Battle of Artah
| date | August 10, 1164 |
|---|---|
| place | Artah |
| output | Victory of the Syrians |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 600 knights + infantry retinue |
unknown |
| losses | |
|
devastatingly beaten |
unknown |
The Battle of Artah , also Battle of Harim , took place on August 10, 1164 between the Syrian troops of Nur ad-Din and the Crusaders under Bohemond III. instead of.
prehistory
In 1164 Nur ad-Din learned that King Amalrich I of Jerusalem was campaigning in Egypt with his main army. In addition, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I , under whose protectorate the Principality of Antioch was, was employed on a campaign in the Balkans. Only ad-Din took the opportunity to attack the poorly protected principality of Antioch. When Nur ad-Din besieged the fortress of Harenc (Harim) near Artah , the prince of Antioch, Bohemond III, called his allies from Byzantium and Tripoli to help. The approach of the Byzantine troops caused Nur ad-Din to seemingly break off the siege and withdraw.
The battle
Bohemond pursued Nur ad-Din with about 600 knights, with which he rode straight into an ambush against which his Armenian allies Thoros II and Mleh had repeatedly warned him. The knights fought doggedly, but after a short battle most of the Frankish troops were killed or taken prisoner. The prisoners were brought to Aleppo in chains, including the majority of the distinguished knights and local nobles such as Raymond of Tripoli , Hugo of Lusignan and Bohemond himself. Thoros and Mleh escaped.
consequences
With Antioch now defenseless, Nur ad-Din's advisors urged that the city be taken quickly. This refrained from an attack because he feared that the Byzantines could hold the citadel until Manuel I arrived with his army. Shortly afterwards he released the Byzantine military leader Konstantin Koloman for a small ransom. Many Frankish nobles were also released later, only Raimund did not want to release Nur ad-Din. He was not to be released until after eight or ten years of imprisonment.
literature
- Reinhard Barth, Uwe Birnstein , Ralph Ludwig, Michael Solka: The Chronicle of the Crusades . Chronik Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 2003. ISBN 3-577-14609-5
-
Steven Runciman : A History of the Crusades, Vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem . CUP, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-06162-8 (EA London 1952).
- German: History of the Crusades, Vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East 1100–1187 . Beck, Munich 1958.
-
William of Tire : Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum .
- English: A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea . University Press, New York 1943 (2 vols .; translated by Emily A. Babcock and August C. Krey).
-
Amin Maalouf : The holy war of the barbarians. The Crusades from the perspective of the Arabs . Diederichs. Munich 1996, ISBN 3-424-01250-5 .
- English: The Crusades Through Arab Eyes . Al-Saqi Books, London 1984, ISBN 0-86356-113-6 (translated by Jon Rothschild).
- Raymond C. Smail: Crusading Warfare, 1097-1193 (Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought / New Series; Vol. 3). 2nd ed. CUP, Cambridge 1995, ISBN 0-521-48029-9 . (EA Cambridge 1956)