Outside the Holy Sepulchre (1360)
The crusader army that would spend the next few months investing Jerusalem displayed a curious lethargy that is notable from the records of the siege. The initial enthusiasm of the Christians was rapidly dampened after the first assaults on the imposing city walls inflicted heavy casualties. Following the failure to secure a swift and bloodless victory few attempts were made to breach the walls in the following weeks as the besiegers contented themselves with starving the city's defenders and inhabitants into submission. This may have been a general unwillingness among soldiers, of all ranks, to take risks while the final objective was so close.
With the exception of combating the odd relief attempt or garrison sortie, the activities of the crusaders generally consisted of foraging in the local countryside and maintaining an erratic bombardment of the city. It could hardly be described as an exciting scenario but then sieges of the like were the staple of warfare at the time.
At least the King could keep itself occupied as the city walls refused to buckle under the pressure of his armies. From the temporary royal court set up within the crusader camp Guy would dictate the affairs of his expanding kingdom. In addition to the management of his new lands, a taxing task in itself, the religious Orders were causing additional headaches.
The move by Pope Innocent VI to absolve the Knights Templar (or Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon) of the crimes for which they had been so brutally punished for since 1307 caught almost all of Christendom by surprise. The increasing success of crusaders in the Holy Land, even if no longer directly guided by Rome, had fuelled the militant wing of a Church seeking to re-establish its temporal authority. The original charges of heresy against the Templars had been politically motivated and so too were their annulment. The Papacy sought to send a clear signal of intent to King Charles V of France as the latter sought to involve himself in the Church's affairs in northern Italy. While this may have been a mere political gesture, albeit one of considerable impact, in Europe, it took on a decidedly more tangible form in the Levant as the newly reformed Order sought to reclaim its vast possessions in the Holy Land.
Knights Templar return to the Holy Land
While there was no doubt that legally the Templars had every right to demand the land currently possessed by the Cypriot Crown, the Levant legal system, such that it was, had traditionally rested on the right of possession. In this case Guy de Lusignan effectively controlled the lands and was in no position to be dispossessed… certainly not by a half dozen knights. Over the winter of 1359 negotiations between the parties continued and on 29 January 1360 a compromise settlement was reached in which the Knights Templar were granted the lands around Ascalon to do with as they wished. In return the de Lusignan family was to be recognised as rulers of Jerusalem and adopted as the patrons, if not overlords, of the Order. This concession meant little to the knights, who could once more fulfil their holy mission, but could only burnish Guy's claim as rightful king of Jerusalem.
There was more Order related trouble to the north where the "Nobles Crusade", an army of four thousand knights en route to Jerusalem, had paused to besiege the Hospitaller stronghold at Tortosa after hearing rumours that the new Grandmaster, the child Nadir of Tiberias, was actually an Arab Muslim. Given the fractious nature of Hospitaller politics at the time, the rumours were almost certainly a political ploy by one of Nadir's many political opponents within the Order. The excuse was eagerly seized upon by the foreign crusaders who were both keen to see combat in the Holy Land and perhaps hoping to capitalise on the Order's internal conflict to further their own individual ambitions in the region.
Grandmaster of the Order of St John
On 20 January Guy de Lusignan received the surprising news that Tortosa had been sacked and the Grandmaster killed by the noble army three days previously. His response was immediate, decisive and, as usual, self-serving. A royal delegation was dispatched northwards to shepherd the noble army to Jerusalem while simultaneously placing the lands of Tortosa under "temporary" royal command. The latter could be explained by the need for stability while a judgement could be reached on who would lead the Order. In the meantime revenue from the province would be diverted towards the Jerusalem effort.
Finally the wait outside Jerusalem ended as the walls came tumbling down. The starving and demoralised defenders were unable to repulse a major assault in the last days of February and were forced to retreat to the inner citadel. As both the flames and Frankish soldiers fanned out throughout the city, Bilal of Jerusalem, no doubt realising that no relief from the east was forthcoming, surrendered himself and the city to the conquering army. In exchange the Emir and his soldiers would be allowed to leave the city unharmed. No provision was made for the city's majority Muslim population. On 28 February 1360 Guy de Lusignan formally took possession of the city of Jerusalem, finally restoring the city to Christian hands for the first time since 1244.
Guy de Lusignan (R) accepts the surrender of Bilal of Jerusalem (L)
