Richard I

Title of King of JerusalemSibylla

While things were in this state, a great quarrel, which had for a long time been gradually growing up in the camp of the Crusaders, but had been restrained and kept, in some degree, subdued by the excitement of the siege, broke out in great violence. The question was who should claim the title of King of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was at this time in the hands of the Saracens, so that the title was, for the time being at least, a mere empty name. Still, there was a very fierce contention to decide who should possess it. It seems that it had originally descended to a certain lady named Sibylla. It had come down to her as the descendant and heir of a very celebrated crusader named Godfrey of Bouillon, who was the first king of Jerusalem. He became King of Jerusalem by having headed the army of Crusaders that first conquered it from the Saracens. This was about a hundred years before the time of the taking of Acre. The knights and generals of his army elected him King of Jerusalem a short time after he had taken it, and the title descended from him to Sibylla.

Guy of LusignanIsabellaConrad of Montferrat

Sibylla was married to a famous knight named Guy of Lusignan, and he claimed the title of King of Jerusalem in right of his wife. This claim was acknowledged by the rest of the Crusaders so long as Sibylla lived, but at length she died, and then many persons maintained that the crown descended to her sister Isabella. Isabella was married to a knight named Humphrey of Huron, who had not strength or resolution enough to assert his claims. Indeed, he had the reputation of being a weak and timid man. Accordingly, another knight, named Conrad of Montferrat, conceived the idea of taking his place. He contrived to seize and bear away the Lady Isabella, and afterward to procure a divorce for her from her husband, and then, finally, he married her himself. He now claimed to be King of Jerusalem in right of Isabella, while Guy of Lusignan maintained that his right to the crown still continued. This was a nice question to be settled by such a rude horde of fighting men as these Crusaders were, and some took one side of it and some the other, according as their various ideas on the subject of rights of succession or their personal partialities inclined them.

The positions of Richard and Philip respecting the title

Now it happened that Philip and Richard had early taken opposite sides in respect to this affair, as indeed they did on almost every other subject that came before them. Guy of Lusignan had gone to visit Richard while he was in Cyprus, and there, having had the field all to himself, had told his story in such a way, and also made such proposals and promises, as to enlist Richard in his favor. Richard there agreed that he would take Guy's part in the controversy, and he furnished him with a sum of money at that time to relieve his immediate necessities. He did this with a view of securing Guy, as one of his partisans and adherents, in any future difficulties in which he might be involved in the course of the campaign.

One of Richard's compromises

On the other hand, when Philip arrived at Acre, which it will be recollected was some time before Richard came, the friends and partisans of Conrad, who were there, at once proceeded to lay Conrad's case before him, and they so far succeeded as to lead Philip to commit himself on that side. Thus the foundation of a quarrel on this subject was laid before Richard landed. The quarrel was kept down, however, during the progress of the siege, but when at length the town was taken it broke out anew, and the whole body of the Crusaders became greatly agitated with it. At length some sort of compromise was effected, or at least what was called a compromise, but really, so far as the substantial interests involved were concerned, Richard had it all his own way. This affair still further alienated Philip's mind from his ally, and made him more desirous than ever to abandon the enterprise and return home.

Philip announces his return

Accordingly, after the two kings had been established in Acre a short time, Philip announced that he was sick, and unable any longer to prosecute the war in person, and that he was intending to return home. When this was announced to Richard, he exclaimed,

"Shame on him! eternal shame! and on all his kingdom, if he goes off and abandons us now before the work is done."

Richard's objections to Philip's return

The work which Richard meant to have done was the complete recovery of the Holy Land from the possession of the Saracens. The taking of Acre was a great step, but, after all, it was only a beginning. The army of the allies was now to march into the interior of the country to pursue Saladin, in hopes of conquering him in a general battle, and so at length gaining possession of the whole country and recovering Jerusalem. Richard, therefore, was very indignant with Philip for being disposed to abandon the enterprise while the work to be accomplished was only just begun.

There was another reason why Richard was alarmed at the idea of Philip's returning home.

"He will take advantage of my absence," said he, "and invade my dominions, and so, when I return, I shall find that I have been robbed of half my provinces."

So Richard did all he could to dissuade Philip from returning; but at length, finding that he could produce no impression on his mind, he yielded, and gave a sort of surly consent to the arrangement. "Let him go," said he, "if he will. Poor man! He is sick, he says, and I suppose he thinks he can not live unless he can see Paris again."

Richard insisted, however, that if Philip went he should leave his army behind, or, at least, a large portion of it; so Philip agreed to leave ten thousand men. These men were to be under the command of the Duke of Burgundy, one of Philip's most distinguished nobles. The duke, however, himself was to be subject to the orders of Richard.

Philip's oath to Richard

Richard also exacted of Philip a solemn oath, that when he had returned to France he would not, in any way, molest or invade any of his – that is, Richard's – possessions, or make war against any of his vassals or allies. This agreement was to continue in force, and to be binding upon Philip until forty days after Richard should have himself returned from the Crusade.

Disapprobation of King Philip's course

These things being all thus arranged, Philip began to make his preparations openly for embarking on his voyage home. The knights and barons, and indeed the whole body of the army, considered Philip's leaving them as a very culpable abandonment of the enterprise, and they crowded around the place of embarkation when he went on board his vessel, and manifested their displeasure with ill-suppressed hisses and groans.

Saladin is unable to fulfill his promises

The time which had been fixed upon for Saladin to comply with the stipulations of the surrender was forty days, and this period was now, after Philip had gone, drawing rapidly to a close. Saladin found that he could not fulfill the conditions to which he had agreed. As the day approached he made various excuses and apologies to Richard, and he also sent him a number of costly presents, hoping, perhaps, in that way to propitiate his favor, and prevent his insisting on the execution of the dreadful penalty which had been agreed upon in case of default, namely, the slaughter of the five thousand hostages which had been left in his hands.

Brutality of Richard

The time at last expired, and the treaty had not been fulfilled. Richard, without waiting even a day, determined that the hostages should be slain. A rumor was set in circulation that Saladin had put to death all his Christian prisoners. This rumor was false, but it served its purpose of exasperating the minds of the Crusaders, so as to bring the soldiers up well to the necessary pitch of ferocity for executing so terrible a work. The slaughter of five thousand defenseless and unresisting men, in cold blood, is a very hard work for even soldiers to perform, and if such a work is to be done, it is always necessary to contrive some means of heating the blood of the executioners in order to insure the accomplishment of it. In this case, the rumor that Saladin had murdered his Christian prisoners was more than sufficient. It wrought up the allied army to such a phrensy that the soldiers assembled in crowds, and riotously demanded that the Saracen prisoners should be given up to them, in order that they might have their revenge.

The massacre of the Saracen captives

Accordingly, at the appointed time, Richard gave the command, and the whole body of the prisoners were brought out, and conducted to the plain beyond the lines of the encampment. A few were reserved. These were persons of rank and consideration, who were to be saved in hopes that they might have wealthy friends at home who would pay money to ransom them. The rest were divided into two portions, one of which was committed to the charge of the Duke of Burgundy, and the other Richard led himself. The dreadful processions formed by these wretched men were followed by the excited soldiery that were to act as their executioners, who came crowding on in throngs, waving their swords, and filling the air with their ferocious threats and imprecations, and exulting in the prospect of having absolutely their fill of the pleasure of killing men, without any danger to themselves to mar the enjoyment of it.

The massacre was carried into effect in the fullest possible manner; and after the men were killed, the Christians occupied themselves in cutting open their bodies to find jewels and other articles of value, which they pretended that the poor captives had swallowed in order to hide them from their enemies.

Richard's exultationSupernatural approval

Instead of being ashamed of this deed, Richard gloried in it. He considered it a wonderful proof of his zeal for the cause of Christ. The writers of the time praised it. The Saracens, they maintained, were the enemies of God, and whoever slew them did God service. One of the historians of the time says that angels from heaven appeared to Richard at the time, and urged him to persevere to the end, crying aloud to him while the massacre was going on, "Kill! kill! Spare them not!"

It seems to us at the present day most amazing that the minds of men could possibly be so perverted as to think that in performing such deeds as this they were sustaining the cause of the meek and gentle Jesus of Nazareth, and were the objects of approval and favor with God, the common father of us all, who has declared that he has made of one blood all the nations of the earth, to live together in peace and unity.

Chapter XV.

Progress of the Crusade

1191Richard leaving AcreModern warfare

The first thing which Richard had now to do, before commencing a march into the interior of the country, was to set every thing in order at Acre, and to put the place in a good condition of defense, in case it should be attacked while he was gone. The walls in many places were to be repaired, particularly where they had been undermined by Richard's sappers, and in many places, too, they had been broken down or greatly damaged by the action of the battering-rams and other engines. In the case of sieges prosecuted by means of artillery in modern times, the whole interior of the town, as well as the walls, is usually battered dreadfully by the shot and shells that are thrown over into it. A shell, which is a hollow ball of iron sometimes more than a foot in diameter, and with sides two or three inches thick, and filled within with gunpowder, is thrown from a mortar, at a distance of some miles, high into the air over the town, whence it descends into the streets or among the houses. The engraving represents the form of the mortar, and the manner in which the shell is thrown from it, though in this case the shell represented is directed, not against the town, but is thrown from a battery under the walls of the town against the camp or the trenches of the besiegers.

Contrast between modern and ancient weapons

These shells, of course, when they descend, come crashing through the roofs of the buildings on which they strike, or bury themselves in the ground if they fall in the street, and then burst with a terrific explosion. A town that has been bombarded in a siege becomes sometimes almost a mere mass of ruins. Often the bursting of a shell sets a building on fire, and then the dreadful effects of a conflagration are added to the horrors of the scene. In ancient sieges, on the other hand, none of these terrible agencies could be employed. The battering-rams could touch nothing but the walls and the outer towers, and it was comparatively very little injury that they could do to these. The javelins and arrows, and other light missiles – even those that were thrown from the military engines, if by chance they passed over the walls and entered the town, could do no serious mischief to the buildings there. The worst that could happen from them was the wounding or killing of some person in the streets who might, just at that moment, be passing by.

Purifying the places of pagan worship

In repairing Acre, therefore, and putting it again in a perfect condition for defense, nothing but the outer walls required attention. Richard set companies of workmen upon these, and before long every thing was restored as it was before. There were then some ceremonies to be performed within the town, to purify it from the pollution which it had sustained by having been in the possession of the Saracens. All the Christian churches particularly, and the monasteries and other religious houses, were to be thus restored from the desecration which they had undergone, and consecrated anew to the service of Christ.

Revelings of the soldiery

In the mean time, while these works and performances were going on, the soldiers gave themselves up to indulgences of every kind. Great stores of wine were found in the place, which were bestowed upon the troops, and the streets, day and night, were filled with riotous revelings. The commanders themselves – the knights and barons – and all the other men of rank that pertained to the army, fell into the same way, and they were very unwilling that the time should come when they were to leave such a place of security and indulgence, and take the field again for a march in pursuit of Saladin.

The object of the Crusades was the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre

At length, however, the time arrived when the march must be commenced. Richard had learned, by means of scouts and spies which he sent out, that Saladin was moving to the southward and westward – retreating, in fact, toward Jerusalem, which was, of course, the great point that he wished to defend. That, indeed, was the great point of attack, for the main object which the Crusaders proposed to themselves in invading Palestine was to get possession of the sepulchre where Christ was buried at Jerusalem. The recovery of the Holy Sepulchre was the watchword; and among all the people who were watching the progress of the enterprise with so much solicitude, and also among the Crusaders themselves, the progress that was made was valued just in proportion as it tended to the accomplishment of this end.

Order of the march from Acre

Richard set apart a sufficient number of troops for a garrison to hold and defend Acre, and then, on taking a census of the remainder of his force, found that he had thirty thousand men to march with in pursuit of Saladin. He arranged this force in five divisions, and placed each under the command of a competent general. There were two very celebrated bodies of knights that occupied positions of honor in this march. They were the Knights Templars and the Knights of St. John, or Hospitalers, the order that has been described in a previous chapter of this volume. The Templars led the van of the army, and the Hospitalers brought up the rear. The march was commenced on the twenty-second of August, which was not far from two months from the time that Acre was surrendered.

Jaffa

The course which the army was to take was at first to follow the sea-shore toward the southward to Jaffa, a port nearly opposite to Jerusalem. It was deemed necessary to take possession of Jaffa before going into the interior; and, besides, by moving on along the coast, the ships and galleys containing the stores for the army could accompany them, and supply them abundantly, from time to time, as they might require. By this course, too, they would be drawing nearer to Jerusalem, though not directly approaching it.

TrumpetersThe evening proclamation in camp

The arrangements connected with the march of the army were conducted with great ceremony and parade. The knights wore their costly armor, and were mounted on horses splendidly equipped and caparisoned. In many cases the horses themselves were protected, like the riders, with an armor of steel. The columns were preceded by trumpeters, who awakened innumerable echoes from the mountains, and from the cliffs of the shore, with their animating and exciting music, and innumerable flags and banners, with the most gorgeous decorations, were waving in the air. When the expedition halted at night, heralds passed through the several camps to the sound of trumpets, and pausing at each one, and giving a signal, all the soldiers in the camp kneeled down upon the ground, when the heralds proclaimed in a loud voice three times, God save the Holy Sepulchre, and all the soldiers said Amen.

The slow marchSaladin's harassing movements

The march was commenced on the twenty-second of August, and it was about sixty miles from Acre to Jaffa. Of course, an army of thirty thousand men must move very slowly. There is so much time consumed in breaking up the encampment in the morning, and in forming it again at night, and in giving such a mighty host their rest and food in the middle of the day, and the men, moreover, are so loaded with the arms and ammunition, and with the necessary supplies of food and clothing which they have to carry, that only a very slow progress can be made. In this case, too, the march was harassed by Saladin, who hovered on the flank of the Crusaders, and followed them all the way, sending down small parties from the mountains to attack and cut off stragglers, and threatening the column at every exposed point, so as to keep them continually on the alert. The necessity of being always ready to form in order of battle to meet the enemy, should he suddenly come upon them, restricted them very much in their motions, and made a great deal of manœuvring necessary, which, of course, greatly increased the fatigue of the soldiers, and very much diminished the speed of their progress.

Richard wished much to bring on a general battle, being confident that he should conquer if he could engage in it on equal terms. But Saladin would not give him an opportunity. He kept the main body of his troops sheltered among the mountains, and only advanced slowly, parallel with the coast, where he could watch and harass the movements of his enemies without coming into any general conflict with them.

The plain of AzotusThe order of battle

This state of things continued for about three weeks, and then at last Richard reached Jaffa. The two armies manœuvred for some time in the vicinity of the town, and, finally, they concentrated their forces in the neighborhood of a plain near the sea-shore, at a place called Azotus, which was some miles beyond Jaffa. Saladin had by this time strengthened himself so much that he was ready for battle. He accordingly marched on to the attack. He directed his assault, in the first instance, on the wing of Richard's army which was formed of the French troops that were under the command of the Duke of Burgundy. They resisted them successfully and drove them back. Richard watched the operation, but for a time took no part in it, except to make feigned advances, from time to time, to threaten the enemy, and to harass them by compelling them to perform numerous fatiguing evolutions. His soldiers, and especially the knights and barons in his army, were very impatient at his delaying so long to take an active and an efficient part in the contest. But at last, when he found that the Saracen troops were wearied, and were beginning to be thrown in a little confusion, he gave the signal for a charge, and rode forward at the head of the troop, mounted on his famous charger, and flourishing his heavy battle-axe in the air.

The charge of Richard's troopsTo retreat is to be defeated

The onset was terrible. Richard inspirited his whole troop by his reckless and headlong bravery, and by the terrible energy with which he gave himself to the work of slaughtering all who came in his way. The darts and javelins that were shot by the enemy glanced off from him without inflicting any wound, being turned aside by the steel armor that he wore, while every person that came near enough to him to strike him with any other weapon was felled at once to the ground by a blow from the ponderous battle-axe. The example which Richard thus set was followed by his men, and in a short time the Saracens began every where to give way. When, in the case of such a combat, one side begins to yield, it is all over with them. When they turn to retreat, they, of course, become at once defenseless, and the pursuers press on upon them, killing them without mercy and at their pleasure, and with very little danger of being killed themselves. A man can fight very well while he is pursuing, but scarcely at all when he is pursued.

Saladin, defeated, retires

It was not long before Saladin's army was flying in all directions, the Crusaders pressing on upon them every where in their confusion, and cutting them down mercilessly in great numbers. The slaughter was immense. About seven thousand of the Saracen troops were slain. Among them were thirty-two of Saladin's highest and best officers. As soon as the Saracens escaped the immediate danger, when the Crusaders had given over the pursuit, they rallied, and Saladin formed them again into something like order. He then commenced a regular and formal retreat into the interior. He first, however, sent detachments to all the country around to dismantle the towns, to destroy all stores of provisions, and to seize and carry away every thing of value that could be of any use to the conquerors. A broad extent of country, through which Richard would have to march in advancing toward Jerusalem, being thus laid waste, the Saracens withdrew farther into the interior, and there Saladin set himself at work to reorganize his broken army once more, and to prepare for new plans of resistance to the invaders.

Richard at Jaffa again

Richard withdrew with his army to Jaffa, and, taking possession of the town, he established himself there.

Sickness in the armyExcuses for delaying the march

It was now September. The season of the year was hot and unhealthy; and though the allied army had thus far been victorious, still there was a great deal of sickness in the camp, and the soldiers were much exhausted by the fatigue which they had endured, and by their exposure to the sun. Richard was desirous, notwithstanding this, to take the field again, and advance into the interior, so as to follow up the victory which had been gained over Saladin at Azotus; but his officers, especially those of the French division of the army, under the command of the Duke of Burgundy, thought it not safe to move forward so soon. "It would be better to remain a short time in Jaffa," they said, "to recruit the army, and to prepare for advancing in a more sure and efficient manner.

"Besides," said they, "we need Jaffa for a military post, and it will be best to remain here until we shall have repaired the fortifications, and put the place in a good condition of defense."

Lingering at Jaffa

But this was only an excuse. What the army really desired was to enjoy repose for a time. They found it much more agreeable to live in ease and indulgence within the walls of a town than to march in the hot sun across so arid a country, loaded down as they were with heavy armor, and kept constantly in a state of anxious and watchful suspense by the danger of sudden attacks from the enemy.

The judgment of historians

Richard acceded to the wishes of the officers, and decided to remain for a time in Jaffa. But they, instead of devoting themselves energetically to making good again the fortifications of the town, went very languidly to the work. They allowed themselves and the men to spend their time in inaction and indulgence. In the mean time, Saladin had gathered his forces together again, and was drawing fresh recruits every day to his standard from the interior of the country. He was preparing for more vigorous resistance than ever. Richard has been strongly condemned for thus remaining inactive in Jaffa after the battle of Azotus. Historians, narrating the account of his campaign, say that he ought to have marched at once toward Jerusalem before Saladin should have had time to organize any new means of resistance. But it is impossible for those who are at a distance from the scene of action in such a case, and who have only that partial and imperfect account of the facts which can be obtained through the testimony of others, to form any reliable judgment on such a question. Whether it would be prudent or imprudent for a commander to advance after a battle can be known, in general, only to those who are on the ground, and who have personal knowledge of all the circumstances of the case.