This clash between Richard I and Saladin was a decisive climax to the Third Crusade
Richard the Lionheart’s tactical genius enabled his army to repulse Sultan Saladin’s horse-archers in the last great clash of the Third Crusade
The Franks were perennially short of troops in the Holy Land to hold the four crusader states established after the First Crusade. Because of this, they could ill afford a major defeat against their Muslim foes on the field of battle. Although the multinational Christian armies of the First and Second Crusades numbered tens of thousands of troops, the majority returned home after their respective Crusade came to a close. This left only a small number of Franks to hold a large swath of territory in the holy land.
After the untimely death of the 10-year-old Shia Fatimid Caliph Al-adid in 1171, his Sunni Kurdish vizier called Ayyubid Sultan Salah addin Yusuf ibn Ayyub – better known to history as Saladin – wrested control of Egypt. This changed the balance of power in the region decisively in favour of the Muslims.
Saladin had grown up in Syria, where his family had served first Imad al-din Zengi, the Oghuz Turkish governor of Aleppo, and later his second son, Emir Nur ad-din, the governor of Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. Upon
Nur ad-din’s death in 1174, Saladin began campaigning in Syria. By the early 1180s, he had succeeded in conquering both Damascus and Aleppo. It was the first time that the Franks faced a single Muslim ruler who controlled the military resources of both Egypt and Syria.
Meanwhile, the Latin footprint in the holy land was shrinking. The Zengid Turks had completed their conquest of the northernmost crusader state, the County of Edessa, over a six-year period ending in 1150. Of the three remaining crusader states, the Principality of Antioch, County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the latter was most powerful. Its king was the overall leader of all three crusader states. He ruled from Jerusalem, and occupied the bustling port of Acre: one of the finest harbours on the Levantine coast.
While Saladin was building his power, the crusader states suffered from a lack of strong leadership. Guy of Lusignan, who ascended to the throne in 1186 through his marriage to Queen Sibylla, was an inept commander. This became glaringly apparent when Saladin soundly defeated his 20,000-strong crusader army at Hattin in Galilee with his 30,000 Muslim horsemen on 4 July 1187.
Saladin captured Guy and many of his soldiers at Hattin. The sultan subsequently imprisoned Guy in Damascus until such time as the Franks paid his ransom. Guy had stripped the garrisons of many of his fortified towns and castles to fill the ranks of his army, and therefore after his defeat most of the strongholds lacked defenders to hold out against Saladin’s forces.
The victorious sultan embarked on a sweeping offensive after Hattin, capturing Acre, Jaffa, Sidon, Beirut and Ascalon – all ports through which supplies flowed to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. His capture of Jerusalem on 2 October boded ill for the Latin crusader states. Unless well-led Frankish reinforcements arrived soon, the Kingdom of Jerusalem might soon fall to the Muslims.
Crusaders retake Acre
Pope Gregory VIII issued a papal bull on 29 October calling for the Third Crusade. The three most powerful rulers in Western Europe, Philip II of France, Henry II of England, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I 'Barbarossa', all agreed to take the cross and lead an army of Christian soldiers to the Holy Land in a bid to recover Jerusalem and roll back Saladin’s gains.
The Franks paid Guy’s ransom after one year of captivity. To his credit, Guy scraped together a small army and besieged Acre, even though he lacked enough troops to surround it by land. He intended the siege to serve as a starting point for the recovery of Palestine and Jerusalem. He simply needed to hold on until large-scale reinforcements arrived.
Meanwhile, Frederick Barbarossa died in an accident while marching through Anatolia with his army. Most of his troops returned home, and the Germans played a very minor role in the remainder of the Third Crusade.
Philip II and Richard I 'Lionheart', who had succeeded his late father to the throne, arrived at Acre in spring 1191 with large armies that made the fall of the port-city inevitable. Employing the best siege tactics of the time, as well as a tight naval blockade, the two monarchs defeated the 3,000 Muslim garrison troops in July of that year.
Philip departed for home on 3 August. As a result, Richard became the undisputed ruler of the Third Crusade, given that Guy, who hailed from Poitou, was Richard’s vassal.
“PHILIP II AND RICHARD I 'LIONHEART' ARRIVED AT ACRE IN SPRING 1191 WITH LARGE ARMIES THAT MADE THE FALL OF THE PORTCITY INEVITABLE”
The 34-year-old king of England possessed a remarkable grasp of military tactics, which he had refined in fratricidal warfare with his father while defending his Angevin inheritance. Richard lusted for battle, and his bold leadership inspired his troops.
Rather than marching directly to Jerusalem from Acre, which would have taken his army through hill country, where it might be ambushed in narrow defiles, Richard opted to march his crusaders south along the coast to the Palestinian port of Jaffa. Once he had secured Jaffa, Richard would decide on the best approach to capturing Jerusalem.
Richard’s 10,000 Anglo-norman and French crusaders, most of who were on foot, save for 300 mounted knights, set out for Jaffa five days later. The army travelled in three divisions, with the crossbowmen and spearmen marching on the outside and the mounted knights and baggage train on the inside, and the shoreline protecting their right flank. In order to strengthen his marching column, Richard assigned the disciplined Templars and Hospitallers to lead the vanguard and rearguard respectively.
Saladin's horse-archers harassed the crusader army on a nearly daily basis in an effort to goad Richard’s mounted knights into launching charges that might allow the Muslim horsemen to isolate, encircle and destroy them. As the Franks drew close to Jaffa, Saladin grew increasingly desperate, his harassment tactics not producing results. For that reason, he decided to commit his army to a large-scale attack near the Forest of Arsuf on 7 September.
Richard crushes Saladin at Arsuf
In the ensuing pitched battle at Arsuf, Richard’s foot soldiers shielded his knights from the waves of attacking Muslim light cavalry. When the horse-archers had exhausted their mounts, Richard led his heavy cavalry in two charges that inflicted heavy losses on Saladin’s field army. The Muslims suffered 7,000 casualties, while Richard’s Christians lost just 700 men.
The crusaders reached Jaffa two days later. Richard put his men to work rebuilding the town’s defences, which Saladin had previously ordered dismantled. While this work was under way, Richard planned his advance on Jerusalem.