No More Learning

The Muslim archers sent up clouds of arrows like thick swarms of locusts, killing many of the Frankish horses. The Franks, surrounding themselves with their infantry, tried to fight their way toward Tiberias in the hope of reaching water, but Saladin realized their objective and forestalled them by planting himself and his army in the way. He himself rode up and down the Muslim lines encouraging and restraining his troops where necessary. The whole army obeyed his commands and respected his prohibitions. One of his young mamlu? ks led a terrifying charge on the Franks and performed prodigious feats of valour until he was overwhelmed by numbers and killed, when all the Muslims charged the enemy lines and almost broke through, slaying many Franks in the process. The Count saw that the situation was desperate and realized that he could not withstand the Muslim army, so by agreement with his companions he charged the lines before him. The commander of that section of the Muslim army was Taqi ad-Din 'Umar, Saladin's nephew. When he saw that the Franks charging his lines were desperate and that they were going to try to break through, he sent orders for a passage to be made for them through the ranks.
One of the volunteers had set fire to the dry grass that covered the ground; it took fire and the wind carried the heat and smoke down on to the enemy. They had to endure thirst, the summer's heat, the blazing fire and smoke and the fury of battle. When the Count fled the Franks lost heart and were on the verge of surrender, but seeing that the only way to
74 Arab Historians of the Crusades
save their lives was to defy death they made a series of charges that almost dislodged the Muslims from their position in spite of their numbers, had not the grace of God been with them. As each wave of attackers fell back they left their dead behind them; their numbers diminished rapidly, while the Muslims were all around them like a circle about its diameter. The surviving Franks made for a hill near Hitti? n, where they hoped to pitch their tents and defend themselves. They were vigorously attacked from all sides and prevented from pitching more than one tent, that of the King. The Muslims captured their great cross, called the 'True Cross', in which they say is a piece of the wood upon which, according to them, the Messiah was crucified. 1 This was one of the heaviest blows that could be inflicted on them and made their death and destruction certain. Large numbers of their cavalry and infantry were killed or captured. The King stayed on the hillside with five hundred of the most gallant and famous knights.
I was told that al-Malik al-Afdal, Saladin's son, said: 'I was at my father Saladin's side during that battle, the first that I saw with my own eyes. The Frankish King had retreated to the hill with his band, and from there he led a furious charge against the Muslims facing him, forcing them. back upon my father. I saw that he was alarmed and distraught, and he tugged at his beard as he went forward crying: "Away with. the Devil's lie! " The Muslims turned to counter-attack and drove the Franks back up the hill. When I saw the Franks retreating before the Muslim onslaught I cried out for joy: "We have conquered them! " But they returned to the charge with undiminished ardour and drove our army back toward my father. His response was the same as before, and the Muslims counter-attacked and drove the Franks back to the hill. Again I cried: "We have beaten them! " but my father turned to me and said: "Be quiet; we shall not have beaten them until that tent falls! " As he spoke the tent fell, and the Sultan dismounted and prostrated himself in thanks to God, weeping for joy. ' This was how the tent fell: the Franks had been suffering terribly from thirst during that charge, which they hoped would win them a way out of their distress, but the way of escape was blocked. They dismounted and sat down on the ground and the Muslims fell upon them, pulled down the King's tent and captured every one of them, including the King,1 his brother, and Prince Arna? t of Karak, Isla? m's most hated enemy. They also took the ruler of Juba? il, the son of Humphrey (of Toron), the Grand Master of the Templars, one of the Franks' greatest dignitaries,2 and a band of Templars and Hospitallers. The number of dead and captured was so large that those who saw the slain could not believe that anyone could have been taken alive, and those who saw the prisoners could not believe that any had been killed. From the time of their first assault on Palestine in 491/1098 until now the Franks had never suffered such a defeat.
When all the prisoners had been taken Saladin went to his tent and sent for the King of the Franks and Prince Arna? t of Karak. He had the King seated beside him and as he was half-dead with thirst gave him iced water to drink. The King drank, and handed the rest to the Prince, who also drank. Saladin said: 'This godless man did not have my permission to drink, and will not save his life that way. ' He turned on the Prince, casting his crimes in
According to the Qur'a? n, which preaches the Docetic doctrine, it was not the true person of Christ, but only a simulacrum, that was crucified.
Guy of Lusignan.
The Grand Master, Gerard of Ridfort.
1
1 2
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 75
his teeth and enumerating his sins. Then he rose and with his own hand cut off the man's head. 'Twice,' he said, 'I have sworn to kill that man when I had him in my power: once when he tried to attack Mecca and Medina, and again when he broke the truce to capture the caravan. ' When he was dead and had been dragged out of the tent the King began to tremble, but Saladin calmed and reassured him. As for the ruler of Tripoli, when he escaped from the battle, as we have described, he went to Tyre and from there made his way to Tripoli. He was there only a few days before he died of rage and fury at the disaster that had befallen the Franks in particular, and all Christendom in general.
When Saladin had brought about the downfall of the Franks he stayed at the site of the battle for the rest of the day, and on the Sunday returned to the siege of Tiberias. The Countess sent to request safe-conducts for herself and her children, companions and possessions, and he granted her this. She left the citadel with all her train, and Saladin kept his word to her and let her escape unmolested. At the Sultan's command the King and a few of the most distinguished prisoners were sent to Damascus, while the Templars and Hospitallers were rounded up to be killed. The Sultan realized that those who had taken them prisoner were not going to hand them over, for they hoped to obtain ransoms for them, and so he offered fifty Egyptian dinar for each prisoner in these two categories. Immediately he got two hundred prisoners, who were decapitated at his command. He had these particular men killed because they were the fiercest of all the Frankish warriors, and in this way he rid the Muslim people of them. He sent orders to his commander in Damascus to kill all those found in his territory, whoever they belonged to, and this was done.
A year later I crossed the battlefield, and saw the land all covered with their bones, which could be seen even from a distance, lying in heaps or scattered around. These were what was left after all the rest had been carried away by storms or by the wild beasts of these hills and valleys.
THE SULTAN SALADIN AND HIS ARMY ENTER FRANKISH TERRITORY ('IMA? D AD-DIN, 18-29)
In the morning the Sultan began to review the army in the field, like a cloud heavy with rain, a tempestuous sea of dust, a swelling ocean of whinnying chargers, of swords and cuirasses. He marshalled his gallant knights and his battalions who swept like a cloud over the face of the earth, making the dust fly up from earth to the Pleiades and sending the crows, to escape the dust, flying as far as Vega. The plain broke the seal of dust, lethal messages of impending disasters were fixed on the messenger-pigeons of death; the ribs of the bows longed to enclose their embryos the arrows, the curved arrow was careful to keep to its place on the right, the shot arrow was united to the bow-string; the bows were faithful to their oaths of vengeance and every battalion rose up in search of retribution. On the day of the review the Sultan came forward to set the army in order, to divide it into sections and to draw up its ranks far and near. To every ami? r he assigned a duty, to every knight a post, to every lucky champion a station, to every ambush a place, to every combatant an opponent, to every burning spark someone to extinguish it, to every company (of Franks) someone to destroy it, to every flintstone someone to strike it, to every blade someone to
76 Arab Historians of the Crusades
whet it, to each action a command, to each arrow a point, to each right hand a sword, to each sword a hilt, to every courser an arena, to every outrider a defence, to every archer a target, to every leader a follower, to everything rising a place to which to rise, to every name an object. To each ami? r he assigned a place on the left or the right from which he was not to move, whence his body was not to absent itself, nor was any one of them to depart. He brought forward the front line of gallant archers of each battalion, advising each section of what would bring it into contact with another section. He said: 'When we enter the enemy's terrain this is our army's battle order, our method of advancing and retreating, the position of our battalions, the place where our knights rise up, where our lances are to fall, the paths by which to direct our horses, the arenas for our coursers, the gardens for our roses, the site of our vicissitudes, the outlets of our desires, the scene on which we shall be transfigured. ' He reinforced men's hopes with the amounts of his largesse and realized, by fulfilling his promises and crowning his intentions, the desires of his men. When the ranks were drawn up and the arms distributed he made gifts of war-horses and scattered largesse, devoted himself to making donations and giving coveted prizes, scattered stores of gifts and emptied quivers of arrows, spent hidden reserves, using the choicest and best parts, and distributed bundles of arrows, of which the soldiers received more than a quiverful. He made chargers gallop and brought forth an ample harvest of troops. He spurred on brave coursers and called on the witnesses to bear witness, he drew up in succession his squadrons' virtues and won over to his side the sympathies of the swords; he strengthened the cutting blades, gave drink to the terrible lances, and returned to his tents happy and content, received with welcome and gratitude, generous and appreciated after having deployed and organized his men, arrayed them in squadrons and platoons, confirmed and well-established, with pious works, well-founded hopes, perfume poured out, glowing face, fragrant odour, radiant aspect, certain of victory and in firm possession of certainty; saying 'amen' to the auguries that demanded it, drawing auspicious omens from the white markings of his headstrong coursers, clearly drawing up his terms for recovering the debt owed to the Faith. He delighted in the beauty of the war-horses and in the voices wishing him well, and his spirit rejoiced at the prospect of the march; he tightened the belts of firmness and confirmed a definite decision; he ordered his men to mount for the journey and harnessed the Arab steeds to cross the desert. He left on Friday 17 rabi? ' II/27 June 1187, accompanied by victory, aided by unfailing supplies, supported by power, buttressed by good fortune, augmented by luck, with success in attendance, conversant with glory, the companion of victory, with the thanks of Isla? m and the support of God Almighty. He advanced with his ranks of embattled squadrons drawn up as we have said, each platoon flanked by others, ordered ranks, well-arranged formations, long-bodied horses on leading- reins, lethal arrows in quivers, drawn swords in hand, old wolves, cleaving blades, runners in sandals, rending lions; the tents of Khisf in wept, there where God was bringing near the eclipse and downfall of the enemy, the darkening and disappearance of unbelief. Thus he passed the night surrounded by radiant faces and eyes watchful on God's path, the hands unsheathing the mighty swords, the tongues giving thanks for God's goodness, the hearts flowering with devotion, the souls conversing in heavenly love, the feet guided by the destiny they were to fulfil. In the morning he marched forward and descended to the Jordan, determined to attack and sure of his defence; the vast sea of his army surrounded the lake of Tiberias, while the spread of his tents made that plain seem narrow. The earth
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 77
adorned itself in its new clothes, heaven opened so that the angels could descend from its gates; the ship-like tents rode at anchor in this expanse and the battalions flooded in wave upon wave. A second sky of dust spread out, in which swords and iron-tipped lances rose like stars. Uqhuwana was changed into burgeoning flowerbeds and flowering orchards by bay chargers and knights like proud lions, by crescent swords like arches of myrtle, by Yemeni blades like garden trees, by yellow banners like unfurled pennons of jasmin, by standards red as anemones and coats of mail glittering like pools, by swords polished white as streams of water, by feathered arrows blue as birds and curved as branches, by helmets gleaming like sweet-smelling many-petalled camomile flowers, by helmets like bubbles on a sea of breastplates, by neighing horses like eagles, roused to delight at the sight and sound of war.
The Franks meanwhile had ranged their standards at Saffuriyya and unfurled their banners. Their javelins were like bridges over the billows of their slim curvetting chargers, and their swords kindled in the shadowy clouds of dust. They were deployed in circles around their centres, to protect them with their bows and swords. They had mustered their hordes, drawn up their army, with spirits strengthened, cavalry and infantry, lancers and archers side by side, the pennons on their lances unfurled to the wind, the champions of error assembled, the 'True Cross' elevated, with the adorers of the false God gathered around it, the delirious madmen of human and divine nature. They had recruited the army in the lands of the Hypostatics,1 and raised the Sublime Cross on high in adoration; no one with a stick to call his own was exempt from the summons, and they set out in numbers defying account or reckoning, numerous as pebbles, 50,000 or even more, they and their scheming plots. They assembled at Sa'i? d, where they gathered from far and near. There they remained, unwilling to move or depart, and every morning the Sultan Saladin marched to within sight of them and opened fire on them from a commanding position and harassed them openly to make them confront him in an attempt to remove his sword from their necks and his floods from their throats. But they had supplies of water and would not move, but sat where they were, for if they had ventured out, death would have come out of its lair to slaughter them. And they would have met someone who would strike them down and hand them over to death. They were terrified by the situation in which they found themselves, and fled shamefully from what should have made them glow with ardour. Then the Sultan decided to bathe in the waters of Lake Tiberias and from there to dominate the region with lance and sword, to take possession of the land and make himself its master. So he brought the lance-handles to the Jordan and made the dust rise over the lake from the hooves of the chargers, with which he found it easy without any difficulty to take the lovely Arab women by surprise. He gave orders to his troops, the ami? rs and leaders of his army, to station themselves in front of the Franks and to bring them crisis in place of calm. If they came out to fight the Muslims would fall on them with just vengeance; if they moved anywhere the Muslims would spring on them like lions on hares; if they tried to reach Tiberias to defend it and seek help there they would betray the fact at once and the Muslims would immediately set out to attack them.
1I. e. Christians; those who venerate the three Hypostates or divine persons.
78 Arab Historians of the Crusades
THE FALL OF TIBERIAS
Saladin surrounded Tiberias with his personal guard and his most faithful troops. He advanced the infantry and sappers, the Khurasani and the artillery, surrounded the walls and began to demolish the houses, giving battle fiercely and not sparing the city in the attack. This was Thursday, and he was at the head of his troops. The sappers began to mine one of the towers. They demolished it, knocked it down, leapt on to it and took possession of it. Night fell, and while the dawn of victory was breaking for them, the night of woe was darkening for the enemy. The citadel put up resistance and the Countess shut herself up there with her sons. When the Count heard that Tiberias had fallen and his Princedom been taken he was seized with consternation and lost all his strength of purpose, putting himself completely in the hands of the Franks. 'From today onwards,' he said, 'not to act is no longer possible. We must at all costs drive the enemy back. Now that Tiberias is taken and the whole Princedom with all my possessions, acquired or inherited, is lost, I cannot resign myself or recover from this reverse. '1 The King was his ally and offered no opposition, but consented to this without hypocrisy, with sincere and unmixed affection, in a friendly manner completely lacking in coldness. He gave him precise promises without having to be asked twice, and set out on the march with his army, his sight and his hearing, his dragons and demons, beasts and wolves, the followers of his error and the faction of his evil deeds. The earth trembled beneath their feet, the heavens were clouded with the dust thrown up by them. News came that the Franks had mounted and were on the move with the ranks of their steadfast faith, who leapt into the attack, drawn up for battle and flooding over the ground, creeping forward on the defensive, kindling the fire of war, responding to the cry of vengeance, running to reach their dwellings. This was Friday 24 rabi? ' II. As soon as the news was verified the Sultan confirmed that his decision, based on his earlier judgment, was accurate, and rejoiced to hear that they were on the march; 'If our objective is gained,' he said, 'our request will have been heard in full and our ambition will have been achieved. Thanks be to God, our good fortune will now be renewed, our swords sharp, our courage valiant, our victory swift. If they are really defeated, killed and captured, Tiberias and all Palestine will have no one left to defend them or to impede our conquest. '
Thus he sought God's best (fortune) and set off, casting all delay aside. On Friday 24 rabi? ' II the Franks were on the march toward Tiberias with all their forces, moving as fast as if they were always going downhill. Their hordes rolled on, their lions roared, their vultures flew above them, their cries rose up, the horizon was hidden by the clouds of them, their heads sought eagerly for those who were to strike them off. They looked like mountains on the march, like seas boiling over, wave upon wave, with their crowding ranks, their seething approach-roads and mutilated barbarian warriors. The air stank, the light was dimmed, the desert was stunned, the plain dissolved, destiny hung over them, the Pleiades sent dust down upon them, the chargers' saddle-cloths brushed the ground and swept it, their hurrying hooves scored the earth. The knights clad in mail went with raised visors amid the swords, the hardened warriors and heroes of battle were loaded down with
In this account the Count expresses quite different loyalties from those described by Ibn al-Athi? r
1
on the eve of the battle.
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 79
the apparel of war, and their number was complete. Ahead of them the Sultan had drawn up his battalions and strengthened all his resolve for the fight. He set his army to face them and kept a watch on their vanguard in case they should charge; he cut off their access to water and filled in the wells, which caused them great hardship. He prevented their getting down to the water and set himself between them and their objective, keeping them at a distance. This was on a burningly hot day, while they themselves were burning with wrath. The Dog Star was blazing with merciless heat that consumed their water supplies and offered no support against thirst.
Night separated the two sides and the cavalry barred both the roads. Isla? m passed the night face to face with unbelief, monotheism at war with Trinitarianism, the way of righteousness looking down upon error, faith opposing polytheism. Meanwhile the several circles of Hell prepared themselves and the several ranks of Heaven congratulated themselves; Malik (the Guardian of Hell) waited and Ridwa? n (the Guardian of Paradise) rejoiced. Finally, when day dawned and the morning gleamed out, when dawn sent waves of light across the sky and the clangour of the trumpets startled the crow from the dust, when the swords awoke in their sheaths and the lances flamed with eagerness, when the bows stirred and the fire glowed, when blades were unsheathed and prevarication ripped away, then the archers began to scorch with their burning shafts men destined for Hell fire; the bows hummed and the bowstrings sang, the warriors' pliant lances danced, unveiling the brides of battle, the white blades appeared naked out of the sheath amid the throng, and the brown lances were pastured on entrails. The Franks hoped for a respite and their army in desperation sought for a way of escape. But at every way out they were barred, and tormented by the heat of war without being able to rest. Tortured by the thirst they charged, with no other water than the 'water' of the blades they gripped. The fire of arrows burned and wounded them, the fierce grip of the bows seized tenaciously upon them and struck them dead. They were impotent, driven off, pushed to extremes and driven back, every charge thrown off and destroyed, every action or attack captured and put in chains. Not even an ant could have escaped, and they could not defend themselves by charging. They burned and glowed in a frenzied ferment. As the arrows struck them down those who had seemed like lions now seemed like hedgehogs. The arrows beat them down and opened great gaps in their ranks. They sought refuge on the hill of Hitti? n to protect them from the flood of defeat, and Hitti? n was surrounded by the flags of destruction. The sword-blades sucked away their lives and scattered them on the hillsides; the bows found their targets, the wild fates stripped them, disasters crushed them, destruction picked them out, they became death's target and fate's prey. When the Count realized that they were defeated his anguish was clear to see. He gave up all effort and planned a way of escape. This was even before the main body of the army was roused and the embers were fanned, before the war was set alight and the flame burned. His band went off to find a way of escape and took the road across the wadi, refusing to stop. He went off like a flash of lightning in his folly, before the leak became too big; he fled with a few followers and did not return to the attack. Thus he absented himself from the fight, seized by an unconquerable terror that forced him to flee. The fighting grew more violent as lance crossed lance and sword struck sword. The Franks were surrounded whichever way they turned and completely encircled. They began to pitch their tents and to rally their troops, setting up their pavilions on Hitti? n, while the gallant archers hammered away at their swords. But they were prevented from planting
80 Arab Historians of the Crusades
and raising their tents, and plucked from the roots and branches of life. They hoped to improve their position by dismounting from their horses, and they fought tenaciously, but the swords went through them as a torrent flows and our army surrounded them as Hellfire surrounds the damned. Finally they resorted to saddling the ground, and their girth clasped the nipples of the plain. 1
The devil and his crew were taken, the King and his counts were captured, and the Sultan sat to review his chief prisoners, who came forward stumbling in their fetters like drunken men. The Grand Master of the Templars was brought in in his sins, and many of the Templars and Hospitallers with him. The King Guy and his brother Geoffrey were escorted in, with Hugh of Juba? il, Humphrey, and Prince Arna? t of al-Karak, who was the first to fall into the net. The Sultan had vowed to have his blood and had said: 'When I find him I shall kill him immediately. ' When the Prince was brought before him he made him sit beside the King, and reproached him for his treachery and paraded his wickedness before him. 'How often have you made a vow and broken your oath; how many obligations have you failed to honour, how many treaties made and unmade, and agreements reached and repudiated! ' The interpreter passed on this reply from him: 'This is how kings have always behaved; I have only followed the path of custom. ' Meanwhile the King was dying from thirst and was shaking with fear like a drunkard. But Saladin addressed him affably, calmed the wave of terror that had swept over him, assuaged his fear and reassured him in his heart; he sent for iced water for him, to soothe his burning throat and quench his tormenting thirst. Then the King passed the goblet to the Prince for him too to quench his thirst, and he took it in his hand and drank. The Sultan said to the King: 'You did not have my permission to give him drink, and so that drink does not imply his safety at my hand. ' Then he mounted his horse and left him to roast himself at the fire of his fear; he stayed out riding until his tent had been pitched, his standards and banners planted and his troops had returned from the battle to their base. Then he entered the pavilion, summoned the Prince, raised his sword and struck him on the shoulder, and as he fell ordered that his head should be struck off. He was dragged out by the feet. This was done in the King's presence and filled him with despair and terror. The Sultan realized that the King was consumed with fear and assaulted by terror and consternation, and so he called him to his side, made him come up close and reassured and calmed him. He put him at his ease as he stood at his side and calmed him by saying: 'This man's evil deeds have been his downfall, and as you saw his perfidy has been his destruction. He died for his sins and wickedness; the spark he struck from life is extinguished and the source of his being has dried up. '
This defeat of the enemy, this our victory occurred on a Saturday, and the humiliation proper to the men of Saturday was inflicted on the men of Sunday, who had been lions and now were reduced to the level of miserable sheep. 1 Of these thousands only a few individuals escaped, and of all those enemies only a few were saved. The plain was covered with prisoners and corpses, disclosed by the dust as it settled and victory became clear. The prisoners, with beating hearts, were bound in chains. The dead were scattered over the
Ibn al-Athi?
r puts the meaning of this elegant metaphor in simpler words; they had dismounted, now 'they sat on the ground'.
I. e. the Christians were humiliated like despised Jews.
1
1
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 81
mountains and valleys, lying immobile on their sides. Hitti? n shrugged off their carcasses, and the perfume of victory was thick with the stench of them. I passed by them and saw the limbs of the fallen cast naked on the field of battle, scattered in pieces over the site of the encounter, lacerated and disjointed, with heads cracked open, throats split, spines broken, necks shattered, feet in pieces, noses mutilated, extremities torn off, members dismembered, parts shredded, eyes gouged out, stomachs disembowelled, hair coloured with blood, the praecordium slashed, fingers sliced off, the thorax shattered, the ribs broken, the joints dislocated, the chests smashed, throats slit, bodies cut in half, arms pulverized, lips shrivelled, foreheads pierced, forelocks dyed scarlet, breasts covered with blood, ribs pierced, elbows disjointed, bones broken, tunics torn off, faces lifeless, wounds gaping, skin flayed, fragments chopped off, hair lopped, backs skinless, bodies dismembered, teeth knocked out, blood spilt, life's last breath exhaled, necks lolling, joints slackened, pupils liquefied, heads hanging, livers crushed, ribs staved in, heads shattered, breasts flayed, spirits flown, their very ghosts crushed; like stones among stones, a lesson to the wise. 1
This field of battle had become a sea of blood; the dust was stained red, rivers of blood ran freely, and the face of the true Faith was revealed free from those shadowy abominations. O sweet rivers of victory over such evil! O burning, punishing blows on those carcasses! O sweet heart's comforter against that confusion! O welcome prayers at the joyful news of such an event! Such is the number of the slain that the tongues of all the peoples would not be capable of counting and enumerating them; as for the prisoners, all our tents could not produce enough tent-cords to bind and fetter them, and I saw thirty or forty on a single rope, led by a single rider, and in one place a hundred or two hundred captives guarded by a single man. Here rebels became prisoners, enemies were denuded, sovereigns made subject, great men humiliated, Counts reduced to game, horsemen hunted down, honoured men reviled, the faces of the infernal Templars ground in the dust, skulls trampled underfoot, the bodies they were blessed with hewn to pieces and scattered. How many proud men were taken, how many leaders bound and led, how many polytheists were grinding their teeth, how many infidels filled with gloomy thoughts, how many Trinitarians cut in half, how many impious enquirers after God had their arms bound; how many wounders were wounded, and injurers injured, and kings enslaved, and profaners profaned, and destroyers destroyed, and plunderers plundered, and noble lords in fetters, and violent men in chains, and freemen in servitude, and followers of error in the hands of the followers of truth!
THE CAPTURE OF THE GREAT CROSS ON THE DAY OF BATTLE
At the same time as the King was taken the 'True Cross' was also captured, and the idolaters who were trying to defend it were routed. It was this cross, brought into position and raised on high, to which all Christians prostrated themselves and bowed their heads. Indeed, they maintain that it is made of the wood of the cross on which, they say, he whom they adore was hung, and so they venerate it and prostrate themselves before it. They had housed it in a casing of gold, adorned with pearls and gems, and kept it ready for the festival of
Our author must surely have considered this macabre tirade one of the most successful examples
1
of his literary style.
82 Arab Historians of the Crusades
the Passion, for the observance of their yearly ceremony. When the priests exposed it to view and the heads (of the bearers) bore it along all would run and cast themselves down around it, and no one was allowed to lag behind or hang back without forfeiting his liberty. Its capture was for them more important than the loss of the King and was the gravest blow that they sustained in that battle. The cross was a prize without equal, for it was the supreme object of their faith. To venerate it was their prescribed duty, for it was their God, before whom they would bow their foreheads to the ground, and to which their mouths sang hymns. They fainted at its appearance, they raised their eyes to contemplate it, they were consumed with passion when it was exhibited and boasted of nothing else when they had seen it. They went into ecstasies at its reappearance, they offered up their lives for it and sought comfort from it, so much so that they had copies made of it which they worshipped, before which they prostrated themselves in their houses and on which they called when they gave evidence. So when the Great Cross was taken great was the calamity that befell them, and the strength drained from their loins. Great was the number of the defeated, exalted the feelings of the victorious army. It seemed as if, once they knew of the capture of the Cross, none of them would survive that day of ill-omen. They perished in death or imprisonment, and were overcome by force and violence. The Sultan encamped on the plain of Tiberias like a lion in the desert or the moon in its full splendour.
THE CONQUEST OF THE CITADEL OF TIBERIAS
He sent men to the citadel to receive its surrender with a promise of safe-conduct, and established the Faith there in place of the falsehood that had dwelt there before. The Lady, the Countess of Tiberias, had defended it and carried there all her property and possessions. He granted her a safe-conduct for the journey for her companions and property, and she left with her women and men and luggage, taking everything to Tripoli, the city that belonged to the Count her husband. So once again Tiberias was inhabited in safety by the people of the Faith, and Sarim ad-Din Qaima? z an-Najmi, one of their greatest dignitaries, was appointed its governor. Meanwhile Saladin encamped outside Tiberias, after having cured all mankind of its ills, and his army covered the whole plain.
SALADIN'S TREATMENT OF THE TEMPLARS AND HOSPITALLERS, BEHEADING THEM AND CAUSING GENERAL REJOICING AT THEIR EXTERMINATION1
On the morning of Monday 17 rabi? ' II, two days after the victory, the Sultan sought out the Templars and Hospitallers who had been captured and said: 'I shall purify the land of these two impure races. ' He assigned fifty dinar to every man who had taken one of them prisoner, and immediately the army brought forward at least a hundred of them. He
This episode, described by our eye-witness with his usual stylistic embellishments, is a blot on Saladin's renowned magnanimity; the reason for the slaughter was the hatred aroused in the Muslim camp by the two warrior orders by conduct in war certainly no more humane and 'Christian' than that of their enemies.
1
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 83
ordered that they should be beheaded, choosing to have them dead rather than in prison. With him was a whole band of scholars and sufis and a certain number of devout men and ascetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them, and drew his sword and rolled back his sleeve. Saladin, his face joyful, was sitting on his dais; the unbelievers showed black despair, the troops were drawn up in their ranks, the ami? rs stood in double file. There were some who slashed and cut cleanly, and were thanked for it; some who refused and failed to act, and were excused; some who made fools of themselves, and others took their places. I saw there the man who laughed scornfully and slaughtered, who spoke and acted; how many promises he fulfilled, how much praise he won, the eternal rewards he secured with the blood he had shed, the pious works added to his account with a neck severed by him! How many blades did he stain with blood for a victory he longed for, how many lances did he brandish against the lion he captured, how many ills did he cure by the ills he brought upon a Templar, how much strength did he give to the leaders whom he supported, how many banners did he unfurl against disasters that retreated! I saw how he killed unbelief to give life to Isla? m, and destroyed polytheism to build monotheism, and drove decisions through to their conclusion to satisfy the community of the faithful, and cut down enemies in the defence of friends!
The Sultan sent the Frankish King to Damascus with his brother, and Humphrey, and the ruler of juba? il, and the Grand Master of the Temple and all the great barons who had been captured, to be imprisoned there and immobilized after all their activity; the army dispersed with its prisoners, and the embers of the assembled unbelievers faded and were extinguished.
Jerusalem Reconquered
(IBN AL-ATHI? R, XI, 361-6)
When Saladin had completed his conquest of Ascalon and the surrounding regions he sent for the Egyptian fleet and a large detachment of troops under Husa? m ad-Din Lu'lu' al-Hajib, a man well known for his courage, energy and initiative. This force set out by sea, intercepting Frankish communications; every Frankish vessel they sighted they attacked, and captured every galley. When they arrived and Saladin could rely on their support, he marched from Ascalon to Jerusalem. The venerable Patriarch,1 who carried greater authority than the King himself, was there and so was Balia? n ibn Barza? n, ruler of ar-Ramla,2 who was almost equal in rank to the King. The knights who had survived Hitti? n had also concentrated there. The inhabitants of that region, Ascalon and elsewhere had also gathered in Jerusalem, so there was a great concourse of people there, each one of whom would choose death rather than see the Muslims in power in their city; the sacrifice of life, possessions and sons was for them a part of their duty to defend the city. During that interval they fortified it by every means to hand, and then all mounted the walls, resolved to defend them with all their might, and showed determination to fight to the limit of
1 Heraclius.
2 Balia? n of Ibelin.
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their ability in the defence of Jerusalem. They mounted catapults to ward off attempts to approach the city and besiege it.
During Saladin's advance one of the ami? rs went ahead with his band of men without taking any precautions to defend himself; a troop of Franks who had left Jerusalem on reconnaissance came face to face with him and in a battle killed him and some of his men, which caused great grief and sorrow to the Muslims. Half-way through rajab/September 1187 they besieged Jerusalem. As they approached they saw on the walls a terrifying crowd of men and heard an uproar of voices coming from the inhabitants behind the walls that led them to infer the number of people who must be assembled there. For five days the Sultan rode round the city to decide on the best point for the attack, for the city was more strongly defended than ever before. The only point at which to attack was on the north side, near the Bab 'Amuda and the Church of Zion. So on 20 rajab Saladin moved his army to the north side, and on the same evening began to mount his siege-engines. Next morning they were all ready and began their battery of the walls, from which the Franks replied with other machines that they had constructed there. Then began the fiercest struggle imaginable; each side looked on the fight as an absolute religious obligation. There was no need for a superior authority to drive them on: they restrained the enemy without restraint, and drove them off without being driven back. Every morning the Frankish cavalry made sorties to fight and provoke the enemy to battle; several of both sides fell in these encounters. Among the Muslim martyrs was the ami? r 'Izz ad-Din Isa ibn Malik, one of the leading ami? rs and the son of the ruler of Ja'bar. Every day he had led the attack himself, and at his death passed to God's great mercy; a man dear to Muslims both great and small, whose death brought grief and sorrow to many. They charged like one man, dislodged the Franks from their positions and drove them back into the city. When the Muslims reached the moat they crossed it, came up under the walls and began to breach them, protected by their archers and by continuous artillery fire which kept the walls clear of Franks and enabled the Muslims to make a breach and fill it with the usual materials. 1
When the Franks saw how violently the Muslims were attacking, how continuous and effective was the fire from the ballistas and how busily the sappers were breaching the walls, meeting no resistance, they grew desperate, and their leaders assembled to take counsel. They decided to ask for safe-conduct out of the city and to hand Jerusalem over to Saladin. They sent a deputation of their lords and nobles to ask for terms, but when they spoke of it to Saladin he refused to grant their request. 'We shall deal with you,' he said, 'just as you dealt with the population of Jerusalem when you took it in 492/1099, with mur- der and enslavement and other such savageries! ' The messengers returned empty-handed. Then Balia? n ibn Barza? n asked for safe-conduct for himself so that he might appear before Saladin to discuss developments. Consent was given, and he presented himself and once again began asking for a general amnesty in return for surrender. The Sultan still refused his requests and entreaties to show mercy. Finally, despairing of this approach, Balia? n said: 'Know, O Sultan, that there are very many of us in this city, God alone knows how many. At the moment we are fighting half-heartedly in the hope of saving our lives, hoping to be spared by you as you have spared others; this is because of our horror of death and our love
Once they had cleared a tunnel they would fill it with combustible materials and set fire to it to
1
bring down the wall above.
Part Two: Saladin and the Third Crusade 85
of life. But if we see that death is inevitable, then by God we shall kill our children and our wives, burn our possessions, so as not to leave you with a dinar or a drachma or a single man or woman to enslave. When this is done, we shall pull down the Sanctuary of the Rock and the Masjid al-Aqsa and the other sacred places, slaughtering the Muslim prisoners we hold--5,000 of them--and killing every horse and animal we possess. Then we shall come out to fight you like men fighting for their lives, when each man, before he falls dead, kills his equals; we shall die with honour, or win a noble victory! ' Then Saladin took counsel with his advisers, all of whom were in favour of his granting the assurances requested by the Franks, without forcing them to take extreme measures whose outcome could not be foreseen. 'Let us consider them as being already our prisoners,' they said, 'and allow them to ransom themselves on terms agreed between us. ' The Sultan agreed to give the Franks assurances of safety on the understanding that each man, rich and poor alike, should pay ten dinar, children of both sexes two dinar and women five dinar. All who paid this sum within forty days should go free, and those who had not paid at the end of the time should be enslaved. Balia? n ibn Barza? n offered 30,000 dinar as ransom for the poor, which was accepted, and the city surrendered on Friday 27 rajab/2 October 1187, a memorable day on which the Muslim flags were hoisted over the walls of Jerusalem. At every gate Saladin set ami? rs in charge of taxation to claim the appropriate ransom from the inhabitants. But they cheated in carrying out their duties, and divided among themselves money that would oth- erwise have filled the State treasury to the benefit of all. There were in fact exactly 70,000 cavalry and infantry in Jerusalem, not counting the women and children with them; not a surprising number when you consider that there were people there from Daru? m, Ramla, Gaza and elsewhere, so many of them that they filled the streets and churches and walking was impossible. An indication of the numbers is the fact that most of them paid the ran- som, and Balia? n ibn Barza? n freed 18,000, for whom he paid the 30,000, and yet apart from all these the number of those who could not pay and were taken prisoner came to exactly 16,000 persons, men, women and children.
A certain number of ami? rs maintained that some subjects from their feudal estates were living in Jerusalem, and they freed them on payment of the tax to themselves. Others dressed Franks in the clothes of Muslim soldiers, got them out of the city, and ransomed them for a sum that they themselves decided. Others asked Saladin for the gift of a certain number of Franks, and when he granted them this made the men pay the tax to themselves. In fact only a small sum actually found its way into the treasury.
There was in Jerusalem a woman, married to a Byzantine king, who became a nun1 and settled there with a great train of domestics, slaves and handmaids and a quantity of gold and precious stones. She asked for safe-conduct for herself and her dependants, and the Sultan granted it and let her go. In the same way he set at liberty the Queen of Jerusalem,2 whose husband, imprisoned by Saladin, became King of the Franks through her agency and ruled the kingdom as her viceroy. He also let her take her possessions and dependants,
This detail makes it difficult to identify her as Maria Comnena, widow of Amalric I and later wife of Balia? n of Ibelin.
Sibylla, wife of Guy of Lusignan.
1
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and she asked permission to join her husband, who was then held prisoner in the fortress of Nablus. This was granted and she went and stayed with him. The wife of the Prince Arna? t of al-Karak whom Saladin had killed with his own hand on the day of Hitti? n also came before him to intercede for her son3 who was a prisoner. Saladin said: 'If you will give me al-Karak, I will let him go. ' She went to al-Karak, but the Franks there would not let her yield the fortress, so Saladin refused to give up her son, but only her possessions and followers.
The Grand Patriarch of the Franks left the city with the treasures from the Dome of the Rock, the Masjid al-Aqsa, the Church of the Resurrection and others, God alone knows the amount of the treasure; he also took an equal quantity of money. Saladin made no difficul- ties, and when he was advised to sequestrate the whole lot for Isla? m, replied that he would not go back on his word. He took only the ten dinar from him, and let him go, heavily escorted, to Tyre.
At the top of the cupola of the Dome of the Rock there was a great gilded cross. When the Muslims entered the city on the Friday, some of them climbed to the top of the cupola to take down the cross. When they reached the top a great cry went up from the city and from outside the walls, the Muslims crying the Alla? h akbar in their joy, the Franks groaning in consternation and grief. So loud and piercing was the cry that the earth shook.
Once the city was taken and the infidels had left, Saladin ordered that the shrines should be restored to their original state. The Templars had built their living-quarters against al- Aqsa, with storerooms and latrines and other necessary offices, taking up part of the area of al-Aqsa. This was all restored to its former state. The Sultan ordered that the Dome of the Rock should be cleansed of all pollution, and this was done. On the following Friday, 4 sha'ba? n/9 October, the Muslims celebrated the communal Friday prayers there. Among them was the Sultan, who also prayed at the Mosque of the Rock,1 with Muhyi ad-Din ibn az-Zaki, qadi of Damascus, as ima? m and preacher. Then Saladin appointed a qadi and an (ordinary) ima? m for the five canonic prayers, and ordered that a pulpit should be built for him. He was told that Nur ad-Din had once had one made in Aleppo, which he had com- manded the workmen to embellish and construct to the best of their ability, saying: 'We have made this to set up in Jerusalem. ' The carpenters had taken so many years to make it that it had no rival in the whole of Isla? m. Saladin had it brought from Aleppo and set up in Jerusalem, more than twenty years after it was made. This was one of the noble deeds of Nur ad-Din and one of his good works, God have mercy on him! 1
After the Friday prayer Saladin gave orders for the restoration of al-Aqsa, giving every encouragement to its embellishment and having it faced with stone and fine mosaics. Marble of an unrivalled quality was brought, and golden tesserae from Constantinople and other necessary materials that had been kept in store for years, and the work of restoration was
Stephanie, mother of Humphrey of Toron.
We have already noted that al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, the so-called Mosque of 'Umar, were close together but separate. In this passage there is no doubt that the great ceremony was held in al-Aqsa and that Saladin also prayed in the Dome of the Rock, as is clear from 'Ima? d ad-Din's account.
As we have seen before, Ibn al-Athi? r let slip no opportunity of expressing his attachment to the Zangid dynasty supplanted by Saladin.
3 1
1
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begun. To hide the pictures that covered the walls, the Franks had set slabs of marble over the Rock, concealing it from sight, and Saladin had them removed. It had been covered with the marble because the priests had sold a good part of it to the Franks who came from abroad on pilgrimages and bought pieces for their weight in gold in the hope of benefiting by its health-giving influences. Each of them, on his return home with a piece of this stone, would build a church for it and enclose it in the altar. One of the Frankish Kings of Jerusalem, afraid that it would all disappear, had it covered with a slab of marble to preserve it. When it was uncovered Saladin had some beautiful Qur'a? ns brought to the mosque, and magnificent copies of the sections of the Holy Book for use in worship. He established reciters of the Qur'a? n there, heaping them with bountiful endowments. So Isla? m was restored there in full freshness and beauty. This noble act of conquest was achieved, after 'Umar ibn al-Khatta? b1--God have mercy on him! --by no one but Saladin, and that is a sufficient title to glory and honour.
The Frankish population of Jerusalem who had not departed began to sell at very low prices all their possessions, treasures and whatever they could not carry with them. The merchants from the army and the non-Frankish Christians in Jerusalem bought their goods from them. The latter had asked Saladin's permission to remain in their homes if they paid the tax, and he had granted them this, so they stayed and bought up Frankish property. What they could not sell, beds and boxes and casks, the Franks left behind; even superb columns of marble and slabs of marble and mosaics in large quantities. Thus they departed.
('IMA? D AD-DIN, 47-69)
Saladin marched from Ascalon to Jerusalem, victorious in his decision, accompanied by victory, escorted by glory. He had tamed the indomitable colt of his desires, and made fertile the meadow of his wealth. His hope had an easy passage, his paths were fragrant, his gifts poured out, his sweetness perfumed the air, his power was manifest, his authority supreme. The glory of his army flooded like an ocean over the plain and filled the desert, pouring out thanks and gratitude. The dust raised by his hosts had spread its cloak over the dawn; the cloud of it seemed to have replaced the clear morning hour with the shadows of evening. At times the earth groaned under the squadrons, the heavens received with joy the particles of dust. He marched on, rejoicing by his presence the surrounding regions, and the points of his lances related stories of his conquests from the mountain tops; to the scenes his hopes described he could add those that his success had made reality. Sweet and lofty fruits and flashes of light appeared from the roots of victory and from his success. Isla? m wooed Jerusalem, ready to lay down lives for her as a bride-price, bringing her a blessing that would remove the tragedy of her state, giving her a joyful face to replace an expression of torment, making heard, above the cry of grief from the Rock, calling for help against its enemies, the reply to this appeal, the prompt echo of the summons, an echo that would make the gleaming lamps rise in her sky, bring the exiled Faith back to her own country and dwelling-place and drive away from al-Aqsa those whom God drove away with his curse. Saladin marched forward to take up the reins of Jerusalem. that now hung loose, to silence the Christian clappers and allow the muezzin to be heard again, to
1 The second Caliph (634-44), under whom the Muslims took Jerusalem for the first time, in 637.
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remove the heavy hand of unbelief with the right hands of the Faith, to purify Jerusalem of the pollution of those races, of the filth of the dregs of humanity, to reduce the minds to silence by silencing the bells. The news flew to Jerusalem, and the hearts of its inhabitants beat with terror and their chests palpitated and throbbed with fear of the army of Isla?