After two years of siege of the Mediterranean coastal city of Acre – today in north-western Israel – in August 1191, its Muslim defenders finally surrendered to a crusader army of several thousand men under Richard the Lionhearted, who camped patiently in front of the city’s mighty walls. It is a little-remarked fact that, as one of the most important geostrategic strongholds during the Crusades, Acre was comparable in importance to Jerusalem. After its surrender to Saladin’s army in 1187, it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and thus of the Crusader States. It was also the last Christian stronghold to fall to the Muslims in 1291, bringing to an end the Crusader period in the Middle East.
The siege of Acre a hundred years before is considered the central episode of the Third Crusade (1189-1192), an episode with a temporary happy ending for the English and the French as the main European protagonists of the war. Above all, it is a legendary confrontation between two formidable medieval rivals and arguably the most famous warlords and rulers of the 12th century, King Richard the Lionhearted of England and Sultan Saladin of Turkey.
It is their presence on the battlefield, or rather the waiting room in front of Acre, that the Third Crusade continues to arouse widespread interest and the detailed recollection of distant historical events and personalities. It is true that the Crusades are the most famous religious wars in history and that they were a time of romantic chivalry and valour, but without the fame and renown of their leading players, they would surely have faded more quickly into obscurity after all these centuries.
Each has had its heroes, but the third, with Saladin and Richard, has always stood out. In both academic circles and popular culture, they have continually stirred the imagination, with new stories, biographies and true, semi-true or fictional accounts of their many exploits and adventures. And above all, the intertwining paths of their lives, as these have had long-term political and geostrategic consequences in the Middle East.
Even in their own time, both rulers, especially as military geniuses, received a great deal of attention both at home and abroad. European historians have written of Saladin as “a true legend, better known in Western memory than any other, except perhaps that of Saint Francis”. Under his rule, Saladin not only succeeded in uniting the Muslim world from Egypt to Syria, but also in reconquering for Islam most of the territory that the Crusaders had conquered decades earlier in holy wars in the name of the Cross and Jesus Christ.
In particular, by retaking Jerusalem, which the Christians had held for less than a hundred years after the First Crusade, he dealt them a harder blow than any other Asian warlord since Attila. Yet he was a modest, honest, generous man, and as such he won much respect even from his opponents. Not least with one of his lifelong adversaries, King Richard I of England.
In contrast to Saladin, Richard was, for good reason, recorded in history as Richard the Lionhearted, a braggart, cunning and bloodthirsty. But it was he who successfully challenged Saladin’s superiority and managed to restore the Crusaders to their lost honour and some territory. He did this after he had, rather suddenly, swept to the throne of England. Even on home soil – which was not only in England but also in parts of present-day France – he was at the centre of dynastic intrigue and shifting alliances as the son of two of Europe’s most powerful monarchs.
Today, both retain the status of national heroes, notwithstanding the fact that their idealised image, for centuries, was more often subjected to more dispassionate scholarly scrutiny in the 20th century. They marked a crucial historical period, the first global religious conflict that spread across three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. The Crusades not only foreshadowed the growing complexity of religious interrelationships between them, but also signalled European colonial ambitions, the consequences of which the world has suffered from the 15th century to the present day.
In the name of Jesus, for power or for our own benefit?
With the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, it slowly spread across the Middle East and North Africa, moving dangerously close to the borders of Christian Europe towards Byzantium. The Byzantine Empire was of an orthodox Christian confession and relations with the Roman Catholic Church were not always easy – doctrinal and theological differences culminated in the Great Schism of 1054. Nevertheless, the two churches were historically and culturally much more interconnected and related to each other than to Islam. Thus, in the 11th century, they united in the struggle against the spread of Islam, although the Catholic Church, under the leadership of the Pope, quickly took the lead.
The Crusades left behind a very controversial legacy, even though they were supposedly launched with a purely religious purpose – to give Christians access to the Holy Land and to prevent the spread of Islam. But they turned into marches of conquest that often had little to do with religious idealism and original Christian values. Political and religious issues were most often resolved by wars in the Middle Ages anyway.
The members of the Crusades were not only the vaunted knights, nobles and religious zealots, but above all adventurers, the poor, outcasts, as well as criminals and plunderers, fleeing the hardships and hard life of medieval Europe or seeking ways to enrich themselves. The Crusades (there were eight in all in the Middle East) were militarised ventures which brought many material benefits to the survivors, who were exempt from paying taxes, acquired various titles, land and ecclesiastical indulgences. At the same time, they helped to establish a rich Mediterranean trade network, which benefited in particular the independent Italian states.
The First Crusade (1096-1099) ended with the successful capture of Jerusalem, the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and three other Crusader states – historically, the first “overseas Europe”. The Crusaders immediately showed their true colours, slaughtering the Muslim inhabitants of the city without mercy, “blood flowed in torrents up to their knees”, as the infidels were supposed to deserve. This further reinforced the Muslim belief that the Christians were barbaric and backward, inferior in every way to the advanced Arabs. The early Middle Ages were the golden age of Arab science and culture, as well as of warfare and diplomacy.
The success of the First Crusade is not so much attributable to the military capabilities of the Crusaders as to the disagreements and disunity between the various Muslim lands and provinces, which did not recognise a common ruler in the Levant until Saladin. The four newly created Crusader states comprised mainly most of modern Palestine and Israel, parts of Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.
In addition to the Kingdom of Jerusalem (modern Israel, parts of Jordan and Lebanon – from Jaffa in the south to Beirut in the north), nominally superior to the others, there was the largest of them, the County of Edessa, inland to the north-west (today in Turkey), the smallest, the Principality of Antioch to the west and south (today Antakya in Turkey), adjacent to the fourth, the County of Tripoli (today northern Lebanon and part of western Syria). Their rulers were all vassals of the King of Jerusalem, although some, notably Tripoli, were much more independent, as well as internally divided among various (European) princes, princes and other nobles.
In general, the Crusader states have always been politically weak, due to their disputes over dominance and succession issues. This has been a constant source of intrigue and bargaining, added to the complex relations with the Orthodox Byzantine Church. Many of these territories had been Byzantine possessions for centuries and were more loyal to the Patriarch in Constantinople than to the Pope in Rome.
Muslims themselves took some time to grasp the potential danger of the Crusades. But after the success of the First Crusade, they began to join forces against the Crusaders and took over Edessa. After that, everything else was just a matter of time, and no one in the West wanted to realise it at the time.
The fall of Edessa completely shook Europe and triggered the Second Crusade in 1145. This failed disastrously, while Saladin’s star patiently rose. Having succeeded in uniting Syria and Egypt, he set about the gradual conquest of the territories under Crusader influence, arriving at the walls of Jerusalem in 1187. Jerusalem surrendered and, unlike the Crusaders 88 years before, Saladin generously let the inhabitants live. With the fall of Jerusalem, the stage was set for the Third Crusade.
But who was the great sultan and warlord Saladin, or An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who struck fear into the bones of Europe’s most influential monarchs?
Saladin – a wise and honourable ruler
Today, Saladin’s figure is a symbol of the unification of the Arab world and has been worshipped by all the major Arab rulers and autocrats, as well as terrorists of the last century, including Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Hosni Mubarak. But Saladin was not Arab at all, he was Kurdish. He is also hailed as an Egyptian hero, but he was, in fact, the invader of Egypt who subjugated the ruling Fatimid caliphate. But apparently, in an age of renewed religious and civilisational clashes between Christians and Muslims, East and West, and holy war (jihad), the Arab Muslim world needs a common hero of immaculate repute.
A Sunni Kurd, he was born into a powerful family in Tikrit, now Iraq, and spent most of his childhood in Damascus. Little more is known about his early years until he joined his uncle’s army in the battles in Egypt at the age of about 25. His uncle, who was a general in the army of the Syrian ruler Zenghi and his son Nur-ad-Din, introduced him to the military and social elites, where he excelled.
He also proved to be a talented and skilled soldier. The world in which he lived was marked by important political events, notably the First and Second Crusades, but also by numerous conflicts between various Muslim chieftains. While his predecessors Zenghi and Nur-ad-Din fought the Crusaders, many other Muslims forged alliances with them.
When the political vacuum among Muslims during the First Crusade led to the Crusaders’ capture of Jerusalem and most of the Levantine coast, Zenghi and Nur-ad-Din were determined to reclaim the territory, while the latter also wanted to take Egypt and unite it with Syria. Egypt was then ruled by the Shi’ite Fatimid dynasty, while Syria was ruled by the Sunni Turks, allied to the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. The struggle between the Sunni and Shi’ite branches of Islam, and between the Shi’ite Caliphate based in Cairo and the Sunni Caliphate based in Baghdad, marked the internal politics of the Middle East during the Crusades.
Saladin stood up to his former ally Nur al-Din and was appointed Egyptian vizier despite being a Sunni. He betrayed the Fatimids, abolished their caliphate and allied it with the Abbasids. But he was celebrated by the Egyptians because he led Egypt back to its former glory and governed it extremely well. After Nur-ad-Din’s death, he peacefully took Syria, dealt with his weak successors and subdued most of his remaining opponents. The Abbasid Caliph had no choice but to appoint Saladin as the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria. As the founder of the new Ayyubid dynasty, Saladin appointed his sons and nephews to the most important positions in the Sultanate, thus securing their support and loyalty.
After he gained power, he began to follow the rules of Islam much more strictly and became more pious, stopping drinking wine and adopting an ascetic lifestyle. He also perfected his theological debating skills and spent long hours discussing the essence of the faith with allies and opponents alike. He carefully cultivated the image of a just and modest ruler, and his every move was recorded by two faithful biographers who followed him every step of the way. It was a very effective early historical attempt to cultivate his own cult of personality.
By 1180, he had consolidated his power in Egypt and Syria, uniting almost the whole Levant under him. But now, like pockets of resistance in the midst of a vast, almost unified territory, the Crusader states were in his way. So he made it his mission for the last decade of his life to destroy them. In the name of Islam, he launched a jihad or holy war. The latter was therefore by no means the result of a purely religious zeal, but above all of a desire for territorial supremacy. Like the Crusaders, he was driven by a mixture of motives, and religion was only one of them.
Introduction to the Third Crusade
In the years between 1177 and 1187, Saladin’s increasingly powerful army dealt numerous blows to the Crusader states, and the time had come for a decisive one. In early 1187, the Sultan called on all Egyptian and Syrian provinces to take up arms and take part in the Holy War – he had been plotting for some time to take Jerusalem.
The prologue to this final humiliation was the battle of Hattin, near the city of Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. In the battle, Saladin completely defeated the Crusader army and seized its holiest relic, the True Cross (on which Jesus is said to have been crucified). Many nobles became his prisoners, including the King of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, and the former Prince of Antioch, and one of the few Crusaders who pursued an aggressive policy against Saladin, Reginald of Châtillon.
Reginald was despised by Saladin, despite his proverbial moderation, for, among other things, the crusader had broken a promise he had made to the Sultan on another occasion, when he was also his prisoner. Saladin then released him on condition that he renounce his crusading career. Reginald, of course, broke his promise. Later, he also broke the truce he had made with Saladin. The time for revenge came at Hattin, and Saladin beheaded the offender in front of the other prominent captives. Even though he had a reputation as a merciful ruler who usually let his opponents, especially kings and nobles, live. For example, he spared King Guy while calmly explaining to him why Reginald had met a different fate.
According to Hattin, Saladin also had hundreds of members of the military orders of the Templars and Hospitallers, a kind of knight-monks who were considered the most dedicated, militarily capable and religiously zealous opponents, killed. He well appreciated how dangerous they were compared to ordinary soldiers, whom he always kept as prisoners or exchanged with his own prisoners. The eyewitness accounts of the beheadings are unique as regards Saladin’s satisfaction at the sinister spectacle.
After Hattin, the remaining Crusader strongholds such as Galilee, Nazareth, Haifa, Caesarea, Beirut, Sidon, Nablus surrendered with little or no resistance. In the end, only Jerusalem, Tyre, Ashkelon, Gaza and a few smaller towns and castles remained Christian. The Crusader adventure in the Middle East seemed to be slowly coming to an end. The ultimate prize, Jerusalem, was waiting for Saladin with open arms.
But there was general fear and unrest, as hordes of refugees from other defeated Crusader cities poured in without a single encouraging news. People were preparing for a massacre, gathering in churches in droves to pray, mothers shaving their daughters’ heads to protect them from rape. They were expecting a repeat of the scenario of 88 years ago, when Jerusalem was overrun by Christians.
The city had between 60,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, very few soldiers and only a handful of knights. In desperation, its otherwise able commander knighted all boys and men over the age of sixteen. After some initial fighting, it was clear to the defenders of Jerusalem that they were lost and, despite the threat of destroying and burning the city in desperation, they surrendered peacefully. Saladin generously accepted all their terms, wanting to take the city as intact as possible. Jerusalem is a holy city, even for Muslims.
This is true for all three of the world’s monotheistic religions, as they share a common origin. Jerusalem was the capital of the Old Testament prophets, the mythical kings David and Solomon, and the place of Christ’s death – the dwelling place of Muhammad’s predecessors. It was the site of the first qibla, or direction of prayer for Muslims, which Mecca only later took over, and anyone who passed through the Gate of Mercy (the Golden Gate for Christians) was guaranteed eternity in heaven. Moreover, Jerusalem was to be the place of the Last Judgement, and the prophet Mohammed was to rise from there to heaven. In Jerusalem, therefore, everything began and everything ended.
Saladin’s actions at the capture of Jerusalem will forever be remembered in history as a wise, just and merciful ruler. There were no plagues or brutalities against the Christians, the vast majority of whom were allowed to leave the city for ransom. The people had 40 days to raise the money and could leave with all their possessions. However, at least 10,000 were unable to raise the ransom and were enslaved by Saladin – a common practice in those days.
But some – such as the Syrian Christians – preferred to stay, as they could continue their religious practices in peace in return for a tax. Roman Catholics were often less tolerant than Muslims. The same was true of Orthodox Christians, who hated their Catholic cousins outright and were even said to have conspired with Saladin to open one of the city’s gates for even easier entry.
The city quickly became Muslim again, all Christian relics were removed, and Saladin’s officials wrote late-night dispatches, sending them to all corners of the Muslim world. Jerusalem fell and Saladin became the undisputed hero of Islam. In Europe, however, a response to this news was already being planned, which in the end did not bode well for Saladin.
In response to the fall of the Holy City, Pope Gregory VIII issued a papal bull calling for the Third Crusade. Everything was in place for Saladin to finally meet an equal opponent.
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Performer Rihard the Lionhearted
Although the Third Crusade began long before Richard even came east, and although he never managed to conquer Jerusalem, this most important English medieval king is considered the undisputed victor over Saladin. In general, the whole period of this war is identified in collective memory with the relationship between these two fearless rivals. This is due to the many legends that were created during their lifetimes, inspired by their multifaceted personalities and the mutual respect they developed during Richard’s stay in the Levant.
Richard I, better known as Richard the Lionhearted, got his nickname when he allegedly ripped out a lion’s heart during a bare-knuckle fight, which was later immortalised in a play by Shakespeare. He is also known for the Robin Hood stories, where he plays the role of the beloved but absent ruler. He spent only a few months on his English soil during his ten-year reign and never learned to speak English well.
Richard was born in Oxford in 1157 to King Henry II of England of the Plantagenet dynasty and Eleanor, Princess of Aquitaine, who together ruled not only what is now England, but also almost two-thirds of what is now France. 12th-century France was confined to a central area around Paris, while Normandy in the north and Aquitaine in the south were in the hands of the English Crown.
Richard spent most of his childhood as Eleanor’s pet at her court in the south of France, where he was exposed to real medieval court life. For young noblemen, this meant learning military skills, riding, swordsmanship, military strategy and diplomacy.
Even as a boy, he was fearless and fascinated by the idyllic image of chivalry. He loved glory and was willing to do anything for it. All this helped him on his way to the crown, where he had to constantly face opponents from his own family nest. He also quarrelled with his father, as did his mother, whom Henry later imprisoned for 16 years in a manor house in the south of England, even though they had ten children together. Even by 12th century standards, the Plantagenets were a dysfunctional family.
At first, Richard was reluctant to take part in the Crusade, which his recently deceased father, King Henry II, had actually pledged to fight. He wanted to consolidate his power on home soil, where there were fierce dynastic disputes between many of his brothers and half-brothers, and there was also the threat of war with France. It was only when the French king also agreed to take part in the crusade that the two kings forged a tenuous alliance and agreed not to attack on home soil – but they never fully trusted each other. But later there were suggestions that the two kings had a homosexual relationship, sometimes even sharing a bed during the war as a sign of their alliance.
Before heading east, Rihard first had to raise money for the expedition. Because such expeditions were so expensive, he introduced new taxes – known as the “Saladin tax” – but also used much more controversial methods, such as selling noble and knightly titles, sometimes first stripping someone of their title and then selling it back, selling off Crown property, releasing prisoners for a fee, and so on. Then he made his younger brother Regent of England, left Aquitaine to his mother, and finally set out on his journey.
He was also on the road for a long time, experiencing many vicissitudes, becoming involved in the struggle for the succession to Sicily during a stopover in Sicily, and at the same time falling out again with Philip, who broke off his engagement to his sister and intended to marry the Navarrese princess Berengaria. But the two monarchs reconciled and agreed in advance by treaty on the division of the spoils they expected to receive in the Holy Land. Richard then stopped in Cyprus and, of course, conquered it.
The Third Crusade before Richard’s arrival
Saladin was increasingly worried by Richard’s arrival, knowing that he was facing an equal opponent. Besides, the Sultan was already advanced in years and visibly exhausted from constant warfare, while Richard was young and eager to succeed and prove himself.
But the Third Crusade was already in full swing when Richard arrived in the Holy Land, which was not until 1191. The main action took place outside the walls of Acre. English and French troops were mainly stationed there, but there were also some German troops. The Crusade was joined by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, a determined and experienced military commander, who died unhappily on the way after falling into a cold river.
His army literally disintegrated in the absence of a strong commander, and fortunately for the Muslims, only a handful of zealous fighters made it to their final destination. This was a severe blow to the Crusaders, and when Barbarossa died in June 1189, the King of England and the King of France had not even set out yet.
Accra was an important Christian stronghold for 73 years before the rise of Saladin, and was then taken over by Saladin five days after the famous Battle of Hattin. His chief architect fortified the walls further and Saladin used the city as a central arsenal and a base for his conquests. This was the main reason why the Crusaders first set out to take coastal Acre, which was also relatively easy to reach by sea.
The first to set up tents in front of Acre was Guy of Lusitania, the capitalless King of Jerusalem, whom Saladin so chivalrously left alive after Hattin. Now the Sultan had his revenge, and later his contemporaries blamed him for the final defeat, which was largely his own fault, since he had left all the major crusaders alive.
While the Crusaders prepared to attack Acre, they watched in fear from the other side as a possible army of Saladin approached. They found themselves sandwiched between the city and a huge plain on which the enemy’s warriors were stationed. One of the longest and certainly the most unique sieges of the Middle Ages had begun, lasting two years, and the Crusaders had to fight on two fronts simultaneously. Even before reinforcements arrived from Europe, Saladin repeatedly faltered when he had the chance to attack. On the one hand, the Muslims in Acre had access to the sea, which allowed food and ammunition to be delivered, and much of the fighting between the two armies was therefore at sea. But none of the battles proved decisive.
Morale among the Crusaders was falling as the situation in the camp became increasingly unbearable. Hygiene was virtually non-existent and horrible diseases were rampant – dysentery, malaria, fever, eye infections and scurvy, which caused limbs to swell and teeth to fall out. There was often not enough water, but there was no shortage of wine, so soldiers also died of alcoholism. Not to mention starvation, and in addition to grass, the menu often included old and charred bones, which even the dogs threw away. Food prices were astronomical, with a single egg costing 25 euros in today’s money and a litre of milk costing well over a hundred. Even among Saladin’s soldiers, things were not much better, and inside the walls of Acre, people were even more desperate. So they repeatedly tried to negotiate a surrender, but the Crusaders refused to give in, despite their huge losses.
During all this time, however, an interesting camaraderie developed between the opponents, who often stopped fighting for an hour, exchanged news and then took up arms again. There were also duels, games, bets and competitions such as target shooting and wrestling. In many ways, this phenomenon was similar to the relations between soldiers of opposing forces who fought in the trenches for years and months during the First World War.
The Crusaders’ confidence to persevere was also due to the fact that important reinforcements from Europe were on the way. The most late, but also the most awaited, arrivals were King Richard I of England and King Philip II of France. When the latter arrived in April 1191, accompanied by a number of noblemen and six ships, carrying not only many supplies, but also military material and even horses, the camp held a celebration. But there was no end to the excitement at the arrival of Richard and his 25 ships in June of that year. Bells rang far and wide and campfires were lit.
This was a key turning point in the siege.
Handover
Both Rihard and Filip were men of action and immediately took the reins into their own hands. Many today believe that Philip would have made his breakthrough without Richard, and that the latter has unfairly overshadowed the able French king in history because of his notorious personality. According to the plan they had set out, the crusaders concentrated all their efforts on taking the city, leaving Saladin as an afterthought.
Using impressive military equipment specially adapted for such a siege, they began to break down and undermine the mighty wall, and to launch so-called Greek fire – an extremely effective incendiary – over it with huge catapults assembled on the spot. Soon, the so-called ‘Cursed Tower’ collapsed due to the constant bombardment – the infamous harbinger of the end.
On 12 July 1191, on the 653rd day of the siege of Acre, its commanders finally surrendered. They no longer believed that Saladin could save them. Negotiations were tense and interrupted several times, but in the end, despite the harsh and humiliating conditions for the Muslims, they were accepted. In addition to the city and all its wealth, they had to surrender the harbour and its ships, the prisoners and, above all, the True Cross, and pay an additional 200 000 dinars, which was an enormous sum of money in those days.
Saladin was not even informed in time of the terms accepted by his negotiators and only agreed to them after a long deliberation, which Richard described as procrastination. And it is this procrastination that is said to have been one of the triggers for the most bloodthirsty scene of the whole war, if not of the whole Crusade.
Richard had between 2000 and 3000 Muslim prisoners brutally executed in front of Saladin’s army. It was an unprecedented massacre and, according to witnesses, many of the prisoners were children and women. To this day, this event still resonates as one of the gravest sins against Muslims, and it is not known exactly why Richard decided to make such a bestial move. Was it really because Saladin did not keep to his contract and refused to return the cross and pay the agreed sum, or because Richard was angry and simply wanted to continue the march and Saladin was stalling, or simply out of revenge and religious zeal? In response, Saladin did the same to the Christian prisoners, while sending the True Cross back to Damascus.
Immediately after entering the city, the victors began to fight among themselves for the spoils and for control of the most strategic positions and areas of the city. They put up their banners everywhere, especially their crosses, and held multi-day celebrations. But in the end, this was only the first part of the Crusade, and the final goal remained the capture of Jerusalem. Even Saladin remained undefeated, as he himself pointed out, still camped on the horizon as a warning.
The French king wanted to return home as quickly as possible after his victory, and it was rumoured that he wanted to conquer Flanders and, above all, to incite Richard’s brother Ivan against Richard in his absence. Their rivalry was rekindled during the siege of Acre, as Philip was very jealous of Richard’s glory.
End of the war – a draw
Thus Richard the Lionhearted was the last Crusader king in the Holy Land, committed to the goal of winning the ultimate prize – Jerusalem. On the road from Acre, now the seat of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Saladin’s army patiently followed him, and at the Battle of Arsur in September 1191, the English convincingly defeated the Saracens. But it was not until January of the following year that the now exhausted army reached the vicinity of Jerusalem, finally stopped by the weather and the numerical superiority of the enemy.
During this time, although they never met in person, Richard and Saladin developed a very special relationship. Saladin admired the Englishman and his disciplined and resilient army, while Richard increasingly appreciated Eastern society and culture. Once, when Richard was ill, Saladin sent him baskets of fruit and snow from the nearby snowy peaks, and on another occasion, when he lost a horse in battle, he sent him a new one.
He and Saladin’s brother Safedin became friends and spent long hours at banquets together, where important trade links between East and West were also forged. For a time, there was even talk of a marriage between Richard’s sister Ivana and Saladin’s brother, so that they could rule Jerusalem together. Ivana nearly fainted with horror at the news.
But Richard had too many problems at home and, fearing the loss of his French territories, decided to return. He was therefore forced to accept a compromise with Saladin, or a three-year truce (2 September 1192), agreeing that Jerusalem would remain in Saladin’s hands and the coast from Acre to Jaffa in the Crusaders’, Richard was to surrender Ashkelon, and the Crusaders and pilgrims were to be guaranteed unhindered access to all the holy sites, including Jerusalem. Richard sent a message to Saladin that he would return for Jerusalem after three years – Saladin replied chivalrously that if he really had to lose the city one day, there was no one more worthy than the King of England.
Saladin stayed in Jerusalem until he received news that Richard had finally sailed. Then he returned to Damascus and finally began to prepare for the pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the duties of every devout Muslim, which he himself had delayed for so long because of the constant warfare. But he was already too ill and, although only in his early fifties, he died within a year of the end of the Third Crusade. He was buried in a plain wooden coffin, and all his wealth was distributed among the poor.
The Ayyubid dynasty, of which he was the founder, finally collapsed in the middle of the 13th century due to the revolt of the Mamelukes and the invasion of the Mongols. The Mamelukes also destroyed the last bastion of Christianity in the Middle East – that was in 1291, and the city that fell back into Muslim hands was Acre. The ultimate victors of the Crusades were therefore Muslims.
Richard’s end was not a particularly brilliant one either. On his return to Europe, he was first imprisoned for a year by Austrian Prince Leopold V and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI because of old grudges, then became embroiled in a long-awaited war against Philip, and in 1199 was struck in the shoulder near the neck by an arrow. The wound became inflamed and he died in his mother’s arms.
Through wars into people’s hearts
Even today, eight hundred years after their deaths, Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin embody a mixture of those human virtues that make a man a folk hero. Perfect or imperfect, both proved to be bold and resilient rulers who did not give up in the face of the most daunting challenges. Completely different in character – Richard statuesque, honourable and cruel, Saladin calm, generous and calculating – they have gone down as two of the best-known and most capable warlords in military history. At the same time, they intertwined their life stories with a wealth of anecdotes and stories that feed our imagination and our notions of the romantic chivalry of the Middle Ages. But in the end, there was nothing romantic about bloodthirsty slaughter and scheming for power and superiority. But few dare to question aloud the deep-rooted myths and legends that have shaped our collective consciousness.
