Richard and Saladin cut a deal. Brother John causing trouble back home
To many a crusader, the aim of the sojourn was Jerusalem or bust!
Now with an overwhelming, unbearable sense of disgust!
They saw their noble ambition turn as to dust!
Richard and the crusaders were clearly distraught that their endeavour to liberate the sacred city of Zion had ended in failure. In the first instance Richard decided to retreat from Jerusalem in July of 1192. However, there were further hostilities and these actually showed Richard’s military acumen at its very best.
On July 31st, Saladin attacked Jaffa and the garrison were beaten back into the city’s legendary citidel. Richard decided to break the siege by dividing his army into two. He would lead a contingent by sea, while the rest would march and meet at Jaffa. Approaching Jaffa on his galley, Richard was horrified at what he saw and stood dumbstruck with mortification. The Saracens were attacking the citadel and the besieged Christians appeared on the brink of defeat. It was clear that the Saracens heavily outnumbered the crusader army, who desperately attempted to stave off the onslaught. Standing on the command galley, the Lionheart was engulfed with feelings of abject despair. The crusader fleet sat still on the waters as the King contemplated the situation.
The priest seeing the King’s ship leapt from the city wall and into the sea!
Reaching Richard, he advised that prompt action would cause the Saracens to turn and flee!
The priest before he decided to take the plunge.
Richard took the plucky prelate’s advice and without further ado proceeded into the harbour. As the galley approached the port, Richard was the very first to jump ashore. Roaring like a lion, Richard sword in hand, led his men to the fray and the Saracens did just what the priest predicted they would. They turned tail, ran and kept running until they reached safety, a good many miles inland.
The huge Saracen army appeared to be a force that would be almost impossible to beat!
However the Lionheart would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!
His retaking of Jaffa with breakneck speed, would be remembered by all as no mean feat!
Both sides realised that the crusader victory at Jaffa had created a situation of stalemate. There was no alternative but to negotiate, and a rather lengthy and torturous period of consultation was embarked upon. For Richard there was an additional reason for wishing to arrange a treaty. He had heard that his younger brother John and King Philip Augustus were plotting against him in both England and France.
Crusaders and Saracens confer.
On September 2nd a peace treaty between the two sides was agreed upon. The settlement was in fact a victory for Saladin because he was to keep Jerusalem, but there were concessions. Saladin would allow Christian pilgrims to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other holy sites.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The crusaders would retain control of Acre and Jaffa as well as the coastal route connecting the two cities. It is said that it is easy to be magnanimous in victory and the Sultan was most certainly that. Saladin invited Richard to visit the city as his honoured guest but the Lionheart declined this generous courtesy. Richard must have harboured an interest in meeting Saladin, who was his most enigmatic and able of adversaries, but curiosity has its limits. The Lionheart had come to Palestine to recover Jerusalem for Christendom, but the venture had failed, the Third Crusade was no more.
If Richard could not enter Zion as liberator he would not step inside its hallowed gates as a mere visitor. Richard’s spirits were understandably at their very lowest possible ebb as summer gave way to autumn. His great Lion’s heart was on the verge of breaking, as he reflected upon the high hopes, the back-breaking labour and the enormous sacrifices that had characterised the Third Crusade from its inception in the heady days of 1190.
A fourteenth century illustration depicting Richard and Saladin in battle. But of course, the two leaders never actually met.
In October of 1192, the Lionheart, who had arrived with a large army on a fleet of 200 ships sailed from Palestine on a single vessel. His departure was undoubtedly a muted affair and in truth he left not so much with an almighty roar but perhaps with more of a sorrowful sigh. Nonetheless Richard’s time in Palestine showed him at his most magnificent! Indeed it was in the smallest of ways that the Lionheart’s magnificence came to the fore.
The great Lionheart was always prepared to play his part!
He would willingly discard his fine attire!
Enthusiastically and happily descending into the dusty mire!
To his men, he was now simply regal Rick,
Who energetically worked alongside them rebuilding defences brick by brick!
Who could forget how, when the fortifications required rebuilding, Richard donned the labourers humble tunic and personally helped rebuild the walls. The memory of him standing bare chested in the searing heat, tool in one hand and stone in the other as he toiled with his men, accepting no preferential treatment from the overseers.
Did a crown adorn this royal head? Yea! Nay! Only the same beads of sweat that emanated from the pores of the assembled ranks of enlisted men who toiled beside the Lionheart under the unforgiving, unrelenting sun. The meagre fare that was doled out to the common soldiers was gladly accepted by Richard as he hunkered down beside them in a rare moment of respite from the punishing, almost debilitating labour. The spittle laced jugs of dark, stagnant water passed from mouth to mouth were gratefully received, as were the concrete textured, enamel challenging loaves of bread offered as a means of sustenance.
The besieged Christians at Acre on the brink of catastrophic defeat just months before would always remember that despite being heavily outnumbered, he came to their aid and routed the Muslim forces. This act of heroism and tactical skill saved their lives and secured the port for Christendom. They would be forever in the Lionheart’s debt.
However this was all now in the past, but of course memories live on; as God be merciful, so they should. On this particular day the inevitable, painful moment of departure from the Holy Land beckoned. Richard left Palestine for the first and last time.
The Third Crusade at sunset.