The Sultan was sitting in the threshold of his tent, which was not yet completely set up, and the captives were arrayed before him one by one. When King Guy was brought out he courteously invited him to sit down by his side, and perceiving Renaud immediately after, he made him sit down beside the king, and commenced upbraiding him with his former breach of faith and with his attempt upon the sanctuary of Medinah. Renaud excused himself, saying, through the interpreter, “that he had only acted after the manner of princes.” At this moment the king gave signs of being greatly distressed by thirst, and Saladin ordered iced sherbet to be brought for his refreshment. Having quenched his own thirst, the king handed the cup to Renaud; but as the latter raised it to his lips, Saladin exclaimed, “Thou hast given him to drink, not I.” This sentence was equivalent to Renaud’s death knell, for Saladin thereby disclaimed the obligation he would have been under (according to the laws of Arab warfare) to spare the life of a captive who had eaten or drunk with him. As soon as the tent was pitched the Sultan again ordered Renaud to be brought before him, and told him he was “going to help Mohammed against him this time.” He then gave the Prince of Kerek one last chance for his life, offering to spare him if he would embrace Islam. Renaud, whatever his other faults, was no coward, and as he returned a proud refusal to the offer, Saladin smote him to the ground, and commanded the attendants to cut off his head. The order was promptly executed, and the reeking corpse was dragged by the feet to where the king was standing. The latter, who had witnessed the incident, made sure that his own turn was to follow next, and could not conceal his agitation; but Saladin assured him that he had no cause to fear, that “it was not the custom amongst his people for one king to injure or insult another, and that Renaud had only met the fate which all such traitors deserved.”
The capture of the king was, however, of less importance in the eyes of the Christians than that of the “True Cross,” which fell into the hands of the Mussulmans on this occasion. The native writers describe with great glee the costly covering of gold and precious stones in which the relic was encased, and the despair of the Christians at its loss. This victory, which completely crushed the Christian power, and paved the way for Saladin’s future successes, took place on the 14th of June.
Saladin, by his manœuvre of the previous Friday, had only possessed himself of a portion of the town of Tiberias. Raymond’s wife had moved all she possessed to the castle, and prepared to defend it against the invaders, but, when she saw the turn which affairs had taken, she very wisely withdrew with her immediate followers and rejoined her husband at Tyre. The Mohammedans were thus enabled to occupy the fort.
Having appointed Sárim-ed-dín Caimázá Sanjí as governor of Tiberias, Saladin pitched his tent outside the town, and commanded the Templars and Hospitallers who had been taken prisoners to be brought before him. No less than two hundred of these were found distributed amongst the soldiery, and Saladin ordered them to be immediately beheaded. There were a number of “doctors and philosophers” present with the Mohammedan troops, and these petitioned as a particular favour to be allowed to perform the office of executioners, and permission being accorded them, the learned gentlemen each selected a knight and butchered him, as a practical comment upon the Ovidian maxim—
Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros!
The grand masters of the two orders were spared and sent, together with the king, his brother Godfrey, and the Lord of Jebail, to Damascus, where they were thrown into prison.
On the following Tuesday the Sultan resumed his march, and on the Thursday morning encamped before the walls of Acre. The inhabitants made no resistance, but came out of the city and met him with prayers for quarter. This he granted them, and, having given them the option either of remaining in the city or removing from it, and giving those who chose to withdraw time to enable them to do so, he took possession of it with his troops on the 9th of July. While here, Saladin received intelligence that his brother, El Melik el ‘Adil, had left Egypt, and was on the road to join him, having conquered the fortress of Mejdel Yaba and the city of Jaffa by the way.
Making Acre his head-quarters, the Sultan dispersed his emírs over the country in different directions for the purpose of attacking the castles and fortified towns. Nazareth was taken after a slight resistance, men and women were carried into captivity and their property plundered. Sefuríyeh was found to be entirely deserted, the inhabitants having decamped after the disastrous battle of Hattín. Cæsarea, Arsúf, Sebastiyeh, and Nablús were next added to the list of Saladin’s conquests; the last named place fell an easy prey, as all the principal inhabitants, both of the town and its vicinity, were Mohammedan, and consequently disaffected to the Christian rule.
Fúleh was one of the most important fortresses of the Crusaders, and a depôt both for their stores and men. Against this the Sultan next directed his attention, and succeeded in reducing it after some days’ siege. He did not, however, derive as much advantage from the conquest of this place as he had expected, for its defenders had found means of withdrawing with the greater part of their arms and provisions; so that the Sultan found no one there when he entered it but a few of the lower class of the population. It was, nevertheless, important in its results, for the conquest of the other principal forts of the neighbourhood followed as a matter of course, and Dabúríyeh, Jaibín, Towáliyeh, Lejún, Beisán, and other places fell into the Saracens’ hands, including the entire provinces of Tiberias and Acre.