Battle of Harim

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Battle of Harim
Part of the
Crusades

Mail-coated Nur al-Din Zengi, with bare legs and an open helmet, fleeing on horseback from two knights (Geoffrey Martel and Hugh de Lusignan the elder) pursuing him on war horses at the Battle of Harim. "Histoire d'Outremer" (1232-1261) - BL Yates Thompson MS 12
Date12 August 1164
Location
Harem, Syria
Result Zengid victory
Belligerents
Zengids
Mosul
 County of Tripoli
Principality of Antioch
Byzantine Empire
Armenia
Commanders and leaders
Qutb ad-Din Mawdud
Joscelin III of Edessa (POW
)
Strength
9,000 600 knights
12,000 foot soldiers[1]
Casualties and losses
Unknown 10,000 (per Ibn al-Athir)[2]
Kalamanos, Hugh, Raymond, Bohemund, Joscelin captured

The Battle of Harim (Harenc) was fought on 12 August 1164 at

Nur ad-Din, and a combined army from the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Byzantine Empire, and Armenia
. Nur ad-Din won a crushing victory, capturing most of the leaders of the opposing army.

Background

In 1163, King

Ortoqids of the Jazira, and besieged the fortress of Harim (Harenc) in 1164. As William of Tyre
says, "he stationed his engines around it in the customary manner and began to assault the place with a fury which permitted the inhabitants no rest."

Battle

Reginald of Saint Valery, lord of Harim,[

William VI of Angoulême, both of whom had recently arrived on pilgrimage
.

Nur ad-Din prepared to give up the siege when they arrived, but the crusaders, inspired by the victory at al-Buqaia, and, "regardless of the rules of military discipline ... recklessly dispersed and roved hither and yon in pursuit of the foe." Nur ad-Din's troops defended against their charge and led a counterattack, pushing the crusaders into a swamp, and they were massacred "like victims before the altar."

It is possible that Nur ad-Din was only feigning a retreat in order to draw the crusaders into an ambush, but abandoning a siege when a relief army arrived was a standard tactic and Nur ad-Din presumably had no way of knowing the crusaders would follow him. William's assertion that this was a reckless move is further evidence of this. "Only the Armenian Thoros, who had forseen [sic?] the Turkish maneuver and had not set off in pursuit, escaped from the disaster".[4] Mleh also avoided capture. Konstantinos Kalamanos, Hugh, Raymond, Bohemund, and Joscelin were captured and imprisoned in Aleppo. According to Ibn al-Athir, 10,000 crusaders were killed.

Aftermath

Nur ad-Din resumed the siege and captured Harim a few days later. With Amalric absent in Egypt, all three crusader states were now without their rulers, but Nur ad-Din did not want to attack

Thierry of Alsace
to relieve Nur ad-Din's pressure on Antioch. Bohemund was released from captivity in 1165 but Raymond remained in prison until 1173.

Notes

  1. ^ Barber 2012, p. 240: "(Nur ad-Din) completely routed a formidable northern army, killing a large proportion of its 600 knights and 12,000 foot soldiers, and capturing all the important leaders, including Raymond III, count of Tripoli, Bohemond III, prince of Antioch, Joscelin III, titular count of Edessa, and Constantine Coloman, Byzantine governor of Cilicia.".
  2. ^ Morton, Nicholas. The Crusader States and Their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099–1187. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2020.
  3. ^ Oldenbourg 1966, p. 363.
  4. ^ a b Oldenbourg 1966, p. 364.

References

  • Oldenbourg, Zoé (1966). The Crusades. New York: Pantheon Books.
  • Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. New Haven and London: Yale University.
  • Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades: Volume II, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187. New York: Cambridge University.

Further reading

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