A History of the Crusades-Vol 3 Read Online Free PDF

the early summer there was some
slight skirmishing between the Franks and the Moslems. But Saladin still wished
to rest his armies, and the Christians awaited more help from the West.
Suddenly, at the end of August, King Guy broke his camp and set out to march
with his followers southward down the coast road to attack Acre, and the Pisan
and Sicilian ships sailed to keep him company.
    It was a move of desperate foolhardiness,
the decision of a brave but very unwise man. Thwarted of his wish to reign in
Tyre, Guy urgently needed a city from which to reconstitute his kingdom. Conrad
was seriously ill at the time; and it seemed to Guy a fine opportunity to show
that he was the active leader of the Franks. But the risk was enormous. The
size of the Moslem garrison of Acre was more than twice that of Guy’s whole
army; and Saladin’s regular forces were in the offing. No one could have
foreseen that the adventure would succeed. But history has its surprises. If
Conrad’s ruthless energy had saved the remnant of Palestine for Christendom, it
was Guy’s gallant folly that turned the tide and began an era of reconquest.
    1189: Guy arrives before Acre
    When the news reached him of Guy’s expedition,
Saladin was in the hills beyond Sidon, laying siege to the castle of Beaufort.
The castle, perched on a high cliff above the river Litani, belonged to Reynald
of Sidon and had hitherto been preserved by the cunning of its lord. He had
gone to Saladin’s court and had charmed the Sultan and his entourage by his
deep appreciation of Arabic literature and his interest in Islam. He hinted
that, given a little time, he would settle as a convert in Damascus. But the
months passed and nothing happened except that the fortifications of Beaufort
were strengthened. At last, early in August, Saladin said that the time had
come for the surrender of Beaufort as a gage of Reynald’s intentions. Reynald
was taken under escort to the castle gate where he ordered the
garrison-commander in Arabic to yield up the castle and in French to resist.
The Arabs saw through the ruse but were powerless to take the castle by storm.
While Saladin brought up his forces to blockade it, Reynald was cast into
prison at Damascus. Saladin first thought that Guy’s march was intended to draw
the Saracen army away from Beaufort, but his spies soon told him that its
objective was Acre. He then wished to attack the Franks while they were
climbing over the Ladder of Tyre or the headlands of Naqura. But his Council
would not agree. It would be better, they said, to let them reach Acre and
catch them between the garrison and the Sultan’s main army. Saladin, who was
not well at the time, weakly gave way.
    Guy arrived outside Acre on 28 August and
set up his camp on the hill of Turon, the modern Tel el-Fukhkhar, a mile east
of the city, by the little river Belus, which supplied his men with water. When
his first attempt, three days later, to take the city by assault failed, he
settled down to await reinforcements. Acre was built on a small peninsula that
jutted southward into the Gulf of Haifa. To the south and west it was protected
by the sea and a strong seawall. A broken mole ran out south-eastward to a rock
crowned with a fort called the Tower of Flies. Behind the mole was a harbour
sheltered against all but the off-shore wind. The north and east of the city
were protected by great walls, which met at a right angle at a fort called the
Cursed Tower, at the north-east corner. The two land-gates were at either end
of the walls, by the shore. A large sea-gate opened into the harbour, and a
second on to an anchorage exposed to the dominant west wind. Under the Frankish
kings Acre had been the richest town in the kingdom and their favourite
residence. Saladin had often visited it during the last months and had
carefully repaired the damage caused by his troops when he captured it. It was
a strong fortress now, well garrisoned and well provisioned, capable of a