SIEGE OF ACRE.
The plain of Acre is surrounded by great natural defences. On the north
is Mount Saron, the narrow pathway over which is called the “Ladder of
Tyre”; on the south rises the bulwark of Mount Carmel, touching the sea;
on the east lie the mountains of Galilee; on the west the plain is
washed by the Mediterranean. Within this seemingly impregnable district
lay the strongly fortified city of Acre. Its port rivalled those of
Tyre, Sidon, and Jaffa. High walls, guarded by deep moats, bent in shape
of a horseshoe from the crags on the north to a fortress on the south,
which rose from a rock in the waves. With the water front these enclosed
the place.
Into the plain beyond the wall Guy collected nine thousand men. The
rapid arrivals from Europe augmented this force to eighty thousand, even
before the kings of England and France had started from home. The
Infidels already occupied the city, and when Saladin seized the
mountains about, the besiegers were themselves besieged. By a sudden
dash Saladin penetrated their hosts, entered Acre, and reconnoitred the
Christian armies from the towers. Conrad hastened from Tyre; two fleets
brought new bands of German and Danish crusaders. The Christians gave
battle, and drove the Moslems from the field with such slaughter that
Saladin was left almost alone amid the wreck of his forces. But he
quickly recuperated his strength, and a few days later returned the
assault. No fury of fight could blind the eyes of this commander. Ten
times he cut through the Christian lines, leading in person his swift
riders. By night the crusaders were driven back and huddled impotently
in their camps. The morrow revealed the plain strewn with the débris of
both armies.
Though Saladin had fully avenged his first discomfiture, he had learned
more of the sharpness of the Christians’ swords, and was too wise to
risk another immediate engagement. He therefore withdrew to his
fastnesses in the rear of the Christian encampment. During the entire
winter (1189-90) the Christians were unmolested, and prosecuted the
siege unremittingly. More than once the city barely escaped becoming the
prize of the Christians’ daring or stratagem.
In the spring (1190) Saladin returned. Every attack made upon Acre by
the crusaders was foiled by a counter-attack by the Moslems upon their
rear. Egypt sent ships to succor the city, and Europe sent ships to
succor its soldiers. Masts bearing the cross and those flying the
pennant of its adversaries seemed at times to be mingled in confusion
over the bay. The Moslem and Christian armies often manned their
fortifications and stood as spectators of naval duels, where they were
impotent to help their coreligionists. The enthusiasm of the observers,
not having sufficient expression in shouts and cheers, often found vent
in supplementary fights in the field. In the battles which raged on land
the Christians were ordinarily victors during the morning, the Saracens
in the latter part of the day. This was due, doubtless, to the fact that
the discipline of Saladin’s men was superior, and that the self-command
of their great general patiently waited for the first ardor of the
crusaders to spend itself, or for their cupidity to divert their
attention from the foe to the plunder which they had already taken.
Saladin’s forces had been weakened at the time by the ravages of
Frederick Barbarossa in Asia Minor, which we have described, and which
drew off many of the Moslem leaders to defend their own possessions in
that quarter. The Christians took advantage of this to give the foe what
they hoped to be a decisive engagement. Their impetuosity could not be
resisted; they broke through even to the tent of Saladin. As usual, they
paused for the prey, and received the usual punishment for their greed.
Off guard, they were massacred by thousands, even amid the camps they
were looting. An Arabian writer says: “The Christians fell under the
swords of the conquerors as the wicked will fall into the abode of fire
at the last day. Nine ranks of dead covered the ground, and each rank
was of a thousand warriors.”
The besieged in Acre sallied forth and gave the Christians a double
defeat. Then came the news of Frederick Barbarossa’s death. In the deep
depression wrought by these tidings, a treaty of peace with Saladin
would doubtless have been at once concluded, had not the Christians’
spirit been raised by the timely arrival of European fleets. Frederick
of Swabia’s appearance with the remnant of his father’s army was
signalled by new adventures, only to be met with new failures. The
Christians, having no support from the surrounding country, were reduced
almost to starvation, feeding upon horses and making soup of their
harness. The plain, inundated by the overflowing river, bred epidemic,
which carried away multitudes, three or four hundred being buried daily.
Frederick of Swabia, the heir of the German throne, sickened and passed
away, and many of his men returned to the West.
Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem also died at this juncture, and the
Christians were divided into the hostile camps of those who were seeking
to possess themselves of the shadows of the kingship. Humphrey had
married Sibylla’s sister, and put forth his claim to the throne. Conrad
gained the favor of the bishop, who forcibly dissolved Humphrey’s
marriage and gave his wife to Conrad, though that worthy had already a
spouse, the sister of the Greek emperor. King Guy, however, maintained
his own rights to the empty sceptre. A civil war, which would surely
have brought the Christian cause to ruin, was diverted only by the
expected arrival of the kings of England and France, to whom it was
agreed that the dispute should be referred.