Battle of Jaffa

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Battle of Jaffa
Part of: Third Crusade
date Early August 1192
place Jaffa
output Victory of the Crusaders
Parties to the conflict

Cross of the Knights Templar.svg Crusaders

Flag of Ayyubid Dynasty.svg Ayyubids

Commander

Count of Poitiers Arms.svg Richard the Lionheart

Saladin

Troop strength
Jaffa garrison + Richard's relief force (several hundred men) approx. 7,000 men (mainly mounted)
losses

unknown

unknown

The Battle of Jaffa took place in early August 1192, during the Third Crusade . At that time the English King Richard the Lionheart struck back the army of Sultan Saladin from Jaffa and thus secured the city for the crusaders. The battle was the final battle of the Third Crusade, as a result of which Saladin and Richard entered into negotiations for a truce.

prehistory

On September 7, 1191, the army of the Third Crusade, led by Richard, routed Saladin's army in the Battle of Arsuf and on the following day occupied the port city of Jaffa without a fight and restored its fortifications, which Saladin had previously destroyed. Jaffa was the Mediterranean port closest to Jerusalem and was intended to serve as a supply base for the crusaders for the further campaign to conquer Jerusalem. Until December 1191, however, the crusaders had not made any decisive progress in securing the supply routes to the outskirts of Jerusalem, so that Richard initially gave up the attack on Jerusalem himself and began sporadic negotiations with Saladin without this having led to a result. In January 1192 Richard's crusade army occupied the city of Askalon and had its fortifications, which Saladin had also destroyed in the meantime, rebuilt. The spring of 1192 passed with further negotiations and minor skirmishes between the warring parties. Perhaps Richard was planning a campaign against Saladin's heartland, Egypt . It was also during this time that Richard received news from his homeland for the first time, where his brother Johann seized the power of the king and the French King Philip II August Richard attacked Richard's fiefdom in western France . By the summer of 1192 it became clear that Richard urgently had to return home to defend his interests. Saladin was aware of Richard's problems, but had problems of his own. Its population was tired of war and it was difficult to maintain the morale of his troops.

Siege of Jaffa

On July 5, 1192, Richard began to withdraw his army from the Holy Land . Realizing that he could hardly defend Jerusalem in the event of a quick conquest, he withdrew his main army from the contested areas. Soon after the withdrawal of the main army of the crusaders, Saladin advanced with his troops against the now exposed regions and began to besiege the strategically important city of Jaffa on July 27th.

Saladin's troops undermined the city wall and siege engines shot them with large stones. The Jaffa garrison struggled bravely, dug countermines, and returned the fire. When a breach was finally made, the defenders closed it by forming a massive shield wall behind it . Saladin's troops, however, fought half-heartedly and only the prospect of booty kept their motivation to fight. On Friday, July 30, 1192, the defenders finally offered negotiations to surrender. Saladin accepted a ransom, in exchange for which all Christians in the city should be given free retirement along with their movable property. However, Saladin could not hold back his troops when they entered the city contrary to the agreement. The defenders fled to the city's citadel, where they holed up while Saladin's Turkish and Kurdish contingents looted the city. The indignant Sultan then had the city gates cordoned off by his Mamluk guard and the looters took their loot.

Richard was with his main army in Acre when he received news of Saladin's attack on Jaffa on July 29th. Immediately he put together a relatively small troop with whom he boarded the galleys available to him and hurriedly embarked for Jaffa. His main army, under the command of Count Henry II of Champagne , followed by land.

Battle of Jaffa

When Richard arrived off the coast of Jaffa, he saw Muslim banners flying on the city walls and mistakenly believed the city had fallen. Only a defense attorney who swam out to Richard's ships informed him that the Jaffa Citadel was still standing. With the carelessness that is typical for him, Richard let himself be brought as close as possible to the shore, where he jumped into the water and waded with his men to the coast to bring Saladin's troops to battle on the beach. Supported by a failure of the defenders of the citadel, they drove Saladin's troops out of the city, which suffered considerable losses.

Richard now hastily began to repair the city walls, which had priority over the removal of the bodies from the city. Since there were still numerous bodies in the city, Richard and his men preferred to set up camp for the night at the gates of the city. In the meantime Heinrich von Champagne had arrived by sea with a few men; he had hurried ahead of the main army, which had encountered a Muslim army at Caesarea and was prevented from marching on quickly. Apart from these men, he only had the troops with whom he had embarked - perhaps 50 knights (with the usual infantry retinue) and a few hundred crossbowmen . Since the knights had not brought horses with them, they all fought as foot soldiers.

When Saladin learned of the circumstances, he decided to launch a surprise attack to capture Richard. On August 4, 1192, after dark, a detachment of Saladin's cavalry attacked Richard's camp. Their advance was noticed in time, however, and Richard had his small troop deployed in battle formation. A crossbowman was positioned next to every second dismounted knight or foot soldier. When Saladin's troops saw Richard's closed combat formation one more time, they lost all courage to fight. The Mamluken Guard carried out a few attacks on the crusaders and suffered heavy losses from crossbow fire. The rest of the troops simply refused to attack, citing the spoil they had been deprived of from the sack of Jaffa. Saladin eventually had to retire.

consequences

The Battle of Jaffa was the last significant battle of the Third Crusade, as a result of which Saladin and Richard entered into constructive negotiations over a ceasefire. On September 2, 1192, they signed a three-year armistice, which ended the Third Crusade. In it, Askalon was ceded to Saladin, the coast from Jaffa to Tire remained in the possession of the Crusaders.

Trivia

According to later legends, when Saladin saw Richard fighting on foot, he sent him two horses from his stables so that he could fight appropriately. This gesture was understood as a special sign of mutual respect and chivalry .

literature

  • Robert L. Wolff, Harry W. Hazard (Eds.): A History of the Crusades. The later Crusades, 1189-1311. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1969. pp. 83-85.
  • JF Verbruggen: The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340. Boydell Press, 1997.