De Hautevilles- Can Anyone Stop the Norman Invasion?

Well, the game is called Crusader Kings II, and i just happen to have 2 kings, the present and a future one and it is high time to make them 2 crusading kings!

morningSIDEr- this violent enough?

Nikolai- simple rules to keep the Caliph at bay:
1. Have an army bigger then him. If possible at all, use Holy Orders- they don't cost nothing when on defensive and are experts in kicking ass. If not, your levies and mercenaries should do the trick. You don't even have to keep levies recruited, beat an invasion and send them home. Rinse and repeat.
2. Don't fight an army over 10 000 man. If they have over that number in province, rest, relax, wait a few month until attrition takes toll and then attack.
3. Don't go on offensive, just keep kicking the Muslim forces and wait for war score to raise.
4. Never fight an army bigger then yours.

Since you are playing on defensive, let them keep the initiative- they come, they siege something. Then it's high time to gather forces, go in and defeat that army. If possible, use navy to gain upper hand in mobility.
With adequately strong realm, Caliph isn't that much of a threat.

The Crusade for Galilee- the Beginning

Invasion

7000 Sicilians and 7000 Hospitallers were ready in Palermo. From Normans, King Asclettin has decided that first wave would be he and his direct vassals. Asclettin himself was the leader of central rank and Bohemond was commanding the right rank.

There was much celebration as Asclettin, Bohemond and all their men gathered for a mass for the final time. Since the army was that big that no church could hold them, the final mass was open-air. With Pope himself leading them, giving his divine blessings to Normans and to their weapons.

Then, they boarded. 2 different fleets, together reaching to 250 ships, were waiting in the port. Norman army went first, in 28th October, Hospitallers a about a week behind. The journey was uneventful, seas were calm and in 8th November, the Palestinian coast was finally seen on horizon.

Tyrus, the primary target of Crusades, was an ancient city. Perhaps made the most famous by Alexander the Great, who besieged the city 300 years BC, but the city had been around for about a 1000 years before that. As for Christians, that was an important city too- Jesus himself has set foot on the city.

They landed in 11th November. Small group of fresh Muslim recruits were waiting for them on the shore, in desperate attempt to stop Normans landing. All 350 of them were dead in 15 minutes- but 19 Christians lost their lives. The first one to die was Roger de Hauteville, very distant relative and a minor holder in Sicily. Arab archer shot an arrow to his throat when he was preparing to jump the ship and be the first one on Holy Land. Instead, he coloured the light blue sea red with his blood. Others, not disheartened by his fate, charged ahead. Soon, Roger was not the only corpse floating in the sea.

It did not matter though- they were here! In Holy Land! And there was no-one left to stop them. The priest held another mass and whole army thanked the Lord for good wind, safe journey and for the arrival to the land of their dreams. Simple soldiers looked around, hoping , to see a place where Jesus had walked, to find some marks of Lord- or perhaps even find a relic!


Priest holding the first mass in Holy Land

No such luck though. The march to the city was uneventful. And as suspected, Normans would be unable to siege Tyrus himself until all the remaining holdings had been taken. Scandalon, the first, was blocking the way and if left unconquered, would be able to raid Norman supply lines. So, Scandalon was the first target. They all were Crusaders though! Through and through!


Asclettin the Crusader!

Hospitallers had a bit more interesting landing. Instead of Tyrus, they landed in Beirut, the neighbouring county. They found a bit bigger army, of nearly 2000 Muslims there, waiting for them. And showing why these knights were the cream of Europe, they cut through Muslim lines, massacred them all and marched on.

Both Normans and Hospitallers started their sieges, Sicilian fleet was patrolling at the coast of Palestine and the end of year was uneventful.

Battle of Sarafand

Caliphate was slow to react. It took them 3 month since the Christians landed and 6 month from the start of the war to gather an army capable of opposing the Norman invasion. In January though, the reports about a Muslim army with around 14 000 men marching towards Tyrus started to flow in.

It was as planned- Muslims obviously had a plan to deal with Asclettin’s army first and then take on the Hospitallers. But Normans are known for 2 things- their prowess in battle and their skill at the sea. The fleet that had been patrolling in the coasts of Levantine was left out of Muslim plans- and much to their error.

For Hospitallers abandoned the siege of Beirut, boarded the ships and as the Muslims entered the province, they found out that instead of Asclettin’s forces, they were facing combined strength of Sicilian armies- for Hospitallers had landed under the cover of the night and took positions outside Sarafand.

Unable to retreat anymore, Muslims were forced to charge. Sicilian heavy infantry held the line. Several times. Knights from all over Europe fought side-by side, determined not to let any Muslim pass. As usual though, the battle was decided by mounted knights- and the suitable landscape. The heavily armoured fortresses- and about 3000 of them- were unstoppable on open ground. No army in the world could resist the charge of the knights- and unstoppable they were, cutting through Muslims like hot butter. Finally making their army flee in terror.


Normans fighting the heathens

In 24th February, the battle was over, 11 000 Muslims dead. But also- 4000 Christians. The difference was that loyal subjects of the Caliphate were in plentiful supply around here, but Christians had to be brought in over the sea- making every loss more costly. And another Muslim army was marching from inlands, while remains of fleeing Muslim army were fleeing toward Beirut.


The beginning and end of the battle

Hospitallers boarded the ships again and made their way into Beirut, so when Muslim army finally reached the province, they were into a nasty surprise and sharp pikes.

The same day, Templars finally joined the cause. Their army was ready to be shipped from Palermo and reinforce the armies there.

Battle of Scandalon

In the beginning of May, another Muslim army had reached Scandalon. The Christian situation was dire- the numbers of both Hospitallers and Normans have dwindled. Sieges took their toll, also smaller battles. Not to mention attrition- Crusaders died at lack of water, food and multitude of arrows.

Hospitallers were on the way, but their numbers had been diminished as well. This time, Muslims were outnumbering the Christians. By quite a number as well, for there was 12 000 Muslims versus 10 000 Christians.

This time, Asclettin tried to avoid the battle and slow Muslims down. Norman light cavalry was harassing their movement, destroying supply carts, ambushing units that have strayed behind main units. Two times, they even managed to make it look like the real army was there, thus making the Muslims line up for battle, thus wasting valuable time.

But to leave the siege of Scandalon- that was not an option. The siege had progressed too far and Normans needed a holding in Holy Land- coastal fort of Scandalon was perfect for that. So, main army of Sicily was preparing themselves for defence near Scandalon, with Muslims advancing slowly, but surely to their positions.

Asclettin’s forces were the ones to take the first hit. They were holding up, but their numbers were diminishing quickly. Hospitallers arrived to the rescue, but even the combined numbers of them both were not enough to stop the Muslims.

Slowly, the combined forces of Sicily were pushed back. Both the Normans and the Hospitallers fought bravely, but the pure number of Muslims was enough to make them step back, then step back again. Muslims were slowly placing Asclettin between them and the sea, intending to trap them and show the Christian world that even their strongest rulers must bow to the might of Caliphate. Asclettin and Bohemond had already gathered their most loyal followers to their side and were preparing for a final stand.


Hospitallers defending against Arab onslaught

Then... a sound of horns, thundering of hooves. Ground shaking up that badly that you can hear that even in the middle of battle. The battle stopped for a second- Muslims and Christians alike stood still.

As the thundering of hooves came closer, you could hear people singing psalms (rather badly) and these psalms were Christian. As far as you can tell- it is hard to understand screaming of a few thousand men who are trying to keep the horse on course, pike on hand and try to sing when galloping at full speed. But the flags upon them- red crosses on white. The realization hit the defenders- Templars had arrived.

And the realization hit the Arabs. As Templars crushed into their back ranks, rammed them with pikes, trampled upon them, just pushed them aside, the Arab will to fight begun to wade quickly. Templar infantry didn’t even have a chance to enter the battle, for Arabs were running for their lives. Defenders took their final strength and charged as well. By the end of the day, most of Caliphate army lied dead on the battlefield, about 2 500 Muslims were fleeing toward Beirut.


The saving charge

After the battle, Asclettin quickly greeted the leader of Templars. After a quick negotiations, it was decided that Asclettin and Hospitallers unite their forces and continue the siege of Tyrus. After all, they have both lost so many soldiers that neither could be used as independent army. At least not in a land where 10 000 soldier armies are commonplace. Templars will board the ships, travel to Beirut, crush the fleeing Arabs and siege the city again.


The most dire moment of the battle- and see Templars coming to the rescue. And the result

After the battle, Asclettin ordered all the levies from Sicily to gather in Palermo and travel to Holy Land as well, for his own troops had taken main attacks from Arab forces and were about a third of their original size.

The siege of Scandalon continued. Though the Caliphate has tried to push the Crusaders out, thus far, they have failed to do so.

Saithis- Yes, and religion played really important part in that era. And tales like that are quite commonplace.
mayorgw- as you ordered, sir. One crusade.
morningSIDEr- yes, have beaten them. This time they have the advantage of home field though.

Crusade for Galilee, part 2

The Sieges

By September, there was another 10 000 army of Arabs marching in, this time from the East. But Scandalon was about to fall- before reinforcements could reach them. The defenders had eaten their horses, their pets, selling mice and rats was profitable business and people were killing each other for loaf of bread. Without any hope and not even knowing there is relief army approaching, the commander of the Castle had no other choice then to surrender.

Castle of Scandalon officially surrendered in 30th of September. Triumphant Christians felt mercy, fed the garrison and let them go. The Mosque of Castle was quickly converted to Church and mass was held in celebration. All Europe watched in awe, and Pope declared Crusade a success- even though the city of Tyrus was still in Muslim hands.

The 10 000 Arabs marching to Tyrus was enough to order the Templars to break the siege and join Asclettin and the Hospitallers. The Castle had been under siege for about a half year. Alain d’Orleans, Grand Master of the Templars, gazed at the Castle. Trebuchets had been bombing the castle, causing several breaches. Siege towers had been made. Morale of defenders was all-time low. Alain did not want to leave.

Alain was standing in a hill near the castle. Surrounded by his fellow Templars, he gazed at the letter in his hand, asking him to sail to Tyrus. Then, he gazed at the castle.

“It would be a shame to leave it standing,” he said. “Let’s take this Castle and go then, brothers!”

Templars cheered. An assault started, and by lunchtime, the castle was taken. In bloodfrenzy, adrenaline still pumping for the assault and seeing their friends fall, the Templars took no mercy and killed every man, woman and child they could find. Next day, leaving a small garrison behind, they sailed to Tyrus.


The Templars storming Beirut

The War Continues

This time, Muslims arrived too late. The castle had fallen. But it did not stop them- in November 1144, 10 000 Arabs entered the province with a task to beat the Christians and re-capture the fortress. In a field outside Scandalon, they were defeated by Sicilian-Hospitaller-Templar forces. About 1500 of them survived and moved towards inlands, with Templars in hot pursuit.
About at the same time, Asclettin gave order to raise all vassal troops of Sicily and send them to Holy Land, for the losses of all the armies here have been huge and extra reinforcements are needed. They arrived in March and joined Asclettin’s army.


The Battle of Scandalon

By December, Templar forces had reached fleeing enemy and crushed them totally. Then, they turned back and hurried towards Tyrus, for another army, this time 7000 strong, had attacked Asclettin’s forces there. Again, being slightly outnumbered, the Battle of Tyrus, taking place in January 1145, was not an easy one to win. Muslims even got close enough to would Asclettin- though the ones who got so close to the king were slain immediately by his bodyguards, the King still got a nasty scar that took month to heal.


And of Tyrus

Sarafand, another holding in Tyrus, was captured in February 1145. The road to Tyrus itself was secure and the city was put under siege.

It was all quiet until in June, another army of 10 000 approached from the south. They were once again beaten back and Templars once again took pursuit of the survivors.

In June, Asclettin entered negotiations with Company of the St. George, a mercenary of total 4500 soldiers. For 360 gold, they entered the service of Sicily and were promptly sent to Beirut, to keep siege of the fortresses there. Templar tactic- siege and run away to battle didn’t seem to work, for the sieges were abandoned too many times.


The situation in July. Mercenaries siege Beirut, Templars return from yet another pursuit and Tyrus about to fall

In August, Tyrus fell. The province was finally under Sicily’s control. In Beirut, the combined forces of mercenaries and Templars, started the assaults. City of Journie and Sheikdom of Sidon fell on September.

This was enough for Caliph to finally crawl in and admit defeat. In October 1145, the peace was signed, with Caliph handing over all the holdings in Galilee to Asclettin.


The Caliph begging for mercy

The Pope called for celebrations all over Europe, and all ordered masses to be held to celebrate the unbelievable success of Asclettin. Holy Asclettin, as the folk started to call him.


The Aftermath of the War- Holy Asclettin!

Asclettin gave Duchy of Galilee to his second son, also named Asclettin.

With this, the First Crusade was over and Christendom had their first foothold in Holy Land.

Hooray! Caliphate 0, Sicily 2! One crusade won!

Kaioo- welcome aboard and thanks for praise! And thus far, things have been pretty well for de Hautevilles. With me pushing them, i believe things will continue that way
Chief Ragusa- don't be so hard on Hospitallers. They had several battles behind them when Templars finally bothered to show up. But- all the work done!

morningSIDEr- Oh yes, Holy Land is always worth the trouble. The pure bonuses when creating the Kingdom of Jerusalem- more prestige and piety then one can hoard in lifetime! And well- Asclettin dealt not one, but two sore blows!
Kaioo- At the moment, Caliphate is a not the greatest threat. More of it in the next update... As for Jihad. No worries there- Jihad is already called, they want to take the city of Antioch, currently under control of Byzantine Empire. And these two are evenly matched opponenents.

Update coming later tonight!

The Quieter Times

Claimant Game

Of all the Dukes in Italy, only Verona had a perfect candidate- an unhappy, unmarried man who can pass the claim on to future generations. Or a female Asclettin could marry off. Still, only 1 man willing to join the court. Augustin von Zähringen, arrived to Palermo in January 1147. There, he was quickly hitched with Egelina de Hauteville, a 16-year distant cousin and mother of future Duke/Duchess of Verona. Marriage was under matrimonial side of course, and no-one bothered to tell poor Augustin that his duties were to breed and then die and pass the claim.


The first claimant arriving in Sicily!

Hospitallers Settle in Holy Land

Joint agreement with Asclettin, King of Sicily, Asclettin, Prince of Sicily and Duke of Galilee and headmaster of Hospitallers allowed the Hospitallers to settle in the Holy Land. Duke granted them place for a castle in Safed, and thus, the castle of Belvoir was built. Hospitallers were granted semi-autonomy, for they were not de jure part of the realm of Sicily, but instead, remained independent on their endeavours. Since the Holy Land was largely undefended and had to rely on troops from Sicily until things have settled down, it was a welcome relief.


First Holy Order in Holy Land. Wish they'd build at least something there.

Venetian War

In March 1148, councillor William de Hauteville finally managed to fabricate claims on pearl of the Adriatic, Venice. The rich city and province were Asclettin’s for mere 600 gold. That sum of course set the country back into debt.

But already in August 1148, the coffers of Sicily were full again and Asclettin decided it was time to strike. So, without further ado, the war was declared, 11 000 troops were gathered in Palermo and they were sent to Venice. Venice had managed to get 1500 men for their defence, so it was more overkill then a battle. In 18th September, Norman forces made a naval invasion outside the city of Venice, defeated the Venetian army and started the siege of the city.


As invasions go, this one was easy as pie.

Then, the Doge reacted and hired 1500 mercenaries. Who stayed in Treviso and- very wisely- refused to cross the straight and attack. Mercenaries claimed that they were cuttning of Sicilian supply and thus forcing them to leave the siege. That would be of course ignoring the fact that Asclettin had set up naval supply line and mercenaries hanging in Treviso would only mean for them getting good gold for absolutely nothing. Mercenaries didn’t mind and Venetians were in no position to argue with them.

By January 1149, the city was in bad enough condition that storming did become a good idea. And after 2 days of assaults, the city fell. Thus ended the independence of powerful trade city. Asclettin revoked the other city in province, Lido, created a Duchy of Venice and gave them both to be ruled by William de Hauteville, his councillor, as a thank you for forging the claims. It was the first merchant-ruled Duchy Asclettin had created.


And the result... Like shooting Doges in a barrel.

Italian Dukes

In other news, Prince Lancelin, a third son of Asclettin, was married to a young Duchess Hermessent of Salerno, thus reducing the gap that had become between original Dukes and rest of the Kingdom. To put it simply- Italian Dukes were dirt poor. The Counts in Africa were making more money then them. Their small Dukedoms, their limited means for development meant that neither great number of troops or gold could be expected from them. With envy, they gazed across the sea to Africa, where Dukes lives lavishly, had armies to command instead of small bands of robbers and had enough money to spend on both construction and luxuries. Asclettin acknowledged the problem, but decided to do nothing about it- something must be left to future generations as well.


Young Duchess and the Prince. Notice that some de Hautevilles have lost some of their Norman features like blond hair and blue eyes.

Holy War for Kabylia

The three-sided civil war in Kabylia had almost ended by 1150-ies. By almost, we mean that one side lost, and not the original Emir side. Original Emir an-Nasir II and Sheikh Musa of Beni-Yanni were still fighting over who should be Emir. To make things worse, Kingdom of Mauretania, their neighbour, started a war over one province in the county of Algiers.

In all cases, the Emirate of Kabylia was in shambles. Almost no armies left, almost no fighting spirit. A country that was one of the major powers in Western Mediterranean a mere 50 years ago, a country that was nightmare of every Christian ruler living next to the sea, now reduced bickering rulers and burning villages. Meaning it is a very good time to stab someone in the back.

July 1153 saw the declaration of War on Emirate of Kabylia. Of 5 provinces that make up the Duchy, only 3 are available- Beni-Yanni not being part of the Emirate and Tell Atlas being occupied by them. But 3 is a good start.

This time, the war was fought differently. There was no risk for battles, for all the forces of Emirate were depleted long ago and the only thing to do is to siege-siege-siege. So, forces from Palermo were shipped to county of Bejaija, and were about 7500 in strength. Rest of Sicilian forces, about 5500 were sent to Annaba and Dukes of Africa sent their 4000 to Constantine.


Yet another easy war...

The sieges and assaults continued for about a year, not a single battle was fought with forces of Emirate. One by one, provinces of Kabylia fell until there were none left. In the end of August 1154, peace was signed, giving Sicily control of main provinces of Kabylia.


... and the end. One seventh damned grandfather vs 3 provinces makes a good deal. And since he was most likely pagan anyway, the losses are 0

Osmond de Hauteville was named as the mayor of all Kabylian cities and then as Lord-Mayor of all the Duchy. Asclettin did the similar thing with Mallorca, giving local mayor Osbern Doge title and naming him the sole ruler of the Islands. In long run, these changes were supposed to give Sicily some extra money, for original Dukes pay no taxes.

Other news- Prince Silvester was married to Countess Guigone of Forcalquier. Marriage was not matrilineal, so there is hope for new de Hauteville counts in the future.

Situation in the Caliphate, 1156

Caliph Abdul-Majid I the Idiot, who only got a throne because Asclettin had his father and 2 brothers killed, ruled for 15 years. He managed to sire 3 daughters before he took a vow of celibacy (or as he put it- “Ugly wifey! No visits to her anymore”). He left his world at the age of 30, wounded and incapacitated. Despite of being total idiot, he was one of the most powerful man in the world. Of course, anyone with power or a brain knew about his condition, but the simple folk did not. Or simply didn’t care, for to them he was Caliph, strong and powerful, their friend and defender. Who did know about the mental abilities of Abdul, agreed on one thing though- his death was a blessing.

So, when Abdul-Majid was succeeded by Musa I, still a youngster, from a side branch of the family, simple son of Wali, there were bound to be rumours. Though grand-grand-grandfather of Musa I was a Caliph and his claim was solid- he was the closest living relative, son of mere Wali (Baron to us Europeans) as a Caliph? That raised a few eyebrows in more noble circle and made the simple people question Abdul’s death. And Musa’s involvement.


The brand new wet behind ears Caliph

To put it simply, Caliphate was torn up from inside. The simple folk were angry and suspicious about Caliph’s death and the rulers were quick to exploit it. Several small civil wars broke up- amongst them Emir Yassir I of Jerusalem and Ascalon, who thought it would be a good idea to rule on his own. With claims that he would not serve the Caliph’s murdered and usurper of the throne, he managed to rouse his people into supporting him and raised the flags of rebellion.


The Emir of Jerusalem dreaming of more power and freedom. Not smart

In his hunger for power and freedom, he totally forgot that Kingdom of Sicily, not the most quiet and peaceful kind, is his neighbour.

Asclettin on the other hand didn’t miss the developments in Caliphate- and he decided the time was right to strike. Liberation of Jerusalem was close!

Here we go- new definition of quiet time- only 2 wars and 4 provinces gained!

Chief Ragusa- well, Hospitallers actually did exist before first crusade, but quite like they existed before. But here, they are just something to give poor Christians fighting chance against powerful Muslims- i wouldn't have been able to win without them. As for defense of Antioch. Well, i could... but Byzantines don't really need my help. And if they lost the jihad, even better- that would mean i don't need CB to conquer it! So, no help for poor Byzanties.
Nikolai- attrition works on making them armies smaller. And use navy when possible, that gives you more mobility.

The Liberation of Jerusalem


City of Heaven

Jerusalem was- and still is- the most unique city in the world. Holy city for 3 different religions, and 3 major religions- Judaism, Islam and Christianity. For Jews, it has been so for thousands of years, for it was their homeland, place of their holiest Temple and so on. For Christians, it was a city where Jesus did most of his work, his miracles, where he was crucified and where he raised from the dead and promised to return. For Islam, it was the third holiest city after Mecca and Medina, for here is the place where Muhammed was taken into heaven. Not to mention place where important prophets from the Quran like David, Solomon, Jesus etc lived their lives. Overall, it is no wonder nothing good came out of it, but then again the situation has always been presenting happy opportunities for intolerance, discrimination, war and good old massacre.

Though after the fall of the Roman Empire, Byzantium remained in control of the City, their rule was cut short by Arab Caliphate. Jerusalem was conquered in 638, being one of the first conquests of the new power. Since then, the owners of the city have changed, but one thing had remained the same- Muslims ruled the city. Of course it meant also oppression of Christians. And there was plenty of Christians around- pilgrimage to Holy Lands was growing in popularity and quite a number of people thought to absolve their sins by visiting the land where Christ had lived or died. All of them were robbed blind by Arabs- the prices they were asked was highway robbery. But quite a good number of them were also robbed of their lives or sold to Islamic lands as slaves.


The City of Jerusalem

Of course there were the eastern Christians as well, who lived under the yoke of the Muslim rule, but despite of that had managed to hold on to their faith. But in the eyes of the Pope, they were more heretics then true followers of Jesus, so to them, Catholic ruler or Muslim ruler- the result would be the same.

Byzantium had no real hope to take back the city- their internal struggles and constant stabbing kept them busy enough not to be able to mount any significant offensive towards South. European Christian kingdoms were far away, weak and also busy with constant struggles amongst themselves. Only hope for the Holy Land came when Sicily was ventured on a Crusade for Galilee and took the Duchy. Asclettin and his army saw the towers of the City of Cities in the distance, but to them it was like a mirage in the distance, so close, but yet so far.

Beginning of the War

But now, things were different. Emir Yassir I’s folly created a window of opportunity for Sicily and Asclettin was quick to take advantage of it. Without even waiting for Pope’s consent to go to war, Sicily quickly sent out a declaration of war and begun to gather the armies. In March 1156, Emir Yassir found out that not only was he fighting the Caliph, but Sicily as well. And Sicily meant business.

13 000 soldiers from Sicily, 7000 from Duchies of Tunis and Tripoli sailed into Holy Land. Asclettin’s troops landed in Tyrus and started a march through Tiberias to Jerusalem itself while the African troops landed in the province of Acre and started their siege of the city. By July, the Sicilians were in their positions.

Emir’s troops were busy sieging Madaba and showed no intention of moving from there. Smart- always better to look busy fighting no-one then to face 2 armies of well-armed Christians.

Since the time was limited- war would be over the minute Emir Yussuf would come crawling back to Caliph Musa- and the provinces of Jerusalem and Hebron aren’t known for their abilities to sustain huge number of troops, the decision was made to rather risk loss of troops on assaults then to wait out.


Sicilian troops in positions, Emir Yussuf's troops trying hard to ignore Emir's orders to attack and destroy Sicilians

The Fall of Jerusalem

Mirabel and Nablus, 2 smaller holdings that were on their way, fell with days. Sicilian troops reached Jerusalem in 20th July 1156. They took five days to prepare for assault, offering city a chance to surrender and preparing ladders and siege towers in the meanwhile. The offer was refused and in the morning of 25th July, an all-out assault begun.

500 soldiers in garrison vs 10 500 Sicilians (yes, 2 500 had lost their lives due to bad conditions and 2 assault) wasn’t a very fair fight. The defences of the city were impressive, walls were high, but with 500, you cannot be everywhere. So, in one place, the Normans got through. Then, when reinforcements were sent to dispose them, another party managed to sneak to the walls in lesser defended place. Just 2 hours after an assault, Norman soldiers managed to capture one of the gates and open it. After that, it was a massacre. Garrison was slaughtered to the last man, so were many innocent citizens. Especially the Muslim kind, but eh, sometimes it's hard to tell who's who and better kill 'em all while you're at it.


The assault on Jerusalem. As a bonus, you see nice picnic in upper left corner.

To be fair, the city had managed their own massacre as well- most of the Christians found inside city walls, both Catholic and eastern kind, were killed. There is always a risk of treason and Muslim citizens decided that no dead people can betray. So, most of the Christians who could be found, who had not gone into hiding or fled the city in advanced, were killed last evening, though some of the poor ones were even found out during an assault and put to death. To be even more fair, Sicilian troops did not find about the massacre of Christians, so their own little massacre was not an angry reaction to Muslim one. That’s just how people were at the time.

The usual horror of conquered city begun. Murdering, pillaging, raping. Asclettin did nothing to stop it- his men had earned it. The King and his company entered the city during midday. Not bothered by desperate cries of women and horrible sounds a man does when he is about to die, they rode slowly towards the city centre, towards Dome of the Rock. Norman troops standing on sides of the road, cheering. Amongst them, some of the surviving local Christians and some previously Muslims who had found that Christianity is actually much more pleasant then painful death.

Though the interior of the Dome looked still Muslim, a temporary altar and some icons were already set up. The golden crescent was torn down and laid on the ground in little pieces, with Norman soldiers around arguing who should get the bigger piece. To the top, a wooden cross was placed.

Making themselves deaf to cries still heard from the city, the mass begun. First mass ever to be made in the most holiest place of the city, it was definitely not the last. As a final touch, Asclettin had carved a motto over an entrance of the mosque: Calcitrare me ex si potest (meaning Kick me out if you can in Latin. According to Google translator, so those who know Latin can laugh)

The news of Asclettin’s conquest travelled fast and in every church in Europe, sermons were held. Despite the difficulties of the journey and ongoing war, quite a number of people took on the journey to Jerusalem, to pray on the places where Jesus walked. Religious tourism became a huge part of city’s- and whole Holy Land’s income for centuries to come.

Sicilian army rested in the city for a month, then moved on, took the castle of Rammala and marched to Hebron. But the Holy City was theirs!

The Situation in Caliphate

The resistance to new Caliph’s rule was getting bigger. To be more precise, more then half of the realm was in open revolt. Either hoping to regain their independence or with ambition to overcome the current Caliph and become the next one themselves, the whole Caliphate was under arms. Arabia Felix, the cities of Mecca and Medina; Sinai (that had considerable holdings in Africa), smaller Emirs all over the realm- all on warpath. Only Kingdom of Syria and lands around the Cairo remained loyal to the Caliph. The bonus of all this was that nobody in Caliphate cared for tiniest bit about Asclettin’s war with Jerusalem.


Holy Mother of Civil war!

The War Ends

In October, African troops finally decided to assault the City of Acre. They lost more then 2000 soldiers in the progress, but they took the city. That also meant that their numbers was low enough not to risk any further assaults. Instead, they kept on besieging the province.

Asclettin’s troops reached Hebron in October. Without waiting, they assaulted- Hebron was even less suitable for large armies then Jerusalem. City of Bethlehem, last holding in province, fell on 18th December. Only 6000 soldiers left from the original 13 000, they marched to Acre to join the African troops siege and end this war. Only 3 castles left.

Meanwhile, Kingdom of Syria, the last loyal vassal, joined the war against Caliph. The whole Caliphate was not in total disarray. It also meant that Jerusalem’s forces that have been sieging Madaba would have no business here, for the lands were Syrian, not Caliphates. So, smartly still avoiding battle, they marched to Tiberias and laid siege there. Always much safer option then to face open battle.


When the poor Caliph thought things could not get worse

In 5th March, the last holding in Acre fell and Sicily was in full control of the province. Emir Yussuf realised that his dreams were cut short and there is no point to keep on fighting- so the peace was made, giving Sicily the City of Heaven and all the holdings in the province. Ironically, Asclettin had done Caliph Musa I a small favour, reducing the power of one of his multitude of enemies. A tiny favor considering the mess he's in.

But to Christians, it was time for great jubilation. The Holy City was finally in good proper Christian hans!

Asclettin gave all the provinces and holdings in Jerusalem to his fourth son, Orderic. The Liberation of Jerusalem was over.


And it is official- Sicily is the holder of Jerusalem