, seeking any course that would avoid conflict.

  ‘The king left the seneschal of the Hospitallers in charge but he is ill with fever so, as Alberi is the only baron left here now, he took charge. But I and the other conroi commanders have decided to bypass him and arrange the defence of the town and the citadel ourselves.’

  ‘How can I help?’

  ‘We want you to take command of the citadel. We can only spare you a couple of hundred men-at-arms and archers, but we want to be certain that we have a secure base to fall back to if we lose the town itself. Do you think you’re well enough to do it?’

  ‘Of course. I am greatly honoured by your trust in me.’

  ~#~

  Humphrey of Toron sensed consternation in the air as soon as he arrived at the oasis twelve miles from Jaffa, the agreed meeting place with Safadin and El Afdal. He sensed that they had matters of greater import on their minds than negotiating a truce with the crusaders. Humphrey was puzzled. What could be more important than the war between Saladin and the Lionheart? He felt certain that there had to be a serious problem within Saladin’s empire, so he whispered in the ear of the Turcopole captain commanding his escort.

  Later that day the captain confirmed his suspicions. Rumours were rife in the Saracen camp about a revolt by Saladin’s great nephew, who was the satrap for Mesopotamia and Northern Syria. Saladin was anxious to deal with the rebellion, but he daren’t weaken the forces defending Jerusalem. Furthermore there was dissent within his army. The main cause was Saladin’s poor performance as a war leader compared to King Richard, who the Saracens regarded as unbeatable. Not only had this dissent led to mass desertions by the Turks, who formed the majority of the army, but those who were left were at loggerheads with the Kurds – the nationality of Saladin and the other leaders.

  This intelligence was invaluable to Humphrey. He now knew that Saladin was as keen on a peaceful solution to the conflict as King Richard was. Not only was Richard concerned about the break-up of his army after the strategic retreat from Beit Nuba, but he kept getting worrying reports about his brother John’s behaviour. William Marshal and his mother, Queen Eleanor, were barely keeping control of England in the face of John’s seizure of a number of strategic castles. John was also winning more and more barons to his view that Richard would not return alive from the crusade, and he now had a majority who supported him as Richard’s successor in preference to his nephew, the five year-old Duke of Brittany. John was also known to have entered into negotiations with Philip Augustus over the partition of Normandy between them. Richard and Saladin were therefore both anxious for a swift resolution of the conflict, but neither was prepared to lose face.

  After Humphrey had departed for Acre to report to Richard, Saladin called a council meeting of his brother, sons and emirs.

  ‘We need more bargaining counters to help gain the upper hand in these negotiations,’ he told the council. ‘I hear that Jaffa is only lightly defended and that the infidels’ leader there is a coward.’ He paused to let his gaze travel around the room looking everyone in the eye as he did so. ‘I will therefore personally lead a force of ten thousand mounted spearmen and archers to capture Jaffa.’

  The emirs looked dubious at first, but Saladin’s most loyal followers and his immediate family had been primed to greet the announcement with shouts of approval, praising Allah. Gradually the rest joined in the acclamation and at the end of July Saladin set off confident of capturing the city quickly.

  ~#~

  King Richard received word at Acre of Miles’ suspicions about an imminent attack on Jaffa on the same day that Saladin had set out. Unfortunately, most of his fleet were away, either obtaining supplies from Cyprus or patrolling the coast. He managed to get enough galleys together to transport himself, two hundred knights and eighteen hundred serjeants, archers and men-at-arms down the coast and set sail on the twenty eighth of July. He left Count Henry of Champagne to travel down overland with his own men, the Templars and the Hospitallers.

  When they came level with Mount Carmel, the wind changed direction to northerly and the fleet was reduced to rowing in shifts to make any progress towards Jaffa. Richard fretted that by the time he arrived the town and the citadel would have fallen.

  When Henry of Champagne reached Caesarea he found that he was expected. A large Muslim army blocked the road and, despite repeated charges by his knights and heavy crossbow fire he was unable to dislodge them. Henry decided to withdraw, make camp and send out patrols to find a way around the enemy.

  So when King Richard approached Jaffa from the sea at dawn on the first of August he was disappointed to see Moslem flags flying from the town walls and no sign of Henry’s army outside Jaffa. He looked towards the citadel, which jutted out into the sea on a rocky promontory, but he could see no banners at all there. Then suddenly he saw a small figure leap from the battlements into the sea and start to swim for the galley.

  Twenty minutes later the diminutive figure of Simon de Chalons was drying himself on the deck whilst he explained to the king what had happed during the previous week.

  ‘When Saladin’s army surrounded the town Lord Alberi proposed to surrender, saying that there were far too many of the enemy, but Sir Miles and the other knights opposed him. Then he tried to flee in a small boat. It got overturned by a wave before he had got very far and so, when he was washed ashore, the knights seized Alberi and threw him in a dungeon. Sir Miles was then elected leader and we managed to hold the town for three days before the Saracens succeeded in scaling the walls.’

  The boy paused for breath before continuing: ‘Sir Tristan was in command of the citadel and managed to repulse the first assault on it whilst the Saracens were still fighting the garrison through the streets of the town. Sir Miles was wounded in front of the gates of the citadel but Sir Tristan sallied out with some men-at-arms and rescued him and the remains of the garrison. Sir Tristan thinks the rest must have been captured or killed.’

  ‘Sir Tristan took command of the survivors, being the only unwounded knight, and he has held the citadel for the last four days. However, we have run very low on food and ammunition for the crossbows and I don’t think we could held out for another day.’

  ‘How many Saracens are there?’

  Simon thought for a moment. ‘Certainly thousands of them, sire; maybe ten or twelve thousand? Most of them are busy raiding the town though and some have left with their plunder; Saladin seems to have lost control.’

  Richard thanked Simon, putting his hand on his shoulder. ‘You are a brave lad; you and your master both. I will see that you are pr
operly rewarded.’

  Then, with his customary initiative, the king told the captain of the galley to beach it and, as soon as his squires had taken off his chausses, he leaped bare legged into the sea brandishing his sword and shouting ‘for Christ and Jerusalem.’

  Richard de Cuille and various other nobles on the galley did likewise and, with a dozen crossbowmen, a few archers and twenty men-at-arms they followed him onto the beach. Most found themselves above to their waists at first but when Simon leaped from the ship to join them his head disappeared under water before he found his footing and struggled ashore through sea water that reached his shoulders. The other galleys had followed the king’s and soon men were pouring onto the sand below the walls.

  As soon as the Saracens besieging the citadel saw Richard and his men beginning to disembark they streamed out of the sea gate of the town and started to run towards the crusaders. They were in no sort of order, just a mass of men with no leaders. The few archers and crossbowmen started to pick them off, concentrating on any that seemed to be urging the rest on. Then Richard’s standard bearer raised the three golden leopards on a red field that the Saracens had come to fear and the attack faltered. After a few more fell to the skill of the archers the Saracens retired to the safety of the town walls.

  The king immediately ordered his men to start to collect driftwood and to build an improvised barricade. Just as the last of Richard’s two thousand men were wading ashore the Saracens streamed out of Jaffa led by Saladin himself. As they formed up, the crusaders on the walls of the citadel started to fire the last of their arrows and quarrels down at them and several in the rear ranks were hit. The rest of the men at the back started to push forward to get out of range, which unsettled the front ranks. It was some time before order was restored again.

  Whilst this was happening, the archers and crossbowmen kept up a withering fire at the front ranks. Eventually the Saracens couldn’t take it anymore and many of the mounted Saracens charged forward. However, the improvised barricade kept them at bay and more and more were cut down by Richard’s men. Demoralised, the units who had attacked the crusaders position without orders now fled the battlefield, causing further dismay amongst Saladin’s men.