THE CRUSADERS AT GAZA (A.D. 1100-1291)
Of seven towns along the Palestine and Syrian coast Ascalon was brought
into the most frequent contact with the Crusaders, and Gaza received
the fewest visits. "The Crusaders alone do not appear to have used
Gaza for commerce, because this city was never so securely in their
hands as to permit them to dominate the roads south and east for any
distance."--_G. A. Smith._
A.D. 1100.--The Crusaders rebuilt the castle in the centre of the
city, and from this date Ascalon was made of more importance by the
Christians.
A.D. 1149.--The most renowned of the three great military orders
founded in the twelfth century for the defence of the Latin kingdom of
Jerusalem was that of the Knights Templars. From the first this order
was strictly a military one. White mantles were worn with a red cross.
After Baldwin III returned from Antioch, towards the end of 1149, he
was engaged in building a fortress at Gaza.
It was nearly completed in the spring of 1150, and was handed over to
the Knights Templars.
Gaza was the last Christian stronghold in the Maritime Plain on the
south towards Egypt.
A.D. 1154.--The famous geographer Idrîsi, who wrote of the Holy City as
it was during the occupation of the Crusaders, states that Ghazzah is
to-day very populous, and is in the hands of the Greeks (Crusaders).
The port of Ghazzah is called Tîda or Taidâ.
_c._ A.D. 1160.--Dirghâm, the Egyptian, conquered the Franks in a
battle at, or near, Gaza.
A.D. 1170.--After the death of the great Imad-ed-din Zanki, ruler of
Mosul, he was succeeded by his two sons. One of them, Saif-ed-din
Gazi, secured Mosul, and the eastern part of his father's dominions.
The other, Nur-ed-din Mohammed, became the chief Moslem prince in
Syria, with Aleppo for his capital. In the beginning of December 1170,
Nur-ed-din being in the north, Salah-ed-din made a dash against Gaza,
and destroyed its suburbs. He plundered the town, but was unable to
reduce the fortress.
A.D. 1177.--Salah-ed-din, towards the end of 1177, arrived before
Ascalon. The Knights Templars were for the most part in Gaza. The
Crusaders came upon Saladin's main body while it was crossing a stream,
and was obstructed in its movements by the baggage. The Muslims were
easily routed.
A.D. 1187.--After the Battle of Hattin, A.D. 1187, and the surrender of
Ascalon to Saladin, Gaza also passed into his hands. It appears also to
have opened its gate to Richard I of England for a short time, but it
soon reverted to the Muslims.
A.D. 1192.--King Richard, during the third Crusade, took the fortress
Dârôn (Latin Darum), built by King Amalrich, a coast city, immediately
south of Gaza, after a short siege, and destroyed it.[34]
King Richard reconquered Gaza, placing it in the charge of the Knights
Templars, who previously had charge of it.
The walls were dismantled after Richard Cœur de Lion's peace with
Saladin, in 1193.
A.D. 1239.--A new Crusade arrived in September 1239. Theobald, Count of
Champagne and King of Navarre, was its most important leader. Several
hundred knights surprised the Muslims in the neighbourhood of Gaza. The
result was a serious disaster. The Latins were attacked and practically
cut to pieces on November 13. This rebuff occurred in spite of the
remonstrances of Theobald. No precautions having been taken by the
Duke of Burgundy, the Counts of Bar and Mountfort, they suddenly found
themselves nearly surrounded by the enemy in a narrow pass. There was
yet time for them to escape by retreating rapidly by the way in which
they had entered; but the majority refused to do this, as inconsistent
with the high courage which they professed, and after a desperate
struggle Count de Bar was slain, and Amory de Mountfort, with many
nobles and knights, were taken captives. The main body of the Crusaders
arrived too late to be of any assistance.
A.D. 1242.--Damascus had been in Nejm-ed-din Ayub's hands during the
early part of 1239, and had been taken from him by Imad-ed-din Ismail.
In May 1242, the Knights Templars and their Muslim allies defeated an
Egyptian army on the borders of Palestine. The Egyptians lost heavily,
and were driven back to Gaza, which was their base of operations.
A.D. 1244.--Ayub in his trouble found allies in an unexpected quarter.
The Kharezmian Turks had recently been driven from their homes by the
Tartar invasion, and were ready to put their swords at the disposal of
the highest bidder. These savages, at the invitation of Ayub, entering
from the north, flowed like a tide past Safed and Jerusalem, and on St.
Luke's Day (October 18, 1244), annihilated the Christian and Saracen
armies united for a common cause in the valley of Gaza. History records
few more terrible struggles than this decisive battle, which lasted
without ceasing from the rising to the setting of the sun, and was
renewed on the morrow with the same ferocity. Thirty thousand of the
military Orders are said to have been slain; thirty-three Templars,
twenty-six Hospitallers, and three Teutonic Knights alone escaped of
these brave Orders. The Master of the Temple was amongst the slain, and
the Master of the Hospital was amongst those taken captive.
From this blow the Latin Kingdom of the East never recovered. And since
this date Gaza has remained a town of comparatively little importance.
A.D. 1250.--King Louis IX (St. Louis of France) and the Mameluke Emirs
agreed that all prisoners taken since the Battle of Gaza, in 1244,
should be released.
A.D. 1250.--Malek-el-Nâsir of Damascus, as descendant of Saladin,
besieged Gaza. Ebek, the first of the Mameluke Slave Dynasty, sent his
General Aktai to relieve the city, in which he succeeded.
A.D. 1260.--The whole of Palestine was raided by the Tartar invaders,
and they stationed garrisons in towns as remote as Gaza.
The Mongols under Hûlagû, sent an Embassy from Gaza, to El-Mudhaffer
Kutuy, Sultan of Egypt, demanding his submission.
The Sultan Edh-Dhahir Beibars drove the Mongols out of Gaza.
A.D. 1280.--Kilâwûn, Sultan of Egypt, marched against the Mongols, and
encamped at Gaza for fifty days.
A.D. 1291.--The Egyptian Sultan, Melik-el-Ashraf, made Gaza a separate
government, and set up a Governor there.
This put an end to the Frank rule in Palestine.[35]
FOOTNOTES:
[34] See Robinson's _Biblical Researches in Palestine_, vol. ii. p. 38,
1856.
[35] I am indebted for some of the facts and dates in this chapter to
Stevenson's _The Crusaders in the East_ (Cambridge: at the University
Press, 1907), and Dr. Meyer's _History of the City of Gaza_, Chap. IX.