THE THIRD CRUSADE
1194
Hope remained.
Help was on the way -- the Kingdom of Jerusalem merely had to survive the almost certain Saracen counterattack long enough for reinforcements to arrive from Europe.
Fortunately, a brief respite was in store for the survivors of the siege at the Krak du Lion, for Saladin’s main host completely withdrew from Jerusalem’s borders into the Sinai wilderness. No doubt they intended to lick their wounds before uniting with more reinforcements fresh from the victory in Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, Saladin’s brother Sayf ad-Din pushed on to Baalbek to besiege the holdings Raymond of Tiberias had seized from the Hospitallers earlier on. The Emir’s army was ignored for the time being, as Baalbek’s walls were thick and its garrison large. While he wasted his efforts on a long siege, the men of Jerusalem had an advantage.
This was an opportunity that could not be neglected. In order to make the best use of the small window of time provided by Saladin’s absence, Richard adopted a strategy of “divide and conquer,” sending several smaller contingents to try to recapture as many crusader strongholds as possible before the enemy returned in force. The battered remnants of Oultrejordain’s levies were called up to retake their lost fortresses at Kerak and Monreal, while Tiberias’ remaining men were sent to liberate Irbid. The Knights Templar and Hospitaller were also now sufficiently replenished to call to arms, and together with Richard’s combined hosts of Jerusalem and Jaffa-Ascalon, they moved to purge the kingdom’s southern reaches of Saracen garrisons.
The first citadel to be recaptured was Ascalon. In a twist of fate, Balian of Ibelin was once again sent to lead the battle for this place, and this time destiny was on his side. Ever the shrewd commander, Balian distracted the enemy garrison with a diversion at the front gates, while a small group of elite sergeants sneaked around to the most distant, and thus most poorly-defended, portion of the castle walls. Under cover of night, these would-be commandos scaled the walls with siege ladders, crept through the darkened streets, and flung open the city gates.
By dawn, the banner of the Golden Cross once again fluttered over the city of Ascalon.
Balian of Ibelin was to be commended.
Richard proved equally victorious in retaking the fortress at Darum, however he suffered greater casualties in the conflict through his own impatience. He preferred to end the siege quickly by means of a direct frontal assault (led of course by himself), instead of waiting around for any act of guile to reach its fruition. Yet Richard's decision to seek a swift end to the siege proved to be very wise, as less than a month passed by before Saladin’s son al-Afdal returned to the Holy Land with 5,000 fresh Egyptian troops.
***
At Madaba, the Sultan’s heir caught the unwary army of Oultrejordain off-guard. Having completed the reconquest of his own fallen castles, Reynald de Chatillon’s forces had been heading north to reconnoiter with Tiberias, only to once again fall prey to the Saracens. The battle was a travesty. Reynald’s men were tired and ill-equipped after fighting in so many sieges, and al-Afdal’s troops were fresh. With no recourse, Reynald led his handful of knights in a desperate charge. For a moment, it seemed as though the Saracen troops would crumble under al-Afdal’s inept leadership, but their numbers were simply too many. The Saracen ranks swallowed up the Frankish charge and set about hacking the now-surrounded knights to bits.
The last of Reynald’s retainers rallied around their lord, while their foot soldiers desperately tried to break through to them. In the carnage that followed, Reynald’s stepson Humphrey de Toron was cut down and Reynald himself was captured. Once the banner of Chatillon fell to the earth, the remaining Christian survivors fled the field in despair. Meanwhile, the jubilant al-Afdal sent his illustrious prisoner to Egypt to be presented to the Sultan as a gift for Ramadan.
With one Christian army completely eliminated, al-Afdal moved north along the road Reynald’s knights had taken. Instead of receiving reinforcements from the south, Tiberias would find himself pinned between two larger enemy armies. That way, al-Afdal’s army could join forces with Emir Sayf ad-Din and avoid being caught by Richard while still under strength.
Richard blitzed northward in an attempt to catch up with the Saracen prince, but the distance was too great. Tiberias was likely to fall before help could reach him. Hearing word of the advancing Saracen forces, Raymond pulled his men back to his personal holdings at Tiberias. It looked like they were going to have to prepare for a long siege.
And then, at long last, the Teutons arrived.
The Third Crusade had begun.
Tens of thousands of heavily-armed warriors from the Holy Roman Empire poured into the ports of Jaffa and Acre, including the entirety of the Teutonic Order, fresh from fighting the pagans of Prussia and Lithuania. They were led by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa himself, who looked every inch the warrior-sovereign despite his advanced age. Red-bearded and broad-shouldered, he still stood half a head taller than most men half his age.
Barbarossa had contracted with the Doge of Genoa to use that city’s vast mercantile fleet to ferry the crusaders across the Mediterranean to the Holy Land. Once their ships were safely in port, the Genovese sailors then joined the crusaders’ army. Although they expected to receive a lump sum from the Emperor as their payment, the mercenary-minded Genovese were not above taking some Saracen plunder as commission for their efforts.
The Germans brought word that other contingents were on their way to join the crusade as well. The kings of Poland, Denmark and Scotland were each sending small bands of soldiers, and King Philip Augustus of France was personally en route with an army of his own. King Henry II of England, Richard’s father, had declined to go on the crusade, spouting some lame excuse about how his son’s union with Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem had somehow already fulfilled Henry’s old vow of going to the Holy Land. Even so, Richard’s legendary mother Eleanor of Aquitaine sent some troops from her own lands to come to her favorite son’s defense, but perhaps also for the purpose of shaming her aging, philandering husband.
Having now fully assembled on the shores of Outremer, the monstrous Teutonic host set out under Barbarossa’s command to join forces with the beleaguered Raymond at Tiberias. Hearing word that the Saracen host was less than a day away, the crusaders arrayed themselves between two rocky outcroppings at a place called Hattin...
***
The tired and thirsty Saracens were expecting to catch Tiberias’ tiny, weakened army all alone, an easy target to pick off before heading farther south. What they saw instead when they cleared the ridge was the massive imperial host of Frederick Barbarossa, their horns blaring in defiance, their freshly-polished armor gleaming in the burning sunlight. The black eagle on Barbarossa’s golden standard floating overhead seemed to cry out a message of doom upon the unwitting Saracens.
To make matters worse for the Saracens, the crusaders were blocking the way to the nearest water source, and if the exhausted Saracens did not get water soon, many would die from thirst or the oppressive heat. The impetuous al-Afdal was all for making the attempt, but Sayf ad-Din was no fool. He knew that if he tried to break through the crusaders head-on that his men really would be doomed. Instead, he decided to skirt around the enemy lines to push westward for the more distant springs at Tur’an.
Barbarossa did not move to stop the Saracens, though once they took the western road the Germans moved to block their way back. This was not particularly surprising to Sayf ad-Din; Barbarossa was simply moving his men in-between the Saracen army and the citadel at Tiberias. Once his troops had slaked their thirst, Sayf ad-Din could then push farther west before veering away to the north and safety.
At the sight of fresh water at Tur’an, the exhausted Saracens broke ranks and plunged into the local springs. While his men choked down mouthful after mouthful of life-giving water, Sayf ad-Din looked down the western road along the path his men would soon be taking. For a moment he thought his eyes deceived him, because he saw what looked like a large cloud of dust moving in his direction.
The Emir's confusion soon turned to a very nasty shock when a hot desert wind blew back the dust to reveal crimson livery, crimson shields, and a bright crimson banner furiously wafting in the breeze. He immediately began to scream at his officers to get their men back in their ranks.
Richard Cœur de Lion was coming for their blood.
The Saracen army started to hurry back the way they had come, only to realize that they were now caught between the impending fury of the Lionheart and the huge, immovable forces of Barbarossa which barred their path. The cowardly al-Afdal screamed in terror and immediately fled with a few of his retainers on horseback into the wilderness. Equally terrified but more honorable than his nephew, Sayf ad-Din held his ground.
The resulting battle resembled nothing so much as a tsunami crashing upon a rocky shore, as Richard’s veterans pinned the Emir’s army against the long, deep ranks of the Germans. The Saracens’ right flank was trapped between the black crosses of the Teutonic Knights on one side and the red crosses of the Templars on the other, and swiftly crumbled into pandemonium. Sayf ad-Din led the left flank himself, and pressed hard to break through the German lines. Pitting his best Ghulam cavalry against some of the more poorly-equipped levies of some of Barbarossa’s vassals, Sayf ad-Din was at last able to break through the Christian lines.
He had hoped that his successful charge would create a lasting opening through which his army could escape, but it did not work out according to his plan. What actually happened was that his horsemen, desperate to escape the imminent bloodbath, raced to gallop through Sayf ad-Din’s opening and even trampled some of their own infantry by so doing. Without enough cavalry support, the slower Saracen infantry struggled to follow Sayf ad-Din’s vanguard to safety while the enemy knights poured in around them, eventually cutting them off completely.
Sayf ad-Din was all for mounting another charge to rescue his gallant soldiers, but too many of his horsemen refused to go back. The Emir was forced to watch while half of his soldiers were either compelled to surrender or cut down where they stood.
The Saracen survivors raced south to escape while the greedy crusaders counted their plunder. Together, Richard and Barbarossa had captured almost a dozen Saracen sheikhs and other men of importance.
The victorious crusaders allowed the now-scattered Saracens their reprieve, taking a leisurely pace to the Holy City. They soon met up with the recently-disembarked French army of Philip Augustus, which was laughably small when compared with Barbarossa’s tremendous force. Neither King Richard nor Emperor Frederick was especially fond of the French king, who had an established reputation as a grouch and a complainer. King Philip’s bad attitude was topped off with ill health, as he suffered from recurring bouts of dystentery which he had picked up on the long sea voyage. Even his own retainers were repelled by his lingering odor.
Upon reaching Jerusalem, the three monarchs entered the city in triumph (although truth be told King Philip had yet to accomplish anything). Queen Sibylla, having long-since recovered from her fevers, received them all graciously and greeted her husband with an especially welcoming kiss. After engaging in the appropriate pleasantries with the Queen, the kings proceeded with their official victory procession along the Via Dolorosa.
Arriving at last at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Barbarossa entered in full military attire and laid the banners of a hundred fallen Saracen lords upon the altar. Richard was not as temperate in the presentation of his tribute, having actually brought sacks filled with decapitated enemy heads to present as his own offering to God. As diplomatically as he could, the Patriarch urged the King to leave his “gift” at the door, lest the pristine sanctuary be sullied with the blood of the heathen. Philip had no such tribute to offer, so he laid his own banner of the Oriflamme upon the altar and gave a very pompous and long-winded declaration of his devotion to Christ and the True Cross.
The triple-sized royal entourage then proceeded to the royal palace for a night of feasting and celebration.
Sibylla and Richard were awakened unpleasantly early the next morning, with their heads still swimming from the previous night’s oblations. An envoy had arrived from Saladin, who was encamped outside Beersheba with his army and sought a parley. Richard was immediately enraged that the Sultan’s forces had made an incursion so far into Jerusalem’s territory without his knowledge, but the ever-serene Sibylla soothed her husband’s temper and urged him to find out what Saladin wanted. Perhaps the Sultan was even coming to surrender, she said.
Leaving the wine-soaked King Philip behind to sleep off his hangover, King Richard and Kaiser Friedrich headed south for the unanticipated purpose of treating with their greatest enemy.
On that occasion, Richard and Saladin came face to face for what would prove to be their only meeting.
It was a moment for the history books.
***
You know, since I happen to be a German, you might say Jerusalem has been saved by a German since the very beginning of the story. 
