Siege of Jerusalem (1187)

Coordinates: 31°47′00″N 35°13′00″E / 31.7833°N 35.2167°E / 31.7833; 35.2167
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Siege of Jerusalem (1187)

Saladin and Christians of Jerusalem, illustration by François Guizot (1883)
Date20 September — 2 October, 1187
(1 week and 5 days)
Location
Result

Ayyubid victory

Belligerents
Ayyubid Sultanate
Kingdom of Jerusalem
Knights Hospitaller
Knights Templar
Order of St. Lazarus
Order of Mountjoy
Teutonic Order
County of Tripoli
Commanders and leaders
Saladin Balian of Ibelin Surrendered
Heraclius Surrendered
Strength

Unknown, the army primarily made up of the surviving army from the Battle of Hattin and reinforcements gathered from Syria and Egypt.

  • Likely strength around 20,000 men
Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The siege of Jerusalem lasted from 20 September to 2 October 1187, when

patriarch of Constantinople
.

Background

The Kingdom of Jerusalem, weakened by internal disputes, was defeated at the

Tyre, the only city able to hold out against Saladin, due to the fortuitous arrival of Conrad of Montferrat
.

Situation in Jerusalem

In Tyre,

Queen Sibylla
, and the rest of the inhabitants begged him to take charge of the defense of the city. Heraclius, who argued that he must stay for the sake of Christianity, offered to absolve him of the oath, and Balian agreed.

He sent word of his decision to Saladin at Ascalon via a deputation of burgesses, who rejected the sultan's proposals for a negotiated surrender of Jerusalem; however, Saladin arranged for an escort to accompany Maria, their children, and all their household to Tripoli. As the highest-ranking lord remaining in Jerusalem, according to the chronicler Ibn al-Athir, Balian was seen by the Muslims as holding a rank "more or less equal to that of a king."[5]

Balian found the situation in Jerusalem dire. The city was filled with refugees fleeing Saladin's conquests, with more arriving daily. There were fewer than fourteen knights in the whole city, so he created sixty new knights from the ranks of the squires (knights in training) and burgesses. He prepared for the inevitable siege by storing food and money. The armies of Syria and Egypt assembled under Saladin, and after conquering Acre, Jaffa, and Caesarea (though he unsuccessfully besieged Tyre), the sultan arrived outside Jerusalem on September 20.[6]

Siege

After a brief reconnoitre around the city, Saladin's army came to a rest before the

mined, and it collapsed on September 29. The crusaders were unable to push Saladin's troops back from the breach, but at the same time, the Muslims could not gain entrance to the city. Soon there were only a few dozen knights and a handful of remaining men-at-arms defending the wall, as no more men could be found even for the promise of an enormous fee.[7]

The civilians were in great despair. According to a passage possibly written by Ernoul, a squire of Balian, in the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre, the clergy organized a barefoot procession around the walls, much as the clergy on the First Crusade had done outside the walls in 1099. At Mount Calvary, women cropped their children's hair, after immersing them chin-deep in basins of cold water. These penances were aimed at turning away God's wrath from the city, but "…Our Lord did not deign to hear the prayers or noise that was made in the city. For the stench of adultery, of disgusting extravagance and of sin against nature would not let their prayers rise to God."[8]

At the end of September, Balian rode out with an envoy to meet with the sultan, offering surrender. Saladin told Balian that he had sworn to take the city by force, and would only accept an unconditional surrender.[9] Saladin told Balian that Saladin's banner had been raised on the city wall, but his army was driven back. Balian threatened that the defenders would destroy the Muslim holy places, slaughter their own families and the 5000 Muslim slaves, and burn all the wealth and treasures of the Crusaders.[10] Saladin, who wanted to take the city with as little bloodshed of his fellow Muslims as possible, insisted that the Crusaders were to unconditionally surrender but could leave by paying a ransom of ten dinars for men, five for women and two for children; those who couldn't pay would be enslaved. Balian told him that there were 20,000 in the city who could never pay that amount. Saladin proposed a total of 100,000 dinars to free all the 20,000 Crusaders who were unable to pay. Balian complained that the Christian authorities could never raise such a sum. He proposed that 7,000 of them would be freed for a sum of 30,000 dinars, and Saladin agreed.[11]

Aftermath

Balian of Ibelin surrendering the city of Jerusalem to Saladin, from Les Passages faits Outremer par les Français contre les Turcs et autres Sarrasins et Maures outremarins, c. 1490

Women and children together came to 8,000 and were quickly divided up among us, bringing a smile to Muslim faces at their lamentations. How many well-guarded women were profaned and women who had been kept hidden stripped of their modesty, and virgins dishonoured and proud women deflowered, and lovey women's red lips kissed, and happy ones made to weep. How many noblemen took them as concubines, how many ardent men blazed for one of them, and celibates were satisfied by them, and thirsty men sated by them and turbulent men able to give vent to their passion.

— Translation of the account of

Imad al-Din of the treatment of female captives following the siege of Jerusalem[12][dubious ][13]

On Balian's orders, the Crusaders surrendered the city to Saladin's army on October 2. The take-over of the city was relatively peaceful especially in contrast to the Crusader

Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, 7,000 of them were men and 8,000 were women and children.[14]

On Saladin's orders, the ransomed inhabitants marched away in three columns accompanied by 50 cavalrymen of Saladin's army. The Knights Templar and Hospitallers led the first two, with Balian and the Patriarch leading the third. Balian joined his wife and family in the County of Tripoli. The refugees first reached Tyre, where only men who could fight were allowed to enter by Conrad of Montferrat. The remaining refugees went to the County of Tripoli, which was under Crusader control. They were denied entrance and robbed of their possessions by raiding parties from within the city. Most of the less affluent refugees went to Armenian and Antiochian territories and were later successful in gaining entrance into Antioch. The remaining refugees fled from Ascalon to Alexandria, where they were housed in makeshift stockades and received hospitable treatment from the city officials and elders. They then boarded Italian ships which arrived from Pisa, Genoa and Venice in March 1188. The captains of the ships at first refused to take the refugees since they were not being paid for them and did not have supplies for them. The governor of Alexandria, who had earlier taken the oars of the ships for payment of taxes, refused to grant sailing permits to the captains until they agreed. The latter then agreed to take the refugees along with them and were made to swear decent treatment and safe arrival of the refugees before they left.[15][16]

After the surrender of the city, the

conquering the city. Saladin ultimately decided not to destroy the church, saying that he had no intention to discourage Christian pilgrimages to the site; it was reopened after three days on his orders. The Frankish pilgrims were allowed to enter the church upon paying a fee. To solidify Muslim claims to Jerusalem, many holy sites, including the shrine known as Al-Aqsa, were ritually purified with rose water. Christian furnishings were removed from the mosque and it was fitted with oriental carpets. Its walls were illuminated with candelabras and text from the Quran. The Orthodox Christians and Syriacs were allowed to remain and to worship as they chose. The Copts, who were barred from entering Jerusalem by the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem as they were considered heretics and atheists, were allowed to enter the city without paying any fees by Saladin as he considered them his subjects. The Coptic places of worship that were earlier taken over by the Crusaders were returned to the Coptic priests. The Copts were also allowed to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other Christian sites. The Abyssinian Christians were allowed to visit the holy places of Jerusalem without paying any fees.[17][18][15]

The Byzantine emperor,

Saladin went on to capture a number of other castles that were still holding out against him, including

Montreal, and returned to Tyre to besiege it for a second time.[19]

Meanwhile, news of the disastrous defeat at Hattin was brought to Europe by

In popular culture

References

  1. ^ "Kingdom of Jerusalem" 2009
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. ^ Ibn Al-Athir, D.S. Richards trans, Vol. II, 330–331
  6. ^ a b Malcolm and Lyons, 272
  7. ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project".
  8. ^ The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, Trans Peter Edbury, 58–59
  9. ^ Edbury, 60
  10. ^ Malcolm and Lyons, 274–276
  11. .
  12. ^ Holt 1986, pp. 754–755.
  13. ^ Crusading and Masculinities. Routledge. 2019. p. 111.
  14. .
  15. ^ .
  16. .
  17. ^ .
  18. ^ .
  19. .
  20. .

Bibliography

31°47′00″N 35°13′00″E / 31.7833°N 35.2167°E / 31.7833; 35.2167