Siege of Acre (17 Aug 1189 Jahr – 23 Jul 1191 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

During the autumn, more European Crusaders arrived, allowing Guy to blockade Acre by land. News of the imminent arrival of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa reached the Crusaders, which not only raised the morale of the Christian soldiers, but also compelled Saladin to bring in so many more troops that he was able to surround both the city and the Crusader camp in two separate sieges.

The next fifteen months passed with no major actions on either side.
King Philip arrived on 20 April 1191, and King Richard on 8 June, after he had used the opportunity to conquer Cyprus along the way. Richard I arrived with an English fleet of 100 ships (which carried 8,000 men) while Philip II arrived with a Genoese fleet under Simone Doria. Philip had used the time before Richard’s arrival to build siege engines like the trebuchet, and now that stronger leadership from Europe had arrived, it was the city and not the Christian camp that was besieged. When Richard arrived, he sought a meeting with Saladin, and an armistice of three days was agreed upon so that the meeting could take place. However, both Richard and Philip fell ill, and the meeting did not take place.

King Philip was eager to launch a siege on Acre, but King Richard was not ready to go along with the plan because he was still ill and some of his men had not arrived yet due to adverse winds. They hoped that the latter would arrive with the next fleet of ships and would bring material for building siege machinery. Philip continued the project by himself, and on 17 June, fired an attack on Acre with balistas and engines. The defending army made diverse ways to make noise and send up smoke from the fires to let Saladin and the outer army know that, as arranged, they were supposed to come to the help of the town.

The siege machines broke holes into the walls of Acre, but every new breach led to an attack from Saladin’s army, giving the garrison of Acre an opportunity to repair the damage while the Christians were distracted. On 1 June, Philip of Alsace died in the camp, which was a major crisis for the French king, since Philip, the Count of Flanders and Vermandois and one of the most important men in the king’s retinue, had no heirs and settling his inheritance was an urgent matter, yet a very difficult one so far away from France.

On 3 July, a sufficiently large breach was again created in the walls, but the Christian attack was repelled. On 4 July, the city offered its surrender, but Richard rejected the conditions. This time Saladin did not make a large-scale attack on the Christian camp. On 7 July, the city sent an embassy to Saladin asking for assistance one last time, and threatened to surrender if he did not help. On 11 July, there was one final battle, and on 12 July, the city once more offered terms of surrender to the Crusaders, who found their offer acceptable this time. Conrad of Montferrat, who had returned to Tyre because of Richard's support for Guy of Lusignan as king of Jerusalem, was recalled to act as negotiator, at Saladin's request. Saladin was not personally involved in the negotiations, but accepted the surrender. The Christians entered the city and the Muslim garrison was taken into captivity. Conrad raised the banners of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and of France, England and the Duchy of Austria over the city.

Leopold of Austria left shortly after the capture of the city, after quarrelling with Richard: as the surviving leader of the German Imperial contingent, he had demanded the same position as Philip and Richard, but had been rejected and his flag torn down from the ramparts of Acre. On 31 July, Philip also returned home, to settle the succession in Vermandois and Flanders, and Richard was left solely in charge of the Christian expeditionary forces.

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