CHAPTER XXIX.
SIEGE OF ACRE.
The plain of Acre is surrounded by great natural defences. On the north is Mount Saron, the narrow pathway over which is called the “Ladder of Tyre”; on the south rises the bulwark of Mount Carmel, touching the sea; on the east lie the mountains of Galilee; on the west the plain is washed by the Mediterranean. Within this seemingly impregnable district lay the strongly fortified city of Acre. Its port rivalled those of Tyre, Sidon, and Jaffa. High walls, guarded by deep moats, bent in shape of a horseshoe from the crags on the north to a fortress on the south, which rose from a rock in the waves. With the water front these enclosed the place.
Into the plain beyond the wall Guy collected nine thousand men. The rapid arrivals from Europe augmented this force to eighty thousand, even before the kings of England and France had started from home. The Infidels already occupied the city, and when Saladin seized the mountains about, the besiegers were themselves besieged. By a sudden dash Saladin penetrated their hosts, entered Acre, and reconnoitred the Christian armies from the towers. Conrad hastened from Tyre; two fleets brought new bands of German and Danish crusaders. The Christians gave battle, and drove the Moslems from the field with such slaughter that Saladin was left almost alone amid the wreck of his forces. But he quickly recuperated his strength, and a few days later returned the assault. No fury of fight could blind the eyes of this commander. Ten times he cut through the Christian lines, leading in person his swift riders. By night the crusaders were driven back and huddled impotently in their camps. The morrow revealed the plain strewn with the débris of both armies.
Though Saladin had fully avenged his first discomfiture, he had learned more of the sharpness of the Christians’ swords, and was too wise to risk another immediate engagement. He therefore withdrew to his fastnesses in the rear of the Christian encampment. During the entire winter (1189-90) the Christians were unmolested, and prosecuted the siege unremittingly. More than once the city barely escaped becoming the prize of the Christians’ daring or stratagem.
In the spring (1190) Saladin returned. Every attack made upon Acre by the crusaders was foiled by a counter-attack by the Moslems upon their rear. Egypt sent ships to succor the city, and Europe sent ships to succor its soldiers. Masts bearing the cross and those flying the pennant of its adversaries seemed at times to be mingled in confusion over the bay. The Moslem and Christian armies often manned their fortifications and stood as spectators of naval duels, where they were impotent to help their coreligionists. The enthusiasm of the observers, not having sufficient expression in shouts and cheers, often found vent in supplementary fights in the field. In the battles which raged on land the Christians were ordinarily victors during the morning, the Saracens in the latter part of the day. This was due, doubtless, to the fact that the discipline of Saladin’s men was superior, and that the self-command of their great general patiently waited for the first ardor of the crusaders to spend itself, or for their cupidity to divert their attention from the foe to the plunder which they had already taken.
Saladin’s forces had been weakened at the time by the ravages of Frederick Barbarossa in Asia Minor, which we have described, and which drew off many of the Moslem leaders to defend their own possessions in that quarter. The Christians took advantage of this to give the foe what they hoped to be a decisive engagement. Their impetuosity could not be resisted; they broke through even to the tent of Saladin. As usual, they paused for the prey, and received the usual punishment for their greed. Off guard, they were massacred by thousands, even amid the camps they were looting. An Arabian writer says: “The Christians fell under the swords of the conquerors as the wicked will fall into the abode of fire at the last day. Nine ranks of dead covered the ground, and each rank was of a thousand warriors.”
The besieged in Acre sallied forth and gave the Christians a double defeat. Then came the news of Frederick Barbarossa’s death. In the deep depression wrought by these tidings, a treaty of peace with Saladin would doubtless have been at once concluded, had not the Christians’ spirit been raised by the timely arrival of European fleets. Frederick of Swabia’s appearance with the remnant of his father’s army was signalled by new adventures, only to be met with new failures. The Christians, having no support from the surrounding country, were reduced almost to starvation, feeding upon horses and making soup of their harness. The plain, inundated by the overflowing river, bred epidemic, which carried away multitudes, three or four hundred being buried daily. Frederick of Swabia, the heir of the German throne, sickened and passed away, and many of his men returned to the West.
Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem also died at this juncture, and the Christians were divided into the hostile camps of those who were seeking to possess themselves of the shadows of the kingship. Humphrey had married Sibylla’s sister, and put forth his claim to the throne. Conrad gained the favor of the bishop, who forcibly dissolved Humphrey’s marriage and gave his wife to Conrad, though that worthy had already a spouse, the sister of the Greek emperor. King Guy, however, maintained his own rights to the empty sceptre. A civil war, which would surely have brought the Christian cause to ruin, was diverted only by the expected arrival of the kings of England and France, to whom it was agreed that the dispute should be referred.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE COMING OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS AND RICHARD—FALL OF ACRE.
Richard I. was crowned King of England in September, 1189. In October there arrived in England a messenger from Philip of France, reminding the king of their mutual oaths to make the crusade. The adventurous spirit of Richard did not need this appeal. He drained the resources of his realm in gathering means. All the money left him by his father, Henry II., was first appropriated. He then sold the manors and prospective income of the crown. Next the chief offices of honor and responsibility went to the highest bidder who had ready cash. Thus Hugh de Puzas, Bishop of Durham, became chief justice of England for a thousand marks. Having abundant soldiery at his command, Richard then allowed any one to purchase the privilege of staying at home; he even declared that he would sell the City of London for a reasonable price. The vassalage of Scotland went for a thousand marks, together with the fortresses of Roxburgh and Berwick. When he had nothing more to sell he forced his richer subjects to make him loans, which they knew he never would repay. A plain-spoken preacher advised him, before he set out on an expedition in the name of religion, to dispose of some of his notorious vices, naming especially his pride, avarice, and voluptuousness. Richard replied, “You counsel well, and I hereby dispose of the first to the Templars, of the second to the Benedictine monks, and of the third to my prelates.”