Category: Uncategorized

The Acre siege, one of the most famous battles of the Crusader period, has been described and researched by historians, as well as modern scholars. Today, a new series of books is trying to synthesize between the Crusader and Muslim narratives

As the sun rose over the mountains of Galilee and lit up the flat plain along the sea, the army of Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria, took up positions before the walls of Acre. It was July 9, 1187; five days after the sultan had decimated the army of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Horns of Hattin. One thousand knights had died in the battle; many more were taken prisoner, including the Crusader King, Guy of Lusignan. The Holy Cross, brought from Jerusalem to the battlefield, had also fallen into the hands of the Muslims. Nothing could stop Saladin from conquering Jerusalem, the capital of the Crusader kingdom. Nevertheless, Saladin preferred to deal first with the Crusader coastal cities in order to prevent the landing of Christian reinforcements from Europe.