THE FALL OF ACRE.
1191
The distress of the besieged city.--Famine.--Disappointed
hopes.--The various methods of warfare.--Undermining the
walls.--The effect on the walls.--A spy in the city.--The letters
which came on arrows.--A flag of truce.--Terms proposed by the
Saracens.--Richard's exactions and his threats.--The
convention.--Hostages.--The ransom of the captives.--Saladin's
assent.--Richard enters Acre in triumph.--The Archduke of
Austria's banner.--Philip in trouble.--Philip's secret
plans.--Title of King of Jerusalem.--Sibylla.--Guy of
Lusignan.--Isabella.--Conrad of Montferrat.--The positions of
Richard and Philip respecting the title.--One of Richard's
compromises.--Philip announces his return.--Richard's objections
to Philip's return.--Philip's oath to Richard.--Disapprobation of
King Philip's course.--Saladin is unable to fulfill his
promises.--Brutality of Richard.--The massacre of the Saracen
captives.--Richard's exultation.--Supernatural approval.
Although the allies failed to reduce Acre by assault, the town was at
last compelled to submit to them through the distress and misery to
which the inhabitants and the garrison were finally reduced by famine.
They bore these sufferings as long as they could, but the time arrived
at last when they could be endured no longer. They hoped for some
relief which was to have been sent to them by sea from Cairo, but it
did not come. They also hoped, day after day, and week after week,
that Saladin would be strong enough to come down from the mountains,
and break through the camp of the Crusaders on the plain and rescue
them. But they were disappointed. The Crusaders had fortified their
camp in the strongest manner, and then they were so numerous and so
fully armed that Saladin thought it useless to make any general attack
upon them with the force that he had under his command.
The siege had continued two years when Philip and Richard arrived.
They came early in the spring of 1191. Of course, their arrival
greatly strengthened the camp of the besiegers, and went far to
extinguish the remaining hopes of the garrison. The commanders,
however, did not immediately give up, but held out some months longer,
hoping every day for the arrival of the promised relief from Cairo. In
the mean time, they continued to endure a succession of the most
vigorous assaults from the Crusaders, of which very marvelous tales
are told in the romantic narratives of those times. In these
narratives we have accounts of the engines which Richard set up
opposite the walls, and of the efforts made by the besieged to set
them on fire; of Richard's working, himself, like any common soldier
in putting these engines together, and in extinguishing the flames
when they were set on fire; of a vast fire-proof shed which was at
last contrived to cover and protect the engines--the covering of the
roof being made fire-proof with green hides; and of a plan which was
finally adopted, when it was found that the walls could not be beaten
down by battering-rams, of undermining them with a view of making them
tumble down by their own weight. In this case, the workmen who
undermined the walls were protected at their work by sheds built over
them, and, in order to prevent the walls from falling upon them while
they were mining, they propped them up with great beams of wood, so
placed that they could make fires under the beams when they were ready
for the walls to fall, and then have time to retreat to a safe
distance before they should be burned through. This plan, however, did
not succeed; for the walls were so prodigiously thick, and the blocks
of stone of which they were composed were so firmly bound together,
that, instead of falling into a mass of ruins, as Richard had
expected, when the props had been burned through, they only settled
down bodily on one side into the excavation, and remained nearly as
good, for all purposes of defense, as ever.
It was said that during the siege Richard and Philip obtained a great
deal of information in respect to the plans of the Saracens through
the instrumentality of some secret friend within the city, who
contrived to find means of continually sending them important
intelligence. This intelligence related sometimes to the designs of
the garrison in respect to sorties that they were going to make, or to
the secret plans that they had formed for procuring supplies of
provisions or other succor; at other times they related to the
movements and designs of Saladin, who was outside among the mountains,
and especially to the attacks that he was contemplating on the allied
camp. This intelligence was communicated in various ways. The
principal method was to send a letter by means of an arrow. An arrow
frequently came down in some part of the allied camp, which, on being
examined, was found to have a letter wound about the shaft. The letter
was addressed to Richard, and was, of course, immediately carried to
his tent. It was always found to contain very important information in
respect to the condition or plans of the besieged. If a sortie was
intended from the city, it stated the time and the place, and detailed
all the arrangements, thus enabling Richard to be on his guard. So, if
the Saracens were projecting an attack on the lines from within, the
whole plan of it was fully explained, and, of course, it would then be
very easy for Richard to frustrate it. The writer of the letters said
that he was a Christian, but would not say who he was, and the mystery
was never explained. It is quite possible that there is very little
truth in the whole story.
At all events, though the assaults which the allies made against the
walls and bulwarks of the town were none of them wholly successful,
the general progress of the siege was altogether in their favor, and
against the poor Saracens shut up within it. The last hope which they
indulged was that some supplies would come to them by sea; but
Richard's fleet, which remained at anchor off the town, blockaded the
port so completely that there was no possibility that any thing could
get in. The last lingering hope was, therefore, at length abandoned,
and when the besieged found that they could endure their horrible
misery no longer, they sent a flag of truce out to the camp of the
besiegers, with a proposal to negotiate terms of surrender.
Then followed a long negotiation, with displays of haughty arrogance
on one side, and heart-broken and bitter humiliation on the other. The
Saracens first proposed what they considered fair and honorable terms,
and Philip was disposed to accept them; but Richard rejected them with
scorn. After a vain attempt at resistance, Philip was obliged to
yield, and to allow his imperious and overbearing ally to have his own
way. The Saracens wished to stipulate for the lives of the garrison,
but Richard refused. He told them they must submit unconditionally;
and, for his part, he did not care, he said, whether they yielded now
or continued the contest. He should soon be in possession of the city,
at any rate, and if they held out until he took it by storm, then, of
course, it would be given up to the unbridled fury of the soldiers,
who would mercilessly massacre every living thing they should find in
it, and seize every species of property as plunder. This, he declared,
was sure to be the end of the siege, and that very soon, unless they
chose to submit. The Saracens then asked what terms he required of
them. Richard stated his terms, and they asked for a little time to
consider them and to confer with Saladin, who, being the sultan, was
their sovereign, and without his approval they could not act.
So the negotiation was opened, and, after various difficulties and
delays, a convention was finally agreed upon. The terms were these:
I. The city was to be surrendered to the allied armies, and
all the arms, ammunition, military stores, and property of
all kinds which it contained were to be forfeited to the
conquerors.
II. The troops and the people of the town were to be allowed
to go free on the payment of a ransom.
III. The ransom by which the besieged purchased their lives
and liberty was to be made up as follows:
1. The wood of the cross on which Christ was crucified,
which was alleged to be in Saladin's possession, was to
be restored.
2. Saladin was to set at liberty the Christian captives
which he had taken in the course of the war from various
armies of Crusaders, and which he now held as prisoners.
The number of these prisoners was about fifteen hundred.
3. He was to pay two hundred thousand pieces of gold.
IV. Richard was to retain a large body of men--it was said
that there were about five thousand in all--consisting of
soldiers of the garrison or inhabitants of the town, as
hostages for the fulfillment of these conditions. These men
were to be kept forty days, or, if at the end of that time
Saladin had not fulfilled the conditions of the surrender,
they were all to be put to death.
Perhaps Saladin agreed to these terms, under the pressure of dire
necessity, compelled as he was to assent to whatever Richard might
propose by the dreadful extremity to which the town was reduced,
without sufficiently considering whether he would be really able to
fulfill his promises. At any rate, these were the promises that he
made; and as soon as the treaty was duly executed, the gates of Acre
were opened to the conquerors, while Saladin himself broke up his
encampment on the mountains, and withdrew his troops farther into the
interior of the country.
Although the treaty was made and executed in the name of both the
kings, Richard had taken into his hands almost the whole conduct of
the negotiation, and now that the army was about to take possession of
the town, he considered himself the conqueror of it. He entered with
great parade, assigning to Philip altogether a secondary part in the
ceremony. He also took possession of the principal palace of the place
as his quarters, and there established himself with Berengaria and
Joanna, while he left Philip to take up his residence wherever he
could. The flags of both monarchs were, however, raised upon the
walls, and so far Philip's claim to a joint sovereignty over the
place was acknowledged. But none of the other princes or potentates
who had been engaged in the siege were allowed to share this honor.
One of them--the Archduke of Austria--ventured to raise his banner on
one of the towers, but Richard pulled it down, tore it to pieces, and
trampled it under his feet.
This, of course, threw the archduke into a dreadful rage, and most of
the other smaller princes in the army shared the indignation that he
felt at the grasping disposition which Richard manifested, and at his
violent and domineering behavior. But they were helpless. Richard was
stronger than they, and they were compelled to submit.
As for Philip, he had long since begun to find his situation extremely
disagreeable. He was very sensitive to the overbearing and arrogant
treatment which he received, but he either had not the force of
character or the physical strength to resist it. Now, since Acre had
fallen, he found his situation worse than ever. There was no longer
any enemy directly before them, and it was only the immediate presence
of an enemy that had thus far kept Richard within any sort of bounds.
Philip saw now plainly that if he were to remain in the Holy Land,
and attempt to continue the war, he could only do it by occupying an
altogether secondary and subordinate position, and to this he thought
it was wholly inconsistent with his rights and dignities as an
independent sovereign to descend; so he began to revolve secretly in
his mind how he could honorably withdraw from the expedition and
return home.
While things were in this state, a great quarrel, which had for a long
time been gradually growing up in the camp of the Crusaders, but had
been restrained and kept, in some degree, subdued by the excitement of
the siege, broke out in great violence. The question was who should
claim the title of King of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was at this time in
the hands of the Saracens, so that the title was, for the time being
at least, a mere empty name. Still, there was a very fierce contention
to decide who should possess it. It seems that it had originally
descended to a certain lady named Sibylla. It had come down to her as
the descendant and heir of a very celebrated crusader named Godfrey of
Bouillon, who was the first king of Jerusalem. He became King of
Jerusalem by having headed the army of Crusaders that first conquered
it from the Saracens. This was about a hundred years before the time
of the taking of Acre. The knights and generals of his army elected
him King of Jerusalem a short time after he had taken it, and the
title descended from him to Sibylla.
Sibylla was married to a famous knight named Guy of Lusignan, and he
claimed the title of King of Jerusalem in right of his wife. This
claim was acknowledged by the rest of the Crusaders so long as Sibylla
lived, but at length she died, and then many persons maintained that
the crown descended to her sister Isabella. Isabella was married to a
knight named Humphrey of Huron, who had not strength or resolution
enough to assert his claims. Indeed, he had the reputation of being a
weak and timid man. Accordingly, another knight, named Conrad of
Montferrat, conceived the idea of taking his place. He contrived to
seize and bear away the Lady Isabella, and afterward to procure a
divorce for her from her husband, and then, finally, he married her
himself. He now claimed to be King of Jerusalem in right of Isabella,
while Guy of Lusignan maintained that his right to the crown still
continued. This was a nice question to be settled by such a rude horde
of fighting men as these Crusaders were, and some took one side of it
and some the other, according as their various ideas on the subject of
rights of succession or their personal partialities inclined them.
Now it happened that Philip and Richard had early taken opposite sides
in respect to this affair, as indeed they did on almost every other
subject that came before them. Guy of Lusignan had gone to visit
Richard while he was in Cyprus, and there, having had the field all to
himself, had told his story in such a way, and also made such
proposals and promises, as to enlist Richard in his favor. Richard
there agreed that he would take Guy's part in the controversy, and he
furnished him with a sum of money at that time to relieve his
immediate necessities. He did this with a view of securing Guy, as one
of his partisans and adherents, in any future difficulties in which he
might be involved in the course of the campaign.
On the other hand, when Philip arrived at Acre, which it will be
recollected was some time before Richard came, the friends and
partisans of Conrad, who were there, at once proceeded to lay Conrad's
case before him, and they so far succeeded as to lead Philip to commit
himself on that side. Thus the foundation of a quarrel on this
subject was laid before Richard landed. The quarrel was kept down,
however, during the progress of the siege, but when at length the town
was taken it broke out anew, and the whole body of the Crusaders
became greatly agitated with it. At length some sort of compromise was
effected, or at least what was called a compromise, but really, so far
as the substantial interests involved were concerned, Richard had it
all his own way. This affair still further alienated Philip's mind
from his ally, and made him more desirous than ever to abandon the
enterprise and return home.
Accordingly, after the two kings had been established in Acre a short
time, Philip announced that he was sick, and unable any longer to
prosecute the war in person, and that he was intending to return home.
When this was announced to Richard, he exclaimed,
"Shame on him! eternal shame! and on all his kingdom, if he goes off
and abandons us now before the work is done."
The work which Richard meant to have done was the complete recovery of
the Holy Land from the possession of the Saracens. The taking of Acre
was a great step, but, after all, it was only a beginning. The army
of the allies was now to march into the interior of the country to
pursue Saladin, in hopes of conquering him in a general battle, and so
at length gaining possession of the whole country and recovering
Jerusalem. Richard, therefore, was very indignant with Philip for
being disposed to abandon the enterprise while the work to be
accomplished was only just begun.
There was another reason why Richard was alarmed at the idea of
Philip's returning home.
"He will take advantage of my absence," said he, "and invade my
dominions, and so, when I return, I shall find that I have been robbed
of half my provinces."
So Richard did all he could to dissuade Philip from returning; but at
length, finding that he could produce no impression on his mind, he
yielded, and gave a sort of surly consent to the arrangement. "Let him
go," said he, "if he will. Poor man! He is sick, he says, and I
suppose he thinks he can not live unless he can see Paris again."
Richard insisted, however, that if Philip went he should leave his
army behind, or, at least, a large portion of it; so Philip agreed to
leave ten thousand men. These men were to be under the command of the
Duke of Burgundy, one of Philip's most distinguished nobles. The duke,
however, himself was to be subject to the orders of Richard.
Richard also exacted of Philip a solemn oath, that when he had
returned to France he would not, in any way, molest or invade any of
his--that is, Richard's--possessions, or make war against any of his
vassals or allies. This agreement was to continue in force, and to be
binding upon Philip until forty days after Richard should have himself
returned from the Crusade.
These things being all thus arranged, Philip began to make his
preparations openly for embarking on his voyage home. The knights and
barons, and indeed the whole body of the army, considered Philip's
leaving them as a very culpable abandonment of the enterprise, and
they crowded around the place of embarkation when he went on board his
vessel, and manifested their displeasure with ill-suppressed hisses
and groans.
* * * * *
The time which had been fixed upon for Saladin to comply with the
stipulations of the surrender was forty days, and this period was now,
after Philip had gone, drawing rapidly to a close. Saladin found that
he could not fulfill the conditions to which he had agreed. As the day
approached he made various excuses and apologies to Richard, and he
also sent him a number of costly presents, hoping, perhaps, in that
way to propitiate his favor, and prevent his insisting on the
execution of the dreadful penalty which had been agreed upon in case
of default, namely, the slaughter of the five thousand hostages which
had been left in his hands.
The time at last expired, and the treaty had not been fulfilled.
Richard, without waiting even a day, determined that the hostages
should be slain. A rumor was set in circulation that Saladin had put
to death all his Christian prisoners. This rumor was false, but it
served its purpose of exasperating the minds of the Crusaders, so as
to bring the soldiers up well to the necessary pitch of ferocity for
executing so terrible a work. The slaughter of five thousand
defenseless and unresisting men, in cold blood, is a very hard work
for even soldiers to perform, and if such a work is to be done, it is
always necessary to contrive some means of heating the blood of the
executioners in order to insure the accomplishment of it. In this
case, the rumor that Saladin had murdered his Christian prisoners was
more than sufficient. It wrought up the allied army to such a phrensy
that the soldiers assembled in crowds, and riotously demanded that the
Saracen prisoners should be given up to them, in order that they might
have their revenge.
Accordingly, at the appointed time, Richard gave the command, and the
whole body of the prisoners were brought out, and conducted to the
plain beyond the lines of the encampment. A few were reserved. These
were persons of rank and consideration, who were to be saved in hopes
that they might have wealthy friends at home who would pay money to
ransom them. The rest were divided into two portions, one of which was
committed to the charge of the Duke of Burgundy, and the other Richard
led himself. The dreadful processions formed by these wretched men
were followed by the excited soldiery that were to act as their
executioners, who came crowding on in throngs, waving their swords,
and filling the air with their ferocious threats and imprecations, and
exulting in the prospect of having absolutely their fill of the
pleasure of killing men, without any danger to themselves to mar the
enjoyment of it.
The massacre was carried into effect in the fullest possible manner;
and after the men were killed, the Christians occupied themselves in
cutting open their bodies to find jewels and other articles of value,
which they pretended that the poor captives had swallowed in order to
hide them from their enemies.
Instead of being ashamed of this deed, Richard gloried in it. He
considered it a wonderful proof of his zeal for the cause of Christ.
The writers of the time praised it. The Saracens, they maintained,
were the enemies of God, and whoever slew them did God service. One of
the historians of the time says that angels from heaven appeared to
Richard at the time, and urged him to persevere to the end, crying
aloud to him while the massacre was going on, "Kill! kill! Spare them
not!"
It seems to us at the present day most amazing that the minds of men
could possibly be so perverted as to think that in performing such
deeds as this they were sustaining the cause of the meek and gentle
Jesus of Nazareth, and were the objects of approval and favor with
God, the common father of us all, who has declared that he has made of
one blood all the nations of the earth, to live together in peace and
unity.