The Third Crusade – 4

Today’s installment concludes The Third Crusade,
our selection by Henry Von Sybel.

If you have journeyed through all of the installments of this series, just one more to go and you will have completed a selection from the great works of four thousand words. Congratulations!

Previously in The Third Crusade.

Time: 1189-1194
Place: Palestine

Meanwhile Conrad of Montferrat had placed himself in communication with Saladin, proposed to him point-blank an alliance against Richard and by his prudent and consistent conduct daily grew in favor with the Sultan. The Christian camp, on the other hand, was filled with ever-increasing discord; and the difference between Richard and Conrad reached such a height that the Marquis went back to Ptolemais and regularly besieged the Pisans, who were friendly to the English. Into such a miserable state of confusion had the great European enterprise fallen for want of a good leader and an adequate object.

In April news came from England that the King’s brother, John, was in open rebellion against him and in alliance with France; whereupon Richard, greatly alarmed, informed the barons that he must prepare for his departure and that they must definitively choose between Guy and Conrad as their future ruler. To his great disappointment, the actual necessities of the case triumphed over all party divisions and all voted for Conrad, as the only able and fitting ruler in the country. Nothing remained for Richard but to accede to their wishes and as a last act of favor toward Guy, to bestow upon him the crown of Cyprus. Conrad did not delay one moment signing the treaty with Saladin and the Sultan left the new King in possession of the whole line of coast taken by the crusaders and also ceded to him Jerusalem, where, however, he was to allow a Turkish mosque to exist; the other towns of the interior were then to be divided between the two sovereigns.

What a conclusion to a war in which the whole world had been engaged and had made such incalculable efforts! After the only competent leader had been snatched from the Christians by an angry fate, the weakness and desultoriness of the others had destroyed the fruits of conquest. The host of devout pilgrims had beheld Jerusalem from Baitnuba and had then been obliged to turn their backs upon the holy spot in impotent grief. Suddenly a nameless, bold and cunning prince made his appearance in this great war between the two religions in the world, a man indifferent to religion or morality, who knew no other motive than selfishness but who followed that with vigor and consistency and had already stretched forth his hand to grasp the crown of the Holy Sepulchre.

But on the 28th of April Conrad was murdered by two Saracen assassins; many said, at King Richard’s instigation but more affirmed it was by the order of the Old Man of the Mountain, the head of a fanatical sect in Lebanon. Everything was again unsettled by this event. The Syrian barons instantly elected Count Henry of Champagne as their king; five days after Conrad’s death he married his widow Eliza and was perfectly ready to succeed to Conrad’s alliance with Saladin, as well as to his wife. But King Richard, with his usual thoughtlessness, allowed the scandalous marriage but prevented the reasonable diplomatic arrangement. As he had a certain liking for Henry, who was his nephew, he wished to conquer a few more provinces for him in a hurry and to win some fresh laurels for himself at the same time; and accordingly began the war anew against Saladin. A Turkish fortress was taken, when more evil tidings arrived from England and Richard announced that he could not remain a moment longer. The barons broke out in a general cry of indignation that he who had plunged them into danger should forsake them in the midst of it and once more the vacillating King allowed himself to be diverted from his purpose. Again the Christians remained long inactive at Baitnuba, not daring to attack the city.

The ultimate reason for this delay was illustrative of the state of things. The leaders knew that the great mass of pilgrims would disperse as soon as their vows were fulfilled by the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre; this would seal the destruction of the Frankish rule in Syria, should it happen before the treaty of peace with Saladin was concluded. Thus the ostensible object of the crusade could not be achieved without ruining Christianity in the East. It is impossible to give a stronger illustration of the hopelessness and internal conflict of all their views and endeavors at that time. They at last turned back disheartened to Ramla, where they were startled by the news that Saladin had unexpectedly assumed the offensive, attacked the important seaport town of Jaffa and was probably already in possession of it.

Richard’s warlike impetuosity once more burst forth. With a handful of followers he put to sea and hastened to Jaffa. When he came in sight of the harbor, the Turks were already inside the town, plundering in every direction and assailing the last remains of the garrison. After a short reconnoitre Richard drove his vessel on shore, rushed with an echoing war-cry into the midst of the enemy’s superior force and by his mighty blows actually drove the Turks in terror and confusion out of the place. On the following day he encamped with contemptuous insolence outside the gates with a few hundred horsemen, when he was suddenly attacked by as many thousands. In one instant he was armed, drove back the foremost assailants, clove a Turk’s head down to his shoulders and then rode along the wavering front of the enemy, from one wing to the other. “Now,” cried he, “who will dare a fight for the honor of God?” Henceforth his fame was such that, years after, Turkish mothers threatened their children with “King Richard is coming!” and Turkish riders asked their shying horses if “they saw the Lion-hearted King.”

But these knightly deeds did not advance the war at all. It was fortunate for the Franks that Saladin’s emirs were weary of the long strife and the Sultan himself wished for the termination of hostilities in consequence of his failing health. The favorable terms of the former treaty, more especially the possession of Jerusalem, were of course no longer to be obtained. The Christians were obliged to be content, on August 30, 1192, with a three-years’ armistice, according to which the sea-coast from Antioch to Joppa was to remain in the possession of the Christians and the Franks obtained permission to go to Jerusalem as unarmed pilgrims, to pray at the Holy Sepulchre. Richard embarked directly, without even taking measures for ransoming the prisoners.

As may easily be imagined, the Christians were deeply exasperated by such a peace; the Turks rejoiced and only Saladin looked forward with anxiety to the future and feared dangerous consequences from the duration of even the smallest Christian dominion in the East. The most active and friendly intercourse, rarely disturbed by suspicion, soon began between the two nations. On the very scene of the struggle mutual hatred had subsided, commercial relations were formed and political negotiations soon followed. In the place of the mystic trophy which was the object of the religious war, Europe had gained an immense extension of worldly knowledge and of wealth from the struggle of a hundred years.

This ends our series of passages on The Third Crusade by Henry Von Sybel. This blog features short and lengthy pieces on all aspects of our shared past. Here are selections from the great historians who may be forgotten (and whose work have fallen into public domain) as well as links to the most up-to-date developments in the field of history and of course, original material from yours truly, Jack Le Moine. – A little bit of everything historical is here.

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