The Accursed Tower

by Roger Crowley

  An excavation outside the walls of the old city uncovers a stock of unused stone trebuchet projectiles ready for firing. (Israel Antiquities Authority)

  Archaeologists have also turned up arrowheads, possible fragments of ceramic grenades, and a large number of artillery stones of all sizes. Concentrations of stone balls have been found in various places—some within the city, others outside the likely line of the walls—which appear to have been stores of ammunition ready for firing. Close examination of these projectiles reveals the range of different sizes and their geology from which it’s been possible to deduce that the Mamluks sourced stone from a distance away. Some of these are of considerable size, but many of the smaller balls that also must have peppered the walls have not survived or have been incorporated into buildings. Of what is still visible of the city that went down in flames, the most impressive remnants are those of the Hospitallers’ compound with its halls and undercrofts, and the finely built tunnel running under the city that possibly connected the Templars’ castle with the harbor. Many of the secrets of crusader Acre and its destruction remain buried underground.

  A NOTE ON NAMES IN THE BOOK

  IN THIS BOOK I have taken some shortcuts with regard to the conventions of personal names with the aim of making it easier for readers to identify the shifting cast of characters that pass through its pages. The names of the Christians generally consist of a personal one, “Jacques,” and then their place of family origin, “de Vitry (“of Vitry”). It is usual to refer to them by either their first name or their full name rather than just by the town from which they came. However, in the fast-moving pace of events it is often unwieldy and sometimes confusing to refer to people in this way, so you will find Nicolas de Hanapes, Othon de Grandson, Jean de Grailly, et cetera, frequently cut down to their place of origin. So, Vitry, Hanapes, Grandson, and Grailly appear from time to time, hopefully to give the reader something to cling to as the arrows fly past. On the other hand, I have decided to resist anglicizing their names wherever possible, so Matthieu de Clermont rather than Matthew of Clermont, to give readers a more vivid sense of who these people actually were. I cannot claim complete consistency in this. It might be more accurate to refer to Richard as “Coeur de Lion,” as he barely spoke English, and this might give a better sense of who this man was, but I have, of course, stuck with the Lionheart. And Henry of Cyprus is the later ruler of Acre, rather than Henri de Chypre, and so on. My aim throughout has been to try to balance readability against a sense of the past.

  With Muslim names, the situation is much more confusing. I’m sure the eyes of Western readers, including my own, tend to glaze over at the introduction of a character called, for example, Sayf al-Din Baktamur al-Silahdar. Baybars’s full name is al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari. These long name chains often include a reference to their father (as in “ibn”—son of), an occupation (“al-Silahdar”—the emir in charge of armaments), an honorific appellation such as “Rukn al-Din” (Pillar of the Faith), or a reference to their place of origin or one of their masters (“al-Mansuri,” from the regiment of the Victorious King, al-Mansur Qalawun). There are several people in this book with the al-Mansuri tag—and one trebuchet!

  Mamluks often have a name of Turkic origin. That of the Lion of Egypt, Baybars, actually means something like “great panther.” As with the Christians, I have taken a decision to reduce names. After a first introduction, I have stripped names down to a single word where possible: Lajin, Baybars, et cetera, in the hope that readers will be able to cling on in the saddle, so to speak. (Unfortunately, we do get two people with the Baybars name in the book: Sultan Baybars and Baybars al-Mansuri.) With Salah al-Din, I have moved quickly to Saladin. I have chosen not to use diacritics in Arabic names in the main text, as these introduce a further layer of complexity. Overall, my approach to names is not completely consistent, but I hope it will help readers to keep track of who’s who and where they come from.

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