Isabella I of Jerusalem

With the death of Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem during the Siege of Acre, her husband, Guy of Lusignan, lost his claim to the throne and the succession fell to Sibylla's younger sister, Isabella, currently in her late teens. Just as the leaders of Jerusalem objected to Guy's marriage to Sibylla, Isabella's husband was not considered the proper person to become King of Jerusalem simply by his marriage to the rightful queen.

Humphrey IV of Toron was a leading baron of Jerusalem. He and Isabella married in 1183 (the illustration shows the two being betrothed by Baldwin IV), and Humphrey gave Toron to King Baldwin IV (Isabella's half-brother) at the time. The other barons of Jerusalem were willing to give Humphrey and Isabella the opportunity to become king and queen after the death of Baldwin V because they did not want Guy on the throne, but the young married couple chose instead to pay homage to Sibylla and Guy.

Now, in the midst of an ongoing conflict with Saladin, an experienced military leader would be ideal as the new King of Jerusalem, and Humphrey did not fit the bill. There was someone who already wanted th throne, and was a tried and true military leader: Conrad of Montferrat. Isabella's step-mother, Maria Comnena—also the result of the nobles forcing someone to annul their marriage if they wanted to rule—supported the idea of Conrad marrying Isabella. Humphrey, she felt, had prevented Isabella from becoming queen once, and Maria was happy to see him out of the family.

Maria swore before a papal legate, Archbishop Ubaldo of Pisa, that Isabella's betrothal at the age of eight was against her consent and the marriage should be annulled. Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem deferred the matter to Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury. Baldwin would not support the annulment, saying that Conrad and Isabella would be guilty of adultery. On the other hand, Archbishop Ubaldo supported the annulment after some concessions to Pisa were made.

Isabella made it clear that Humphrey (of whom she seemed fond) should not lose everything, and the lordship of Toron was restored to him. Isabella and Conrad were married on 24 November 1190. Conrad took her back to Tyre. Guy stayed at Acre. Guy refused to concede the kingship. What they needed was to gather more of the nobles of Europe and have the matter adjudicated by a gathering of peers.

Fortunately, more of the heads of Europe were on their way. We'll see how things went next time.

The Siege of Acre, Part 3

So King of Jerusalem Guy of Lusignan was camped at Acre, ready to besiege the city and take control of it as a base for future conflict against Saladin, who was trying to consolidate the Middle East under his caliphate and re-take lands held by Christians after the First and Second Crusades.

With Guy were others: French and Flemish soldiers, Germans under the Landgrave of Thuringia Louis III, Italians under the Archbishop of Ravenna, and Armenian troops under Leo II of Cilicia. Although Conrad of Montferrat was against the attack and stayed in Tyre, he was convinced by Louis III (his mother's cousin) to attend and bring troops. (William II of Sicily died around this time, and his ships left.)

Saladin learned about the army massing at Acre and marched to counter them, with an initial unsuccessful attack on 15 September 1189.

Saladin attacked again on 4 October, from east of the city. He was dealing with a Crusader army of 30,000 infantry and 2,000 knights. The Christians also had 100 ships blockading Acre from the sea to prevent reinforcements. In the first fighting, Crusader crossbowmen "softened" the enemy up. Templars attacking Saladin's east flank (see illustration) were so effective that the Muslims drew men from other parts of the field. Crusaders followed the Muslims, attacking relentlessly. Much of Saladin's army started to retreat.

The Crusaders, however, decided that plunder was more important than pursuit. They started collecting weapons and items from the bodies on the field. When Saladin saw this, he brought his men together and had his cavalry pursue the Crusaders who were retreating to camp, laden with booty. Crusaders were being killed until the soldiers still in camp in front of Acre, guarding against troops coming from Acre to help Saladin, left camp and countered Saladin's cavalry.

The garrison at Acre saw that they were no longer contained, and surged out the gates to attack the Crusaders from behind. Many Templars were killed, including Grandmaster Gerard de Ridefort. Conrad became surrounded and was rescued by the efforts of Guy. The Crusaders lost up to half their men, but Saladin was stopped.

That autumn, more Crusaders arrived, with men and supplies. We'll continue tomorrow.

The Siege of Acre, Part 2

A couple weeks ago I mentioned the events that led to Saladin coming to power in Egypt. From there he had two choices: stay in Egypt and try to bring the entire country under his control, or try to surpass all the other Muslim rulers in the Eastern Mediterranean. Ten years later he was making good on the second goal, one milestone being the Battle of Hattin, in which he defeated the largest army the Kingdom of Jerusalem had ever put together under the command of King of Jerusalem Guy of Lusignan. Guy was captured during Hattin.

Jerusalem after a five-day siege fell to Saladin. Pope Urban III died on 19 October 1187, supposedly of sadness that Jerusalem was lost. Pope Gregory VIII proposed a new venture that would become the Third Crusade.

Saladin was unable to conquer Tyre, which was held by Conrad of Montferrat. Saladin tried to negotiate rather than fight when he saw that reinforcements from Europe were arriving to aid Conrad. As part of negotiation, Saladin released Guy, but Conrad would not allow Guy to enter Tyre;:everyone blamed Guy for mismanaging the defeat at Hattin. (Also, Conrad was the closest male relative to Baldwin V of Jerusalem and saw himself as the man who should be King of Jerusalem instead.)

Saladin left Tyre and turned his attention to Acre.

Acre was an important port city, and would be a natural target for Christians. Muslim records tell that they debated destroying the city to make it unusable versus reinforcing the defenses.

News of the loss of Jerusalem galvanized Christian leaders. In early 1188, reinforcements from Europe started arriving. William II of Sicily sent ships with 200 knights. The Archbishop of Pisa arrived with 52 ships. They contacted the King of Jerusalem, still camped outside of Tyre, and pledged to support him. Conrad still would not let Guy into Tyre.

Guy needed a city for a base, and Hattin had destroyed most of the fighting men from Jerusalem, but now Guy had allies from the Mediterranean—between 7000 and 9000 infantry and between 400 and 700 knights—so he decided to go to Acre (30 miles away in the south) to use it as his base against Saladin.

Saladin had left thousands of men in Acre, so this attack would not be easy. West and south of Acre was a sea wall; east was the only approach. Guy tried an attack on the walls that failed thanks to Saladin reinforcing it. Guy set up camp east of the city and waited for reinforcements from Europe.

A few days after setting up camp, reinforcements started to arrive. Things were looking up for Guy...or were they? We'll continue tomorrow.

Gerard de Ridefort

Gerard de Ridefort (that's his coat of arms to the left) is another of the many characters who has no known background recorded anywhere—we don't know his family, birthdate, education, whence he came—until he rose to prominence in some group. In this case, he barely appears in records in the service of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, and then is suddenly Marshal of the kingdom in October 1179.

It seems from the Chronicle of Ernoul that he was supposed to marry an heiress, Cécile Dorel, the niece of Raymond III of Tripoli. I told the story (in "The Power of Gold") of how he lost her because of 10,000 bezants. After that incident, Gerard fell ill for awhile, then swore off women and joined the Templars.

When Baldwin IV died and there was disagreement in the kingdom over the proper husband for the successor, Queen Sibylla, Raymond of Tripoli (and many others) felt her husband, Guy of Lusignan, was unsuitable, and a search in Europe was conducted to find someone else. Gerard, holding a grudge against Raymond, chose to support Guy as king.

After 1187, when the trip to Europe resulted in a donation from King Henry II of England to support the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land, Gerard took the money designated for the Templars and hired mercenaries to attack Saladin's son, al-Afdal, in the poorly planned Battle of Cresson. They were hopelessly outnumbered and Gerard was wounded. He was also one of the few that even survived.

That was in May. In July he led the Templars into the Battle of Hattin. Hattin was a disaster for the Christians. Saladin had taken the city of Tiberias. Gerard and others wanted to besiege it and take it back. Raymond's advice was to wait and let Saladin leave the strong-walled city to continue spreading his territory. Gerard wouldn't listen to Raymond and wound up on an undefended plain where they were surrounded and captured. Gerard was one of many prominent men taken hostage. Lower ranked Templars were executed.

Gerard was offered a deal by Saladin. If Gerard would convince a particular Templar fortress to simply surrender without fighting, Saladin would let Gerard go. Gerard agreed, then did the opposite: he went to Tortosa, a major port on the Syrian coast, and set up its defense. He seized more of the money that Henry II had donated to the Crusader cause (but not specifically given to the Templars). Conrad of Montferrat wrote a letter in September 1188 complaining about this.

Gerard used the money for more mercenaries. He and Guy went to the Siege of Acre, where Gerard was again taken hostage by Saladin. Saladin had little patience with someone who had broken his promise once already, and beheaded Gerard.

The Siege of Acre became a significant event in the history of the Crusades, and though mentioned has never been discussed in detail. We'll take a close look at it starting tomorrow.

Guy and Saladin

After the disastrous Battle of Hattin, when Guy of Lusignan overestimated his ability to counter Saladin's encroachment on territory controlled by Crusaders, Guy and a few of his noble companions were brought to Saladin's tent.

Mindful that Guy—however Saladin may have disagreed with his politics or presence in the Near East—was a king, Saladin treated him with respect. Saladin offered Guy a goblet of water, a sign that he was to be treated with hospitality as a guest. Guy tried to pass the goblet to his companion, Raynald of Châtillon, but Saladin stopped him, stating that Raynald was not being offered the same respect as a guest.

In the past, Raynald had provoked Saladin with military skirmishes against the Saracens at a time when the previous king of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, had made a truce with Saladin. Saladin now declared Raynald an oath-breaker, and would not treat him with respect. (Raynald had acted with Guy as well, at a time when Guy had been made regent on Baldwin's behalf, but Guy was now a king.)

Raynald haughtily replied to Saladin's accusation by saying "kings have always acted thus." Saladin offered him a chance to convert to Islam, but Raynald refused. Saladin took his sword and beheaded Raynald then and there. At the sight of the corpse, Guy went to his knees, but Saladin raised him up, assuring him that "A king does not kill a king." The illustration is by a 17th-century Dutch painter, Jan Lievens, showing the two men, a smiling Saladin and a downcast Guy in golden chains.)

This took place in 1187. Guy was taken prisoner, and his wife, Sibylla, was left to defend Jerusalem. Unfortunately, Jerusalem fell into Saladin's hands on 2 October. Sibylla begged Saladin to release her husband from prison, which he did. The two were rejoined and went to Tyre, the only city still controlled by Christians, thanks to the efforts of Conrad of Montferrat (Sibylla had been married to William of Montferrat, Conrad's older brother, who died years earlier from malaria).

Conrad refused the pair entry, so Guy camped outside the city awhile and later began the Siege of Acre, anticipating Richard the Lionheart's arrival with the Third Crusade. Unfortunately, Queen Sibylla and their two daughters died during an 1190 epidemic; with the queen's passing, Guy's claim to the kingship passed as well. There was another popular claimant for the throne, and Richard Lionheart weighed in as well, but before we get to that, I'd like to give Saladin some proper recognition. He has been a part of the blog for many posts, but we haven't looked at the man himself.

Next time...

To Kidnap a King

On his way back from the Third Crusade, King Richard I "Lionheart" of England was captured.

He had made many enemies in Europe. The Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos was one, because Richard annexed the island of Cyprus (a Byzantine possession). Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI was angered because Richard supported King Tancred of Sicily, who had usurped the position from its proper heiress, Henry's wife Constance. Leopold of Austria blamed Richard for the murder of Leopold's cousin, Conrad of Montferrat.

So when Richard's ship was wrecked near Aquileia and Richard had to travel over land to get back home, he passed through Vienna, enabling Leopold to capture him around Christmas 1192. Interfering with a Crusader was against papal decree, but Richard had also personally offended Leopold by getting rid of Leopold's banner on the walls of Acre, even though Leopold had been with him at the Siege of Acre. When word got out, Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold.

Word got back to England of Richard's captivity, but no one knew where he was being held. He was given over to Henry VI's care on 28 March 1193, who imprisoned him at Trifels Castle. Not only was Henry angered at Richard's previous actions, he also had a goal: conquering all of southern Italy. This required military might, and that required money. Holding a king for ransom was one sure way of acquiring funds.

Henry's status as Holy Roman Emperor made Celestine reluctant to excommunicate him. Richard's treatment was initially respectful, but Richard treated Henry with disdain. Henry convened a council to condemn Richard for the capture of Cyprus, the insult to Leopold, the death of Conrad, and making a truce with Saladin. Richard defended his actions, and explained his lack of respect for Henry's imperial title by saying "I am born in a rank which recognizes no superior but God."

Afterward, Richard was kept in chains "so heavy that a horse or ass would have struggled to move under them." Henry demanded a ransom of 150,000 marks (100,000 pounds of silver). Richard's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, now in her early 70s, took action, riding the country to raise funds and writing the pope about the horrible situation. A tax of 25% of the value of property was decreed against layman and all churches. Meanwhile, Richard's brother John and King Philip of France offered Henry 80,000 marks to keep Richard at least until Michaelmas 1194 (29 September in Europe).

Henry did something honorable and refused their offer. The ransom from England came through, and Richard was freed on 4 February 1194. (The illustration shows Richard kissing the feet of the emperor.) Upon his return to England he forgave John's actions and named John his heir (instead of their nephew Arthur, son of their brother Geoffrey).

And now for something completely different: Michaelmas. What was it about, and why did I have to specify "in Europe" above? I'll explain next time.

Assassins

The scholar Steven Runciman tells us of the founding of the group now known as the Assassins. A Persian called Hasan as-Sabah (1050s - 1124), a member of the Ismaili sect of Shi'ite Islam, founded it as a religious group. As a religious group, however, it lacked something:

Wherein exactly his teaching improved on the mystical and allegorical theology of the Ismaili is obscure. His outstanding achievement was more practical. It was to build up an Order, united in strict obedience to himself as Grand Master, which he used for political purposes. [History of the Crusades]

Their recorded actions were more political than spiritual, killing members of the Abbasid Caliphate. They racked up a good score, and also went after Europeans such as Count Raymond of Tripoli (the father of this gentleman), Conrad of Montferrat, Albert Avogadro the patriarch of Jerusalem (1149 - 1214), and they even stabbed (but didn't kill) the prince who would become Edward I of England.

They hid in the Daylam Mountains and were few in number, and so used subtlety to achieve their goals:

[They] were taught different languages, science, trade, philosophy, etc. so that they were able to infiltrate the ranks of their enemies. They didn’t always kill their intended target though, intimidation was often enough to make their enemy think twice. They often left daggers on the pillow of their target as they slept as a clear sign that they weren’t safe anywhere. [source]

In December 1253, the invading Mongol Empire attacked the Assassin stronghold, Alamut, in the mountains. The Assassins were driven out, and although they did return in 1275, their success was brief. They were driven out for good within months and dissolved as an organized group.

The Modern English word "assassin" comes from what they were called, Hashshashin. "Everyone knows" that they were called that because they consumed hashish before conducting their missions. If this were that common a practice for them, however, they might not have been able to operate effectively.

The term we find being applied to them is hashishiyya, used by a Fatimid caliph in 1122. The title is given with no definition. Later English speakers made the hashish connection, but this betrays an ignorance of Arabic. It is in fact a common derogatory  term, and can mean "low-class rabble" or "social outcasts."

Conrad of Montferrat

[source]

On 28 April in 1192, Conrad of Montferrat was assassinated.

Conrad was an interesting character, a well-born European caught up in the fervor of one of his era's greatest pastimes: to occupy the Holy Land. At one point in his career, while he held the city of Tyre, Saladin appeared outside the walls with Conrad's father, the captured William V of Montferrat.* Saladin made an offer: surrender Tyre and Saladin would give up William and be very generous to Conrad. Supposedly, Conrad aimed his crossbow at his father, claiming that William had already lived a long life. Saladin was not that harsh a man: shocked, he commented "This man is an unbeliever and very cruel." and moved William out of harm's way. (William was released a year later.)

Conrad's leadership was not admired by all Europeans. Conrad's later position as King of Jerusalem was contested by the supporters of Guy of Lusignan, who included King Richard of England. Conrad was supported by Philip II of France (a childhood rival of Richard's), and Leopold V of Austria—a name well-known to those familiar with Richard's story: Leopold is the one who imprisoned Richard later, when Richard tried to return to England.

All the details of the political debate are not important here; suffice it to say that Conrad's disputed kingship was finally put to a vote, and the barons chose him over Guy. Two days later, however, he was attacked by two assassins. Guards killed one and captured the other, who claimed under torture that he was hired by Richard. Historians have other suspects for the hiring as well. Whomever hired them, however, the fact remains: this is one of the earliest references to a European dying at the hands of the Hashshashin, the group from which we derive the modern English "assassin". But you might not know what you think you know about them, and we will look into that tomorrow.

*William of Montferrat is well-known to 21st century computer gamers as one of the nine Templars in the game Assassin's Creed.