THE BATTLE OF JAFFA.
1192
The battle of Jaffa.--Richard gives the army
employment.--Uncomfortable news from England.--Richard's
resolution.--Account of the country through which the army
marched.--The approach to Jerusalem.--Hebron.--The prize in
sight.--Saladin strongly established in Jerusalem.--Richard's
self-reproaches.--A new expedient.--The proposed march upon
Cairo.--The hopeless condition of the army.--Saladin at
Jaffa.--Richard's measures to succor Jaffa.--His fleet arrives
there.--Landing.--The onset upon the Saracens.--Jaffa
retaken.--Both sides awaiting assistance.--The Saracens
defeated.--The story of Saladin's present of horses to his
enemy.--The romantic story of the treacherous gift.
When, at last, the state of Richard's affairs had been reduced, by the
causes mentioned in the last chapter, to a very low ebb, he suddenly
succeeded in greatly improving them by a battle. This battle is known
in history as the battle of Jaffa. It was fought in the early part of
the summer of 1192.
As soon as he had issued his proclamation declaring to his soldiers
that he would positively remain in Palestine for a year, he began to
make preparations for another campaign. The best way, he thought, to
prevent the army from wasting away its energies in internal conflicts
between the different divisions of it was to give those energies
employment against the common enemy; so he put every thing in motion
for a new march into the interior. He left garrisons in the cities of
the coast, sufficient, as he judged, to protect them from any force
which the Saracens were likely to send against them in his absence,
and forming the remainder in order of march, he set out from his
head-quarters at Jaffa, and began to advance once more toward
Jerusalem.
Of course, this movement revived, in some degree, the spirit of his
army, and awakened in them new hopes. Still, Richard himself was
extremely uneasy, and his mind was filled with solicitude and anxiety.
Messengers were continually coming from Europe with intelligence which
was growing more and more alarming at every arrival. His brother John,
they said, in England, was forming schemes to take possession of the
kingdom in his own name. In France, Philip was invading his Norman
provinces, and was evidently preparing for still greater aggression.
He must return soon, his mother wrote him, or he would lose all. Of
course, he was in a great rage at what he called the treachery of
Philip and John, and burned to get back and make them feel his
vengeance. But he was so tied up with the embarrassments and
difficulties that he was surrounded with in the Holy Land, that he
thought it absolutely necessary to make a desperate effort to strike
at least one decisive blow before he could possibly leave his army,
and it was in this desperate state of mind that he set out upon his
march. It was near the end of May.
The army advanced for several days. They met with not much direct
opposition from the Saracens, for Saladin had withdrawn to Jerusalem,
and was employed in strengthening the fortifications there, and making
every thing ready for Richard's approach. But the difficulties which
they encountered from other causes, and the sufferings of the army in
consequence of them, were terrible. The country was dry and barren,
and the weather hot and unhealthy. The soldiers fell sick in great
numbers, and those that were well suffered extremely from thirst and
other privations incident to a march of many days through such a
country in such a season. There were no trees or shelter of any kind
to protect them from the scorching rays of the sun, and scarcely any
water to be found to quench their thirst. The streams were very few,
and all the wells that could be found were soon drunk dry. Then there
was great difficulty in respect to provisions. A sufficient supply for
so many thousands could not be brought up from the coast, and all that
the country itself had produced--which was, in fact, very little--was
carried away by the Saracens as Richard advanced. Thus the army found
itself environed with great difficulties, and before many days it was
reduced to a condition of actual distress.
The expedition succeeded, however, in advancing to the immediate
vicinity of Jerusalem. Early in June they encamped at Hebron, which is
about six miles from Jerusalem, toward the south. Here they halted;
and Richard remained here some days, weighed down with perplexity and
distress, and extremely harassed in mind, being wholly unable to
decide what was best to be done.
From a hill in the neighborhood of Hebron Jerusalem was in sight.
There lay the prize which he had so long been striving to obtain, all
before him, and yet he was utterly powerless to take it. For this he
had been manoeuvring and planning for years. For this he had
exhausted all the resources of his empire, and had put to imminent
hazard all the rights and interests of the crown. For this he had left
his native land, and had brought on, by a voyage of three thousand
miles, all the fleets and armies of his kingdom; and now, with the
prize before him, and all Europe looking on to see him grasp it, his
hand had become powerless, and he must turn back, and go away as he
came.
Richard saw at once that it must be so; for while, on the one hand,
his army was well-nigh exhausted, and was reduced to a state of such
privation and distress as to make it nearly helpless, Saladin was
established in Jerusalem almost impregnably. While the divisions of
Richard's army had been quarreling with each other on the sea-coast,
he had been strengthening the walls and other defenses of the city,
until they were now more formidable than ever. Richard received
information, too, that all the wells and cisterns of water around the
city had been destroyed by the Saracens, so that, if they were to
advance to the walls and commence a siege, they would soon be obliged
to raise it, or perish there with thirst. So great was Richard's
distress of mind under these circumstances, that it is said, when he
was conducted to the hill from which Jerusalem was to be seen, he
could not bear to look at it. He held his shield up before his eyes to
shut out the sight of it, and said that he was not worthy to look upon
the city, since he had shown himself unable to redeem it.
There was a council of war held to consider what it was best to do. It
was a council of perplexity and despair. Nobody could tell what it
was best to do. To go back was disgrace. To go forward was
destruction; and it was impossible for them to remain where they were.
In his desperation Richard conceived of a new plan, that of marching
southward and seizing Cairo. The Saracens derived almost all the
stores of provisions for the use of their armies from Cairo, and
Hebron was on the road to it. The way was open for Richard's army to
march in that direction, and, by carrying this plan into execution,
they would, at least, get something to eat. Besides, it would be a
mode of withdrawing from Jerusalem that would not be quite a retreat.
Still, these reasons were wholly insufficient to justify such a
measure, and it is not probable that Richard seriously entertained the
plan. It is much more likely that he proposed the idea of a march upon
Cairo as a means of amusing the minds of his knights and soldiers, and
diminishing the extreme disappointment and vexation which they must
have felt in relinquishing the plan of an attack upon Jerusalem, and
that he intended, after proceeding a short distance on the way toward
Egypt, to find some pretext for turning down toward the sea-shore, and
re-establishing himself in his cities on the coast.
At any rate, whether it was the original plan or not, such was the
result. As soon as the encampment was broken up, and the army
commenced its march, and the troops learned that the hope of
recovering the Holy Sepulchre, and all the other lofty aspirations and
desires which had led them so far, and through so many hardships and
dangers, were now to be abandoned, they were first enraged, and then
they sank into a condition of utter recklessness and despair. All
discipline was at an end. No one seemed now to care what became of the
expedition or of themselves. The French soldiers, under the Duke of
Burgundy, revolted openly, and declared they would go no farther. The
troops from Germany joined them. So Richard gave up the plan, or
seemed to give it up, and gave orders to march to Acre; and there, at
last, the army arrived in a state of almost utter dissolution.
In a short time the news came to them that Saladin had followed them
down, and had seized upon Jaffa. He had taken the town, and shut up
the garrison in the citadel, whither they had fled for safety; and
tidings came that, unless Richard very soon came to the rescue, the
citadel would be compelled to surrender.
Richard immediately ordered that all the troops that were in a
condition to march should set out immediately, to proceed down the
coast from Acre to Jaffa. He himself, he said, would hasten on by sea,
for the wind was fair, and a part of his force, all that he had ships
enough in readiness to convey, could go much quicker by water than by
land, besides the advantage of being fresh on their arrival for an
attack on the enemy. So he assembled as many ships as could be got
ready, and embarked a select body of troops on board of them. There
were seven of the ships. He took the command of one of them himself.
The Duke of Burgundy, with the French troops under his command,
refused to go.
The little fleet set sail immediately and ran down the coast very
rapidly. When they came to Jaffa they found that the town was really
in possession of the Saracens, and that large bodies of the enemy were
assembled on the shore to prevent the landing of Richard's forces.
This array appeared so formidable that all the knights and officers on
board the ships urged Richard not to attempt to attack them, but to
wait until the body of the army should arrive by land.
But Richard was desperate and reckless. He declared that he _would_
land; and he uttered an awful imprecation against those who should
hesitate to follow him. He brought the boats up as near the shore as
possible, and then, with his battle-axe in his right hand, and his
shield hung about his neck, so as to have his left hand at liberty, he
leaped into the water, calling upon the rest to come on. They all
followed his example, and, as soon as they gained the shore, they made
a dreadful onset upon the Saracens that were gathered on the beach.
The Saracens were driven back. Richard made such havoc among them with
his battle-axe, and the men following him were made so resolute and
reckless by his example, that the ranks of the enemy were broken
through, and they fled in all directions.
Richard and his men then rushed on to the gates of the town, and
almost before the Saracens who were in possession of them could
recover from their surprise, the gates were seized, those who had been
stationed at them were slain or driven away, and then Richard and his
troops, rushing through, closed them, and the Saracens that were
within the town were shut in. They were soon all overpowered and
slain, and thus the possession of the town was recovered.
But this was not the end, as Richard and his men knew full well.
Though they had possession of the town itself, they were surrounded by
a great army of Saracens, that were hovering around them on the plain,
and rapidly increasing in numbers; for Saladin had sent orders to the
interior directing all possible assistance to be sent to him. Richard
himself, on the other hand, was hourly expecting the arrival of the
main body of his troops by land.
They arrived the next day, and then came on the great contest.
Richard's troops, on their arrival, attacked the Saracens from
without, while he himself, issuing from the gates, assaulted them from
the side next the town. The Crusaders fought with the utmost
desperation. They knew very well that it was the crisis of their fate.
To lose that battle was to lose all. The Saracens, on the other hand,
were not under any such urgent pressure. If overpowered, they could
retire again to the mountains, and be as secure as before.
They _were_ overpowered. The battle was fought long and obstinately,
but at length Richard was victorious, and the Saracens were driven off
the ground.
[Illustration: SALADIN'S PRESENT.]
Various accounts are given by the different writers who have
narrated the history of this crusade, of a present of a horse made by
Saladin to Richard in the course of the war, and the incident has been
often commented upon as an evidence of the high and generous
sentiments which animated the combatants in this terrible crusade in
their personal feelings toward each other. One of the stories makes
the case an incident of this battle. The Saracens, flying from the
field, came to Saladin, who was watching the contest, and, in
conversation with him, they pointed out Richard, who was standing
among his knights on a small rising ground.
"Why, he is on foot!" exclaimed Saladin. Richard _was_ on foot. His
favorite charger, Favelle, was killed under him that morning, and as
he had come from Acre in haste and by sea, there was no other horse at
hand to supply his place.
Saladin immediately said that that was not as it should be. "The King
of England," said he, "should not fight on foot like a common
soldier." He immediately sent over to Richard, with a flag of truce,
two splendid horses. King Richard accepted the present, and during the
remainder of the day he fought on one of the horses which his enemy
had thus sent him.
One account adds a romantic embellishment to this story by saying that
Saladin sent only one horse at first--the one that he supposed most
worthy of being sent as a gift from one sovereign to another; but that
Richard, before mounting him himself, directed one of his knights to
mount him and give him trial. The knight found the horse wholly
unmanageable. The animal took the bits between his teeth and galloped
furiously back to the camp of Saladin, carrying his rider with him, a
helpless prisoner. Saladin was exceedingly chagrined at this result;
he was afraid Richard might suppose that he sent him an unruly horse
from a treacherous design to do him some injury. He accordingly
received the knight who had been borne so unwillingly to his camp in
the most courteous manner, and providing another horse for him, he
dismissed him with presents. He also sent a second horse to Richard,
more beautiful than the first, and one which he caused Richard to be
assured that he might rely upon as perfectly well trained.