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Essential Histories

The Crusades

Essential Histories

The Crusades

David Nicolle

© 2001 Osprey Publishing Limited

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Contents

Introduction

Chronology

Background to war

Christendom and Islam in the 11th century

Warring sides

Byzantines,Turks, Crusaders and Saracens

Outbreak

The First Crusade

The fighting

Crusade and jihad; consolidation of Islamic resistance

Portrait of a soldier

Brothers in arms; two crusaders; two fursan

The world around war

The impact of the Crusades on the Mediterranean and beyond

Portrait of a civilian

A saint, a lady, a scholar and a rabbi

How the war ended

The rise of the Mamluks and the fall of the Crusader State

Conclusion and consequences

The failure of an idea and the rebirth of Islamic expansionism

Further reading

Glossary

Index

7

11

12

18

23

29

55

60

73

76

81

89

91

94

Introduction

The Crusades were among the mostcontroversial events during a long rivalrybetween Christianity and Islam. FromPope Urban II's preaching of what becamethe First Crusade in 1095 to the fall of Acrein 1291, and the loss of the offshore islandof Arwad 11 years later, they formed part of abroader offensive by Western Christendom.This offensive began in the Iberian peninsulamuch earlier, since when Sicily had alsofallen to Norman adventurers from southernItaly while Italian mariners were winningnaval superiority throughout most of theMediterranean.

Before the First Crusade, competition inthe Middle East had largely been betweenthe Byzantine or Late Roman Empire and itsIslamic neighbours, but this had notinvolved continuous warfare. Peacefulrelations had been the norm, thoughinterrupted by many conflicts. It was thesudden arrival of more fanatical WesternChristians - the Crusaders or 'Franks' as theywere known in the Middle East - thatresulted in two centuries of military struggle.

Even today the Crusades and the Jihad'counter-Crusade' which they stimulated arestill seen in a different way by most WesternChristians, Orthodox Christians andMuslims. The historical reality of theCrusades was also more complex than thesimplistic views that are still used bypolitical, religious and cultural leadersin both East and West. As a result theCrusades and Jihad remained sources ofmisunderstanding and friction for morethan 700 years.

During the 12th and 13th centuries theCrusades were of greater historicalimportance for Christian Western Europethan for the Islamic world. This was a periodof growing confidence in Catholic or 'Latin'Western Europe as well as physical expansion

against Muslim, Orthodox Christian andpagan neighbours. Astonishing economicgrowth was accompanied by a major increasein population while the 12th-centuryRenaissance produced a burgeoning of art,architecture, literature and learning. Duringthe period of the Crusades Western Europealso learned a great deal from and about itsIslamic neighbours. New technology, crops,patterns of trade, trade-goods andphilosophical, medical, scientific andgeographical knowledge all poured into aWestern Europe eager to learn, exploit,dominate and conquer.

The significance of the Crusades for theOrthodox Christian Byzantine Empire, andfor Christian communities within the IslamicMiddle East, was almost entirely negative.Byzantium was economically and militarilyweakened by Western European pressure aswell as by the Muslim Turks. Some Christiancommunities in Syria, Egypt and elsewherestill formed the majority of the populationunder Islamic rule in the 11th century, butdeclined into harassed minorities by the14th century.

Within the Islamic world the Crusadeswere of only local significance in Syria,Egypt, Anatolia (modern Turkey) and to alesser extent Iraq. Elsewhere the Crusaderconquest of coastal Syria and Palestine wasdiscomforting, but of little immediateconcern to rulers and ordinary people.Certainly the Crusades were never seen as amortal threat to Islam. Nevertheless they andthe Jihad which they prompted underminedthe old culture of toleration which hadcharacterised the Middle East from the 7th tothe 11th centuries. The savagery, intoleranceand sheer ignorance shown by WesternEuropeans encouraged intolerance andconservatism among their victims, andamong the Sunni Muslim majority this was

8 Essential Histories • The Crusades

The Anglo-Saxons defeat the Danes, shown in anAnglo-Norman manuscript of c. 1125-50. Both armiesare equipped, mounted and fight in the Norman manneras fully armoured knights in close-packed conroissquadrons. (Life of St. Edmund. Pierpont Morgan Library.Ms. 736. f.7v. New York)

directed not only against Western European'barbarians' but also local Christians, Jewsand the Shi'a Muslim minority.

Meanwhile the Islamic Middle Easthad little to learn from the WesternEuropean 'Franks', who remained inferior inalmost all aspects of culture until the later13th and 14th centuries. By that time theIslamic world was rapidly retreating into acultural conservatism which made itvirtually impossible for Muslims to acceptlessons from the West. Two centuries of

Introduction 9

warfare had, however, created militarilypowerful states, the greatest of which wasthe Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria.These Mamluks halted the Mongolhordes, who had been a genuine threat toIslam, thus enabling Middle EasternIslamic civilisation to survive and thenabsorb its invaders. Meanwhile theMamluks also turned aside to mop up theremnants of the Crusader States.

The so-called Mihrab of the Prophet Sulayman (KingSolomon in Judeo-Christian terms) is in the Well of Souls,beneath the famous rock in the Dome of the RockJerusalem. As a mihrab it marks the direction of prayer forMuslims, many of whom believe that the souls of all the deadwill assemble in this little cave on Judgement Day. The mihrabitself is not only one of the oldest in existence, perhaps datingfrom at least three centuries before the arrival of the FirstCrusade, but is virtually unique in having a small piece ofmeteoric rock embedded in its centre, comparable to thelarger meteoric rock which is embedded in one corner ofthe Kaaba in Mecca. (David Nicolle photograph)

10 E

ssential Histories • T

he Crusades

The Mediterranean Sea

Chronology

1071 Byzantine army defeated by SeljukTurks at Manzikirt.

1081 Alexius I Comnenus becomes Emperorof Byzantium.

1092 Death of Seljuk ruler Malik Shah;fragmentation of the Great SeljukEmpire.

1095 Emperor Alexius I appeals to WesternEurope for military support; PopeUrban II preaches what becomes theFirst Crusade.

1096-99 First Crusade marches east,conquers Jerusalem and starts to carveout four Crusader States.

1101 Crusader army defeated by Turks inAnatolia.

1115 Crusaders defeat Saljuq attempt toretake northern Syria.

1128 Imad al-Din Zangi of Mosul takesAleppo.

1144 Edessa falls to Zangi.1146 Zangi succeeded by his son Nur al-Din.1148 Second Crusade defeated outside

Damascus.1153 Fall of Ascalon to Crusaders.1154 Nur al-Din takes Damascus.1163-69 Five attempts by Kingdom of

Jerusalem to take control of Egypt.1169 Saladin takes control of Egypt for Nur

al-Din.1174 Death of Nur al-Din; Saladin takes

Damascus.1176 Byzantine army defeated by Seljuk

Turks at Myriokephalon.1183 Reynald of Châtillon's attempt to

attack Mecca defeated; Saladinrecognised as overlord of Aleppo.

1187 Saladin defeats Kingdom of Jerusalemat Hattin, reconquers most of theCrusader States.

1189-92 Third Crusade retakes Acre but failsto retake Jerusalem.

1193 Death of Saladin.1197-98 German Crusade achieves little.

1202-04 Fourth Crusade diverted toconquer Byzantine Constantinople;Crusader States in Greece established.

1218-21 Fifth Crusade invades Egypt;defeated.

1220-22 Mongol invasions of easternIslamic lands.

1229 Jerusalem returned to Kingdom ofJerusalem by treaty.

1229-42 Civil war in Crusader Kingdom ofCyprus.

1231 Mongol invasion of Iran and Armenia.1243 Mongols defeat Seljuks of Rum

(Anatolia).1244 Alliance of Crusader States and Syrian

Ayyubids defeated at La Forbie byalliance of Khwarazmian refugees fromIran and Ayyubids of Egypt.

1250 Crusade of King Louis IX of Franceinvades Egypt, is defeated; AyyubidSultan of Egypt overthrown byMamluks.

1255-58 Mongols invade Iran and Iraq; civilwar in Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1260 Mongols defeated by Mamluks at 'AynJalut.

1261 Byzantines retake Constantinople from'Latin' Empire.

1263-68 Mamluks reconquer muchremaining Crusader territory.

1271-72 Crusade of Prince Edward ofEngland to Palestine.

1275-77 Mamluks ravage Kingdom ofCilician Armenia, defeat Seljuks andMongols.

1277 Crown of Jerusalem sold to Charles ofAnjou, ruler of southern Italy.

1281 Mamluks defeat Mongols andArmenians at Hims.

1289 Mamluks take Tripoli.1291 Fall of Acre and other Crusader

enclaves to Mamluks.1302 Mamluks take island of Ruad; probable

end of Crusader rule at Jubail.

Background to war

Christendom and Islamin the 11th century

The Crusades were an unusual series ofconflicts because they involved three or moredistinct groups of people: the WesternEuropean Christians, generally known as'Latins' or 'Franks'; the Muslims of the MiddleEast and North Africa; the Byzantine andother Orthodox Christians of what are nowTurkey and the Balkans, generally known as'Greeks' to Western Europeans and as 'Rumi'or 'Romans' to their Muslim neighbours.More or less associated with the OrthodoxChristian 'Greeks' were many other Christianpeoples of the region, most of whom were, inthe eyes of Latin-Catholic Christians,schismatics or heretics. Some, such as theArmenians, Georgians and Nubians, had theirown independent states. Others, such as theJacobites and Maronites of Syria, the Copts ofEgypt and the Nestorians of Iraq and Iran,formed substantial communities withinIslamic states.

The Muslims were similarly divided alonglinguistic (mainly Arab, Turkish, Kurdish orPersian) and religious lines (Sunni or variousShi'a sects). Other minorities included theJews, Druze, Yazidis, Zoroastrians, Manichaean-Paulicians and others. In the 13th centurythe Mongols erupted into the Middle East.Included in their ranks were Buddhists,shamanist 'pagans', adherents of variousChinese faiths, Nestorian Christians andeven some Muslims.

Some of these peoples had very littlecontact with each other before the Crusades,while others had co-existed for centuries. TheByzantine Empire and its Islamic neighbourscould be called the resident civilisations ofthe Middle East, and had a long history ofboth rivalry and peaceful relations. From the7th to the 10th centuries Islam had beendominant, though its attempts to conquerthe Byzantine Empire ended at an early date.Instead these two power blocs reached a

relatively stable relationship withintermittent, small-scale conflict on land andsea. During the late 10th and 11th centuries,as the 'Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdadfragmented, power shifted back to theByzantines, who launched a series of majorcounter-offensives. Then the ByzantineEmpire called a halt, drastically reducing itsarmed forces after having destroyed theArmenian military system that had served asa buffer between Byzantium and the Islamicworld for centuries.

For the ordinary people of these regions,an intermittent struggle between the Empireand the Caliphate meant merely a change ofmasters, and even the military elites oftencame to terms with their new rulers. In factthis centuries-old rivalry had becomepolitical and economic rather than a death-struggle between incompatible cultures.

Guibert of Nogent's explanation of how theMiddle East became Muslim; in his historyof the First Crusade, written around 1100:

"It is the common opinion, if Iunderstand it correctly, that there was acertain man called Mathomus who drew[those people] away from the belief inthe Son and the Holy Spirit and taughtthem that in the Godhead there was theFather, the Creator, alone. He taughtthat Jesus Christ was a man without sin.Let me briefly conclude this account ofhis teaching by saying that herecommended circumcision whilecompletely freeing them [his followers]from restraining their lusts ... [they] donot believe that he [Mathomus] is God,as some people claim, but was a goodman and a benefactor through whomthey received the Divine Laws."

Background to war 13

The coming of the Seljuk Turks changedthis situation although those Seljuks whooverran most of Anatolia (Rum or present-day Turkey) remained something of asideshow as far as the rest of the Islamicworld was concerned. Of course theByzantine perspective was very different. Itwas the loss of Anatolia to these Turks whichprompted Emperor Alexius I to requestmilitary help from the West - help whicharrived in the unexpected form of a massiveCrusade to the Holy Land rather than aspliant mercenaries willing to acceptByzantine authority.

Nevertheless, the impact of the SeljukTurks upon the Islamic Middle East would

Stucco roundel of a seated Islamic ruler with hisattendants and guards, 11th century. This form oficonography, with a ruler seated cross-legged on histhrone surrounded by members of his court, wastraditional in the Islamic world but was rapidly adoptedby the Turkish Seljuks, who took control of virtually theentire Middle East in the 11th century. Such stuccoroundels were used as architectural decoration in manypalaces though this example comes from Rey in Iran.(Museum of Islamic Art and Archaeology, Tehran, Iran.David Nicolle photograph)

A description of the citizen militia ofSyria in the 1080s, by the chronicler IbnAbu Tayyi', who was writing about hisfather's lifetime:

"There was no person in Aleppo whodid not have military attire in his house,and when war came he would go out atonce, fully armed."

prove to be very important. They not onlyre-established centralised authority, whichwas inherited by small but still potentsuccessor states, but encouraged a Sunnicultural and religious revival. These SeljukTurks had not, however, taken full control ofthe Middle East when the First Crusadearrived. In Egypt and parts of the Palestinian-Syrian coast the Shi'a Fatimid Caliphate ofCairo remained a rich and culturally brilliantstate. Its relations with the Byzantine Empireand those Italian merchants who were as yetthe only Westerners present in the EasternMediterranean in any numbers weregenerally good. Certainly the economic links

Europe and the Islamic world at the end of the 11th century

14 E


he Crusades


between Fatimid Egypt and Italy werealready significant.

The relationship between the ByzantineEmpire and its Western, Latin-Catholic,fellow Christian neighbours was complexand sometimes unfriendly. The Great Schism(the separation between the Eastern andWestern Churches) started in 1054 and wasbecoming increasingly serious. At first it hadmeant nothing to ordinary men and womenand little to the ruling elites but as theSchism deepened, so people's perceptions ofeach other grew more hostile. By the 13thcentury many people in Western Europemaintained that 'Greeks' were worse than'Saracens'. A century or so later there werethose in the Byzantine. Empire who preferreddomination by Muslim Turks to dominationby Western Catholics.

In political and military terms the mainarena of conflict between Byzantium and itswestern neighbours lay in southern Italy,much of which formed part of the ByzantineEmpire until its conquest by the Normans.

The ruins of the abandoned city of Fustat still sprawlacross parts of southern Cairo. Fustat was the maincommercial and residential part of the Egyptian capitalduring the Fatimid period, in the 11th and 12th centuries.Though devastated by fire during one of the civil warsthat characterised the late Fatimid period, part of it wasclearly recolonised after Saladin brought stability back toEgypt. The building shown here might have been a mill,perhaps using water which drained into what is now areed-covered marsh. (David Nicolle photograph)

Subsequently competition moved to thewestern Balkans where the Norman, thenFrench and finally Spanish rulers of southernItaly sought to extend their authority. Ineconomic terms the Byzantine Empire wasalso declining in the face of Italianeconomic, commercial and maritimeexpansion. Italian merchant republics suchas Venice and Genoa certainly took fulladvantage of Byzantium's weakness.

Before the First Crusade, most WesternEuropean states had at best a distantrelationship with the Muslims of the EasternMediterranean, the only exceptions being


some Italian merchant republics plus theNorman kingdom of southern Italy andSicily. For the merchants of both sides suchlinks were purely commercial. For theNorman elite of southern Italy, however, adifferent relationship arose after theyconquered Sicily. Here a large, highlycultured and militarily important Arab-Islamic minority remained to serve their newNorman Christian rulers. It seems to havemaintained cultural links with both IslamicNorth Africa and with Fatimid Egypt, linkswhich would influence the Siculo-Normans'relations with the Islamic world.

Another important form of contactbetween Western European society and thatof the Islamic Middle East resulted fromChristian pilgrimages to Jerusalem and the

Carving of sleeping guards at the Holy Sepulchre, on acentral French capital, early 12th century. This figure is ofspecial interest because the aventail of his crudely carvedmail coif is unlaced, making it fall into a loose triangularshape on his chest. (in situ church, Mozac. France. DavidNicolle photograph)

Holy Land. The proportion of Westernerswho actually made such a pilgrimage wastiny, but their experiences and thesignificance of travel to the Holy Land gavethem considerable influence. Given theconfused notions of geography and distanceheld by most people in Western Europe, theother point of direct contact betweenWestern Christian and Islamic civilisations -namely the Iberian peninsula - must not beignored. Here Christians and Muslims hadbeen competing for domination for


centuries. Although the military struggleremained largely political, a religious or'crusading' element was increasinglyimportant in what became the SpanishReconquista. It is also interesting to notethat recent Christian victories in Iberia hadresulted from a temporary fragmentation ofpower in the Islamic region known asAndalus (Andalusia). Such successesstrengthened the confidence of the Westernmilitary elite, particularly in France sinceFrench knights had played an important rolein the Iberian struggle. Similarly Norman-French and other knights had recentlyconquered Byzantine southern Italy andseized Sicily from the Muslims.

Whether or not such Western Europeanand above all French military, economic andeven cultural confidence made the Crusadesinevitable is an unanswerable question. Afterall, the First Crusade was prompted by a

Nizam al-Mulk, a wazir or chief minister ofthe Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah, described inhis Siyasat Nama treatise on governmentwritten in 1091 the ideal trainingprogramme for ghulam or mamluk soldiersafter they had been purchased as slaves:

"One year on foot at the stirrup of arider, wearing a [plain] Zandaniji cloak... Next given a small Turkish horse, asaddle covered in untanned leather, aplain bridle and stirrup leathers. In thismanner to serve one year with a horseand whip. In the third year they aregiven a belt. In the fourth year they aregiven a quiver and bowcase which isattached to the belt when they aremounted. In the fifth year they are givena better saddle and a decorated bridle,plus a handsome cloak and a macewhich he hangs in a mace-ring."Subsequent promotions concern duties ratherthan appearance or equipment, except in theeighth year, when they were given a blackfelt hat decorated with silver wire, and afine cloak from Ganja.

special set of circumstances in a ByzantineEmpire that was under pressure from theSeljuk Turks. Nevertheless, Byzantium's callfor help did result in a widespread andvirtually uncontrolled mobilisation ofWestern military might. In suchcircumstances Western confidence, recentmilitary successes, overpopulation amongthe military elite and a wave of religiousenthusiasm if not outright hysteria probablyplayed their part. Although there waswidespread ignorance of the realities of thetask to be attempted, there was surely anelement of economic opportunism on thepart of some better informed Italianparticipants.

Such factors might explain the fact thatthe First Crusade or 'armed pilgrimage'remained a unique historical phenomenon.Different factors led to the wars of theCrusades continuing for two centuries, ormore if the so-called 'Later Crusades' areincluded. For a start the First Crusade was anastonishing success. No subsequentexpedition succeeded to anything like thesame degree, and all, except for the FourthCrusade which was diverted againstByzantium, were more or less failures.Indeed it took a century for Westernpolitical, military, religious and culturalleaderships to accept the fact that the FirstCrusade was a 'one off. Enthusiasm for theconcept of Crusade steadily declined, firstamong ordinary people, then among themilitary aristocracy and culturalelite. Finally even the Church recognised thisreality.

On the other side of the religious frontier,enthusiasm for Jihad or counter-Crusadeincreased, and after the Mamluks finallyexpelled the descendants of the Crusadersfrom Palestine and Syria in the late 13thcentury the torch of Jihad was passed to theOttoman Turks. Their subsequent wave ofconquest took them into southern Russia, tothe gates of Vienna, to Arabia, North Africaand even further afield. In fact it could beclaimed that by preaching the First Crusade,Pope Urban II sowed the wind, and that hissuccessors reaped the whirlwind.

Warring sides

Byzantines, Turks,Crusaders and Saracens

Crusader armies

Most of those involved in the First Crusadewere relatively prosperous and the idea thatCrusading was a means of escape for poorknights seeking their fortune overseas islargely a myth. The bulk of the cavalry wereknights (or were from that minor militaryelite which would become knights in the12th century), while the infantry appearsto have been largely drawn fromprofessional soldiers, prosperous peasants ortownsmen. Meanwhile the role of womenwas largely as financial backers rather thanactive participants.

Military recruitment within the CrusaderStates, once these had been established,differed considerably from that of Crusadingexpeditions. The majority of the nobility werealso from modest knightly families ratherthan the great aristocracy of Western Europe.The number of knights available to theCrusader States was correspondingly small,while a lack of agricultural land meant thatthe bulk of the military aristocracy were urbanbased like those of northern Italy. Non-knightly troops included professional infantryand cavalry sergeants paid by towns or theChurch. In an emergency a general feudallevy or arrière ban added local Arabic-speakingChristians and Armenians to the existingurban militias. Nevertheless, professionalmercenaries remained an essential elementand governments generally preferred a steadysupply of such men to the temporaryappearance of over-enthusiastic Crusaders.

The Crusader States would not acceptdefeated Muslim troops into their serviceunless they converted to Christianity. Suchconverts played a significant role asturcopoles, mostly serving as light cavalry andsome horse-archers. As the power of theCrusader States declined, so the importance

Statuette of knight. French 11th— 12th centuries. A largenumber of such statuettes, often designed for use aswine or water-pouring containers, survive from the 13thand 14th centuries. This, however, is one of the fewwhich dates from the 12th century or even earlierBronze statuettes, being three-dimensional, providebetter details of the way in which sword-belts wereworn and shields carried by the early Crusader militaryelite. (inv. O.A. 9103. Musée du Louvre, Paris. France)

Part of a letter from Pope Celestine IIIwritten in 1195, urging Christians to go onCrusade, as included in the chronicle ofRalph of Diceto:

"We should not be amazed at those,including several of the world's princes,who have so far set out to fight theSaracen heathen with spear and sword,even though they have accomplishednothing wholly successful ... Let thosewho have carried military arms amongChristian folk now take up the Sign ofthe Cross and let them neither despairfor their small numbers nor glory intheir multitude."

Warring Sides 19

of the Military Orders grew. Initially theirrecruits needed only to be free men, but laterthose becoming 'brother knights' were ofknightly origin while 'brother sergeants' weremostly of free peasant or artisan families.

Most early Crusading expeditions wereorganised around the most senior baronstaking part, though ordinary infantry oftenfought in groupings that reflected theircountry of origin. By the 13th centuryCrusading expeditions were more structured,even to the extent that knights of differingstatus were expected to have differentnumbers of horses and followers. Meanwhilethe military organisation of the CrusaderStates was essentially the same as that inWestern Europe. The command structure ofsuch armies remained essentially amateur,though the king, as overall commander,clearly consulted his leading barons and theMasters of the Military Orders. As the seculararmies of the Crusader States declined, thoseof the Military Orders increased ineffectiveness, with each Order providingwhat was effectively a regiment ofprofessional soldiers.

By the 13th century major offensiveoperations had to await the arrival of aCrusade from the West. These never lost abroader strategic vision, with the conquest ofEgypt being a common objective.Nevertheless, most Crusades were reactiverather than proactive. The precise functionof Crusader castles remains a matter of

Battle scene on a painted paper fragment, Egypt 12thcentury. This well-known picture was found in the ruinsof Fustat and clearly shows a battle outside a fortifiedcity or castle between the Muslim garrison and a force ofWestern Europeans including knights. The latter areprobably Crusaders and the fortification might representAscalon, which the Fatimid Egyptians held againstconstant Crusader attack for several decades. TheMuslims include a fully armoured horseman in a mailhauberk, but with a bulky turban rather than a helmet.The archers on the walls are similarly protected whereastwo Muslim foot soldiers are protected only by theirlarger shields. The presumed Crusaders include a knightin typical and accurately illustrated 12th-century armourmail hauberk, shield, and riding an unarmoured horse.Only part of the attacking foot soldier in the top rightcorner survives, and he is more problematical, beingequipped with a round shield, a sword and a helmet.(Department of Oriental Antiquities. British Museum,London, England)


debate. They could not really 'plug' aninvasion route and their usefulness as refugeswas limited. However, even in the defensiveenvironment of the 13th century such securebases enabled garrisons to raid enemyterritory and harass invaders.

Remarkably little is known about thetraining of Western European armies at thetime of the Crusades. For cavalry the primaryemphasis was on the lance as used in close-packed conrois formations. Another veryimportant aspect of Western Europeanmilitary training concerned the crossbow,which was the most effective weaponavailable to European infantry.

Byzantine armies

The Byzantine Empire's loss of much ofAnatolia deprived it of its most importantsource of military manpower, and at the endof the 11th century foreign troops probablyoutnumbered domestic recruits. Attempts torebuild a 'national' army were only partiallysuccessful and foreign mercenaries continuedto play a major role. The long-establishedByzantine practice of enlisting prisoners-of-war also continued. By the late 12th and13th centuries a provincial elite known asarchontes emerged, having clear military

authority though no apparent legal status.After the Fourth Crusade conqueredConstantinople (Istanbul) and large parts ofthe Empire's Greek heartland, thefragmented Byzantine successor states hadmuch reduced sources of recruitment.Nevertheless, the 'Empire' of Nicea (Iznik)continued to enlist Western mercenaries.

Byzantine armies of the 12th and 13thcenturies inherited one of the most ancientmilitary organisations in the medieval world,but they were rarely in a position to take fulladvantage of it. The armed forces basicallyconsisted of two armies - one in the western

AI-Tarsusi, in the section of his militarytraining manual dealing with archery(late 12th century drawing on an 8th-9thcentury original):

"When shooting at a horseman whois not moving, aim at his saddle-bow sothat you will hit the man if the arrowgoes high, or the horse if it goes low. Ifhis back is turned, aim at the spotbetween his shoulders. If he is chargingwith a sword, shoot at him but not fromtoo far away, for if you miss him hemight strike you with his sword [beforeyou can shoot again]."

Warring Sides 21

Above and opposite: Warriors on carved ivory box,Byzantine 11th-12th centuries. Most Byzantinerepresentations of warriors, particularly those in areligious context, give the men archaic pseudo-Romanequipment that probably did not reflect current reality.On this ivory box, however, three panels seem to bemore realistic and only the naked man can be dismissedas an ancient artistic convention. The kneeling warriorwith a helmet, bow, spear shield and sword with acurved sabre-style hilt seems especially contemporary.(Hermitage Museum. St Petersburg, Russia. DavidNicolle photographs)

or European provinces and one in theeastern or Asian provinces — plus a smallfleet. In reality the Byzantines neverrecovered from the disasters of the later11th century. The army also adoptedorganisational structures, equipment andtactics from its Western European rivals andits Turkish neighbours. After westernAnatolia was regained in the early 12thcentury the territory was secured by abroad strip of depopulated no-man's-landdotted with powerful fortresses andsupported by field armies from the centreof the Empire.

More is known about training in theperiod before the Crusades than during the12th and 13th centuries. By the 11th centuryhorse-archery had been added to traditionalskills with other weapons. Infantry archerswere still theoretically trained to shoot in

disciplined ranks by command. During the12th century the apparent success of WesternEuropean Crusading armies also led to anemphasis on Western military skills.

Islamic armies

The armies of the Islamic Middle East wereremarkably varied. Recruitment reflectedwhatever suitable manpower was available,plus as many Central Asian Turkish mamlukor ghulam slave-origin professional soldiersas could be afforded. The rest of a jund armyusually consisted of local Turks, Kurds, Arabs,Persians, Armenians and others. Many citieshad their own militia, sometimes called anahdath. Numerous religiously motivatedvolunteers or mutatawi'ah also took part incampaigns against the Crusaders.

The armed forces of Fatimid Egypt weredifferent. They were based upon a classicalmodel provided by the 9th-century 'AbbasidCaliphate. Infantry regiments consisted ofblack African slave-soldiers, many ChristianArmenians and some Iranians. The cavalryincluded Syrian Arabs, Turkish ghulams,Europeans of slave and perhaps mercenaryorigin, Armenians and perhaps Iranians. TheFatimids also had a substantial navy. Thesemilitary systems were inherited by Saladin.


His army was largely Turkish, with itshalqa elite consisting of mamluks. The armyof the subsequent Mamluk Sultanate wasessentially the same as those of thepreceding Ayyubid states, though Turkishmamluks now formed the ruling as well asmilitary elite. The Seljuks of Rum or Anatoliatried to model their army on that of theirgreat Seljuk predecessors. Slave-originghulams formed a core around which tribalTurks, assimilated Greeks, Armenian andothers, plus a remarkable assortment ofmercenaries assembled.

The success of Islamic armies incontaining and then expelling theCrusaders reflected their superiororganisation, logistical support, disciplineand tactics. They, like the Byzantines, wereheirs to a sophisticated military traditionwhere the 'men of the sword' or soldierswere supported by the 'men of the pen'or civilian administrators, governmentofficials and bureaucrats. Large armies suchas that of the Ayyubids were divided intounits, often with specific functions, butequally important were the atlab al-mira

supply train and the suq al-'askar mobile'army market'.

Strategy and even tactics in the IslamicMiddle East were greatly influenced byecological factors such as summer heat,winter rain, the availability of water andpasture and the need to harvest crops.The Islamic states also learned that the onlyway to overcome the Crusader States was bythe steady reduction of their fortified townsand castles. Training in larger armies seems tohave relied on written textbooks to a greaterextent than anywhere else, except perhapsChina. For cavalry this involved individualskill with numerous weapons plus a variety ofunit manoeuvres. Infantry were expected topractise archery, avoid and harass enemycavalry, and know the skills of siege warfare.

A less well-known fragment of a Fatimid drawing onpaper, again from Fustat, shows the head of aninfantryman armed with two javelins. His head isprotected by a bulky turban with the ends of its clothpulled up into a sort of point. He also carries a round orperhaps kite-shaped shield. Egypt 11th-12th centuries.(Ms. inv. 13801. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo. Egypt,David Nicolle photograph)

Outbreak

The First Crusade

In 1071 the Byzantine army wascatastrophically defeated by the Seljuk Turksat the battle of Manzikirt, after which theByzantine Empire endured political chaos,civil war and the loss of virtually the wholeof Anatolia. This was the real background tothe First Crusade. In 1081, a general namedAlexius Comnenus seized the throne andreimposed government control across whatwas left of the Byzantine Empire, despiteattacks by the Seljuk Turks, the paganPecheneg Turks and the Normans ofsouthern Italy. In 1095 Alexius sent amessage to Pope Urban II asking for Westernmercenary troops.

Quite why this simple request resulted ina massive Crusade remains unclear, but thebasic facts are known. Pope Urban IIpreached a sort of armed pilgrimage whichwould help the Byzantines and also retakethe Holy Land. This idea caught on and inNovember 1095 Pope Urban called upon themilitary elite of Western Christendom to'liberate' Jerusalem from the 'infidels'. Thesubsequent wave of enthusiasm was mostnotable among the lower levels of a militaryelite that was evolving into what became theknightly class. Many ordinary people werealso caught up in the religious hysteria,though the ruling class tended to be lessenthusiastic.

The moment seemed appropriate.Emperor Alexius was well aware ofconditions within the neighbouring Islamicstates while the Papacy in Rome probablyhad comparable information. The idea thatthe First Crusade marched eastward withlittle knowledge of their destination isprobably a myth, at least as far as those whowere directing the movement. Within theMiddle East the once mighty SeljukSultanate, which had permitted a small armyto attack the Byzantines back in the 1070s,

was now fragmenting. Seljuk and otherTurkish amirates in Anatolia and Armeniawere effectively independent, as were theatabeg statelets of Syria and northern Iraq.Most still acknowledged the suzereinty of theGreat Seljuk Sultan but in reality the FirstCrusade, supported by the Byzantines, faceda chronically divided Islamic world. Thisfragmentation was most acute in Syria andPalestine, the Crusaders' destination.Meanwhile the Fatimid Caliphate in Egyptwas enjoying a modest revival. It had neveraccepted the loss of Palestine and westernSyria to the Seljuk Turks and would takeadvantage of the approaching Crusade toregain Jerusalem.

All these Islamic states, Sunni and Shi'a,were, however, preoccupied with their ownrivalries. Confident of their militarysuperiority over the Byzantines, and securein their superior wealth, science, technology,material culture, great cities and far-rangingtrade networks, the Islamic peoples neverseem to have expected that a horde ofheavily armed religious fanatics woulddescend upon them from Western Europe.For the Islamic Middle East, if not forAndalus and North Africa, Western Europewas a cultural and military backwater.

Such a judgement was seriously out ofdate. The Ifranj or 'Franks' may still havebeen relatively primitive compared toByzantines or Muslims, but they were nolonger the unwashed barbarians of a centuryor so earlier. In military terms Italy, Spainand much of France and England were on asimilar level to the Byzantine Empire.Indeed, France would become the power-house of the Crusading movement. For theirpart the Armenians, previously crushedbetween Byzantines and Muslims, were nowtaking control of large areas of south-centralAnatolia, to become a major military


presence when the First Crusade burst uponthe scene.

Pope Urban II and the Emperor Alexius Iwere prime movers but neither actually ledthe Crusade. Similarly the commanders ofthe First Crusade often found themselvesresponding to what the mass of participantsdemanded. In fact military leadership of this

extraordinary expedition was collective, witheach regional or linguistic contingentfollowing the senior lord within its ranks.During the course of the campaign someshowed greater capabilities than others, suchas Bohemond of Taranto, and they weretemporarily recognised as senior - but onlywhile a crisis existed. Others, such as

Outbreak 25

Raymond of St Gilles and Robert ofNormandy, tried to assume superioritythrough their status, wealth or the size oftheir military contingent. The result was adivision of command at crucial moments.Indeed the success of the First Crusade,despite such drawbacks, seemed virtuallymiraculous, 'Favoured by God' in the eyes ofmost Christians. Godfrey of Bouillon, whobecame titular leader with the re-establishment of Christian rule in Jerusalem,reflected the paradox of leadership in this'Divinely inspired' movement, refusing towear a king's crown in the city where Christwore a crown of thorns.

There was a similar lack of cohesiveleadership on the Islamic side. In Iran theGreat Seljuk Sultan Berk Yaruq waspreoccupied with the fragmentation of hisown realm. Resistance was left to local rulersand governors. Many fought hard but wereindividually overwhelmed by the armouredhorde from the west. Other local leaders cameto terms or even tried to form alliances withthese fearsome newcomers, and the fact thatsome Muslim leaders thought the invaderscould be used in this way illustrates their lackof understanding of what the First Crusadewas all about. Such a lack of mutual supportamong local Muslim rulers shocked some oftheir own people, though it would take a longtime for their successors to overcome thechronic political, ethnic and religiousdivisions within Middle Eastern Islam.

As the Crusaders made their way east byland and sea, the first blood to be spilled inlarge quantities was not Muslim but Jewish.In what has been called 'the first Holocaust'some sections of what was clearly a

Infantryman with tall shield on a lustreware ceramic plate,Iran or Egypt 12th century. The foot soldier on thismagnificent ceramic has a straight sword with the kind ofhilt which appears in several Islamic manuscripts from thisperiod. The hilt was probably of cast bronze. His tall shieldwith its flattened base and chequerboard pattern is ajanuwiya. a form of infantry mantlet whose name suggeststhat it was of Italian origin. Genoa, from which the namederives, became one of the main Italian merchantrepublics through which military equipment and strategicmaterials were illegally sold to the Islamic states duringthe Crusader period. (De Unger Collection, London)

religiously excited horde of armed men andtheir followers turned upon the Jews ofGermany. As the Crusades continued variousCrusader contingents reached what was forthem alien territory in Catholic Hungary andeven more so in the Orthodox ChristianBalkans. As a result many local people cameto view them as little better than bandits.When the Crusaders reached the Byzantinecapital of Constantinople further trouble wasavoided by the diplomatic skill of EmperorAlexius, while Crusader leaders from NormanItaly generally maintained tighter controlover their troops than did other leaders fromFrance or Germany.

The first major clash between Crusadersand Muslims was a disaster for the Christians.It happened when the so-called Peasants'Crusade, which marched a year ahead of themain Crusade, entered Seljuk Turkish territoryin Anatolia. There it was virtuallyexterminated on 21 October 1096. The firstunits of the First Crusade proper reachedConstantinople two months later, but it wasnot until early April the following year thatthe assembled contingents of the First Crusadewere ferried across to the Asian shore inByzantine ships. On 14 May 1097, they andtheir Byzantine allies attacked the AnatolianSeljuk capital of Nicea. (This surrendered tothe Byzantines rather than the bloodthirstyCrusaders on 26 June, much to the annoyanceof the latter.) From then on relations betweenCrusaders and the Byzantine authorities, neververy good, gradually deteriorated.

The Crusaders' first full-scale battle tookplace on 1 July 1097 and, although it was aclose run thing, it ended in total victory forthe Christians. Hunger, hardship and theseizure of cities, some of which were thengarrisoned by Emperor Alexius' troops andsome of which were retaken by the Seljuks,marked their subsequent march acrossAnatolia. The Crusaders' next major militaryobstacle was the great Syrian city of Antioch(now Antakya in Turkey). Here the Crusadersnot only conducted an epic siege but alsodefeated two largely Turkish armies. One wasattempting to relieve the city, the other toretake Antioch, which had fallen to the


invaders just over three weeks previously on3 June 1098.

Reinforcements also reached the Crusadersin the form of fleets from Italy, England andelsewhere. These not only enabled the

Fulcher of Chartres on the appallingconditions endured by the Crusadersoutside Antioch:

"We felt that misfortunes had befallenthe Franks because of their sins and forthat reason they were not able to takethe city for so long a time. Luxury andavarice and pride and plunder hadindeed weakened them. Then theFranks, having consulted together,expelled the women from the army, themarried as well as unmarried, lest defiledby the sordidness of riotous living theyshould displease the Lord."

The Church of St Peter a short distance from the city ofAntakya (Antioch), was the most sacred site in theCrusader Principality of Antioch. The apostle Peter andthe first Christians are believed to have used the cave asa church. The present simple structure incorporateselements built across the front of what is largely a man-made cave in the side of the mountain during theCrusader occupation in the 12th and 13th centuries.(David Nicolle photograph)

invaders to re-establish contact with WesternEurope and bring supplies as well as men, butalso more than compensated for the presenceof a Fatimid Egyptian fleet in the EasternMediterranean. Not that the Fatimidgovernment had been idle. Taking advantageof the Seljuks' difficulties in northern Syria,its army retook Jerusalem and most ofPalestine while reinforcing the garrisons ofseveral coastal ports. The Fatimids even triedto negotiate an anti-Seljuk alliance with theCrusaders, presumably still mistaking themfor an offshoot of the Byzantine Empire with

Outbreak 27

which the Fatimid Caliphate had oftenenjoyed good relations. Of course theCrusaders, so close to their goal of Jerusalemand in a high state of religious enthusiasm,were not interested. The result was the siegeand capture of the Holy City, which fell on15 July 1099, followed by the first of severalmajor battles between Fatimid armies andCrusader forces on the coastal plain nearAscalon. The First Crusade had been crownedwith what was even then regarded as analmost miraculous success - a success whichwould not, however, be repeated.

The so-called Tower of David in Jerusalem stands againstthe western wall of the Old City. This was the city's Citadelin medieval times and the highest point of the fortificationswhich were also the most vulnerable. There had been acitadel here since Herodian or Roman times, but this fellinto decay during the peaceful early Islamic Arab era. It wasrebuilt during the Crusader occupation, thereafter beingmaintained and perhaps strengthened under the Mamluksand Ottomans. (David Nicolle photograph)

Extract from a letter, found in the Cairosynagogue, written by Yesha'ya ha-Kohen BenMasliah, concerning Jewish prisoners taken bythe First Crusade:

"News still reaches us that amongstthose who were redeemed from the Franksand remain in Ascalon some are in dangerof dying of want. Others remained incaptivity, and yet others were killed beforethe eyes of the rest... In the end all thosewho could be ransomed from them wereliberated, and only a few whom they keptremained in their hands ... To this daythese captives remain in their hands, aswell as those who were taken at Antioch,but these are few, not counting those whoabjured their faith because they lostpatience as it was not possible to ransomthem and because they despaired of beingpermitted to go free."


Carving of St George helping the First Crusaders outsideAntioch. English early 12th c e n t u r y . The story waspopular throughout most of Latin Western Europeduring the period of the Crusades, but this is one of theearliest and best preserved carved reliefs. At this datethe only item of military equipment which differentiatesthe Crusaders praying on the left, from the Muslimsbeing slaughtered by St George on the right, is thelatters' round sh ie lds . The round shield became, in fact,the most common iconographic method of identifying'infdel' troops in medieval European art.(in situ parish church of St George, Fordington, England.David Nicolle photograph)

Ibn al-Qalanisi describing the defence of Tyreagainst Crusader attack in 1111-12:

"A long timber beam was set up on thewall in front of the [enemy] siege-tower.On top of it, forming a T-shaped cross,another beam forty cubits long was swungon pulleys worked by a winch in themanner as a ship's mast... At one end ofthe pivoting beam was an iron spar and atthe other end ropes running throughpulleys by means of which the operatorscould hoist buckets of dung and refuseand empty them over the Franks ... Thenthis sailor (who had designed the device)had panniers and baskets filled with oil,pitch, wood shavings, resin and cane-barkset on fire and hoisted up in the mannerdescribed to the level of the Frankishtower (which was then burned down)."

The fighting

Crusade and jihad; consolidationof Islamic resistance

The so-called Peasants' Crusade had beenwiped out on the frontier of Islamic territory.The second wave, or the First Crusade proper,had achieved an almost miraculous success atAntioch, in defeating two large Islamic armiesand by seizing the Holy City of Jerusalem. Athird wave was crushed in eastern Anatoliawhile apparently heading for Iraq. Whetheror not this third wave was hoping to take thegreat city of Baghdad, which WesternChristians regarded as the 'capital' of theIslamic world, has never been established.The result was, however, a catastrophe andnever again would Crusading armies have aclear passage through Muslim-TurkishAnatolia. Instead the Mediterranean becamethe main, and eventually the only, linkbetween the Crusader States and WesternEurope.

Those of the First Crusade who remainedin the east, plus a steady flow of newcomersfrom Europe, joined forces with theArmenians to carve out four small states inwhat are now south-eastern Turkey, Syria,Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. They becamethe Principality of Antioch, the County ofEdessa, the County of Tripoli and theKingdom of Jerusalem. A fifth state, that ofthe Armenians themselves, emerged in whatis now Turkish Cilicia.

Fully aware that control of the coast wasessential for their survival, the Christianssoon took all the ports except Ascalon,which remained in Fatimid hands for severaldecades. In fact Ascalon became a 12th-century version of the 20th- to 21st-centuryGaza Strip. Nevertheless, the invaders soonsuffered serious reverses, partly through theirown overconfidence and partly because theirMuslim neighbours recovered from theinitial shock of invasion. In 1100 Bohemondof Taranto, Prince of Antioch and perhapsthe most skilful military leader in Crusader

ranks, was captured. Later that year Godfreyof Bouillon, ruler of Crusader Jerusalem, diedand was succeeded by Baldwin of Boulogne,the Count of Edessa. Meanwhile the Fatimidarmy, though far past its peak, launched aseries of campaign which resulted in thethree battles of Ramla. The Egyptians weredefeated in the first and third, but in thesecond battle they virtually exterminated aCrusader army, causing losses which theChristians could not afford.

In the north the fortunes of war weresimilarly divided and although the Crusaderswon notable victories, their glory days weresoon over. Nevertheless, it took severaldecades for the Western Christians to realisethat the clear military superiority they hadenjoyed during the First Crusade no longerexisted. From then on the Crusaders wereforced on to the defensive, while theMuslims slowly reunited their forces and,

Bohemond of TarantoBohemond, born in the mid-1050s,eldest son of Robert Guiscard, foughtalongside his father against EmperorAlexius in the early 1080s. He joined theFirst Crusade, became its most effectivemilitary commander and subsequentlythe ruler of Antioch. Having taken anoath of allegiance to Emperor Alexius,Bohemond refused to recognise theByzantine claim to Antioch, hence therewere tensions. He was captured byDanishmandid Turks in 1100 but releasedin 1103. After further clashes with theByzantines in Cilicia, he returned to Italyfrom where he unsuccessfully attackedByzantine Albania in 1107. Bohemonddid not return to Syria but died in Apuliain 1111.

Jerusalem under Crusader occupation in the 12th century

30 E

ssential Histories

• The C

rusades

The fighting 31

even more slowly, retook what had been lostin the early 12th century.

In strategic terms the Crusader States werevulnerable, forming an arc of territory fromthe unclear eastern frontier of the County ofEdessa to the southern tip of the Kingdom ofJerusalem. To the north were the similarlynewly established Turkish Anatolian states ofthe Danishmandids and Seljuks. To the eastlay the great city of Mosul which wouldbecome the power-house of the first Islamiccounter-Crusade. Tucked inside the curve ofCrusader territory was the seeminglyvulnerable Syrian city of Aleppo which theChristians never took. Further south, and asyet of secondary significance, was anothergreat Syrian city - Damascus - which againthe Crusaders never took. Beyond Damascus

Fulcher of Chartres on the role of women inthe defence of Crusader Jaffa against aFatimid naval assault in 1123:

"The Arab or Aethiopian [Sudanese] footsoldiers which they brought with themtogether with a body of cavalry, made aheavy assault upon the inhabitants of Jaffa.On both sides men hurled javelins, somethrew stones and others shot arrows.Moreover those within the city, fightingmanfully for themselves, slew thoseoutside with oft-repeated blows... Thewomen of Jaffa were constantly ready withgenerous help for the men who werestruggling mightily. Some carried stonesand others brought water to drink."

12th-century Damascus and the siege of thecity by the Second Crusade in July AD 1148


Emperor Alexius IBorn in 1048 to the powerfullandowning Comnenus family, Alexiusbecame a senior general. He seized theimperial Byzantine throne in 1081 duringthe civil wars which followed the Turkishinvasion of Anatolia. The weakenedEmpire was now threatened from all sidesbut Alexius' diplomatic skill and a smallrevival of the Byzantine army enabledhim to defeat the Pechenegs in thenorth, the Normans in the West andand even regain some territory inAnatolia. But he failed to control theCrusaders. Personally orthodox in hisreligion, Alexius tried to rebuild theByzantine economy and accepted the factthat the powerful aristocracy had to somedegree to remain autonomous as thebackbone of Byzantine military might.He died in 1118.

As yet the Crusader States largely ignoredthe Byzantine Empire's attempts to exert itsown suzereinty over them. Instead an uneasyalliance was formed, though the Byzantinescontinued to try to dominate Antioch. Therulers of Damascus were afraid of being takenover by their fellow-Muslim rulers of Mosuland so formed occasional alliances with theCrusader States. In fact King Baldwin I ofJerusalem and Tughtagin, the amir ofDamascus, agreed to share the revenues ofterritory south of Damascus and east of theJordan. Meanwhile Edessa, where theCrusader military elite were so few that theyrelied on Armenian military support,survived because the Muslim rulers of Aleppofelt themselves to be threatened by the othermore powerful Crusader States.

This fragile equilibrium collapsed in themid-12th century as the fragmented Islamicstates gradually coalesced into fewer realms.As the shock of the First Crusade wore off,

the Christians took control of almost all theagricultural zone, establishing a hazy frontierwith the semi-desert regions. The latter,though sometimes recognising the authorityof one or other Islamic ruler, had beenindependent for centuries, the only exceptionbeing the Islamic holy land of the Hijaz inArabia which recognised a distant Seljukoverlordship. To the west the Sinai desertnominally formed part of Fatimid territory.Finally there was the Fatimid-held port andenclave of Ascalon on the Mediterraneanwhose survival largely depended upon theFatimid-Egyptian navy. Only when Italiannaval power became overwhelming did theCrusaders finally take Ascalon in 1153. Thisevent also opened the way for Crusaderattempts to take control of Egypt, whereFatimid power was tottering to its fall. ButEgypt's weakness also attracted attempts byNur al-Din, the increasingly powerful Turkishruler of northern Iraq and Syria, to wincontrol of what all sides recognised as apotential power-house. It was Nur al-Din andin particular his governor Salah al-Din(Saladin) who eventually succeeded.

Imad al-Din Ibn Qasim al-DawlaZangi, Atabeg of MosulZangi was born around 1084. His fatherwas a Turkish mamluk, a senior politicalfigure in the service of the Seljuk SultanMalik Shah who joined the wrong side ina civil war and was put to death by MalikShah's brother when Zangi was ten yearsold. Nevertheless, the boy remained inthe service of the rulers of Mosul and waseventually appointed governor of Wasitin 1122/23. This was a time of virtualanarchy, but Zangi steadily rose tobecame atabeg or autonomous governorof Mosul under Seljuk suzereinty in 1127.Thereafter he extended his territory,fought both the Crusader States and theByzantines, usually managing to be onthe winning side during various Seljukcivil wars. Politically astute and a finemilitary commander, Zangi was alsoruthless, unscrupulous and sometimesmistreated his own followers, beingmurdered by some of his own mamlukswhile besieging Qal'at Ja'bar in 1146.

The fighting 33

Guibert of Nogent on how a doctorproposed treating the injured King Baldwin Iof Jerusalem who had a deep wound in hisbody:

"He proposed a wonderful expedient... He asked the king that he might orderone of the Saracen prisoners to bewounded in the same position as theking himself and then order him to bekilled so that the doctor mightinvestigate freely on the dead body andexamine certainly from looking at itwhat the royal wound was like on itsinside."

The king refused, but had a bearwounded and killed instead.

the Islamic military elite returned to itstraditional responsibilities of jihad or thedefence and recovery of Islamic territory. Ingeneral, Middle Eastern society regarded thepresence of Crusader States in the heart ofthe Islamic world as an affront rather than athreat. For their part the Crusader Kings ofJerusalem seem to have neglected the rising

The maristan or hospital of Nur al-Din in the Old City ofDamascus is one of the best preserved medieval hospitalsin the Middle East. Nur al-Din was, of course, a greatpatron of art. architecture and public works as well asbeing perhaps the most significant figure in the Islamicmilitary revival of the 12th c e n t u r y . The maristan itself wasbuilt to treat those suffering from mental healthproblems, being designed to provide not only secureaccommodation but also a soothing environment inwhich fountains and a large pool were central features.The doctors themselves worked and taught in the foursurrounding iwans or tall shaded recesses in each wall.Today the maristan of Nur al-Din is a museum of Arab-Islamic Science and Medicine. (David Nicolle photograph)

power of Mosul, only recognising the threatfrom the east when Mosul and Aleppo wereunited under the rule of Imad al-Din Zangiin 1128 and more particularly when Zangiconquered most of the County of Edessa in1144. Instead their attention was focusedlargely upon Damascus and Egypt.

Nevertheless, the fall of Edessa sentShockwaves throughout WesternChristendom and resulted in the preachingof the Second Crusade by St Bernard ofClairvaux. In 1147 two great expeditions setout from France and Germany. Unlike theFirst Crusade, the Second came to grief in


The struggle for Egypt

The fighting 35

Turkish Anatolia and only a small partreached Syria. Others came directly by sea.Once assembled in Palestine the SecondCrusade attacked Damascus instead ofmarching against the main threat innorthern Syria. Even so they failed, beingdefeated by weak local forces and militias

One section of the huge fortified walls of Cairo Citadellooking south from the Burg al-Ramla or 'Sandy Tower'towards the Burg a l - lmam. These towers and theintervening wall were erected between 1183 and 1207.They incorporate several very advanced features includingvaulted passages inside the curtain wall. One of thestairways leading from the upper rampart to such a passagecan be seen in the foreground. (David Nicolle photograph)


SaladinSalah al-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub was bornin 1138 into the minor Kurdish militaryaristocracy. He was brought up in theservice of Zangi, his father beinggovernor of Baalbek. Saladin waseducated in the typical manner of theTurco-Arab military aristocracy. Heentered the service of Zangi's son Nural-Din and accompanied his uncle ontwo expeditions to Egypt. Following thesecond successful expedition, Saladinbecame the wazir or chief minister of thelast Fatimid Caliph. When the latter diedin 1171 Saladin took over as governor ofEgypt under the suzereinty of Nur al-Dinof Aleppo. After the ruler of Aleppo diedin 1174, Saladin gradually extended hiscontrol over most of what had been Nural-Din's territory. Despite earlier and lesssuccessful clashes, Saladin's invasion ofthe Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalemresulted in overwhelming victory in1187, including the reconquest ofJerusalem itself. Thereafter he held on tothe Holy City despite WesternChristendom's massive effort in theThird Crusade. He died in 1193. Piousand orthodox, an astute politician andan excellent military commander,Saladin was regarded as a pattern ofchivalry by his Frankish foes and as anideal ruler by many, though not all, inthe Islamic world.

outside Damascus in 1148. The SecondCrusade was, in fact, a fiasco whichdestroyed a potential alliance between theCrusader States and Damascus against Mosuland Aleppo. A few years later, in 1154, Nural-Din added Damascus to his expandingdomain.

Since the first attempt by King Almaric Iof Jerusalem to take control of Egypt, theMuslim and Christian powers in Syria hadhoped to annexe this wealthy and denselypopulated country. This resulted in a seriesof remarkable campaigns, involving Crusader

and Syrian-Turkish armies as well as politicaland military factions within the FatimidCaliphate. In 1169 Nur al-Din's generalShirkuh seized Cairo and the Crusader armyevacuated Egypt. That same year Shirkuhdied and his nephew, Saladin, became notonly Nur al-Din's governor and commanderof the Syrian forces in Egypt, but also of theFatimid army and navy. After ruthlesspurging and reorganisation these formedSaladin's first powerbase, to which hegradually added more troops including asignificant force of slave-recruited mamluks.

The Crusader States seemed paralysedbefore this looming threat and when Nural-Din and King Almaric of Jerusalem bothdied in 1174, Saladin added Damascus to hisrealm. Over the next few years Saladinextended his authority further, either bydirect annexation or by obliging Nur al-Din'sdescendants to recognise his overlordship. Atthis stage Saladin's occasional brushes withthe Crusader States seemed designed toimprove his standing among his fellow

Richard I of EnglandRichard, called Coeur de Lion, was bornin 1157, the third son of King Henry II.He became King of England in 1189, led amajor contingent in the Third Crusadeand married Berengaria of Navarre whilein Cyprus, which he had conquered fromthe Byzantines. Richard defeated Saladinat Arsuf but failed to retake Jerusalem.Attempting to return home overland, hewas imprisoned by Duke Leopold ofAustria. Ransomed in 1194, King Richardreturned home and fought King PhilipAugustus of France in Normandy, beingkilled in 1199 while besieging Chaluz.Richard was regarded as one of the finestexponents of chivalry, handsome andphysically brave but ostentatious. Hespent barely six months in England asking, regarding it merely as a place toraise money. King Richard I was also aleading patron of troubadours, as hismother Eleanor of Aquitaine had been.

The fighting 37

French sword, 1 1 5 0 - 7 5 . This is a very typical knightlyweapon of the later 12th c e n t u r y . The pommel is aflattened nut shape while the quillons broaden towardstheir ends. Such a sword-hilt is shown in a great deal ofart from this period, but usually appears in a chunkier,less delicate manner than the real w e a p o n . The blade hasa single broad fuller or groove down most of its lengthand also has a now unintelligible inlaid inscription. (RoyerCollection, Paris. France)

Muslims. He also retook the southern tip ofPalestine; a victory which was presented asthe 'freeing' of the Islamic pilgrim routefrom Egypt to the Holy Cities of Mecca andMedina, which was good for Saladin'scredentials as a leader of the jihad. It alsomeant that communication betweenSaladin's two powerbases in Egypt and Syria,though difficult, was free from anythingmore serious than occasional Crusader raids.

In 1187 Saladin launched a majorcampaign against the Kingdom of Jerusalem.This, like the First Crusade, achieved greatersuccess than Saladin probably expected. TheChristian army was virtually annihilated atthe battle of Hattin and Jerusalem wasretaken along with almost all the Kingdomof Jerusalem and a considerable amount ofother Crusader territory. This caused an evengreater shock than had the fall of Edessa,and resulted in the Third Crusade. EmperorFrederick Barbarossa marched in 1189 butwas drowned in Anatolia, only a small partof his army reaching Syria. Next year KingPhilip of France and King Richard of Englandset out by sea. Other European leaders werealso involved in this huge enterprise but theresults, though significant, were far less thanmight have been expected from a pan-European effort to reconquer the Holy Land.Even the famous battle of Arsuf was littlemore than a failed ambush from Saladin'spoint of view. Nevertheless, Saladin's armywas exhausted by the time the Third Crusadeended. A rump Kingdom of Jerusalem wasrecreated, but without Jerusalem, and thegreat coastal port of Acre remained theeffective capital of the Crusader east until itsfall in 1291.

The emphasis of the Crusading movementin the Middle East now changed.

Increasingly it focused on breaking Islamicpower in Egypt, which was the main threatto what remained of the Crusader States.Egypt was also accessible now that WesternEuropean domination of the Mediterraneanwas overwhelming; Cyprus, taken from theByzantines during the Third Crusade,provided an excellent naval base.

During the 13th century the fate of theCrusader States became entangled in therivalries of Western powers, most notablythose of the German Empire and southernItaly. In fact the rulers of Sicily sometimesseemed to view the affairs of Jerusalem aspart of their own ambitions to dominate the

Pope Innocent IIILotario de'Conti de Segni was born in1160 of a noble family. Vigorous, quick-witted and highly educated in theologyand law at Paris and Bolognauniversities, Lotario had very elevatedviews of the Papacy. Unfortunately hetended to be hasty, arrogant, legalisticand what today might be termed a'control freak'. Elected Pope in 1198 atthe young age of 37 with the name ofInnocent III, his tenure saw continuedefforts to promote papal supremacy overtemporal rulers, the suppression ofheresies and support for Crusades. He isoften regarded as the chief architect ofthe powerful Papacy of the 13th century.


The fortified port of Aigues Mortes was specially built asa powerful base in southern France from which to launchCrusading expeditions. Whether it was started by KingLouis IX or dates entirely from the reign of King Philip theFair is unclear but most of the walls and towers clearlydate from Philip's reign, 1285 to 1314. Today the seashoreis some way away from the town, which is partlysurrounded by reed marshes. (David Nicolle photograph)

entire Eastern Mediterranean. At the sametime antipathy between Catholic WesternEurope and Orthodox Eastern Europe wasincreasing. Such tensions, added to thedeclining authority of the ByzantineEmperors and the Venetian desire to controlthe region's trade, culminated in the

The Fourth Crusade attacks the port ofConstantinople, as described inVillehardouin's Chronicle:

"The appointed time was now comeand the knights went on board thetransport ships with their war-horses.They were fully armed, with theirhelmets laced on, while the horses werecovered with their armours and weresaddled. All the other people who wereof less importance in battle were in thelarger ships. The galleys were also fullyarmed and made ready. The weather wasfair and a little after dawn the EmperorAlexius (III) was waiting for them on theother side with a great army and witheverything in order. Now the trumpetssounded and every galley took a

transport ship in tow so that they couldreach the other side [of the GoldenHorn] more quickly ... The knights cameout of the transports and leapt fullyarmed into the sea up to their waists,helmets on their heads and spears intheir hands. The good archers and thegood crossbowmen, each in their units,scrambled ashore as soon as their shipstouched the ground. At first the Greeksmade a good resistance but when it cameto the meeting of spears they turnedtheir backs and fled, abandoned theshoreline ... Then the sailors began toopen the doors of the transports, letdown the ramps and took out the horses.The knights mounted and weremarshalled in their correct divisions."

The fighting 39

diversion of the Fourth Crusade againstConstantinople. This led to the creation of ashort-lived 'Latin Empire' of Constantinopleand of several Latin-Crusader States inGreece, plus the emergence of Byzantinesuccessor states in Epirus, Nicea andTrebizond. From then on effective militaryco-operation between Latin and Orthodox,Western and Eastern Christian states becamedifficult if not impossible. It was a turningpoint in the history of the Crusades.

The need to support new Latin-Crusaderstates in the Balkans also diverted resourcesaway from the Middle Eastern CrusaderStates at a time when European enthusiasmfor Crusading was in steep decline. Likevirtually all the later Crusades, the Fifth

Clairmont Castle, now called Khlemoutsi Castle, builtin 1220-23, was one of the most importantfortresses in Crusader Greece, it defended the landsof the Villehardouin family, whose capital was atnearby Andravida, and consisted of an outer wall, thelarge eliptical inner ward, and a series of rooms andgalleries including a chapel built against the outer wall.In most cases only their fireplaces r e m a i n . The keep,seen here on the right, was basically hexagonal withhuge vaulted galleries around a central court. (IanMeigh photograph)

Crusade of 1218-21 was a government-ledrather than popular movement. It startedwith relatively small-scale operations againstneighbouring Islamic territory in Syria butthen a bolder plan was devised. TheCrusaders would attack Egypt itself but thistime, with control of the EasternMediterranean, they could invade from thesea. Although the resulting campaigndemonstrated the sophistication of WesternEuropean combined operations, it failed withthe Crusader army surrendering to the forcesof Saladin's nephew, al-Kamil, in 1221. TheSixth Crusade, led by the cultured butexcommunicated Western Emperor FrederickII, was a diplomatic exercise rather than amilitary expedition and resulted in thepeaceful transfer of Jerusalem to Crusadersovereignty in 1229. From then on themilitary, political and diplomatic situation ofthe Crusader States deteriorated both inSyria-Palestine and Greece. Small groups ofCrusaders would arrive from the West,invariably conduct ineffective raids thatmerely annoyed neighbouring Islamic rulers,and then sail back to Europe. One of theseled by Thibaut of Champagne, the King of


Egyptian use of naft against the Crusadersoutside the captured city of Dumyat,according to De Joinville's Chronicle:

"One night when we were guardingthe chas-chastiaus the Saracens broughtup an engine called a pierrière which theyhad not used before. They put Greek Fireinto the sling of this engine. When myLord Gautiers d'Escuiré, a good knightwho was with me, said; 'Lords, we are inthe greatest peril so far, for if they set fireto our towers and we are inside them, weare doomed and burned up. But if weleave these defences which we have beenordered to defend, we are dishonoured ...So my advice is this. Every time theythrow the fire at us, we drop on our

elbows and knees, and pray to ourSaviour to save us.' As soon as they threwtheir first shot, we threw ourselves onour elbows and knees as he had shownus. That first shot fell between the twochas-chastiaus. It fell right in front of us,where the army had been damming theriver ... The Greek Fire was hurledtowards us like a large barrel of vinegar,and the tail of fire which came from itwas as long as a large lance.The noise it made as it came was likeheaven's thunder, and it seemed as if adragon was flying through the air. Italso shed so much light... that onecould see the camp as clearly as if it hadbeen daytime."

Navarre, was graced with the title of theSeventh Crusade. It tried to take advantageof rivalry between Saladin's Ayyubiddescendants who ruled in Cairo, Damascusand elsewhere. This resulted in anunsuccessful alliance with Damascus, aserious defeat near Gaza, a coup d'etat inCairo which placed a more effective AyyubidPrince on the Egyptian throne, and Thibautsailing home in disgust. Jerusalem was lost

Aerial view of Irbil taken in the early 1930s. Irbil was amajor centre of military power and of culture innorthern Iraq during the 12th and 13th centuries,particularly when Saladin's Turkish general Gökböri wasthe city's governor When this photograph was taken, ithad still not expanded far beyond the original circularwalled hilltop medieval city. Even today, after beingravaged by Mongols and damaged in 20th-century wars,Irbil still has the beautifully decorated brick minaret ofthe Great Mosque built by Gökböri. (Flight LieutenantSharpe photograph. St Andrews University LibraryPhotographic Collection, St Andrews, Scotland)

The fighting 41

The famous but very damagedwall-painting at Cressac is unusual inillustrating specifically Crusader knights.French 12th c e n t u r y . The scene isbelieved to illustrate their defeat ofNur al-Din in the Buqaia valley in1163. A 19th-century reproduction ofthis section of the wall-painting, madebefore it suffered further damage,shows that the little figure apparentlyseated behind one of the knight'sshields, was playing a stringedinstrument. Perhaps he representedthe musicians who also accompaniedsome Crusader armies into battle.(in situ Protestant church, Cressac,France. David Nicolle photograph)

again in 1244, taken by an army ofKhwarazmian military refugees called in bythe Sultan of Egypt. Then, in alliance withthe Egyptian army, they inflicted a crushingdefeat on the Christians and their allies fromDamascus at La Forbie, north of Gaza. It wasthe last time an army from the CrusaderStates challenged a comparable Islamic armyin open battle.

In 1249 the Eighth Crusade led by KingLouis IX of France was a more ambitious,better organised and better led expeditionand once more was aimed at Egypt. TheCrusaders landed at Dumyat on the easternbranch of the Nile, and marched uprivertowards Cairo, as they had done previously.They again reached Mansura, named incommemoration of the defeat of the FifthCrusade, and were again crushed in 1250.

Danishmandamah, originally writtenc.1245 for Sultan Kay Kawus II of SeljukRum, describing how Malik Danishmendfought a Christian knight named Tatis:

"The evil Tatis attacked MalikDanishmend with his lance; Malikparried with his shield. They fought onwith blows of their lances, and becauseof the violence and the strength of theseblows they burst the links which heldtheir coat of mail and so, ring by ring,these tumbled to the ground ... Theneighing of horses, the rattle of armourand harness, the clatter of swords, thecrash of maces, the whistling of arrows,the twang of bows and the cries ofwarriors filled the air."


During the course of this Eighth Crusade amilitary coup in Egypt overthrew theAyyubid Sultan and, after a complextransition period, replaced Saladin'sdescendants with a remarkable new form ofgovernment - the Mamluk Sultanate. Herethe ruler was himself a soldier of slave-recruited origin. The state now existed tomaintain the army while the army was

King Louis IX of FranceBorn in 1214, Louis came to the throneat the age of 12. Though generallyconservative, his reign was a positiveperiod in French history and also sawimproved relations with England. Louiswas a man of strong character, neitherextravagant nor subservient to theChurch. Nevertheless, he tried hard toestablish peace among Christian rulers.Soldierly and brave, King Louis becameobsessed by the idea of Crusade in hislater years, and he died in 1270 whileleading an expedition against Tunis.He was not only a pious man but wasconcerned that justice was available forall. The French king was canonised asSt Louis in 1297.

wholly dominated by soldiers of mamlukorigin, mostly Turks from Central Asia orsouthern Russia. More immediately, this newMamluk Sultanate faced a daunting array ofchallenges even after the defeat of the EighthCrusade.

The Mongol Hordes under Genghis Khanand his descendants had already invaded theeastern Islamic world, raising visions inEurope of a potent new ally, which wouldjoin Christians in destroying Islam. Evenafter the Mongol invasion of OrthodoxChristian Russia, followed by their terrifyingrampage across Catholic Hungary and partsof Poland, many in the West still regardedthe Mongols as potential allies. The Muslims,of course, recognised the Mongols as mortalfoes. In 1258 Genghis Khan's grandsonHulegu conquered the sadly diminished cityof Baghdad, killing its last 'Abbasid Caliph.

Effigy of Othon de Grandson, Savoyard-Swiss early 14thcentury. Othon was one of those who survived the fallof the Crusader city of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291. Hethen continued his very successful career in the serviceof the English crown. His effigy dates from the early 14thcentury and the military equipment it illustrates, thoughold-fashioned, is shown in very interesting detail. Even thebulge caused by the knight's ears beneath the mail of hiscoif, and almost certainly a partially padded cloth coifbeneath, has been accurately shown, (in situ Cathedral,Lausanne, Switzerland. David Nicolle photograph)

The fighting 43

Krak des Chevaliers


Carving of a demon loading a crossbow. French early12th c e n t u r y . The demon spans or pulls back the stringof the weapon by placing his feet on the arms of thebow. while apparently holding the arrow or bolt in hism o u t h . This was the earliest and most primitive methodof loading a weapon which the Church and the feudalmilitary elite still regarded as 'demonic' because itthreatened the knight's supposed domination of warfare.(in situ cloisters of the church of St Pierre, Moissac,France. David Nicolle photograph)

Abu'l-'Abbas al-Nasir li-Din AllahBorn in 1158, the son and successor tothe Caliph al-Mustadi', al-Nasir ruled as'Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad from 1180to 1225. He had been kept in virtualisolation by a father who feared his sonwould be corrupted by dangerous newideas. His relations with his mother, aTurkish slave, were easier. Al-Nasir hadto defend his position when he came tothe throne but went on to revive thepower and prestige of the Sunni 'AbbasidCaliphate, which had been in theshadow of secular rulers for centuries.This also resulted in a localisedextension of Caliphal territory. Baghdadagain became the focal point of theSunni Islamic world and al-Nasir eventried to reunite the separated strands ofIslam. The network of alliances which heformed destroyed the remnants of theSeljuk Sultanate in Iran in 1194, butunfortunately the Khwarazmshahs whoreplaced the Seljuks proved even moredangerous neighbours. Some sourceseven suggest that the Caliph al-Nasircalled upon the Mongol leader GenghisKhan to attack the Khwarazmshah fromthe east. Certainly many Muslims inSyria and Egypt felt that the Caliph wasmore interested in eastern affairs than inthe threat posed by the Crusaders. Hedied in 1225.

The following year he took Damascus beforereturning to Central Asia. But in 1260 theMongol army which Hulegu had left tocontinue the conquest of Syria was itselfdefeated by the Mamluks at the battle of'Ayn Jalut in Palestine. This was the firsttime that a major Mongol army had beendefeated in open battle by a comparableIslamic force and was a turning point in theMongol invasion of the Islamic world.Eventually the conversion of the Il-Khans (asthe Mongol occupiers of Iran and Iraq wereknown) to Islam at the end of the 13thcentury meant that the struggle became one

between rival Muslim dynasties rather thanbetween Muslims and alien outsiders.

Though the feeble Crusader States andoccasional Crusading expeditions from theWest were drawn in, the Crusaders were nowlittle more than pawns in a greater game. Fortheir part the Mamluk rulers of Egypt andSyria recognised that these Europeanenclaves on their left flank were a strategicdanger and so decided to remove them onceand for all. Meanwhile the Crusader Stateswere weakened by internal quarrels betweenthose supporting this or that nominal kingof Jerusalem, between rival Italian merchant

The fighting 45

Arms and armour fragments from the ruins of the GreatPalace in Istanbul (Constantinople), Byzantine 12thc e n t u r y . They were found in association with coins datingfrom the middle and later Comnenid period.Nevertheless, this military equipment is more typical ofthe western steppes in what are now the Ukraine andsouthern Russia than with what we know of Byzantinearms and armour. This is particularly true of the iron'face-mask' visors, one of which has here beenphotographed from the inside. Perhaps they were usedby Kipchaq Turkish mercenaries in Byzantine Imperialservice. (Present whereabouts unknown. St AndrewsUniversity Library Photographic Collection)

republics in pursuit of trading advantages,and even between the great Military Ordersof the Templars and the Hospitallers.Moreover, Mamluk raiders devastated theorchards, market gardens and sugarplantations close to the remaining Crusadercities and castles. One by one the latter fell.Most were razed but sometimes the Mamlukstook over a Crusader castle for their own use,strengthening them still further.

In 1268 the Mamluks, under SultanBaybars devastated Antioch. In 1270 KingLouis IX set out on Crusade once again butthis time against Tunis in North Africa ratherthan to the Middle East. Nevertheless, it wasanother disaster, culminating in Louis' death.Next year a small force gathered in Syriaunder the leadership of Prince Edward of

The Crusader States at their greatest extent, c.AD 1144

46 E


he Crusades

The fighting 47

Letter from Mosul in December 1236 at thetime when Mongols were invading the MiddleEast, written by a leading member of theJewish community in Iraq:

"Do not ask ... what happened to yourservant at the time when he arrived inthis country, after he has been in dangerfrom the Tatars (Mongols) three times.The last was when they arrived in themorning of the Fast, when we were inal-'Imraniya. They remained outside thetown killing everyone on his way to orfrom the town ... When night had fallenwe tried to go to the mountain, stillwithout having eaten. However we didnot find the way and so passed the nightunder the hedge of an orchard untilmorning, when we tried again to reachthe mountain. However they camebetween us and the mountain. We turnedback to the farm but saw on our way fiftyriders and when we tried another routewe saw about a hundred. I and those whowere with me said the confession of sins,for we were sure to be killed. HoweverGod made me think of going to a thickhedge of raspberry bushes and I tookcover under it; me and the boy. TheTatars went by that hedge, twenty-five ofthem. Had one of them stretched forthhis whip it would have reached us. Weremained there until noon when theyrode away and [we] went up to themountain where we remained eight days,eating the leaves of oak-trees and stalebread. Finally we returned to find thecountry full of dead."

England, the future King Edward I, but it wastoo small, the Crusader States too anarchicand the Mamluk opposition too strong. Thesame year even the huge Hospitaller fortressof Krak des Chevaliers was lost.

For the rest of the 1270s Mamlukattention focused on their struggle with theMongols, but in 1285 a new Sultan,Qalawun, was able to return to the task ofdefeating the Crusaders. His first target was

A war-galley in a Byzantine manuscript of the 12thcentury. A number of illustrations of Byzantine warshipsexist, and several give the vessels red-painted prows andsterns. Perhaps this was a form of identification thatcould be seen from a great distance. Otherwise thewritten sources suggest that it could be very difficult toidentify friend from foe in Mediterranean naval warfare.(Sermons of St. Gregory Nazianzus, Monastery ofPanteleimon, Mount Athos, Greece)

the remnants of the County of Tripoli andwhat was in all but name a Hospitaller'statelet' around Margat. Margat fell in 1285,Tripoli in 1289. The Crusader States were intheir final extremity and desperate appealsfor help produced some help from WesternEurope. In 1290 a fleet of Venetian andAragonese warships arrived with troops inwhat could be called the last Crusade, but itwas already too little and too late.

In 1291 the Mamluk Sultan al-AshrafKhalil, Qalawun's son, assembled a hugearmy, drawing in volunteers andprofessionals from Egypt and Syria, plus aformidable array of the best siege engines yet


Wall painting of warrior saints. Byzantino-Serb. c. 126b.Occasionally Byzantine paintings of military saints showthem without the usual antique armour As a resultthey might look more like the Byzantine. Serbian orBulgarian military elite of the time when they werepainted. Here, for example, both men are armed withspears but the one on the left has a round shield whilethe saint on the right has a form of elongated ortriangular shield, (in situ church. Sopocani Monastery,Serbia. David Nicolle photograph)

'Imad al-Din al-Isfahani on Saladin's lastattempt to raise the siege of Acre:

"It was said that one part of the[Crusader] defence was held by a Frankwho seemed like a jinni, very agile andconfident in the devil's help ... He hadtaken his shield and made it into a shellfor his body, but it became a target forarrows so that he soon resembled ahedgehog covered in spikes. The arrowsremained stuck in his protection butcould not penetrate it. This man waseventually killed when a bottle of GreekFire (naft) was smashed against his'shell.'"

Anon, Les Chétifs, a late 12th-centuryFrench Crusade cycle that describes anarmy arrayed:

"See and note each knight mounted,each hauberk and each helmet and eachshield in rows. Each lance tipped withsteel and each blade fixed, and each finewar-horse in decorated harness, eachgood sword and each javelin pointedtowards the foe, each war-axe restingupon a shoulder, the crossbows drawn,their arrows aimed."

devised. Their target was the great coastalcity of Acre. The siege was bitter and onlylasted seven weeks before the Mamluks brokein. The fall of Acre is usually seen as the endof the Crusades in the Holy Land with mostof the remaining enclaves of Tyre, Beirut,Atlit, Tortosa and Haifa being abandonedbefore the Mamluks attacked. Sidon resistedfor a while but was then evacuated.

All that remained was Jubail (in what isnow Lebanon) and the little Syrian offshoreisland of Ruad. At Jubail the local lord, PeterEmbriaco, had already submitted to Mamluksuzereinty and seems to have retained hislordship for several years, his successorsperhaps converting to Islam and beingabsorbed into the Mamluk state. The Templars

clung to Ruad until ousted by the Mamluks in1302. Cilician Armenia survived, initially asan ally of the Mongol Il-Khans, until theMamluks and Anatolian Turks joined forces tocrush this potentially dangerous outpost in1375. The Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus lastedfar longer and served as a base from whichWestern European fleets launched naval raids- sometimes graced with the title of Crusades- against the Mamluk Sultanate during the14th century.

Although the First Crusade includednon-combatants, the success of themovement naturally depended upon itsfighting men. The bulk of the cavalry camefrom the lower military elite or knights. Theirequipment reflected their wealth and status,

The fighting 49

which varied considerably though thepossession of adequate arms and horses was abasic requirement. Their primary weaponswere the lance and the sword, the formerusually used in the couched manner where itwas firmly tucked beneath the upper-rightarm and pointed directly ahead. This meantthat an individual horseman could onlyattack an opponent immediately in front ofhim. But the couched lance was not intendedto be an individual weapon, rather it was theweapon of a close-packed line of horsemenor conrois in which individuals were trainedto act as a co-ordinated team. The knight'ssword was a secondary weapon, to be drawnand used in the melee after a charge had beendelivered, or in a defensive situation or whenthe lance was inappropriate.

Less is known about Western Europeaninfantry at the time of the First Crusade butthey were not a despised rabble. In fact theywould have included professional footsoldiers or sergeants, plus part-timemilitiamen from the cities and ordinaryvolunteers. Nor should the capabilities of the

Standard-bearers and musicians in an Islamic army, asillustrated in one of the best known Iraqi manuscriptsfrom the early 13th century. Flags, banners and militarybands played a major role in Middle Eastern warfare, andhad done so since well before the Islamic era.Nevertheless, the Muslims brought them to a fine art witha great variety of forms and shapes of banner and specialcorps of drummers, trumpeters and so o n . They not onlyhelped to maintain morale but assisted in the identificationof units and communication between commanders andtheir troops. ("Maqamat of al-Hariri". Ms. Arabe 5847, f.19,Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France)


Ceramic fragment showing a Fatimid Egyptianinfantryman, Egypt 11th-12th cen tu r ies . This damagedfragment of lustreware ceramic provides one of themost interesting existing illustrations of an IslamicMiddle Eastern foot soldier from the early Crusaderperiod. As in other sources, he protects his headwith a bulky turban, is armed with a broad-bladedspear and a kite-shaped shield. His left arm andshoulder are given a different pattern to the rest of hiscostume, perhaps suggesting that a mail hauberk is wornbeneath a fabric outer garment. (Study Collection.Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England, DavidNicolle photograph)

latter be dismissed at a time when most menknew how to use some sort of weapon. Bythe end of the 11th century such infantryincluded crossbowmen as well as ordinaryarchers, an increase in the importance of thecrossbow being the most significant featureof 12th-century Western European warfare.

There were no real changes in knightlycavalry warfare except for a refinement ofexisting tactics. Even the changes in cavalryequipment largely reflected the threat fromcrossbows. In the Crusader Middle East,Islamic archery was a comparable threat. As aresult, knightly armour grew notably heavierand more all-covering, while horse armourwas also adopted. The resultant increasingweight must have been a major factor in the

use of larger horses, since a horse needs to beheavy to carry weight.

Western European infantry tactics, likethose of the cavalry, were refined rather thanchanged and the role of foot soldiersremained essentially defensive. In openbattle or while marching through hostileterritory infantry protected cavalry byforming a defensive perimeter or line. Fromsuch formations the cavalry could launchthe charges, which remained the only realoffensive tactic in the Crusader armoury. Theother major role of foot soldiers was, ofcourse, in siege warfare. In this situationthey and any siege engineers or labourerswould be led and supported by the knightlyelite. Infantry armour was essentially thesame as that of the cavalry, though lighterand generally lacking leg protection and themassive forms of vision-restricting helmetsadopted by many European cavalry in thelater 12th century.

Infantry weapons were more varied andoften more complex than those of the cavalry.The crossbow, like the composite bow, whichwas used in Italy, the Crusader States andother parts of the Christian Mediterraneanworld, was a sophisticated weapon. By the late13th century its power increased yet further.In addition to spears, swords and daggers, footsoldiers wielded an extraordinary array ofpole-arms, often reflecting their place oforigin. These often included thrusting points,hacking blades, armour-penetratinghorizontal points and sometimes even hooksto pull horsemen from their saddles. Theshields used by foot soldiers similarly rangedfrom small hand-held bucklers to massivemantlets, which could be rested on the groundto form a fixed 'shield-wall'.

The military equipment of Islamic armieswas more complex, reflecting a wider andmore varied military heritage. To some extentthis was also true of the Byzantine arms. Inmilitary technological and tactical mattersthe 12th- to 13th-century Middle East had aheritage going back to the Romano-Byzantineand Sassanian Persian past, added to whichwere the neglected traditions of the Arabianpeninsula and those of Turco-Mongol

The fighting 51

Central Asia, plus some influence fromMediterranean Europe. These had beenamalgamated and refined during the 7thto the 11th centuries, resulting in the mostsophisticated military heritage of the age.This military heritage was also a literateone in which military manuals werewidely available.

A common image of Islamic armiesconsisting almost entirely of cavalry is verymisleading. In reality these forces reflectedtheir places of origin, patterns of recruitmentand the military heritage of their ruling elite.None relied solely on horse-archers, though12th- to 13th-century Islamic cavalry didinclude many such Turks. The professionalsoldiers, whether of mamluk or freeborn

Turkish weapons, 10th-12th centuries. An assortment oftypical Turco-Mongol or Central Asian weaponsfragments were found during archaeological excavationsat the Citadel of K u v a . This area, close to the frontier withChina, became the heartland of the Kara-Khanid Sultanatewhich rivalled the Seljuks for the domination of thenorth-eastern provinces of the Islamic world during theCrusader p e r i o d . The weapons themselves, including partsof daggers, arrowheads and spearheads, would have beenidentical to those used by Seljuk warriors both here inTransoxania, in Iran and in Syria. (Archaeological Museum,Kuva. Uzbekistan. David Nicolle photographs)

origin, were generally trained to use spears,swords, maces, daggers and bows. The lattercould be shot in the Central Asian long-range harassment manner, at close range inwheeling charges, or by men in static orslow-moving ranks.


It has been suggested that, to some degree,the success of the First Crusade resulted froma decline in battlefield discipline and skill onthe part of this traditional Islamic militaryelite, while the ultimate expulsion of theCrusaders reflected a steady revival in theircapabilities. It is certainly true that thefearsome Mamluk armies which finallydestroyed the Crusader States were not usingfundamentally new tactics, organisation, armsor armour. On the contrary they had much incommon with the best Middle Eastern Islamicarmies of the pre-Crusader period. What didchange was the status of infantry, whichslumped from the 11th to 14th centuries.

The weapons used by Islamic troops werenot wholly different from those of theCrusaders. Initially most swords were

Part of a collection of bows and other archeryequipment from northern Iraq, Syria or south-easternTurkey. 12th-13th cen tu r ies . The date of this remarkablecollection of arms, armour and horse-harness has beenconfirmed by carbon-dating t e s t s . The hand bows are allof composite construction, exactly as described in thetechnical manuals of the p e r i o d . They also appear to beof various sizes, strengths or draw w e i g h t s . This again wastypical of the Islamic Middle East, where all but the finestbows were manufactured in a mass-production mannerin three standardised strengths to suit the age or abilityof the archer (Private collection)

straight, since the curved Central Asian sabrewas still a new phenomenon in the 11thcentury. Muslim horsemen made more use ofdaggers in close combat than did theirWestern opponents, most notably the largekhanjar, which might better be described as ashort sword. Even the composite bow ofwood, sinew and horn construction was notso different from that seen in Byzantium,southern Italy and the Iberian peninsula.What was different was a relatively newTurkish or Turco-Mongol form of compositebow of which the 'ears' or tips were shorter,thicker, stiffer and had a regularly recurvedshape. It demanded greater strength, andperhaps more intensive training, but wasmore suited to use on a moving horse.

Where armour was concerned Islamicarmies could draw upon more variedtechnology than their Western opponents.What they lacked was the abundance of ironwhich was already giving Western Europe astrategic advantage. Consequently the mailarmour and iron helmets seen in both theMiddle East and Europe were, in the formercase, supplemented by iron and bronzelamellar cuirasses plus highly effectivedefences made of quilted material, hardenedleather and even wood. The Middle East's

The fighting 53

so-called 'soft armours' utilising cotton, silk,wool and other forms of impact-absorbingpadding would be widely copied in WesternEurope, but the Islamic world's varied formsof hardened leather defences only seem tohave influenced the armours of Byzantium,Italy and the Iberian peninsula.

It has recently been argued convincinglythat much of the elite cavalry of thewealthier Middle Eastern Islamic states rodelarger horses than did the great majority ofFirst Crusaders. Though professional mamlukcavalry used the couched lance in a similarmanner to their Crusader opponents, thiswas not their main style of combat.Consequently their saddles did not developthe remarkably tall pommels and cantles seenin medieval Europe. In fact the traditionalMiddle Eastern military saddle was closer tothe so-called 'cowboy saddle' of theAmerican West. Horse armour of quilted felt,mail, scale or lamellar construction hadalways been known in the Islamic world butwas restricted to the wealthiest states and aspecific form of cavalry. These were usuallyelite horse-archers whose role was to cover

The so-called 'Baptistere de St Louis' is in reality a fineEgyptian or Syrian bronze basin inlaid with silver, goldand copper In addition to scenes of Mamluk courtly lifeand ceremonial there are scenes of cavalry combat.Most of the horsemen appear to be unarmoured,though one has a full lamellar cuirass with a mail aventailacross his face. In reality all the other fighting menprobably wear mail lined by fabric-covered and paddedkazaghgands, as described in Arabic written sourcesfrom this period. (Musée du Louvre. Paris, France)

the flanks and the withdrawal of close-combat cavalry.

Throughout the history of the Middle Eastuntil modern times, very few battles werefought in the desert. Almost all campaignstook place in the settled regions of the NileValley, Nile Delta, the Fertile Crescent fromsouthern Palestine to southern Iraq, inneighbouring semi-arid steppe regions, or inthe relatively sparsely populated regions ofAnatolia and Iran. These were not only theregions most worth conquering or defendingbut they also contained the cities that servedas focal points for trade. Furthermore,pre-modern armies were not really capable ofoperating in true desert. As a result the First


and subsequent Crusades operated in muchthese same agricultural, urban or semi-desertenvironments. Even the previouslyunstoppable Mongols found that their styleof campaigning was severely limited by thedry Middle Eastern environment.

Other climatic features also played a part.In many parts of the Middle East the summerwas too hot for effective fighting, and theautumn or winter either too wet in Syria ortoo cold in Anatolia and Iran. Horses neededto be fattened, crops gathered, mountainpasses opened, the annual Nile flood to riseand fall. Even the monsoons of the IndianOcean may have had an influence, throughseasonal maritime trade, on the tax revenuesof the Egyptian government. The health ofMiddle Eastern populations, including militaryelites, was similarly influenced by variableweather as it impacted on food levels and thespread of contagion. Infectious diseases tendedto hit rural populations harder than nomadicones, urban more than rural and settler orforeign groups - including newly arrivedmilitary elites - more than indigenous peoples.In fact few periods of were armed forces sodependent on ecological factors.

Stucco plaque showing armoured cavalrymen joustingor in combat, Iran 12th-13th cen tu r ies . The two menare very similarly equipped, both having a small formof jawshan lamellar cuirass over their chests. Howeverthe horseman on the left also has a long cloth overhis pointed hat or more probably h e l m e t . This is givento elite guard figures or courtiers in other sources, andperhaps serves the same function here. (inv. 54.29, ArtMuseum, Seattle, USA)

From the section on armour in a militarytreatise written for Saladin by Muria Ibn'Ali Muria al-Tarsusi:

"The jawshan is made by the Persiansand is made of small plates of iron orhorn or leather. One fashions the plates... bound with gut, hollowed out andplaced one over the other. Thekazghandah was invented by those whobecame Arabs [meaning the largely Semiticpeoples who adopted Arabic during the earlycenturies of Islamic history]. It is made offine mail coats which are covered byquilted garments of silk and padding.Some use brocade or other decoratedmaterial."

Portrait of a soldier

Brothers in arms;two crusaders; two fursan

An Anglo-Norman crusader

Pagan Peverel was an Anglo-Norman knightwho took part in the First Crusade, but likeso many other participants this formed onlya small part of his career. Pagan was probablythe third son of Ranulph Peverel who,according to one story, made his fortune bymarrying one of Duke William ofNormandy's Saxon concubines. His eldestbrother may even have been the Duke'sillegitimate child. While Pagan's brothersmade good marriages and became importantmen, he became a soldier and accompaniedDuke Robert of Normandy on Crusade. Heprobably took over as one of Robert'sstandard-bearers following the death ofRoger de Barnevilla outside Antioch. Paganmay also have participated in the Duke's raidon the Fatimid headquarters during thebattle of Ascalon.

Pagan then returned to England, where hefound favour with King Henry I, thoughprobably more for his loyalty to the Normanducal family than for his prowess on Crusade.According to the Liber Memorandum Ecclesie deBarnewelle, Pagan Peverel was 'a member ofthe King's household, an oustanding soldier... and praiseworthy above all the nobles ofthe kingdom in matters of warfare'. In 1105he was granted the manor of Shefford inBerkshire but five years later had a serious

Shayzar castle, village and watermill with the River Orontes.Shayzar in central Syria was the birthplace of Usamah IbnMunqidh and was the centre of an 11th—12th centurymini-state ruled by Usamah's family, the Banu Munqidh. Itwas right on the frontier of Islamic territory in Syria, withCrusader-held Afamiya to the north, an Ismail or 'Assassin'mini-state in the mountains to the west beyond which layfurther Crusader territory. Only to the south and east laynormal Islamic territory and this was held by local Turco-Seljuk governors who were often at loggerheads with theBanu Munqidh. (David Nicolle photograph)


St George on a painted icon panel made in the CrusaderStates, probably in the late 13th century. Not only is thispainting almost undamaged, but it also illustrates thewarrior saint equipped in what is almost certainly thesame manner as those turcopole light cavalry who servedin the armies of the Crusader States. He has a spear arelatively small round shield, a short-sleeved mail shirt and

a box-style quiver identical to those used by Islamichorse-archers. His saddle is, however typically WesternEuropean . The identity of the kneeling woman who kissesSt George's foot is unknown, but she was probably thedonor Her costume also appears to be more WesternEuropean in style than Orthodox or Byzantine.(St Catherine's Monastery, Egypt)

Portrait of a soldier 57

quarrel with Ramsey Abbey over thepossession of two villages, Stowe and Gretton.The King ordered a public trial of the twoclaims. Pagan lost and, according to thesomewhat biased Miracles of St Ivo, he and hiscompanions subsequently suffered a numberof divinely ordained accidents. Pagan Pevereldied after 1133, his son William then goingon Crusade and dying in Jerusalem in 1147.

The servant of the king

Othon de Grandson was from the middleranks of the feudal elite and his career isunusually well recorded. Born in 1238, theeldest son of Pierre, lord of Grandson inSavoy in what is now western Switzerland,Othon was considered to be destined forgreat things. He was probably brought up onstories of the Crusades since his grandfatherhad died in the Holy Land. He and hisbrother went to England to be educated inthe royal households around 1247. Othonsoon became a valuable man and seems tohave been a companion of Prince Edward,the future King Edward I. In fact Othonaccompanied Edward on Crusade to Tunisiaand Palestine in 1270, being credited withsaving the Prince's life by sucking out thepoison from an assassin's dagger. He certainlyremained one of Edward's must trusted men.

As King of England, Edward planned to goon Crusade again and to that end sentOthon de Grandson to do some diplomaticgroundwork in 1290. As a result thisSavoyard knight found himself in Acre whenthe final Mamluk attack came. Some sourcessay Othon fought bravely until resistancecollapsed, while others claim he deserted hispost. He certainly escaped with the moneythat Edward had entrusted to him, whilelosing his own possessions. Othon deGrandson spent the rest of his career servingthe English crown, taking part in wars inScotland and France and becoming Wardenof the Channel Islands. Nevertheless, he diedat the age of 90 only 50 miles from hisbirthplace, and was buried in LausanneCathedral.

Ambroise in his ItinerariumPeregrinorum, on how the weather madethings hard for the Third Crusade:

"When the arrangements werecomplete our men set out for the castleof Bayt Nuba, but the rain and hail wasso heavy that many pack animals died.It pulled out tent pegs, drowned thehorses and spoiled the bacon andbiscuits. Weapons and armour got sorusty that a lot of hard work was neededto restore them to their previouscondition. Clothes fell to pieces in thedamp and men suffered from thisunexpectedly bad weather."

An Arab cavalier

We only know about Jum'ah al-Numayribecause he was the friend and militarymentor of Usamah Ibn Munqidh and isfrequently mentioned in Usamah's memoirs.These make it clear that Jum'ah was a highlyrated and experienced cavalryman in thelittle garrison-army of Shayzar in centralSyria. He was an Arab soldier who, as hisname indicates, came from the Banu Numayrtribe. This had played a major military rolein Syrian affairs for hundreds of years. In the10th century their stronghold was theHarran area. During the 11th century theBanu Numayr also dominated the cities ofRaqqa and Saruj, briefly being theindependent rulers of this region. The BanuNumayr then played a major role resistingthe Seljuk Turkish conquest of northern Syriaand by the end of the 11th century wereallies of Usamah's tribe or family, the BanuMunqidh.

Several men with the name al-Numayriserved in Shayzar including Jum'ah's sonMahmud, but Jum'ah was the most senior.Usamah described him as: 'Our leadingcavalryman and our most experiencedsoldier.' Usamah also recalled there was aknight in the neighbouring Crusadergarrison at Afamiyah, his name being


'Badrhawa' (possibly Peter something). ThisBadrhawa was one of the enemy's mostvaliant men and used to say: 'Perhaps oneday I shall meet Jum'ah in single combat.'Meanwhile Jum'ah used to say: 'Perhaps oneday I shall meet Badrhawa in combat.' Butthey never did meet, because the Frank waskilled by a lion while riding to Antioch.Usamah's memoirs contain numerousaccounts of Jum'ah's character and exploits.One in particular sheds a fascinating lighton the concern for personal honour andreputation among the elite Muslim cavalry

Carving of a fully armoured figure on a horse, Syria 12thcentury. The huge but largely ruined bridge at Ain Diwarwas made in the 12th or very early 13th centuries. Itonce spanned the River Tigris, though this has sincemoved a few hundred metres to the east. Although thebridge is known as an important example of Islamic civilengineering from the Crusader era, its carvings neverseem to have been published in d e t a i l . They illustrateastrological figures. This particular panel has a cavalrymanriding side-saddle, presumably for iconographic reasons,and wearing a full-length lamellar jawshan cuirass over along-sleeved mail dir' or hauberk. His face has beendefaced but the sides of his head show that he also hada mail coif or perhaps an aventail attached to a low-domed round helmet, (in situ Ain Diwar bridge nearMalkiyah, Syria. David Nicolle photograph)

of this period. Jum'ah, it seems, was terriblyupset after being wounded by a younger andless experienced Kurdish horseman in therival army of Hamah. The youngster wasnamed Sarhank Ibn Abi Mansur. Later in thesame battle Jum'ah went off on his own,then returned laughing, announcing thathe had hit Sarhank while the latter wassurrounded by his comrades and had thenhimself escaped unscathed.

The loyal Turk

Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri, whose name means'Blue Wolf in Turkish, came from a powerfulTurkish family. His father was a Seljukgovernor of Irbil in northern Iraq andbecame a loyal follower of Zangi, the firstMuslim ruler to roll back the Crusaderadvance. Gökböri served Nur al-Din andsupposedly became titular governor ofHarran at the age of 14. In 1175 hecommanded part of the Aleppo-Mosul armyagainst Saladin at the battle of Hama. ButNur al-Din's inheritance was fragmentingand Gökböri recognised that Saladin was the

Portrait of a soldier 59

The remarkable array of 12th- to early 14th-centurySyrian or Iraqi arms, armour and horse-harnesses whichstill awaits full publication includes several almost completecuirasses. They are constructed of loops of hardenedleather shaped to fit around the front or back of thewearer's body. Each is painted a colourful pattern and ismade of several layers of thinner leather sewn and gluedtogether Each loop was then attached to its neighbourswith leather straps on the inside. (Private collection)

rising star. He therefore invited Saladin toinvade the Zangid lands north-east of theRiver Euphrates. Saladin attacked in 1182and a year or so later gave Gökböri thetowns of Edessa and Sumaysat as his reward.Gökböri also married one of Saladin's sisters,al-Sitt Rabia Khatun.

In 1185 some of Saladin's advisers accusedthe Turk of disloyalty and suggestedexecuting him. Instead Saladin confiscatedtwo of Gökböri's towns but allowed him toremain in his service. During Saladin's greatvictory at Hattin in 1187 Gökböri lived up tohis reputation for standing firm while othersquailed and so Saladin gave the Turk hisfather's original governorate around Irbil.There the great warrior also showed himselfto be an enthusiastic patron of learning and

the arts. Gökböri is also said to have been thefirst Islamic ruler to encourage the previouslyunofficial Mawlid al-Nabi (Birthday of theProphet Muhammad) festivities, perhaps inimitation of the Christmas celebrations heldby Irbil's large Christian community. At theage of almost 80 Gökböri and his men joinedthose of the Caliph of Baghdad to shadowthe Mongols who were now ravaging Iran.He fell ill during the campaign and returnedhome to Irbil, where he died in June 1233.

Baha' al-Din Ibn Shaddad in hisAl-Nawadir al-Sultaniyah, describing theThird Crusade as it marched south alongthe coast:

"The enemy was formed in order ofbattle, the infantry drawn up in front ofthe cavalry, firm like a wall and everyfoot soldier wore a coat of thick feltand a coat of mail so strong that ourarrows (shot from a distance) made noimpression on them. But they shot at uswith their great crossbows, wounding theMuslims' horses and their riders."

The world around war

The impact of the Crusades onthe Mediterranean and beyond

The economic impact of two centuries ofCrusading warfare upon some parts ofEurope was considerable. In many otherareas, however, this impact was negligible.While in countries such as France, Germanyand England the need to raise money tofinance the Crusades did play some role inthe development of government financialsystems, it was only in Italy that theeconomic impact of the Crusades was reallyimportant. Even here the events of the 12thand 13th centuries were only part of thelonger history of the trading relationshipbetween the Italian states and their Islamic

neighbours to the south and east, and theirGraeco-Byzantine neighbours in the Balkans.Amalfitan merchants were present in Egyptwell before the First Crusade and Italianseamen were already well on their way toachieving naval domination throughout the

The simple or folk art of 12th-century medieval WesternEurope is often neglected by both art historians andthose who study military technology. Here such a simplecarved figure almost certainly represents a Crusaderarmed with a sword, largely lost when the top of thisbaptismal font was damaged, and carrying a largekite-shaped shield with a cross, (in situ parish church,Thorpe Arnold, England. David Nicolle photograph)

The world around war 61

Mediterranean. By the fall of Acre at the endof the 13th century Italians not onlydominated almost every corner of theMediterranean but the Black Sea as well.

Economic links between Egypt and Sicilycontinued even after the Norman conquestof previously Muslim-ruled Sicily and tradelinks between Egypt and southern Italy as awhole were only briefly interrupted by theFirst Crusade. Further north, in Genoa andperhaps Pisa, trade links increasedsignificantly during the 12th century, despitethe supposedly deep-seated antagonism

An official letter from a Fatimid governmentofficial found in the Cairo Geniza orsynagogue document store. It was addressedto the Caliph al-Amir (1101-30) andconcerned Italian merchants who hadbrought a cargo of timber, probably toAlexandria:

"In the name of God, theCompassionate, the Merciful. Thebenedictions of God and His blessings.His increasing benefactions and mostexcellent peace and greetings be uponour Master and Lord, the 'Imam al-Amirbi-Akham Allah, Commander of theFaithful and his pure ancestors andnoble descendants, benedictions thatshould last and remain until the Day ofJudgement. This slave kisses the earthbefore the noble and exalted propheticalpresence, may God double its light andmay God extol its beacon. He reports thecontinued arrival of the Rum (WesternEuropean) merchants who comebringing timber and whose arrival thisslave had reported. They are named:Sergius the son of Constantine, and S-r—ula the son of H—l-m, and Grasso theson of Leo the Amalfitan, and theRuah(?), and Bon S-n-yun the Genoese,and their companions who are withthem. They say that up to the time ofthis slave's writing it has not beenestablished ... the timber ... reachedthem ... [end of the surviving page]."

Siena Cathedral is perhaps the biggest and most strikingexample of the use of black and white horizontal stripedmasonry as a form of decoration. It almost certainlyreflected ideas brought back from the Islamic world andwas built between 1196 and the early 14th century.(David Nicolle photograph)

Fulcher of Chartres on the perilsfacing ships linking the Crusader Statesto the West:

"Many are the troubles which, Godwilling or permitting, meet those sailingat sea. Sometimes the anchor breaksloose, sometimes a sailyard or the carvedornamental stern is broken, or the cablespart ... Many ships are accustomed torun into danger in the Gulf of Adalia.Here the winds blow in violently fromall sides, down the mountains into thevalleys to be deflected through gorgesand converging into a whirlwind in theGulf. If sometimes the mariners meet apirate ship they are robbed and pitilesslyruined. But those who suffer this for thelove of God, will they ever bedisappointed in His rewards?"


One of the most highly visible examples of the way inwhich later medieval Western European architecture wasinfluenced by ideas brought back from the Crusades wasin the use of black and white stone as a form of stripeddecoration; usually combining white limestone with darkgrey volcanic basalt, which had been seen in the MiddleEast for many centur ies . The Mausoleum Mosque ofShaykh Reslan in Damascus, built in the 12th century, is aparticularly dramatic example. (David Nicolle photograph)

The German pilgrim Theoderich describes theHospital of St John in Jerusalem in 1169:

"Unless he has had the opportunity ofseeing it with his own eyes, no one cancredibly explain how beautiful itsbuildings are, how abundantly it issupplied with rooms, beds and othermaterial to be used for the poor and sick,how abundantly it has the means torefresh the poor, how devoutly it laboursto support the needy. In fact we walkedthrough this palace and were quiteunable to discover the true number ofthose sick people who were lying there,but we saw ourselves that the beds alonenumbered more than one thousand."

between Christendom and Islam epitomisedby the Crusades. The role of Crusader Statesthemselves in this pattern of trade was not asimportant as might have been expected, asthey served more like colonial outposts ortrading bases than economic units in theirown right. As the Crusader States in bothSyria-Palestine and in southern Greeceshrank in territory and power, they becameincreasingly dependent upon outsidesupplies as well as military support. As aresult southern Italy became a significantsource of such things as food and horses.Even the fact that the Military Orders of theTemplars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knightsalso played a major role in supplying theCrusader States during the 13th century canbe misleading. These Military Orders mayhave had their headquarters in the CrusaderStates, but their real economic power andinfluence was rooted in Western Europe.Meanwhile on land Italian merchants alsoplayed a major role in trade between WesternEurope, much of Eastern Europe includingRussia, those Islamic lands open to Europeanmerchants, and as far afield as China. Whileit would be an exaggeration to say that the


Crusades encouraged trading contactbetween Western Europe and the IslamicWorld, via Italian merchant 'states' such asVenice, Genoa, Pisa, Ancona and others,Crusading warfare rarely - and indeed onlybriefly - hindered trade across the religiousfrontier. Even Acre itself, effectively thecapital of the Crusading Kingdom ofJerusalem from the late 12th centuryonwards, formed a vital link in thiseconomic network. Indeed, 13th-centuryAcre has been described as an essential 'base'in a theoretically illegal trade in strategicgoods including timber, weaponry and soon, between Venice and Egypt.

In purely financial terms the Crusades didstimulate banking and credit systems, withspecial regulations and structures beingdeveloped to enable individual Crusadersand their leaders to finance themselves andtheir armies. However, these financialsystems were developing of their ownaccord, and the significance of the Crusadesin particular remains a matter of debate.During the 12th century it had probablybeen the Church, and more specifically themonasteries, who had benefited from

A piratical contract made in Genoain 1251:

"We, Guglielmo Mallone andSimonetto, brothers ... have received ...from you, Pietro Polpo de Mari, £250Genoese ... for the voyage on which weare prepared to sail as corsairs in ourship, which is called The Lion, in orderto win profit from the enemies of HolyChurch ... if we make with the said shipa profit up to the amount of £3,000, wewill give back to you the said loan andin addition £50 in every £100 in virtueof profit and gain from the said loan."

The seven-arched facade of al-Aqsa Mosque, facing theDome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,was built in 1217/18 by Saladin's nephew, al-MalikMu'azzam, who was then the Ayyubid governor of Syria.This was between the first and second Crusaderoccupations of the Holy C i t y . The architecture, thoughIslamic, shows considerable European influence in itsthree central p o r c h e s . The Crusaders themselvesregarded the main building, the earliest part of whichdates from the early 8th century, as the Temple ofSolomon and used it as the headquarters of the MilitaryOrder of the Templars. (David Nicolle photograph)

64 Essential Histories * The Crusades

members of the European militaryaristocracy making grants of land in returnfor cash. In the 13th century, however, thewhole question of financial planning andthe amassing of adequate resources for hugeoverseas military expeditions became a majorproblem for Crusading leaders such as KingLouis IX and Emperor Frederick II. In theevent Louis and France proved to be muchmore efficient than Frederick and hisramshackle Empire in Germany and Italy.

Meanwhile the economic impact of theCrusades was almost entirely negative forthe Byzantine Empire, which was, in anycase, in economic decline. The Byzantineslost control not only of their neighbouringseas and the wealthy trade routes, but also

Woodblock printed paper, perhaps originally used as atextile design, found in the ruins of Fustat, Egypt11th-12th centuries. It is not generally known thatprinting was widespread in the medieval Islamic world.Although this was done in the same manner as in China,using a single carved piece of wood rather than movabletype, it was nevertheless an example of the technologicalsophistication of those countries which faced theCrusaders. (inv. Ms. 15005. Museum of Islamic Art. Cairo,Egypt. David Nicolle photograph)

eventually over their own domesticeconomy. This catastrophic decline hadseveral causes, of which the Crusades were,however, only a minor part. Once again itwas the Italians who largely inherited thewealth of the Byzantine Empire's foreigntrade, while the Turks would eventuallyinherit both Byzantine territory and, ofcourse, its domestic economy.

The impact of the Crusades upon theIslamic world was minimal and localised.Indeed, the whole Crusading episode wasof far less importance to the Islamic worldthan is generally recognised. The Crusadersand the States that they established in theMiddle East were more of an irritation thana real threat. The Islamic Middle East'strade with Europe had in any case been ofsecondary importance compared withtrade to the east and perhaps even south.Trading links with Mediterranean Europewere rapidly re-established and whileEurope's Papacy continued to fulminateagainst such links, the rulers of countriessuch as Egypt usually gave it their fullsupport. Even the catastrophe of the


The star constellation Argo is usually shown in a verystylised manner in medieval manuscripts. Nevertheless,some Islamic astrological treatises include interestingdetails of hull construction and r i g g i n g . This examplepainted in Egypt in 1130/31 even has a hinged rudderlong before such a device is supposed to have reachedthe Mediterranean. The artist was probably working froma verbal description, since the rudder looks veryimpractical. Since hinged stern rudders were certainlybeing used by Chinese ships, perhaps the descriptioncame from a Muslim sailor who had travelled across theIndian Ocean or beyond and had seen such a thing.Perhaps a Chinese merchant ship even reached Egyptor Iraq, and perhaps some Islamic shipbuilders in theseeastern waters were already experimenting with theidea. (Suwar al-Kawakib. Ms. Ahmad III.3493.TopkapiLibrary, Istanbul. Turkey)

Mongol invasions in the 13th centuryended up in having some economic benefit.Those areas most badly damaged by thepassage of Mongol armies never recovered,but in broader terms the establishment ofthe so-called Mongol World Empirestretching from the South China Sea toEastern Europe greatly facilitated long-distance trade between Europe and theIslamic world on one hand and Chinaon the other.

The Crusades had virtually no impact onWestern European society, except in certainvery specific areas. The military aristocratic-elite were influenced by Crusading ideals,while many Italian merchants and bankersgrew wealthy as a result of the Crusades, butfor the overwhelming majority of theordinary people of Western Europe theCrusades were no more than interesting andexciting events which took place far, far away.

For the ordinary people of the Byzantineworld the Crusades were often a far moreimmediate affair. Several large Crusadingarmies marched across Byzantine territory,often doing considerable damage as theywent, while the Fourth Crusade targettedthe Byzantine capital of Constantinopleitself. In general, however, the impact ofthe Crusades and Crusading warfare was aslocalised as was almost all medieval warfare.Although the political and economic declineof the Byzantine Empire naturally formedthe backdrop of the lives of ordinary peoplein Anatolia, Greece and the Balkans, theCrusades in particular were only one aspectof this very complex situation.

Constantinople and the Fourth Crusade

66 E


he Crusades


The advice given by one of Saladin's senioramirs before the Hattin campaign, accordingto Ibn al-Athir:

"I advise that we cross their territory,pillaging, devastating, burning and takingcaptives. And if a Frankish army faces us,we fight them. Certainly the people ofthe east (eastern Islamic territory) criticiseus and complain, saying that Saladin hasgiven up the jihad and prefers to attackfellow Muslims."

Much the same could be said of theimpact the Crusades had on the lives ofordinary people in the Islamic world,whether they were Muslims, Christians orJews. The political and cultural elite of thoseregions actually conquered by the Crusaders,and which became the Crusader States, werelargely wiped out, driven out or fled. Thosewho remained were by and large the ruralpeasantry and some nomadic Bedouin tribesof the semi-desert frontier. The formermerely exchanged masters, though they also

lost their culturally important educatedleadership. For the latter the change of'masters' was more apparent than real.They had largely kept themselves at adistance from the previous Islamicgovernments and now kept themselvessimilarly distant from the Crusaderconquerors. Elsewhere in the Islamic worldthe impact of the Crusades on ordinarypeople was either very localised, as inAnatolia, Syria and Egypt, or was so distantas to be little more than a source of stories.

One of the most lasting impacts theCrusades had upon the Islamic lands of theMiddle East was to stimulate bigotry againstlocal or indigenous Christian communities.Whether this rising tide of intolerance,

The caravanserai or khan at Agzi Kara Han on theAksaray-Kayseri road in central Anatolia was one of manysuch 'medieval motels' built during the Seljuk period. Eachhad sufficiently strong fortifications to deter bandits orhighway robbers but not of course real armies.Meanwhile those which were royal foundations such asAgzi Kara Han, begun in 1231, had splendidly decoratedentrance portals which declared the power of the Seljukruler who built them. (David Nicolle photograph)

Essential Histories • The Crusades

Travellers or pilgrims in a manuscript made in Baghdad in1237. Here the artist, Yahya Ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, showsfour travellers, all in distinctive costumes indicating theirages and perhaps professions. One of the younger menat the front rides a mule rather than a horse: the animalhaving a perhaps decorative horse-blanket made fromanimal skins. (Maqamat of al-Hahri. Ms. Arabe 5847, f, 117,Bibliothèque Nationale. Paris, France)

so unlike the cultural co-existence of thepreceding Golden Age of Islamic civilisationfrom the 7th to the 11th centuries, wasinevitable or was a direct result of theCrusades is unclear. What is clear is thatChristians had been in a majority inAnatolia, Egypt, much of Syria and perhapseven parts of Iraq, and had been flourishingminorities in several other territories at themoment when the First Crusaders burst uponthe scene. By the time the Crusader city ofAcre fell in 1291 they were minorities almosteverywhere, increasingly suspect to theirMuslim rulers and neighbours alike. The factthat the status, role and even the size ofJewish communities did not suffer a similarcollapse may perhaps be taken as evidencethat the Crusades were, from the point ofview of those Eastern Christian communities

which the Crusades were in part intended to'save' nothing less than a disaster.

Following the First Crusade and theestablishment of the Crusader States in Syria-Palestine, the legitimacy of Crusaderconquests became a matter of great concernto several legal scholars during this period.The clash between the basic pacifism ofChristianity and the reality of warfare hadbeen a concern for theologians and lawyersalike for many centuries. This then becameeven more of a problem with thedevelopment of ideas of 'Holy War' againstnon-Christians and the enemies of theChurch. As a consequence churchmen andscholars laid increasing emphasis on textsdrawn from the Judaic Old Testament ratherthan the Christian New Testament, since warwas less of a problem in the former.Meanwhile the parallels between ChristianHoly War and Islamic Jihad were probablynot a result of direct influence in onedirection or the other, but may have resultedfrom similar responses to similar ethical andpolitical problems: both drawing upon

From a letter by an elderly Jewishpilgrim from North Africa or Andalus,written in Alexandria and expressing hishope that the Fatimid Caliph will retakeJerusalem and thus enable the writer to visitthe Holy City:

"Now all of us had anticipated thatour Sultan [the Caliph], may Godbestow glory upon his victories, wouldset out against them with his troops andchase them away. But time after timeour hope failed. Yet to this very momentwe hope that God will give his enemiesinto his hands, for it is inevitable thatthe armies will join in battle this year. IfGod grants us victory through him andhe conquers Jerusalem ... I shall not beamongst those who linger but shall gothere to behold the city, and shallafterwards return straight to you, if Godwills it ... because at my age I cannotafford to wait any longer."


Poetic verses by al-'Umarah from hislamentations for the murder of the FatimidCaliph al-Zafir and his two brothers in1149, with praise for the wazir al-Tala'iwho restored order:

"How sadly I sigh for descendants ofthe Prophet who were more than rainfallfor humanity and food for the sorrowful.Their entrails are now scattered in everymountain pass, their bodies have beencut down everywhere ... Radiance isyours, about which the Koran, the Torahand the Gospels all sing words of praise... Our spirit decided to describe suchlives in verses, with you as their subject,while the Archangel Gabriel took care ofthe prose. These are characteristics whichyou imposed upon the religion ofMuhammad, which Salih al-Tala'i [Salih'the Just Leader'] stoutly defended.Sufficient is he; he is the door, and onlythrough him can You [God] be reached."

earlier Judaic and other ideas. Although theonly real pacifists in medieval Europe wereCathars or Albigensians and other 'heretics',criticism of both Crusaders and Crusadinggrew. At first it seemed to be limited tocriticism of the resident aristocracy of theCrusader States in the Middle East andGreece who were often regarded as toowilling to make a political accommodationwith their Muslim neighbours and supposedenemies, as insufficiently dedicated to theideal of Holy War and as having gone soft asa result of adopting local Middle East orIslamic ways of life. Meanwhile the

The Crucifixion in a Jacobite Gospel from the Jaziraregion of north-eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey andnorthern Iraq, made between 1216 and 1 2 2 0 . Theclosest artistic parallels to this Eastern Christian style ofmanuscript illustration is found in Islamic painting fromthe same regions rather than with Byzantine or WesternEuropean a r t . The same is largely true of the arms andarmour of military figures such as the soldiers dividingChrist's cloak or the Centurion on the far right. (Ms. Add.7170, f.151r, British Library, London, England)


The Mausoleum of Esther and Mordechai, next to thesynagogue in Hamadan, Iran, largely dates from thecentral medieval period, though its massive granite doorprobably survives from an earlier s t r u c t u r e . The wallshave inscriptions in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic whilethe tombs are carved from ebony covered with clothveils. According to tradition Esther and her uncleMordechai interceded with the ancient Persian Emperor

Xerxes on behalf of her oppressed people. In fact thetombs are more likely to cover the grave of the Jewishwife of the Sassanian king Yezdegird (399-421). Duringthe subsequent medieval period there were flourishingJewish communities throughout most Islamic countries,including that at H a m a d a n . They played a major culturaland economic role, but sometimes also rose to politicalimportance. (David Nicolle photograph)


popularity and reputation of the MilitaryOrders generally remained high, even whencriticism of the Church as a whole increasedin the later 13th century. In fact, manyWestern European Christians regarded theMilitary Orders as the best part of theChurch. Nevertheless, there was a growingfeeling that the Templars were too fond ofmoney and the Hospitallers too fond of theirhorses, while the fall of Acre in 1291 broughtwidespread criticism of the Templars, thoughless of the Hospitallers.

There was similarly something of aparadox in the way Western Christendomcame to view Islam and the Islamic worldduring the Crusading era. On the onehand ignorance and fear, mingled withadmiration for an undoubtedly moresophisticated civilisation seen in the earlymedieval period, was replaced by greaterknowledge and even a degree ofunderstanding among a part of the Westerncultural elite. The anti-Islamic horror storypropaganda, which had been widely believedat the time of the First Crusade andimmediately afterwards, declined whileantipathy towards the Byzantines and otherOrthodox Christians increased. Christianscholars wrote careful refutations of Islamicbelief, based upon a more accurateknowledge of their subject. During the 13thcentury there was growing interest in the

possibility of the conversion of Muslimsrather than merely the destruction of Islamby military means. These changes naturallyled to the study of Arabic and other orientallanguages. A few scholars, recognising aconsiderable overlap in the beliefs ofChristians and Muslims, even started toportray Muslims as heretics rather thanpagans. These new attitudes were summedup by the scholar Ricoldus around 1294,who wrote of Muslims: 'We have beenamazed that amongst the followers of soperfidious a law, works of so great perfectionare found.' Nevertheless, this remained aminority view.

The 12th and 13th centuries saw some ofthe most significant movements of peoplesduring the Middle Ages, although not on thescale of the Age of Migrations, whichaccompanied the fall of the Roman Empire.Nor did they have such a wide-rangingcultural and political impact as the Arab-Islamic expansion of the 7th-8th centuries.

Men and women watch a physician preparingmedicines, in a manuscript made in northern Iraq at theend of the 12th century. Islamic medicine and surgerytechniques were, of course, far in advance of those ofChristian Western E u r o p e . This manuscript also includesnumerous views of everyday life, such as the women'sand children's costumes, the half starved beggar and thespecial form of oven seen here. (Kitab al-Diryoq, Ms.Arabe 2964, f.15. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France)


The population movements and migrationsof the Crusading era were more localised butjust as dramatic. However, very few of themwere a direct result of the Crusadesthemselves. The Turkish conquest,repopulation and linguistic absorption ofpreviously Byzantine Anatolia was neithercaused nor halted by the Crusades, thoughit was certainly slowed down by them.Similarly the large-scale Armenian migrationfrom eastern Anatolia to Cilicia in the southwas not caused by the Crusades, but byprevious events along the eastern frontier ofthe Byzantine Empire. Populationmovements seen within the Byzantine andnon-Byzantine Balkans also had very littleto do with the Crusades. The Christianso-called Reconquista of the Iberianpeninsula from the Muslims of Andalusiawas closely related to the Crusadingmovement, but nevertheless remained aseparate series of events. The northern Italiancolonisation and indeed 'Italianisation' ofparts of southern Italy and the great islandof Sicily which followed the Normanconquest of these regions was similarly aseparate though parallel event to theCrusades. To a large extent the Arabisationof previously Berber North Africa was aphenomenon of the 11th to 14th centuriesrather than of the Arab-Islamic conquest

The ruins of the huge Ayn Diwar bridge still stand nextto the River Tigris in Syria, within sight of the Turkishfrontier and only a few kilometres from the Iraqi borderIt was constructed in the 12th or early 13th century andits vast central arch still stands witness to the skill ofmedieval Islamic architecture, as well as to theimportance which local rulers gave to commercial andmilitary communications. (David Nicolle photograph)

four centuries earlier, but again it hadnothing to do with the Crusades. Clearly,the astonishing Turkish and subsequentlyMongol expansion out of Central Asia,which was one of the most importantpopulation and cultural movements of thisperiod, owed nothing to the Crusades. Thenumber of Western Europeans who settledwithin the Crusader States in both theMiddle East and Greece remained quitesmall, and although they had a profoundcultural and linguistic impact on severalareas in the 12th and 13th centuries, thechanges they brought about were rolled backand almost entirely eradicated as theCrusader States themselves collapsed.

In terms of population movements andmigrations, the Crusades themselves had adramatic but localised and temporary effect.They remained a colourful and adventurous- perhaps even heroic - episode for all thepeoples involved, but their lasting impactwas minimal.

Portrait of a civilian

A saint, a lady,a scholar and a rabbi

Saint or Sufi?

Francis of Assisi was born in 1182, the son ofPietro Bemardone, a prosperous clothmerchant, and he spent his youth inpleasure and extravagance. In Italy, however,the wealthy middle class also defended theircities as cavalry and so Francis fought againstPerugia in 1201. Francis joined anothermilitary expedition around 1205 but washalted by a religious dream on the road. As aresult he renounced the sword in favour ofliving as a hermit and caring for the poor.Francis did not, however, give up writingverses in the style of the troubadours,though his subjects were now religious. Theyalso strongly resembled those of a greatIslamic mystic or Sufi, Jalal al-Din Rumi,who lived many years in Anatolia and wasalive during Francis' lifetime.

There were, in fact, an extraordinarynumber of similarities between Francis ofAssisi's writings, teaching and way of life andthose of some contemporary Islamic mysticalteachers. Islamic scholars note these withpride though Christian historians tend toignore them. Francis was about 30 years oldwhen he first headed for Syria but turnedback through lack of money. Later he triedagain through Spain and Morocco but wasunsuccessful. Next Francis followed the FifthCrusaders to Egypt, where he went to seeSultan al-Kamil and was well received. SomeMuslim scholars suggest that Francis'journeys were an effort to find the Arab rootsof the medieval minstrel tradition andperhaps of Sufi ideas.

Even Francis' famous association withanimals has parallels in the life of Najmal-Din Kubra, founder of a Sufi order knownas the 'Greater Brothers' which had manyfollowers in the Middle East when Francisvisited the area. After returning from Egypt,

Francis wrote his First Rule, for followerswho would in time develop into theOrder of Franciscan Friars Minor or 'LesserBrothers'. The Franciscans' habitualsalutation of 'The peace of God be with you'is, of course, a direct translation of theArabic 'Salam alaykum'.

The lady of Beirut

Isabella was a great-granddaughter of John ofIbelin, the lord of Beirut. She succeeded tothis fief on the death of her father and wasmarried as a child to King Hugh II of Cyprus.Hugh soon died, after which Isabella hadtwo further husbands. Meanwhile she faced anew and aggressive neighbour, SultanBaybars of Egypt and Syria, although he wasmore lenient to Isabella than to otherCrusader rulers.

At one time Isabella of Beirut had been a'virgin widow' but soon lost this reputation.In fact her affair with Julian of Sidon led topapal condemnation. Nevertheless, a treatybetween Beirut and the Mamluk Sultan in1269 described Isabella as 'the exalted,virtuous and glorious queen ... the lady ofBeirut'. In 1272 she married the Englishknight Hamo l'Estrange, who may have beenone of Prince Edward of England'scompanions. Next year, on his deathbed,Hamo placed Beirut under the protection ofBaybars, but King Hugh III of Cyprus-Jerusalem hoped to use the eligible heiressIsabella to attract another powerful baron tothe east. He forcibly took Isabella to Cyprusto arrange another marriage. Baybarsobjected strongly, the King gave way andIsabella returned to Beirut, where Baybarsprovided her with a mamluk guard. Isabellaremained in her beloved Beirut until herdeath around 1282.


From a letter by the great Jewish scholarMaimonides to Samuel Ibn Judah Ibn Tibbon,translator of his Guide for the Perplexed:

"My duties to the Sultan are veryheavy. I am obliged to visit him everyday, early in the morning and when he orany of his children or any of the womenin his harim are unwell ... It alsofrequently happens that one or two of hisroyal officers fall sick, and I must attendto their healing. So, as a rule, I go toal-Qahira (the royal quarter of Cairo,quite a long way from Maimonides'house) very early in the day, and even ifnothing unusual happens I do not returnuntil the afternoon, by which time I amalmost dying of hunger ... I dismountfrom my animal, wash my hands, go tothe patients (who are waiting in theantechambers of his house) and beg themto be patient while I eat a light meal, theonly meal I have in twenty-four hours ...When night falls 1 am so exhausted thatI can scarcely speak."

A guide for sultansand pilgrims

Shaykh Taqi al-Din Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn AbuBakr al-Harawi al-Mawsili was born in Mosul,though his family came from Afghanistan. Hebecame a preacher in Baghdad and Aleppo. Asan ascetic and writer al-Harawi spent much ofhis life on pilgrimages to sacred sites. His lastyears were spent in Aleppo, where the localAyyubid prince built him a madrasa orteaching mosque near one of the city gates.Popularly known as 'the wandering ascetic',al-Harawi's writings indicate a huge spread ofinterests and an enquiring mind. Theyinclude a guide to Islamic pilgrimage sites inPalestine, this being an example of the fada'ilor praise literature designed to increase theimportance of Crusader-occupied territories inIslamic eyes.

Many of al-Harawi's journeys seem tohave been intelligence-gathering or

diplomatic missions, extending beyond Syriaand Palestine to Egypt, Anatolia and Sicilybetween 1173 and 1189. He alsoaccompanied Saladin on military expeditionsand his book The Ruses of War and hisPolitical Testament show a thorough grasp ofthe realities of Crusading warfare anddiplomacy. Al-Harawi died in 1215 and wasburied in his teaching mosque in Aleppo.

The greatest rabbi

Moses Ben Maimon, better known asMaimonides, was born in 1135 in Cordoba.He is regarded as the greatest figure inmedieval Judaism. The family had to leaveAndalus because of increasing religiousintolerance following the al-Muwahhidconquest in 1148. For many years theytravelled around North Africa. All exceptMaimonides converted to Islam in the 1150s.Maimonides himself continued his studies,including medicine, and also began to write.In 1165 the Maimon family sailed toCrusader Acre but finally they settled downin Egypt, where the atmosphere was moretolerant. Following his father's death,Maimonides played a leading role in theflourishing Egyptian Jewish community anddescribed his next eight years as being freefrom care.

Partly supported by his brother David, ajewel merchant, Maimonides dedicatedhimself to scholarship and his duties as areligious leader. But in 1169 David drownedwhile on a trading expedition across theIndian Ocean, leaving the family destitute.Maimonides was now in charge and, after a

ASSISI as seen from the Rocca Maggiore castle, lookingtowards the green dome of the mid-13th centuryChurch of Santa Chiara. which contains several relicsof St Francis of A s s i s i . This was the saint's home townand, like most Italian cities of the period, it wasdominated as much by the wealthy merchant middleclass as by the aristocracy and the Church. Here thefuture founder of the Order of Franciscan Friars grewup in a privileged, prosperous but not aristocraticenvironment, learning to play and compose thetroubadour verses which would later be reflected inhis religious writings. (David Nicolle photograph)

Por t r a i t of a civilian 75

year of psychological collapse, he decided toearn his living as a doctor. By 1185 hisreputation was so high that he became apersonal physician to Saladin's wazir, al-Fadl.According to legend Maimonides was evenconsulted by Richard the Lionheart.Following the death of his first wife,Maimonides married the sister of one of the

sultan's secretaries. He was now a famousman who, as a leader of his community,corresponded with other Jewish communitiesacross most of the known world. His greatestworks were the Mishnah Torah and the Guidefor the Perplexed. Maimonides died in 1204and his body was taken to Tiberius, wherehis grave still exists.

How the war ended

The rise of the Mamluks and

the fall of the Crusader StateBy the second halt of the 13th century theCrusader States in Syria and Palestine hadbeen reduced to a series of separate coastalenclaves. None had much of a hinterlandand all were to a greater or lesser extentdominated by coastal hills or mountains thatwere now firmly under Islamic control.Meanwhile enthusiasm for the Crusadingmovement had slumped in Western Europe.Help from this direction for the remnants ofthe Crusader States was intermittent,inadequate and generally unpredictable. Tothe east the Mongol threat to Syria had beencontained if not yet entirely removed by theMamluk Sultans and their astonishinglyefficient army. However, the remainingCrusader-held coastal enclaves includedseveral wealthy and very strongly fortifiedcities plus a handful of mighty castles. Bothsides recognised that these would be hardnuts to crack.

From the Mamluk-Islamic point of viewthe Crusader outposts remained a strategicthreat. They could not only serve asbridgeheads for future Crusades but suchCrusades might also establish a genuinealliance with the more immediatelydangerous Mongols, or Il-Khans as theywere soon known. At the same time theremust have been a widespread desire inSyria, Egypt and other parts of the IslamicMiddle East to 'finish the job' by completinga task of reconquest started by Imad al-DinZangi and Nur al-Din, Saladin, Baybarsand others. Indeed the Islamic liberationof the remaining Crusader outposts hadacquired a certain momentum andinevitability of its own. This certainlyappeared to be the case once the majorpolitical, military and economic powersof Western Europe were no longer sointerested in the survival of places suchas Acre.

Following the Mamluk defeat of theMongols at the battle of 'Ayn Jalut in 1260,the final phase of the major Crusading Warsin the Middle East consisted of a series ofsieges. This, of course, excludes those navalor raiding expeditions of the 14th centurythat were graced with the title of Crusade.Some of these last sieges were of massiveproportions and culminated in the fall ofAcre itself in 1291. The coastal cities ofCaesarea and Arsuf fell to the Mamluks in1265. Safad, the last major inland town heldby the Crusaders, fell the following year,followed by Jaffa and Antioch in 1268.

The 1270s saw a respite for the survivingCrusader enclaves, though Prince Edward ofEngland's so-called 'Little' Crusade in 1271hardly strengthened what remained.Nevertheless, a ten-year truce was agreedbetween the Kingdom of Jerusalem and theMamluk Sultanate the following year. Thisenabled the great Sultan Baybars to direct thefinal campaigns of his life against theChristian Kingdom of Cilician Armenia, avassal of the Mongol Il-Khans, and againstthe Il-Khans themselves in northern Syria.

Although the Mamluks' epic struggleagainst the Mongol invaders continuedthrough the 1280s and beyond, SultanQalawun still found the time and troops totake the huge Hospitaller castle of Margat in1285. Four years later he overwhelmedTripoli and to all intents and purposesbrought the County of Tripoli to an end.Meanwhile the supposedly united CrusaderKingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus were rentby internal dissention and civil conflict.

The death of the warlike Sultan Qalawunin 1290 did not bring any respite, for in1291 his son and heir, Sultan al-AshrafKhalil, rejected a desperate plea for peacefrom Acre and prepared for the finalshowdown. As this last siege loomed, help at

How the war ended 77

The inner citadel and inner moat of Krak des Chevalierscastle. Krak was the strongest or at least most impressiveof the fortifications held by the Order of Hospitallersduring the last decades of the Crusader States in theMiddle East. Nevertheless, it fell to the Mamluks after asiege of little more than a month in 1 2 7 1 . The sectionshown here dates from the second phase of

construction from the late 12th century to its capture bythe Mamluks. It faces south, over the moat, narrow outerward and relatively low outer wall towards the onlydirection from which an attacker could realisticallyapproach. As such this sloping glacis, wall and towersformed the strongest part of the entire defensive system.(David Nicolle photograph)

The Mongol invasions of the Islamic world and Europe

78 E

ssential Histories

• The C

rusades

How the war ended 79

Crusader Acre and the Mamluk siege of AD 1291


The staves or bows of two large crossbows and twomassive iron arrows which might have been shot fromsuch siege-crossbows. They were found in the Citadel ofDamascus in the early 20th century and probably datefrom the 13th or 14th centuries. One of the bows is ofnormal composite construction, though larger than anordinary h a n d - b o w . The other is regularly curved, has arectangular section and is very similar to some otherMiddle Eastern Islamic crossbow staves whose internalstructure, though composite, is very different to that ofthe ordinary Islamic composite bow. ( invs. L1, L2 & L3.Musée de I'Armée, Paris, France)

last arrived from Western Europe but onceagain it was fragmentary, unco-ordinatedand insufficient. As a result Acre fell on 18May 1291. The remaining fragments ofCrusader territory to the north and southeither were abandoned or accepted Mamlukdomination over the next few months.

A Templar garrison did, however, hold outon the Syrian offshore island of Ruad.Attempts were even made to use this tiny,rocky islet with its small castle and exposedharbours just a few hundred metres from theSyrian coast as a base from which to launchcounter-attacks. They failed and in 1302 Ruadwas overwhelmed. Now all that remained ofthe Crusader invasion of the Middle East inthe late 1090s were the Kingdom of Cyprusand what was in many ways the 'Crusader'Kingdom of Cilician Armenia. Both wouldendure for many more years; the rump ofCilician Armenia finally falling to a Mamlukassault in 1375. Meanwhile the MamlukSultan al-Nasir had defeated the last majorMongol invasion of Syria at Marj al-Suffar in1303. The Kingdom of Cyprus eventuallypassed into Venetian hands before falling tothe Ottoman Turks in the 16th century.

Conclusion and consequences

The failure of an idea and the

rebirth of Islamic expansionismAs in almost all medieval wars, the casualtiesand material damage caused by the Crusadeswere relatively light and generally localised.More people died of disease or starvation as adirect or indirect result of these campaignsthan were killed in battles or sieges.However, the losses incurred by the losingside in a major battle or prolonged siegecould be huge in relation to the numbers ofpeople actually involved. During andimmediately after the First Crusade theChristians showed a degree of fanaticism andferocity that shocked their Muslimopponents, since the latter had been used tothe relatively restrained and almostgentlemanly inter-Islamic or Islamic-Byzantine conflicts of previous decades. ThisCrusader ferocity sometimes reappeared inlater campaigns but generally speaking theinvaders gradually came to recognise thattheir Muslim opponents were men much like

The cost of war materials and shipping forthe Crusade of 1252, as recorded in theRoyal Accounts of King Louis IX:

"The pay of knights serving for wages- £57,093. 17s. 10d; Gifts and subsidiespromised to knights serving withoutwages - £23,253. 18s. 4d; Wages ofmounted crossbowmen and sergeants -£22,242. 13s. 6d; Replacement of 264war-horses - £6,789. 17s; Wages ofinfantry crossbowmen and sergeants -£29,575. 0s. 6d; Wages of carpenters,siege engineers and labourers - £689,12s. 3d; Pay for labourers in townsoverseas - £41,366. 14s. 9d; Cost ofransoming captives - £967. 13s. 9d;Other miscellaneous expenditure -£24,429. 11s; Costs of shipping - £5,725.15s. Total-£212,164. 13. lid.

themselves, though of course 'misguided'.For their part Islamic armies rarely indulgedin the large-scale slaughter characteristic ofthe early Crusaders and, of course, of theMongol invasions of the 13th century. Theoccasional ruthlessness of Islamic leaders orarmies was usually undertaken in acontrolled manner for a specific orimmediate purpose. One such example wasSaladin's execution of captured Templars andHospitallers after his victory at Hattin.

Another particularly interesting aspect ofCrusading warfare was the way in which theCrusaders changed their attitude towards thepossibility of being taken prisoner. At thetime of the First Crusade the Crusaders,unlike their fellow Christians who werefighting the Islamic Moors in Spain, seemnot to have considered being taken alive bythe enemy. For some time afterwards therewas no apparent system for the ransoming orexchange of prisoners. As the years passed,however, these Westerners clearly learnedfrom the long-established prisoner exchangeand ransom system which had made earlierconflicts between Orthodox ChristianByzantine and Islamic armies more tolerable.Even when such systems were establishedcaptives could remain in prison or serve asslaves for a very long time - sometimes forthe rest of their lives.

Many captured Crusaders, includingknights as well as ordinary soldiers and evenoccasionally members of the elite MilitaryOrders, abandoned all hope of returninghome. As a consequence some converted toIslam and entered the service of theircaptors. This was particularly apparentduring the second half of the 13th centuryand some of these ex-prisoners rose topositions of military authority in theMamluk army. The same had happened inthe opposite direction when the Crusaders


The Mamluk Sultanate c.AD1295 and the end of the Crusader States

Conclusion and consequences 83

After the Muslims retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders for the last

time they started a building programme in the Holy City on the Haram

al-Sharif or Temple Mount, Here, in the north-western corner of the

Haram al-Sharif, the minaret of the Ghawanimah Madrasah or religious

college was erected in 1297, then restored in AD 1329. A mosque and

minaret were also built facing the Christian Church of the HolySepu lchre . The indigenous Christians and visiting Christian pilgrims were

largely left in peace, but such buildings confirmed who was now in

charge. (David Nicolle photograph)


captured many Muslim prisoners in the 12thcentury. Some of these men became thefamous turcopoles, who were equipped aslight cavalry and operated in traditionalMiddle Eastern style in Byzantine orCrusader service. In both cases suchapostates were normally executed ifrecaptured by their previous colleagues. Italso seems to have been true that, whencaptured, soldiers were more likely to beexecuted than civilians, the old more likelythan the young, and senior men rather thanordinary troops unless they were consideredworth a ransom. On all sides the treatmentof prisoners tended to be milder when thecaptors were enjoying a period of success,and harsher when the captors were enduringa period of defeat.

The fact that Muslims so clearly won thewars of the Crusades in the Middle Eastcaused a deep wound to Christian WesternEuropean self-esteem. The success ofChristian arms against the Muslims in Spainand Portugal could not somehow balance theloss of the Holy Land. Even the OttomanTurkish conquest and domination of somuch of south-eastern Europe did not seemto be such a psychological hurt. Of coursethe Ottoman Empire eventually crumbledand collapsed, whereas the defeat of theCrusaders in Palestine continued to rankleright up to modern times. Perhaps as a resultthe British capture of Jerusalem during theFirst World War was presented as a sort ofCrusade, or as the final overturning of

Saladin's supposed orders or speech beforethe siege of Tyre in 1187, according to'Imad al-Din al-Isfahani:

"Improve and complete the siegeengines, bring up and push forward themangonels, prepare and assemble thebastions and movable towers, advanceand align the palisades and bulwarks,flatten and level the emplacementsready for mangonels, relieve the army ofits cumbersome baggage, prepare thestones and pots of naft..."

Islamic victories in the 12th and 13thcenturies. Similarly the terms 'Crusade' and'Crusader' have become synonymous withstruggles against evil, both personal andpolitical, in several European languages.Sadly the corresponding Arab-Islamic termsJihad and Mujahid seem well on the way tobecoming terms of abuse in the Westernpolitical and cultural vocabulary. In fact theCrusades continue to hang like a dark cloudover relations between the Christian or so-called Western world and the world of Islam.

On the Islamic side, the defeat of theCrusades naturally boosted cultural, politicaland military self-confidence. This confidencewas further enhanced by the Ottoman Turkswhen they carried the conflict deep insideChristian territory over the next fewcenturies. However, the struggle against theCrusaders and the Mongols resulted in aform of fundamental cultural retrenchmentwithin Islam's Middle Eastern heartland.Political and cultural conservatism nowdominated and although there was progressin some fields, the Islamic world graduallyfell behind Europe in economic, military,scientific, political and to some extent evenartistic terms.

This religiously based conservatism wasepitomised in the role and writings of IbnTaimiyah, who lived in the early MamlukSultanate. Ibn Taimiyah was a legal andreligious scholar, deeply concerned with theprolonged war between the Mamluks andthe superficially Muslim Il-Khan Mongols oflater 13th- and early 14th-century Iran. Therelative unimportance of the Crusades bythat time is illustrated by the fact that IbnTaimiyah barely gave them a mention.Though concerned about the role and statusof non-Muslims in Islamic states, IbnTaimiyah was particularly emphatic aboutthe need for Sunni Islamic politicaldominance and he was very anti-Shi'a. Healso saw the Mongol conqueror GenghisKhan's Yasa or legal code as a form of'rational law and political system'. As such itwas a genuine rival to divinely inspiredIslamic Shari'a law. His awareness of thecultural problem may have reflected Ibn


Taimiyah's famous ability to see both sides ofan argument, but it did not stop his outrightcondemnation of those he saw as theenemies of Islam. Today Ibn Taimiyah is stilla very influential religious thinker and hiswritings are still widely used by so-calledIslamic 'fundamentalists'.

In cultural terms the Crusades wereimportant for a number of reasons. As far asWestern Europe was concerned theycoincided with the 12th-centuryRenaissance. Here the arts, sciences andcultural wealth of Islamic civilisation clearlyhad a major impact on the brilliant culturalrevival within Western Europe. Nevertheless,the specific role of the Crusades in thisremarkable event is very hard to ascertain.They provided Western European writers,musicians and artists with material for epicpoetry, troubadour songs, manuscriptilluminations, wall-paintings and a wholearray of minor arts. Religious relics and

The effigy of Conrad Werner de Haltstatt who died in1283, is one of the most neglected sources in the studyof Western European armour at a time when Islamic andperhaps Mongol influence had stimulated thedevelopment of early forms of semi-rigid bodyp r o t e c t i o n . The apparently unique system of loops and asliding bolt or turn buckle is only shown on the Alsacianknight's right shoulder. It secures a coat-of-plates which isworn over an ordinary mail h a u b e r k . The carving itselfcame from the Unterlinden Convent and is otherwisevery similar to many other late 13th-century effigies fromwhat was then the German Empire. (UnterlindenMuseum, Colmar France. David Nicolle photograph)

assorted exotic luxury goods were broughtback from the Middle East, sometimes asbooty, sometimes legitimately purchased.Though few in number, their influence canbe seen in a wide variety of artistic formsincluding abstract decoration and pseudo-Arabic inscriptions in medieval manuscripts,ceramics, textiles and so on. New ideas aboutarchitecture and architectural decorationsimilarly filtered westward. Among other


A fragment of a painted ceramic plate from Egypt orSyria provides some very rare pictorial evidence thatsome Muslim cavalrymen adopted some features ofWestern European knightly equipment, such as that usedby their Crusader o p p o n e n t s . This rider's harness, saddle,stirrups and even the decorative cloth streamer flutteringfrom his stirrup leathers are all typically Islamic 12th or

13th century. On the other hand he almostcertainly wears a mail hauberk as far as his knees, andfull mail chausses around his legs. Written sourcesconfirm that this was occasionally done, usually byusing captured Crusader armour but it very rarelyappears in the pictorial sources, (inv. 391. BenakiMuseum, Athens, Greece)


A mangonel-sting made of thick rawhide, reinforced withropes sewn between the layers of leather is the onlyknown surviving piece of a medieval stone-throwingsiege machine. It comes from Syria, Iraq or easternTurkey and was found together with other pieces ofmilitary equipment which have been carbon-dated to thelate 12th or 13th century. (Private collection)

things these led to a more extensive useof contrasting light and dark stone onItalian churches.

Further south the close political linkswhich developed between the NormanKingdom of Sicily and Fatimid Egypt in the12th century had a consequent influenceupon Siculo-Norman government systems,court ceremonial, art and architecture. It iseven possible that the Norman rulers ofSicily and southern Italy claimed to beinheriting the Fatimid Caliphate's imperialrole when they unsuccessfully invadedNorth Africa.

Meanwhile the Byzantine world wasgoing through a culturally and artisticallyinward-looking phase - one of several in thehistory of the Eastern Roman Empire. As aresult, outside influences and foreign motifsare hard to find, though they do exist.Whether this minimal cultural impact hadanything to do with the Crusades remainsdoubtful, however.

The same was to a large extent true in theIslamic world, which had little to learn fromEurope in the 12th and 13th centuries.Meanwhile the deepening conservatism ofIslamic civilisation made any such adoptionof outside ideas very difficult. The onlymajor exception was the astonishinginfluence of Far Eastern and specificallyChinese culture on the arts and evenarchitecture of the eastern Islamic lands,which were conquered and then ruled by theMongols. Some of this Far Eastern influencepenetrated as far as Egypt, but here theMamluk Sultanate of the mid-13th to 15thcenturies became almost as artisticallyconservative as the Byzantine Empire. SomeWestern artistic influence can be seen inceramics, metalwork and on Christian wall-painting in Syria; rather less in Egypt andrather more in Anatolia.

By and large it would probably be true tosay that the cultural impact of the Crusadesupon the lands surrounding the EasternMediterranean and beyond was minimal,superficial and transitory. The culturalsuperiority enjoyed by the Islamic World inearlier centuries resulted in most Muslims


continuing to despise Western Europe. Thisattitude of mind persisted long after theoriginal cultural and scientific superiorityhad been lost. Of course the Crusader Statesdisappeared before the greatest culturalflowering of the European Renaissance in the14th-15th centuries, and so could not serveas a channel of influence.

In terms of technology, and specificallyin the exchange of military technology,the flow of ideas was largely from theIslamic world to Western Europe. Up to the11th century almost all the new ideas seenin European arms, armour and siegetechnology had come from Byzantium. Inaddition there had been a localised Islamicinfluence in the Iberian peninsula and fromIslamic Central Asia, via Russia, toScandinavia. There also seems to have beena significant Islamic influence upon thedesign of Mediterranean shipping, thoughin transport vessels rather than warships.During the 12th century there was a largebut as yet generally unrecognised Islamictechnological influence upon many aspectsof Western European weaponry, armour,siege-machines, pyrotechnics and defensivearchitecture.

The only real exceptions to this flow fromeast to west appeared in the 13th century.This time there might have been a smallWestern European influence upon thedesign of fortifications in the MamlukSultanate, plus some influence on shipdesign and certain details of weaponry.

The fall of Acre and the loss of Ruaddid not inevitably mean that the Crusadeswere over. Naval warfare and coastal raidingcontinued in the Eastern Mediterranean andthere were several Islamic attacks on bothCyprus and Cilician Armenia. But the ideaof 'liberating' Jerusalem from the Muslimshad become little more than a dream toinspire writers, propagandists and religiousenthusiasts. There were plans for futureCrusades but very little actually happened.

Ricoldo of Monte Croce was a Dominicanfriar and missionary who lived for someyears in Baghdad when it was ruled bythe Mongol Il-Khans during the late13th century. He greatly admired thedevout Muslims of the city and itssurrounding areas:

"Who will not be astounded if hecarefully considers how great is theinterest of these same Muslims in study,their devotion in prayer, their concernfor the poor, their reverence for thename of God and the prophets and theHoly Places, their sobriety in manners,their hospitality to strangers, theirharmony and love for each other?"

The theatre of operations for futurecampaigns now moved westward to theAegean and Greece. As the OttomanTurks advanced into Europe during the later14th century the battlefield shifted furtherstill, into the Balkans and almost to theheart of Europe itself. These so-called LaterCrusades were, however, a separate story,different in both kind and purpose sincethey were defensive, unlike the essentiallyoffensive Crusades of the 12th and even13th centuries.

In fact the war in the Middle East andEastern Mediterranean wound down becauseWestern European political and militaryleaders were no longer sufficiently interested.Meanwhile the Mamluks, as the dominantIslamic military power in this region, hadcompleted the task of expelling theCrusaders from Syria-Palestine. Now theycould concentrate on facing the Il-KhanMongols who ruled Iran, Iraq and severalneighbouring regions. When the latterconverted to Islam at the start of the14th century, the rivalry between Mamluksand Il-Khans became just another internalIslamic affair.

Further reading

Ambroise, ed. K. Fenwick, K., The ThirdCrusade (1958).

Benvenisti, M., The Crusaders in the Holy Land(1970).

Boase, T.S.R., ed., The Cilician Kingdom ofArmenia (1978).

Burman, E., The Assassins, Holy Killers ofIslam (1987).

Cahen, C, Pre-Ottoman Turkey (1968).Edbury, P.W., & J.G. Rowe, William of Tyre

(1988).Edbury, P.W., ed., Crusade and Settlement

(1985).Ehrenkreutz, A.S., Saladin (1972).Elbeheiry, S., Les Institutions de 1'Egypte au

Temps des Ayyubids (1972).Elisséeff, N., Nur al-Din, Un Grand Prince

Musulman de Syrie au Temps des Croisades(511-569 H./l 118-1174) (1967).

Erdmann, C, The Origin of the Idea of theCrusade (1977).

Gabrieli, E, ed., trans. E.J. Costello, ArabHistorians of the Crusades (1969).

Glubb. J.B., The Course of Empire: The Arabsand their Successors (1965).

Glubb, J.B., The Lost Centuries: From theMuslim Empires to the Renaissance in Europe(1967).

Hallam, E., ed., Chronicles of the Crusades

(1989).Hodgson, M., The Order of Assassins (1955).Holt, P.M., The Age of the Crusades: The Near

East from the Eleventh Century to 1517(1986).

Humphreys, R.S., From Saladin to the Mongols:The Ayyubids in Damascus 1193-1260(1977).

Irwin, R., The Middle East in the Middle Ages:The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250-1382(1986).

Kedar, B.Z., Crusade and Mission (1984).Kedar, B.Z., ed., The Horns of Hattin (1992).Kennedy, H., Crusader Castles (London, 1994).

Lawrence, T.E., ed. D. Pringle, CrusaderCastles (1988).

Lyons, M.C., & D.E.P. Jackson, Saladin, ThePolitics of the Holy War (1982).

Marshall, C, Warfare in the Latin East,1192-1291 (1992).

Marzials, F., Memoires of the Crusades byVillehardoin & De Joimille (1908).

Mayer, H.E., trans. J. Gillingham, TheCrusades (1972).

Miiller-Wiener, W., Castles of the Crusaders

(1966).Nicolle, D.C., Arms & Armour of the Crusading

Era 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe andAsia (1999).

Nicolle, D.C., Arms & Armour of the CrusadingEra 1050-1350: Western Europe and theCrusader States (1999).

Nicolle, D.C., Medieval Warfare Source Book,Volume 2: Christian Europe and itsNeighbours (1996).

Patton, D., Badr al-Din Lu'lu', Atabeg ofMosul, 1211-1259(1991).

Pauphilet, A., & Pognon, E., eds.,Historiens et Chroniqueurs du Moyen Age(1952).

Powell, J.M., Anatomy of a Crusade,1213-1221 (1986).

Prawer, J., Crusader Institutions (1980).Prawer, J., The Crusaders' Kingdom (1972).Pringle, D., The Red Tower (1986).Pritchard, J., The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem

(1979).Pryor, J.H., Geography, Technology, and War:

Studies in the maritime history of theMediterranean 649-1571 (1988).

Queller, D.E., The Fourth Crusade (1978).Regan, G., Lionhearts, Saladin and Richard I

(1998).Riley-Smith, J., ed., The Atlas of the Crusades

(1991).Riley-Smith, J., The Crusades, A Short History

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Riley-Smith, J., The Feudal Nobility and theKingdom of Jerusalem (1973).

Riley-Smith, J., The First Crusade and the Ideaof Crusading (1986).

Riley-Smith, J., What were the Crusades? (1977).Riley-Smith, L. & J., The Crusades, Idea and

Reality, 1095-1274 (1981).Runciman, S., A History of the Crusades (3

vols., 1951-54).Setton, K.M., ed., .4 History of the Crusades (to

date 1969—).Siberry, E., Criticism of Crusading 1095-1274

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of an Arab-Syrian Gentleman (1927).

Glossary

Abbasid: Caliphal dynasty of Sunni Islamicpersuasion with its capital normally atBaghdad (750-1262), then in Cairo(1262-1517).

ahdath: urban militia in Islamic cities of theMiddle East and Egypt.

agulani: Western European corruption of theArabic term ghulam (see below), professionalsoldier of slave-recruited origin.

amirate: small Islamic state ruled by an amir.Andalus: Arab-Islamic name for that part of

the Iberian peninsula under Islamic rulers.archontes: provincial Byzantine elite in the

13th to 14th centuries.arrière ban: medieval French term for a

general levy of men for military service inboth Europe and the Crusader States.

atabeg: governor or ruler of a Middle EasternIslamic state owing allegiance to theGreat Seljuk Sultan, originally an adviserto the reigning prince (literally 'father ofthe prince').

atlab al-mira: supply train in an Arab-Islamicarmy.

aventail: mail flap protecting chin and throat.Ayyubid: dynasty of rulers in Egypt and the

Fertile Crescent (see below), descended fromSaladin (1169-1252 in Egypt; after 1462 inpart of south-eastern Turkey).

Banu Numayr: powerful Arab tribe innorthern Syria.

battaile: medieval French term for the largestcombat or organisational unit in a medievalWestern European army.

buckler: small hand-held shield.Caliphate: titular leader of the Islamic world.

Note there were several rival Caliphates inthe 12th century.

cantle: rear part of a saddle, raised in a warsaddle to support the hips and lower back incombat.

caravan: raid into enemy territory launchedfrom the Crusader States, usually by lightlyequipped troops; equivalent of the WesternEuropean term 'chevauchée' (see below).

chas-chastiaus: form of wooden siege-tower,usually attached to or closely associated withmining or entrenchments.

chausses: armour for the thighs and upperlegs, either padded or of mail.

chevauchée: medieval French term for a raidinto enemy territory.

coat-of-plates: early form of semi-rigid bodyarmour in 13th-century Europe.

coif: close-fitting hood, made of mail in thecontext of armour.

connétable: medieval French term for a seniorofficial in a royal or noble householdresponsible for military discipline andorganisation; same as constable.

conrois: small cavalry formation, usuallyclose-packed and armed with lances.

Constantinople: capital of the ByzantineEmpire, now called Istanbul.

couched: method of grasping a cavalry lancetightly beneath the right shoulder.

dir': Arabic term for a mail hauberk.Druze: follower of a Middle Eastern religious

belief springing from Islam but nowconsidered outside the Islamic 'umma' orcommunity.

fada'il: literary form in praise of certainreligious locations.

Fatimids: Caliphal dynasty of Shi'a Islamicpersuasion, founded in North Africa butresident in Egypt during the period of theearly Crusades (909-1171).

Fertile Crescent: cultivated and cultivatablezone running from southern Palestine andJordan through Syria and Lebanon, south-eastern Turkey and Iraq to the Persian Gulf.

fief: piece of land allocated to a person as asource of income, usually to a knight toenable him to equip himself and a certainnumber of followers as soldiers.

fiefs de soudée: source of income, oftenallocated to a knight, in which the incomederives from a commercial or other financialsource rather than from the proceeds ofagriculture.

92 Essential Histories • The Crusade;

fuller: groove running down a sword-bladeproviding lightness and strength.

geniza: store for documents of all types in asynagogue, most famously the Cairo geniza.

ghulam: professional Islamic soldier of slave-recruited origin, also called a mamluk (seebelow).

Greek Fire: see naft.halqa: elite professional household regiment

or regiments during the Ayyubid period,subsequently downgraded to non-elite unitsin the Mamluk period.

hamam: public building containing hot andcold baths plus associated facilities, knownin Europe as a 'Turkish bath'.

harim: the private section of an Islamic housereserved for women and for the closest malesof the family.

hauberk: form of Western European mailarmour to protect the body and part or all ofthe arms.

Hospitaller: member of the military Order ofthe Hospital of St John.

husban: short dart-like arrow shot via a pieceof grooved wood temporarily held againstthe side of a bow.

ifranj: Arabic term for Western Europeans;literally 'Franks'.

Il Khan: Mongol ruling dynasty in Iran andIraq (AD 1256-1353).

iqta': source of income, often a piece of land,allocated to an individual, often a soldier, toenable him to maintain himself and aspecified number of followers, but unlike aWestern European fief the iqta' could betaken back by the state at any time.

iwan: Perso-Islamic architectural feature in theform of a large arched recess.

januwiyah: Arabic name for a tall infantryshield with a flattened base; probablymeaning 'Genoese', as much militaryequipment was imported from Genoa.

jawshan: form of flexible body armour,usually of lamellar construction.

jihad: Arab-Islamic term for a struggle againstevil, either individual and internal, or externalin defence of Islam and Islamic territory, oftenwrongly translated as 'Holy War'.

jinni: jinn, supernatural being made of fire.jund: general Arabic term for an army; largely

non-elite or feudal forces by the 12thcentury.

kazghandah: form of mail armour for thebody and arms, lined with some form ofpadding and usually covered in decorativecloth.

khanjar: form of large dagger or short sword,of Persian origin.

khrasani: individual from Khrasan in easternIran, often referring to soldiers or minersfrom this region.

Khwarazmshahs: dynasty of Islamic rulersoriginally based in Khwarazm south of theAral Sea but subsequently controlling mostof Transoxania, Iran and Afghanistan (frompre-Islamic times to 1231).

lamellar: form of armour construction inwhich lamels or scales are laced to eachother rather than to a fabric base material.

madrasa: specialised form of mosque usedfor teaching.

mamluk: professional soldier of slave-recruitedorigin (see also ghulam), and subsequentlythe name given to a ruling dynasty in Egyptand Syria, almost invariably headed by amamluk soldier (1252-1517).

mangonel: stone-throwing siege-machineoperating on the beam-sling principle, earlyforms powered by a team of individualspulling on ropes.

Manichaean-Paulicians: follower of areligious belief in which the powers of goodand evil are considered equally balanced andpermanently in conflict in the universe;known in Western Europe as Cathars,Albigensians, etc.

mantlet: form of large shield, usuallyrested on the ground to form a shield-wallor barricade.

maréchal: medieval French term for a seniorofficial in a royal or noble householdresponsible for military equipment, horsesand often the summoning of troops; same asmarshal.

maristan: specialised form of mosque used asa hospital.

melee: free-for-all combat in battle, usuallyin the confusion following a cavalrycharge.

mihrab: architectural feature in a mosque,indicating the direction of prayer towardsMecca.

mujahid: individual involved in Jihad, usuallyof the military form.

Glossary 93

Murabitun, al-: Islamic ruling dynastyoriginating in what is now Mauritaniabut subsequently controlling Islamic Iberia(Andalus) and North Africa; generallyknown in Europe as Almoravids (1062-47in Andalus, continued in Balearic Islandsas the Banu Ghaniya until 1230/31).

mutatawi'ah: religiously motivated volunteerin an Arab-Islamic army.

Muwahhidun, al-: Islamic ruling dynastyoriginating in Morocco but subsequentlycontrolling Islamic Iberia (Andalus) andNorth Africa, generally known in Europeas Almohades (1130-1269).

naft: Arabic term for Greek Fire and otherpetroleum-based incendiary weapons, alsoapparently applied to some very early formsof gunpowder.

Nicea: Anatolian city, capital of the mainByzantine successor state following theconquest of Constantinople by the FourthCrusade (now called Iznik in Turkey).

pierrière: general and rather unspecificmedieval French name for a stone-throwingsiege-machine (see mangonel above).

pommel: front of a saddle, often raised toprovide support and protection to the groin;also the large element at the end of asword-grip.

Qahira, al-: Arabic name for Cairo, originallyreferred only to the Fatimid palace area or'royal city' north of the Egyptian capital as itexisted in the 10th-12th centuries.

quillons: the crosspiece or guard of a sword.Rum: name used by Islamic peoples for

that part of Anatolia conquered fromthe Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Turks.

Seljuks: tribe or leading family within aconfederation of Turkish tribes forming adynasty that conquered most of the easternIslamic world and the Middle East in the11th century (Great Seljuk Sultanate1040-1194; fragmented Seljuk statesincluding the Seljuks of Rum 1048-1307in various regions).

senechal: medieval French term for a governoror ruler's representative in a town or city.

sergeant: non-noble professional soldier,either cavalry or infantry.

Shari'a: Islamic Law based upon the Koran(Muslim Holy Book) and Hadith (sayingsof the Prophet Muhammad).

Shi'a: that section of the Muslim 'umma' orcommunity which considers that earthlyauthority and religious guidance (theCaliphate) rests with the descendants of theProphet Muhammad through his daughterFatima and his cousin 'AH.

sufi: follower of one of many mystical 'paths'recognised by most but not all Muslims.

Suinni: that section of the Muslim 'umma' orcommunity which considers that earthlyauthority and religious guidance (theCaliphate) rests with the leader accepted bythe community, at first the Rashidun Caliphs(also recognised by most Shi'a), then theUmayyad Caliphs and then the 'AbbasidCaliphs).

suq al-'askar: Arab term for the mobilemarket which followed an army oncampaign.

surcoat: cloth garment worn over armour,also used for heraldic identificationpurposes in Western Europe from the later12th century.

Templar: member of the military Order ofthe Temple of Solomon.

Teutonic Knight: member of the militaryOrder of the Knights of the Hospital ofSt Mary in Jerusalem.

troubadour: medieval Western Europeanminstrel and poet.

turcopole: lightly equipped cavalryman inthe Crusader States, often operating as ahorse-archer; from a Greek term meaning'sons of Turks'.

wazir: Arab-Islamic term for a seniorgovernment minister; Europeanisedas 'vizir'.

Yasa: code of law drawn up by Genghis Khan,largely based upon Mongol tribal law andcustoms.

Yazidi: follower of a religion which includeselements from Judaism, Zoroastrianism,early Christian sects and Islam but deniesthe existence of abstract evil and acceptsthe transmigration of souls; sometimeswrongly called devil worshippers.

Zoroastrian: follower of a religious belieffounded by Zoroaster in ancient Iran, inwhich the forces of good and evil arerepresented by Ormuzd the God of Light andGood, and Ahriman the God of Darknessand Evil; exists today as the Parsees.

Index

Figures in bold refer to illustrations

Abu'l-'Abbas al-N'asir li-Din Allah 44Acre 37, 48, 57, 63, 76, 79(map), 80Aigues Mortes 38Al-Ashraf Khalil, Sultan 47, 76al-Nasir, Sultan 80Aleppo 31Alexius I, Emperor (1048-1118) 13, 23, 24, 25, 32Anatolia 13, 20, 21, 23-24, 25, 29, 72Antioch, city 25-26, 26, 26, 29, 45, 76Antioch, Principality of 29armour 45, 50, 54, 85

horse 50, 53Islamic 52-53, 53, 54, 58, 59, 86

Arsuf 76battle of 1191 37

Ascalon 19, 29, 32, 55Assisi 75Ayn Diwar bridge 72'Ayn Jalut, battle of 44, 76Ayyubid Sultanate, the 40, 42

Baghdad 44Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem 29, 32, 33Banu Numayr, the 57Baybars, Sultan 45, 73, 76Ben Maimon (Maimonides), Moses 74, 74-75Berk Yaruq, Sultan 25Bohemond of Taranto 24, 29Byzantine Empire, the 7, 23, 32, 72, 87

decline of 15economic impact on 64the First Crusade 17the Fourth Crusade 17, 38, 38-39impact on 65relations with Islam 12relations with Western Europe 15and the Seljuk Turks 13

Byzantine forces 20-21, 21-22, 25, 47, 48, 50

Caesarea 76Cairo 35caravanseria 67castles 19-20casualties 81Celestine III, Pope 18Christianity and Christians 12, 38, 81

Islamic converts 18, 81, 84Islamic intolerance of 67-68

chronology 11Clairmont (Khlemoutsi) castle 39Constantinople 25, 38, 39, 66(map)cross-cultural influences 7, 8, 61, 62, 63, 69,

85, 87, 88Crusader states, the 29, 31-32, 37, 39, 44-45,

46(map), 47, 62fall of 76, 80, 82(map)

forces 18, 19impact of 72Islamic view of 33Latin 39

crusades 18, 88First 17, 23-27, 29, 48-49, 52, 55, 81Second 33, 35-36Third 37, 59Fourth 17, 20, 38, 38-39, 66(map)Fifth 39Sixth 39Seventh 40Eighth 41-42costs 81financing 64impact of 64-65, 67-68, 84-85, 87-88legitimacy of 68-69organisation 19objectives 19, 37Peasants 25, 29

Cyprus 37, 48, 80

Damascus 31, 31(map), 32, 33, 35, 36, 44, 62

economic effects 60-61Edessa, County of 32, 33Edward I, King of England (1239-1307) 45, 46,

57, 76Egypt 13, 14, 32, 34(map), 36, 37, 40, 41, 42,

87Embriaco, Peter 48environmental factors 53-54

weather 57Europe and Islam 14(map)

Fatimid Caliphate, the 13, 15, 15, 23, 32, 69,87

Fatimid forces 21-22, 22, 50the First Crusade 26-27Ramla, battles of 29

financial systems, development of 63-64France 17, 23Franks see Western European forcesFrederick Barbarossa, Emperor (1123-1190) 37Fustat 15

Godfrey of Bouillon 25, 29Grandson, Othan de 42, 57Great Schism, the 15

health 54horses 53

Iberian peninsula, the 16-17, 72Ibn Taimiyah 84-85Imad al-Din Qasim al-Dawla Zangi 32, 33Innocent III, Pope (1161-1216) 37Irbil 40

Index 95

Isabella of Beirut 73Islam 68, 88

conservatism 84-85, 87Crusader converts 81and the Crusader states 33, 76division of 23, 25and Europe 14(map)iconography 13impact on 64, 87relations with the Byzantine Empire 12reunification 29, 31, 33technological sophistication 64, 65and Western Europe 16-17, 23, 84, 87-88

Islamic forces 19, 21-22, 24, 49, 50-53, 81, 86the First Crusade 25, 25-26, 52leadership 25militia 13training 20

Italy 15, 16, 17,60-61, 62, 72

Jaffa 31, 76Jalal al-Din Rumi 73Jerusalem, city 26, 27, 27, 29, 30, 36, 37, 39,

40-41, 62, 63, 68, 83Jerusalem, Kingdom of 29, 37, 76Jews, the 25, 27, 68, 70, 74, 74-75Jihad 7, 17, 68-69, 84Jubail 48Jum'ah al-Numayri 57-58

Krak des Chevaliers 43, 47, 77

La Forbie, battle of 1244 41Louis IX, King of France 41, 42, 45

Malik Danishmend 41Mamluks, the 9, 17, 42, 47, 53, 82(map), 88

and the crusader states 44, 45, 76, 80and the Mongols 44, 76, 80, 84, 88

Mamluk forces 17, 22, 81at Acre 47-48

Manzikirt, battle of 1071 23Margat 76medical services 33, 33, 71Mediterranean Sea, the 10(map), 29, 37Mihrab of the Prophet Sulayman, the 9Military Orders, the 19, 45, 62, 71

the Hospitallers 47, 71, 76, 81the Templars 48, 71, 80, 81

Mongols, the 12, 42-44, 47, 54, 65, 72, 76,78(map), 80, 84, 88

Mosul 31, 33, 47Muslims see Islammutatawi'ah 21Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri 58-59

Najm al-Din Kubra 73Nicea 25Nur al-Din 32, 36

Ottoman Turks, the 17, 84, 88

Peasants' Crusade, the 25, 29Peverel, Pagan 55, 57Philip II, King of France (1165-1223) 37

pilgrimage 16population movements 71-72prisoners 81, 84

Qalawun, Sultan 47, 76

Ramla, battles of 29ransoms 81Raymond of St Giles 25Richard I, King of England (1157-1199) 36, 37Robert of Normandy 25, 55Ruad 48, 80

saddles 53Safad 76Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyud)

(1138-1193) 32, 36, 36-37, 37,'58-59, 67,81, 84forces 21-22

Seljuk Turks, the 13, 22, 23Shayk Taqi al-Din Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Abu Bakr

al-Harawi al-Mawsili 74Shayzar 55shields 50Sicily 16, 17, 37, 61, 72, 87Siena Cathedral 61significance 7-9St Bernard of Clairvaux 33St Francis of Assisi 73St George 28, 56Syria 7, 13, 17

tactics 50, 52Thibaut of Champagne, King of Navarre 39-40trade links 61, 61-63, 64Tripoli, County of 29, 47, 76turcopoles 18, 56, 84Tyre, siege of 28, 84

Urban II, Pope (1042-1099) 17,23,24

weapons 45, 49, 50, 80, 87crossbow 44Greek Fire 40Islamic 51, 52, 52, 80swords 37

Western Europe 7, 88confidence of 17impact on 65, 85, 87and Islam 12, 15-17, 16-17, 71, 84and the Mongols 42, 78(map)relations with the Byzantine Empire 15

Western European forces 7, 12, 16, 18-20, 19,23-24, 48, 48-50, 59, 60, 80at Antioch 25, 26background 18crusades

the First 24-25, 25, 26, 27, 48-50the Fourth 38the Eighth 41

at Jaffa 31knights 8, 17, 18, 18, 41, 48-49leadership 24-25loss of military superiority 29at Ramla 29

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