The Siege of Acre, Part 7

Richard I of England was now the leader of the Crusader force, and it was his responsibility to manage the final terms of surrender of the city of Acre. The Muslim garrison had been incarcerated, and Saladin needed to pay ransoms for them. Alsop, Christians taken prisoner by Saladin needed to be returned. Meanwhile, Richard's people began repairing the walls.

On 11 August the first exchange was to be made, with Saladin bringing money and Crusaders. Richard crated a problem by complaining that there were prisoners of Saladin that were not included. On the 20th, unhappy with delays, Richard executed 2700 of his Muslim prisoners, excluding the nobles for which he could get higher ransoms from Saladin.

When Saladin learned of this, he killed all the Christian captives. Of course there was a complete breakdown of any negotiations. Richard decided the goal was to re-take Jerusalem, and the next step for him was to take over the important port city of Jaffa. He left Acre in the hands of crusaders Bertram de Verdun and Stephen Longchamp and took the army south toward Jaffa.

Saladin followed, catching up on 7 September and leading to the Battle of Arsuf which was related here and here. Arsuf turned out to be disastrous for Saladin's army and his reputation. Richard headed toward Jerusalem after securing Jaffa. Saladin proceeded to slight fortresses in Gaza and Ascalon.

(Slighting was the deliberate destruction of a structure to reduce their usefulness to an enemy. Robert the Bruce slighted English castles after taking them over.King John of England destroyed the Château de Montrésor in France during his French war. During the Crusading period, many Muslim leaders slighted fortified places to prevent their use as secure bases for the invading Christians.)

Since the Siege of Acre has been our focus, and that is over, let's turn back to the question that arose during the event: the rightful King of Jerusalem. Guy of Lusignan was only king suo jure (by right of marriage) to Queen Sibylla. With her death, her younger sister Isabella became queen. Isabella's marriage to Humphrey of Toron as annulled and she was married to Conrad of Montferrat, who took her back to Tyre to keep her safe (and probably to secure the succession by begetting an heir). It was time to settle the matter of the rightful King of Jerusalem. We'll look at that tomorrow.