One of the imminent arrivals was Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, known as Barbarossa. His reputation boosted the morale of those at Acre, but also motivated Saladin to call for many more soldiers to join him. Unfortunately for all concerned, Frederick drowned while taking a shortcut across the Saleph River in southern Turkey (see illustration), never making it to Acre. Two-thirds of his army returned home. The rest followed Frederick's son, Frederick IV of Swabia, to Acre. (They carried the body with them, intending for Barbarossa to be interred in Jerusalem. Preservation attempts with vinegar failed, and he was buried in Antioch.)
In the last days of October, a fleet of Muslim ships broke the Christian ships blockading the harbor to print Muslim reinforcements reaching Acre. Weapons, food, and 10,000 Muslims entered Acre from the sea. An Egyptian fleet arrived in mid-December, reinforcing the ships to prevent Christian ships from attacking from the sea.
Conrad of Montferrat sailed back to Tyre to bring back food and supplies for the Crusade army. He also brought materials to build siege machines.
Saladin added to his army over the months of winter, and attacked the Crusaders on 20 May 1190. The Crusaders resisted for eight days until finally Saladin's forces retreated.
During the summer, numerous nobles from Europe arrived with more men and supplies. Unfortunately, Saladin's forces had them almost completely surrounded, making further supplies and food scarce. An attack by some restless Christian soldiers against the orders of the leaders failed. Louis of Thuringia contracted malaria, and headed home only to die in Cyprus. Between July and October Queen Sibylla died a few days after her daughters died. Guy, only King of Jerusalem through marriage to the rightful heir Sibylla, lost his claim to the throne, but refused to step aside for the next in line, Sibylla's younger sister, Isabella of Jerusalem.
Isabella's marriage was an issue, since she was now Queen of Jerusalem and her husband would be its king. She was already married, but her current husband as considered not the ideal person to be king, and so in the midst of the Siege of Acre there was some political meddling. We'll look at that tomorrow.
