Battle of La Forbie

Battle of La Forbie

Contemporary depiction of the battle from the Chronica maiora by Matthäus Paris

date	17.-18. October 1244
place	north of Gaza
output	Crusaders' crushing defeat

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of Jerusalem Templar Order of St. John the Order of German Order of Lazarus Sultanate of Damascus Emirate of Aleppo Emirate of Homs Emirate of Kerak	Sultanate of Cairo Khwarezmiyya
Commander
Walter IV of Brienne al-Mansur of Homs an-Nasir of Aleppo	Rukn ad-Din Baibars
Troop strength
12,000 men	11,000 men
losses
10,000 killed 800 prisoners	unknown

The Battle of La Forbie , also known as the Battle of Hiribyah or the Battle of Gaza , took place from October 17-18, 1244. In the battle, the Crusaders and the Syrian Ayyubids allied with them were defeated by the Egyptian Ayyubids.

prehistory

In 1220 the Khorezmian empire in Persia was smashed by Genghis Khan , the last Khorezm Shah, Jalal ad-Din , fell in 1231. As a result , a remnant of the Khorezmian army, a cavalry troop called Khwarezmiyya and escaped to Syria, surrendered in 1244 recruit from the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt as-Salih as mercenaries . On the way to Gaza , where they wanted to unite with the army of the Egyptians, they recaptured Jerusalem for the Egyptians in late summer 1244 and sacked the city.

The fall of Jerusalem was a great shock to the Crusaders and the Ayyubid states of Syria, which were hostile to the Egyptians, as they were now threatened. Under the influence of this event, the Crusader states allied themselves with the Muslim empires of Damascus , Aleppo , Homs and Kerak against the Egyptians.

The allies gathered their army at Ascalon and then moved southward along the coast to defeat the main Egyptian-Khorezmian army. The reconquest of Jerusalem was then to be tackled. The army of the crusaders under Count Walter IV of Brienne consisted of the contingent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its vassals including a contingent of the Order of Lazarus as well as the armies of the Templars , the Johanniter and the Teutonic Order , a total of 6,000 infantry and 1,000 armored horsemen . The Muslim allies were led by al-Mansur , emir of Homs and an-Nasir Yusuf , emir of Aleppo and comprised 4,000 light riders , some of them Bedouin, and a few hundred foot soldiers. In total there were about 12,000 soldiers.

At La Forbie, north of Gaza, they met the army of the Egyptians led by Baibars. Together with the choristers, they deployed around 11,000 soldiers.

Al-Mansur advised Walter IV of Brienne to fortify his encampment and to wait, as he expected the undisciplined Khoresmians to withdraw in the face of the slight numerical superiority of their opponents. Walter, however, took the offensive and had the army set up for battle: he himself stood with his troops on the right wing by the sea, an-Nasir Yusuf in the center and al-Mansur on the left wing.

The battle

The battle began on the morning of October 17th. The fighting was tough and the line of battle shifted back and forth several times. On the morning of October 18, Baibars threw the Khorezmian troops on the center of the allies. The center of the Crusaders and their allies was shattered by this attack and the Khorezmians turned to the forces of Homs. These were defeated after stiff resistance and al-Mansur withdrew from the field with just 280 survivors. This included the crusaders. 5,000 of them were slain and 800 prisoners were taken to Egypt. Of the knights of the order only 33 Templars, 27 Johanniter and three knights of the Teutonic Order survived, none of the contingent of the Order of Lazarus. Many high Christian dignitaries were captured, including Walter von Brienne.

consequences

The largest Christian army since the Third Crusade was in the field at La Forbie . The defeat was a similar fatal weakening of the crusader states as the defeat in the Battle of Hattin . From now on you were completely forced to defend yourself. The knight orders were so weakened that they had to concentrate solely on holding their castles. The only thing that saved the Crusaders for the time being was the fact that the Egyptian Ayyubids first looked after their Muslim enemies in Syria. The Egyptians were able to expand their influence and regain power in Syria.

Following the battle, the Egyptians began to besiege Ascalon , but the fortress there held out.

For the Christians, the defeat became the occasion for the Sixth Crusade under King Louis the Saint of France .

literature

• Reinhard Barth / Uwe Birnstein / Ralph Ludwig / Michael Solka: The Chronicle of the Crusades , Chronik Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 2003. ISBN 3-577-14609-5

source

• L'Estoire de Eracles empereur Liv. 33, cap. LVII, in: Recueil des historiens des croisades (1859), Historiens Occidentaux II, pp. 429–431