Saladin

by A R Azzam

  be bought back and he returned it to the mother. Then he ordered a horse

  to be brought to escort her back to the Franldsh camp.

  Throughout 1189 and 1190 Muslim anxiety of a Franldsh counter-

  attack augmented, as the Christians were strengthened with the arrival of

  Frederick of Swabia and the remnants of the German crusade. Even more

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  ominous, however, was the arrival of Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury,

  who was accompanied by the advance guard of the English crusaders,

  behind whom Richard I, Idng of England, was arriving. The influx of

  Christian troops brought with it succour to the Franks, but it was not

  without cost, for living conditions worsened and diseases broke out which

  carried away many. One of those who would now die of typhus was Queen

  Sibylla, through whom Guy had claimed the throne, and her death meant

  that he could be chaUenged. Conrad saw his opportunity and at once made

  a claim to the throne by marrying Isabella, Sibylla's sister. The problem with

  that was twofold - if not threefold: first, Isabella was married to Humphrey

  of Toron; second, Conrad was already married; and third, Conrad was

  married again, for he had not one but two wives, who were very much, alive

  and undivorced. One imagines that these impediments would have been

  insurmountable, but for Conrad, who had already demonstrated an inde-

  fatigable energy to overcome obstacles, they were mere details. And so

  when the archbishop baulked at what Conrad proposed, he simply found a

  feUow Italian, the Archbishop of Pisa, who was willing (for an extension of

  his city's trading privileges in the kingdom) to annul just about anything.^"

  Conrad then married Isabella, although there was one fiirther complication

  - insignificant in comparison: she was already pregnant. As Imad al-Din al-

  Isfahani acidly puts it, it appeared that pregnancy was not a bar to marriage

  in the religion of the Franks. In the meantime the crusaders were being

  strengthened on a daily basis and their siege of Acre tightened. In 1190

  Henry of Champagne arrived at the head of a sizeable French force and was

  later followed by the king of France himself, Philip Augustus.

  The fragmentation of Saladin's army

  As for Saladin, his greatest challenge was how to keep his army from dis-

  integrating. While his army besieged the besiegers of Acre, his amirs fretted

  with impatience. They were beginning to tire of this holy war, which

  seemed never to bring any material benefits. One by one they now sought

  excuses to return to their lands: Sanjar Shah, the son of Saif al-Din of Mosul

  who had troubled Saladin so much, came to him and requested permission

  to depart, but was told that the time was not right. He then bent over and

  Idssed Saladin's hand, but no sooner had he left: the tent than he ordered his

  men to strike camp. When Saladin heard of this he dispatched a courier after

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  13: T H E ARRIVAL OF R I C H A R D

  him with a letter: 'You became restless and have taken this step, leaving

  without goodwill and without a conclusion of matters with the enemy.

  Look to yourself, see to whom you may attach yourself other than me . . . I

  have no longer any concern for your welfare.' As it happened, Sanjar Shah

  ran into Taqi ul-Din, who was returning to camp, and Taqi ul-Din advised

  him to return to camp: 'The best course for you is to return to his service

  and to stay close until he gives you permission. You are a child and do not

  know the disaster that may come from this.' Sanjar Shah, however, was

  determined not to return and declared that it was impossible for him to

  turn back, at which point Taqi ul-Din, whom Ibn Shaddad noted was very

  bold and decisive and no respecter of persons, spoke harshly: 'You will

  return whether you want to or not'. Cowed by Taqi ul-Din, Sanjar Shah

  returned, though he feared Saladin's ire and he remained close to Taqi

  ul-Din for protection. Saladin chose to take no action over this desertion,

  but was later quoted as saying that he had never heard ill of anyone without

  finding it less than had been reported, except in the case of Sanjar Shah.

  Next to try to leave was Imad al-Din Zengi, who sent Saladin a note

  threatening to strike camp and head east. Saladin sent it back with a line

  of poetiy: 'He who loses one like me, what I wonder can he gain?' Imad

  al-Din understood the implied threat and for the time being remained.

  But though the fretting of the Zengids and their desire to return home

  could not have surprised Saladin, even those closest to him now began to

  look elsewhere. Nothing symbolises the fragmentation of the Muslim army

  more than the fact that both Taqi ul-Din and Keukburi now left Saladin's

  service. As Saladin's nephew, Taqi ul-Din had served him with tremendous

  courage throughout the years, and had commanded the wing of Saladin's

  army with fortitude and brilliance. Now, even he was tiring. Once, many

  years earlier, the satirist al-Wahrani had advised Taqi ul-Din to cease the

  holy war and to settle in Damascus and to enjoy the delights of life, and now

  he began to think about carving an empire for himself and establishing a

  dynasty of his own. To understand and appreciate Saladin's achievement in

  keeping together his army in the field for three years it is necessary to under-

  stand the independent nature of the amirs. Yes, Taqi ul-Din had served his

  uncle loyally, but if Saladin died - and had he not been at death's door at

  Harran.> - would his sons be as generous towards Taqi ul-Din as Saladin had

  been.> In 1186 Taqi ul-Din had sought to establish himself independently

  in the Maghreb and to launch a campaign against the Almohades, but

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  Saladin had talked him out of it. But Taqi ul-Diii's patience was limited;

  he had done his bit for the holy war - after all, had he not himself seized the

  True Cross? Now there was land to conquer and a dynasty to establish. He

  left the camp at Acre and swept through the lands of Upper JVIesopotamia

  and even invaded Armenia. Saladin had warned him not to endanger any

  treaties that had been signed, but Taqi ul-Din had paid litde heed. So

  widespread was his destruction as he captured town after town - sometimes

  in Saladin's name, sometimes in his own - that local rulers reftised to send

  any more troops for the holy war. Even the caliph, alarmed and suspicious

  of Taqi ul-Din's motives, wrote urgendy to Saladin demanding that he be

  reined in. Saladin, of course, was incapable of doing so, and the only option

  that he had - one that was advocated by al-Qadi al-Fadil, who could see the

  damage that Taqi ul-Din was causing - was to disavow him publicly.

  Nothing demonstrates more clearly the age in which Saladin lived than this

  episode with his nephew. For Taqi ul-Din's actions were the norm and not

  the exception; it was the holy war which was the mirage. Saladin, of course,

  understood this as well as anyone - after all, he had himself carved an empire

  for himself in Egypt, and it was only Nur al-Din's death that had prevented

  an inevitable confrontation.

  As for Keukburi, the
reasons for his departure were different. The death

  of his brother had effectively handed him control over Irbil, and he departed

  with Saladin's blessing. Nevertheless, the loss of a man who had excelled in

  battie and who was a patron of many madrasas - and who, in addition, was

  through family ties intimate with Saladin - could not but be greatiy felt. The

  two men remained in touch by letter, but interestingly when Saladin asked

  Keukburi to return to take avenge over the massacre of Muslims in Acre, he

  chose not to.

  The fall of Acre and the massacre of the 3,000

  Then, on 8 June 1191, the trumpets blared out throughout the crusader

  camp besieging Acre, signalling that a great event had occurred: the king of

  England Richard 1 had reached Acre. As Ibn Shaddad noted, 'their princes

  had been threatening us with his arrival'. With the arrival of Richard we

  begin the final and most dramatic chapter of Saladin's life. To date, those

  crusaders who had opposed Saladin could not possibly measure up to

  him; neither Guy nor Reynald should be seen as anything more than

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  13: T H E ARRIVAL OF R I C H A R D

  part actors in the drama. Admittedly Baldwin IV had fought with great

  stoic heroism to hold the kingdom together, but his short tragic life was a

  cruel interlude. Richard's reputation for fighting, on the other hand, was

  formidable and had preceded him, for the news of his sacldng of Cyprus had

  reached Saladin. Ibn Shaddad certainly did not underestimate him: 'He was

  wise and experienced in warfare and his coming had a dread and frighten-

  ing effect on the hearts of MusUms'. Yes, the Idng of France was equally in

  the Holy Land, but he was no match for the Lionheart. In any case, there

  was litde love lost between the two men. In public Richard would boast of

  descent from the devil himself, and with his arrival Saladin would finally be

  tested by a real Idng - fierce, determined, proud and capable. And during

  that ordeal, Saladin would endure great hardships.

  Fierce fighting followed Richard's arrival. On 11 June he secured an

  early triumph when a Muslim ship with 700 fighting men was sunk. At the

  same time Acre was subjected to_fixrious assaults and almost daily there were

  attacks on the city. Richard had no intention of maldng a meek arrival - that

  was not the nature of kings - and he tried to arrange a meeting with Saladin.

  In typical fashion, Saladin responded by sending gifts to the Idng of England

  but turned down the possibility of any meeting, claiming that it would be

  unbecoming for kings to meet and then fight afterwards. In any case there

  was no point: 'He does not understand my language and 1 do not under-

  stand his'. Saladin then offered to send his brother al-Adil, but an illness —

  most probably camp fever - had struck Richard and the meeting did not

  take place. Within days Richard had recovered enough to supervise siege

  operations, propped up in his bed with a crossbow. While the Muslim

  garrison could no longer be reinforced, the constant arrival of Christian

  troops meant that the assault on Acre remained relentless. Infantry assaults

  were combined with close investments by Richard's engineers, who battered

  and undermined the city walls. Deep ditches were filled and siege towers

  were wheeled so close to Acre's walls that they overlooked the city. Slowly

  and inexorably Richard's grip on Acre tightened.

  In the meantime Saladin was like a man possessed, daily launching furi-

  ous attacks on the Christian camp in a desperate attempt to relieve the siege.

  At the end of June he was reinforced by the arrival of troops, though Taqi

  ul-Din's adventures and rampages deprived him of any troops from Diyar

  Bakr. On 2 July Saladin once again tried desperately to relieve the pressure

  by attacking the Christian camp. According to Ibn Shaddad, he took no

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  food that day and urged his men on with tears in his eyes, while al-Adil

  joined the fight himself. Under the enormous strain, his health suffered

  dramatically and 'numerous boils appeared on his body from his waist to

  his Icnees'. His doctors became alarmed as he refused to eat and insisted on

  riding among his troops, urging, pleading, cajoling and shaming his men

  forward. Tear-stained and almost demented with a passion to relieve

  Acre, Saladin refused to accept that the besieged city's days were numbered.

  But he was deceiving himself, for though this was not the time for cool

  retrospection, the fact was that Acre was almost certainly lost from the

  moment that Saladin had allowed Guy of Lusignan to set up his camp to

  besiege the city.

  Envoys from Richard travelled back and forth to Saladin's camp. On

  one occasion Richard informed Saladin that he wished to send him a gift of

  falcons and hunting dogs and asked for chickens to feed them in order to

  fatten them up first. The request brought a smile to al-Adil's face, accom-

  panied by a pithy reply as to whether the chickens were intended for the

  dogs' or the Idng's stomach. The constant embassies between the two

  camps of course served another purpose; it allowed both sides to test the

  morale of the other. And so whenever the Franks came to Saladin, he was

  always happy to allow them to wander in the army market, where they could

  marvel at the plentitude of the 7,000 shops and the 1,000 baths.

  Inside the city, the Muslim commanders realised the futility of their situ-

  ation. On 12 July 1191 a messenger, who had swum out from the doomed

  city, reached Saladin's camp. The message was clear: unless Saladin could

  drive the crusaders away then in a matter of hours Acre would surrender.

  Saladin could be under no illusion about how serious the message was, for

  the commanders of Acre were none other than al-Mashtub and Qaraqush,

  two men whom he knew and trusted from his early days in Egypt.

  Nevertheless, even in this late hopeless stage Saladin refused to accept that

  the city was lost and sent a swimmer back into Acre with an urgent message:

  do not surrender. But it was a futile appeal, for even if Saladin refused to

  accept the inevitable, his army had, and when he ordered them to launch

  another attack on the Christian camp, they refiised to obey his orders. Only

  a group of Kurdish horsemen, Idn of al-Mashtub, kept up the fight, as did

  Izz al-Din Jurdik, who once, many years ago, had aided Saladin in captur-

  ing and slaying Shawar. On 12 July 1191 the Muslim commanders in Acre

  accepted Christian terms for the surrender of the city. Under the terms, the

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  True Cross lost a.t Hattin was restored, 1,600 Christian prisoners held in

  Damascus were to be released and the Muslims were to pay 200,000 dinars

  to the Franks (they were also to pay 10,000 dinars to Conrad). Until the

  terms were met, the garrison was to be imprisoned by the Franks. When

  news of the terms reached Saladin he refused to accept them and called a

  war council, during which Ibn Shaddad noted that his ideas were disturbed

  and he appeared confused and distracted. But as Saladin urged his com-

  manders on to
battle, events overtook him and Christian banners were seen

  on the city walls of Acre.

  The loss of Acre drained Saladin - Ibn Shaddad wrote that the sultan was

  more affected than a bereft mother or a distracted love-sick girl - but it was

  not an insurmountable setback. Saladin knew that his best chance at defeat-

  ing the Franks was when they were on the move, and so the end of the

  siege, tragic and debilitating though it was, at least broke the stalemate. But

  what was beyond dispute was that the fall of Acre was a blow to Saladin's

  prestige. Like a man possessed, he had raged against its fall and had thrown

  all his forces to save it. But it had nevertheless fallen and with it the fissures

  and recriminations in his army - between the Kurds and the Turks and

  between the Zengids and the Ayyubids - began to surface. Meanwhile he

  faced an urgent problem of having only 30 days to meet the conditions of

  the treaty. He devoted his time collecting the prisoners and the money, but

  he clearly did not trust the Franks to keep their word of releasing the men

  in the garrison. So after the payment of the first instalment he asked for the

  garrison to be released, and he offered to release more hostages for the

  remaining 100,000 dinars which had to be paid. In the meantime Richard

  had time to assess the military situation and act accordingly. He had been

  relieved that the French Idng Philip had departed, for now there could be

  no dispute over who was the sole commander. Saladin was delaying the

  settiement of the Acre agreement and Richard suspected there were military

  reasons behind this delay, for there were rumours of an Egyptian army com-

  ing to reinforce his troops. Richard knew that his army could not remain

  in Acre and had to march south, but the reality that damned on him was that

  it was not he who was keeping the garrison as prisoners, but the garrison

  that was keeping him a prisoner at Acre.

  On 20 August, the day Richard believed he had agreed with Saladin for

  the payment of the first instalment, he ordered his army out of Acre. Muslim

  spies reported that the king of England's army was occupying the whole

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  plain outside Acre. Richard spent the morning waiting to hear any news