The Glory of the Crusades

by Steve Weidenkopf

  Balian’s threat worked. Saladin presented terms that allowed Christians to purchase their freedom. There was concern about the vast amount of poor people in the city who did not have the necessary funds to buy their freedom, including a good number of recent widows who had lost their husbands at Hattin. Saladin agreed to a lump sum payment for the poor.304 Unfortunately, not enough money was raised to redeem all the poor in the city, so a large number were captured and sold into slavery.305

  Saladin entered the city on October 2, the same day (according to Islamic tradition) that Mohammed’s night journey to heaven from Jerusalem occurred. Once in the city, Saladin ordered the removal of every external Christian image and cross. Most of the churches in the city were turned into mosques, except the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,306 or were taken from Latin clergy and given over to the Orthodox.307 From the moment Godfrey de Bouillon scaled the parapet to the moment of Balian’s departure, the Holy City had remained in the hands of Christians for only eighty-eight years.

  The Calling of the Third Crusade

  The defeat at Hattin, the loss of the True Cross, and the capture of the Holy City by Saladin shocked and horrified the inhabitants of Christendom. Pope Urban III (r. 1185–1187) died in grief upon hearing the disastrous news from Outrémer. His successor, Gregory VIII (r. 1187) issued a summons for the Crusade nine days later in the document Audita Tremendi, promulgated on October 29, 1187. Gregory called all Christendom to an examination of conscience and a commitment to penance for the sins that had contributed to the victory of the enemy and the capture of Jerusalem.308

  “After forty years of complacency, indifference, and lip-service, Christendom’s response to Gregory’s call was overwhelming.”309 The loss of Jerusalem awakened the warriors of Christendom in a way not seen for close to a hundred years. Even those not able to go on Crusade responded to Gregory’s call as monks took the cross; they went “from the cloister to camp, threw off their cowls, donned mail shirts, and became knights of Christ in a new sense, replacing alms with arms.”310

  The desire to liberate the city of Christ, as it was in the First Crusade, was the primary driver for the success of the preaching campaign. Jerusalem was also a popular pilgrimage destination in the late eleventh century and had become more so by the end of the twelfth century. Warriors from all over Christendom took the cross in imitation of those who went before them in the First and Second Crusades. Their motivations were varied, but one reason for the large response was the role of the three major monarchs in Christendom, who made the Crusade a priority.311

  Frederick Barbarossa and the Germans

  As a young man in his twenties, Frederick fought in the Second Crusade in the army of his uncle, Conrad III. The failure of that campaign remained with him, and he vowed not to make the same mistakes. Frederick was the leading monarch of Christendom; appointed king of the Germans in 1152 and anointed holy Roman emperor by Pope Alexander III in 1181, he controlled all of modern-day Germany and northern Italy. He was a man of intelligence, vitality, willpower, and a full red beard, hence the moniker Barbarossa.

  On Laetare Sunday, March 27, 1188, the old warrior answered the summons to Jerusalem issued by Pope Gregory VIII. Frederick was the last of the major monarchs of Christendom to answer the call, but he was the first to leave. Frederick’s Crusade was very much a re-enactment of the First Crusade and a re-fighting of the Second. The German king recognized the one aspect that could either sink the Crusade or help it succeed was an alliance with the Byzantines. He well remembered the Byzantine betrayal of the Second Crusade, and he knew the stories of their selfish priorities during the First. He decided to send envoys to the Byzantines and to all the rulers along the route he intended to take.

  Despite Frederick’s diplomatic outreach, the Byzantines rejected his pleas and imprisoned his envoys. Frederick was so upset at the Byzantine response that he asked the pope’s approval to change the focus of his Crusade from Jerusalem to Constantinople.312 The request was rightly denied.

  Emperor Isaac II (r. 1185–1195) actively sought to undermine Frederick’s Crusade because he embraced the traditional Byzantine paranoia of a Western conquest of Constantinople. Isaac entered into a secret treaty with Saladin, pledging to hamper, as much as possible, the progress of Frederick’s army.313

  Despite these hostile actions, the imperial army left Mainz on May 23, 1189, taking the land route used during the First Crusade. By all accounts it was a huge army, perhaps the largest ever assembled in Christendom during the Crusading movement. One estimate puts the host at 100,000 men with 20,000 cavalry; so large that it took three days for the army to pass a single point on the march.314

  Frederick decided on an overland journey because it was more convenient for the bulk of his force. The emperor demanded discipline and pious behavior on the march, and his army behaved accordingly as it marched through Christian territory on the way to the frontier with Byzantium, which it reached on July 2, 1189. Once they were inside the Byzantine border, imperial forces harassed the Germans and the promised provisions did not materialize. Isaac II clearly did not like Frederick, his treaty with the Normans, his use of the title “Roman emperor,” or his large army. Negotiations between the two men over the army’s march and provisioning broke down, resulting in Frederick’s capture of Adrianople.

  On February 14, 1190 an agreement was reached wherein Isaac promised to transport the German army to Anatolia in exchange for the return of the captured city. Free passage through Byzantine territory was also granted the Germans along with access to markets at reasonable rates. Frederick agreed to avoid the capital city and indiscriminate foraging in imperial territory. The following month the German host was transported to Anatolia, and reached enemy territory there in April of 1190. The march through Anatolia was difficult; as the supply system collapsed both man and beast suffered from exhaustion and sustained Turkish attacks. The army was kept together mainly through Frederick’s sheer will and excellent leadership, which instilled hope in the hearts of the soldiers. The emperor’s leadership was on full display at the city of Iconium, where he urged his troops to capture the city by crying, “Why do we tarry, of what are we afraid? Christ reigns! Christ conquers! Christ commands!”315 The Germans won a pitched battle outside the city and were able to claim the necessary supplies for the continued march.

  By May, the German army reached the relative safety of Christian Armenia, and already had “achieved what the Crusaders of 1101 and the Second Crusade could not. In two months since crossing to Asia, he had brought his vast army, depleted but intact, in the face of sustained Turkish hostility, difficult terrain, heavy casualties, and shortages of supplies, to a welcoming Christian territory.”316 Unfortunately, the success of Frederick’s army would prove fleeting when a month later on June 10, 1190, the aged emperor died while fording the Saleh River. It was a catastrophe from which the Crusade would not recover.

  There are various accounts as to what actually happened to Frederick. Some believe he slipped on rocks while in the water and drowned; others think he had a heart attack. An anonymous German chronicler believed the current was too strong for the old monarch.317

  Saladin’s camp welcomed news of Frederick’s demise. The sultan was recorded to have said, “God thus liberated us from the evil of such a man.”318

  The emperor’s death was a huge blow to the German host. Despite suffering near sixty percent casualties on the march through Anatolia, the German army was still a disciplined and effective fighting force; it was, however, without a commanding leader.319 The loss of the emperor, who had kept the army together through his charisma, willpower, willingness to lead from the front, and concern for his troops, was too much for the other nobles to overcome, and most of the demoralized troops began the march home. Some warriors remained in Outrémer and those divided into two groups. One group, under the command of Duke Frederick of Swabia, the emperor’s son, traveled by sea to Antioch and later Tripoli. This group would later participate in the Ch
ristian siege of Acre. The other group decided to try its chances by continuing on the original overland route to Syria. It was effectively wiped out.

  Although Frederick’s death was a huge setback for the Third Crusade, there were other monarchs in Christendom assembling large armies in defense of Outrémer. The time of Frederick Barbarossa had come to an end. The time of Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip Augustus was beginning.

  Richard the Lion-Hearted, King of England

  The count of Poitou was the first nobleman to take the cross upon the promulgation of Audita Tremendi in 1187 and was eager to journey to Jerusalem. Richard (r. 1189–1199) was thirty-two years old when he assumed the throne of England upon the death of his father, Henry II. His martial qualities were unrivaled and he endeared himself to his troops by being the first in every attack and the last to withdraw. Richard’s reputation was such that Muslims in the Holy Land considered him their worst enemy; after the Crusades, Muslim mothers threatened misbehaving children by telling them “King Richard” was coming for them.320

  Richard’s reign in England lasted a decade but he only lived on the island for six months, as he preferred his extensive land holdings in France. Although English actors have portrayed him in Hollywood movies, Richard spoke only French throughout his life.

  Richard’s preparations for the Crusade were extensive, and with the large amounts of money raised from the “Saladin tithe”—a tenth of income and property value for those who did not take the cross—and from selling his own lands, he raised a fleet of a hundred ships, with 9,000 sailors and soldiers to transport his army to the Holy Land.321 Richard received the pilgrim staff, and allegedly carried King Arthur’s famed sword Excalibur with him on the Crusade.322 His army was ready, and the time was at hand to depart England to link up with the French.

  Philip II Augustus, King of France

  This twenty-five year old king was born of great Crusading stock, the son of the Second Crusader, Louis VII. Philip’s reign was marked by political struggles with the kings of England, who were also his vassals as lords of Aquitaine. In many ways he was the polar opposite of Richard the Lion-Hearted. He was not a great warrior or military strategist like Richard, and rarely took great risks. Instead, he was “a calculating, cautious, and resourceful opportunist who tended to wait on favorable events rather than risk grand gestures.”323

  He was not impressive to look at—he had already lost the sight of one eye—and ten years of government of France had made him cautious and distrustful, cynical and nervous. He was not clever or well educated, but he was sharp, with a practical intelligence, and he had a capacity for hard work and taking pains, combined with self-control, a disposition towards prudence and equity. Ruthless he might be but he was usually ruthlessly fair.324

  Despite his lack of military acumen and political focus, Philip took the cross and made preparations to travel to Outrémer.

  On July 2, 1190 the kings of England and France met at Vézelay, the famed site of the great St. Bernard’s preaching of the Second Crusade. They agreed that all conquered land would be split between them, and that the armies would travel by sea.

  The 219 ships carrying the Anglo-French Crusaders sailed through the Mediterranean on their way to Crete. Unfortunately, several ships were scattered from the main fleet due to a severe storm and were wrecked on the island of Cyprus. The shipwrecked Crusaders were not greeted warmly by the Byzantine rebel in control of the island, Isaac Comnenus, and were imprisoned. News of the shipwreck and imprisonment reached Richard, who demanded that Isaac release his men. Isaac, foolishly, refused to do so. That decision prompted Richard to invade the island to rescue his men. But “what may have begun as a rescue soon became a conquest.”325

  The Conquest of Cyprus

  In May 1191, Richard’s Crusade host embarked on a fourteen-day campaign that changed the history of the Crusading movement. Richard’s invasion seemed a foolhardy adventure: His force was greatly outnumbered by a foe behind defensive fortifications on its own territory. Yet this was exactly the type of fight Richard specialized in. The chronicler Ambroise recorded a story that illustrates Richard’s risky behavior and the jovial manner in which he engaged in it.

  A cleric, Hugh de la Mare, came to the king attired for war, and with advice the monarch cumbered: “Sire, we are fearfully outnumbered; Let us retreat at once!” whereto the king replied, “Sir Clerk, for you a pulpit were a fitter post than here amid an armored host: For God’s sake and his mother’s, then, leave the affairs of war to men!”326

  Richard launched an amphibious attack on the city of Limassol and forced Isaac to flee inland. (Before pursuing the Greek upstart, though, Richard took the time to get married to Berengaria of Navarre.) Embarking his troops on their transport ships, Richard sailed around Cyprus to Famagusta, where another amphibious landing caused Isaac to retreat again. Richard’s army pursued the rebel into the interior, where they defeated his army in a series of skirmishes. Toward the end of May Isaac realized that he could not defeat Richard, so he agreed to surrender on the condition that Richard not clap him in irons. Richard agreed, and when Isaac surrendered, Richard ordered him clapped in silver shackles instead!327

  Although the conquest of Cyprus was not on the Crusade agenda, its capture proved providential. It was an excellent base of supply for the Third Crusade and future Crusades and became “the most lasting Crusader achievement in the eastern Mediterranean,” remaining in Christian hands for the next 400 years.328

  Breaking the Siege of Acre

  The campaign season of 1190 was a frustrating time for the Christians besieging the city of Acre, who had arrived under the banner of the released King Guy in the summer of 1189. Their action consisted of continually assaulting the walls to no effect, and defending their fortified position from assaults by Saladin’s relief army. The stalemate was grating on the nerves of the soldiers, and one estimate indicated disease and starvation killed 100 to 200 warriors each day.329 Conditions in the Christian camp were disgusting, as the corpses of men and animals attracted large number of flies. Food was so scarce that knights succumbed to eating their mounts and the bones of dogs.330

  Thankfully, King Philip’s army arrived on April 20, 1191. The army built siege engines, including a massive catapult nicknamed the “Evil Neighbor” and a large siege tower to help with the assault on the walls.331 After his delay at Cyprus, Richard reached the siege on June 8. His arrival tilted the siege in favor of the Christians; on July 12 the Muslim garrison finally realized its valiant two year defense was at an end and asked for terms of surrender. The Christians allowed the garrison to leave unmolested in exchange for the return of the True Cross captured at Hattin, payment of 200,000 dinars (gold coins), the release of all Christian prisoners, and Saladin’s fleet of seventy galleys.332

  The Massacre of Muslim Prisoners

  Despite the generous terms, Saladin did not fulfill most of the conditions. He refused to hand over the True Cross, did not deliver the first payment of money on the due date and failed to release the promised Christian prisoners on time despite given thirty days to comply. Ten days after the due date, on August 20, 1191, in retaliation for Saladin’s non-compliance, Richard ordered the execution of 2,700 Muslim prisoners. Richard explained in a later letter why he gave the order:

  On Saladin’s behalf it had been agreed that the Holy Cross and 1,500 living persons would be handed over to us, and he fixed a day for us when all this was to be done. But the time limit expired, and, as the pact which he had agreed was entirely made void, we quite properly had the Saracens we had in custody—about 2,600 of them—put to death. A few of the more notable were spared, and we hope to recover the Holy Cross and certain Christian captives in exchange for them.333

  Modern-day critics of the Crusades frequently cite the massacre of Muslim prisoners at Acre as a prime example of sinful and shameful behavior of Christian warriors in the name of God. But, like the massacre at Jerusalem in 1099, this action must be viewed in its his
torical context and with full presentation of the facts. Frequently, the mention of Richard’s massacre by Crusade critics omits the relevant context of Saladin’s reneging on the terms of surrender, and the fact that Saladin performed equal and greater acts of barbarism on Christian prisoners. Indeed, more than likely Saladin was not surprised at Richard’s reaction. “The sultan probably recognized the massacre for what it was: a deliberate act of policy for which his own actions were in part responsible. Over the following weeks he treated captured Christian soldiers with summary execution, occasionally allowing their corpses to be mutilated out of revenge.”334

  Although the execution of these prisoners cannot be condoned, it can be explained. Richard was leaving Acre soon, and did not want a large body of hostile Muslims behind him. Medieval warfare allowed such butchery when terms of surrender were not obeyed. Richard also understood the action would send a clear signal to Saladin that future negotiations and

  agreements should be honored. Although horrific to the sensibilities of modern readers, “Richard I’s butchery of his Muslim captives was an atrocity not uncommon in war. It was not an act of random sadism, less so, for example, than Saladin’s own execution of the Templars and Hospitallers after Hattin.”335

  The Departure of Philip

  Less than a month after the Muslims surrendered Acre, the Christian camp was abuzz: King Philip had announced that he was leaving the Crusade. The bulk of the French army would remain under the command of the Duke of Burgundy and fight under Richard’s command for the remainder of the Crusade.