End of the Latin East, siege and capture of Acre in 1291

Outremer, Overseas, so it was customary for the knights of the military monastic orders to call the lands that belonged to Christians in Palestine and Syria in the period from 1101 to 1291. historical literature these lands are commonly referred to as the Latin East. The last capital of the state of the crusaders, after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, was Acre, a city whose fall is associated with the end of the crusading movement in the Middle East.

History of the city of Acre before the Crusades

The modern city of Akko (known in the Middle Ages as Acre, Akka, Akkon, or Saint-Jean-d-Acre) is located on the territory of the State of Israel. It is located on a peninsula that closes Haifa Bay from the north.
The very first city was founded here in Bronze Age. It was located east of modern city and was called Tel-Akko (in Arabic Tel al-Fuhar - "a mound of clay shards", a village with this name is also mentioned in medieval chronicles).
Many archaeological finds, including the remains of fortifications discovered during excavations in modern Tel Acre, indicate that this place has been inhabited since pre-Biblical times.
The first mention of ancient Acre was found in the fifteenth century BC in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs. In texts written on clay tablets, Acre is mentioned among the cities that Tutankhamun III captured as an important city on the northern coast of Israel.
The origin of this name has not been established, but it is clearly not Semitic. For the first time the word is found among the Assyrians. It was pronounced "Akk".
In the "Israeli period", Acre went to the Jewish tribe (tribe) Asher, but most likely it was never occupied by them. In 701 BC Acre is mentioned as the base of the northern campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacharib. The city is also mentioned in Old Testament(Job 38:11).
In 333 BC. the city was captured by Alexander the Great, and settled by the Greeks. In 261 BC Acre was renamed Ptolemias, in honor of the king of Egypt, Ptolemy II, and the city itself was moved to the place where it is located today, and surrounded by walls.
In 66-68 years. - the city became part of the Roman Empire, and became an outpost for eastern campaigns. The Romans deepened and widened the natural bay in the southern part of the city, and built a pier, which made Ptolemias one of the most significant ports on the eastern Mediterranean coast.
During the Byzantine period, the city became an important center for several religions, and had a Christian community with its own bishop. It is considered a holy city, since, according to the New Testament, the apostle Peter himself visited the first Christian community here.
In 640, the city was captured by the Muslims. In the 9th century, its port was restored and Acre became a major trading center.

In 1099, the crusaders who founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem failed to capture well
fortified city. Only on May 26, 1104, after several months of siege, in which the Genoese fleet also took part, the city surrendered, and was transferred to King Baldwin I, who immediately began to build complex system fortifications. These fortifications were built along the sea on the southwestern side of the city, while on the northeast it was separated from the mainland by a powerful wall, probably double, with a wide and deep moat. The port was also restored and, according to literary sources and maps, included an outer and inner harbor. A new breakwater was built, and protected at the far end by a tower that is known today as the Tower of the Flies.
Shortly after the defeat at Hittin, on July 9, 1187, the city was surrendered to Sultan Salah ad-Din and its Christian inhabitants were evacuated. The crusaders laid siege to Acre in 1189, but could not overcome the powerful fortifications that they themselves built. After a long siege that lasted almost four years, the Muslims finally surrendered on July 12, 1191.

With the loss of Jerusalem, Acre became the political and administrative capital Kingdom of Jerusalem and outpost of the crusaders in the Holy Land. Its port served to connect the Latin East with Christian Europe, as well as for transshipment to the West of goods delivered from the East. At the beginning of the 13th century, a new residential quarter grew up to the north of the city, called Monmazar. By order of Saint Louis, he was surrounded by his own, in all likelihood as well as main city, double walled.
It was the most Big city Latin East, with a population of approximately 40,000 people. The city became the main trade gate between the Christian world and the world of Islam, and received huge profits from trade. The English chronicler Matthew of Paris wrote that around 1240 in Acre, the royal income was 50,000 pounds of silver per year, which exceeded the income of the king of England.

Much of the Crusader-era city was excavated by archaeologists during the 1950s and 1960s, when underground but almost completely preserved buildings were cleared of rubble. During the 1990s, during the modern construction of Akko, excavations were undertaken inside and outside the old city walls, revealing evidence medieval history cities .
The walls of the city, like internal buildings, were built of sawn sandstone. They had a height of at least 10 meters, and were reinforced with counterscarps. In front of the walls was a thirteen-meter ditch filled with water.

The streets of the city were, as a rule, protected by roofs, and were up to 5 m wide. On both sides there were buildings with courtyards and rooms, which, as a rule, had a connection with shops and other office premises facing the street.
The inner part of the city consisted of several separate quarters that belonged to the Hospitallers, Templars, Venetians, Pisans, and other communities, as well as the palace of the Jerusalem kings and the port area.
The castle of the kings of Jerusalem was located in the northern part of the city and surrounded by powerful fortifications. Not far from the harbor, commercial quarters, known as communes, were built, which belonged to Venice and Pisa. Each quarter was protected by walls, and had its own market with warehouses and shops, as well as residential buildings for merchant families. The residences of military monastic orders were present in the city - the Hospitallers, the Templars, the Teutons, the Lazarites, which also actually represented separate citadels. Throughout the city, many public buildings were built, such as churches and orphanages.
The best preserved residence of the Hospitallers. It was located in the northern part of today's old city. It was an extensive complex of buildings with an area of ​​approximately 4,500 sq.m. with many halls, and outbuildings, which were located around the courtyard, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich was about 1200 sq.m. The thick walls were made of sawn sandstone (kurkar), and the entire complex was fortified with corner towers.
The main building was two stories high. The second tier was supported by numerous arches; a staircase 4.5 meters wide led there from the eastern side of the courtyard. A stone well was built in the southwestern corner of the courtyard, which provided the inhabitants with water. An extensive network of drainage channels collected rainwater from the courtyard into the main sewer.
To the south of the courtyard was a rectangular hall in the Gothic style, 30 by 15 meters with a dome 10 meters high, which was supported by three round central pillars, each 3 meters in diameter. Chimneys indicate that this room served as a kitchen and dining room. Heraldic lilies (a symbol of the French royal family) are carved in stone at two corners of the hall.
To the south of the hall was a complex of buildings known as al-Bostana. It included a large hall with several huge columns supporting a vaulted ceiling. This underground building was the main church of the order - the symbolic tomb of St. John.
To the north of the central courtyard was a suite of long dungeons with a ten-meter ceiling, known as the Halls of the Knights. On the one hand, there are gates opening onto the courtyard, on the other, windows and gates overlooking one of the main streets of the city. These premises were the barracks of the Hospitaller brothers.
On the east side there was a columned hall 45 by 30 meters, which served as a hospital. Its 8 m high ceiling was supported by three rows of pentagonal columns. Above this hall of columns, in all likelihood, there was a four-story castle of the Crusaders, which is depicted in the drawings of contemporaries.
In its northern part there was a public toilet with 30 toilet cabins on each of its two floors. A sewer network connected the toilets to the city's central sewer.
An underground sewage system was located under a group of hospitaller buildings. This network collected rainwater and waste into the city's central sewer. It had a diameter of one meter and was 1.8 meters high and was laid from north to south.
The Templar quarter was located in the southwestern part of the city. Enterprising Israeli travel agencies, after excavations carried out in this part of the famine, organized excursions to one of the main sewer tunnels, which is now called the "underground passage of the Templars."

The last years of the Latin East (1250-1291)

The internal state of affairs in Christian states

In 1240-1250. King Louis IX of France undertook a campaign in Egypt, which ended in complete collapse. After landing at the mouth of the Nile and taking the fortress of Damietta, the crusaders made a campaign inland where they were defeated. The king himself was captured and later ransomed. Those who got hurt, as well as those who were redeemed from captivity, retired to Acre. Louis remained in Acre until 1254. Louis made large donations, organized fortification work, and left a detachment of a hundred knights and crossbowmen in the city, which in subsequent years was supported by the French crown. The commander of this detachment bore the title of Seneschal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and was a member of the city council of Acre.
Meanwhile, as a result of the government crisis in the Ayyubid state, which was provoked by the Egyptian campaign of Louis, the Mamluks seized power in Cairo.
In 1256, the confrontation between the Venetian colony on the one hand and the Genoese, in alliance with the Pisans, on the other, escalated in Acre into a large-scale armed conflict, which was called the "War of St. Savva" (that was the name of the monastery, which was located on the border of the Genoese and Venetian quarters, and was the subject of a lawsuit between the two colonies).
Military and monastic orders were also drawn into hostilities between the merchant republics. So, in 1259 in Acre there was an armed clash between the Templars and the Hospitallers, and both sides suffered significant losses. Chroniclers claim that almost all the Templars who were in the city died.
Trade wars between the Italian republics, in which all the forces of the Latin East were somehow involved, subsided only after 1261, when the emperor of Nicaea captured Constantinople and liquidated the Latin Empire. The Venetians were expelled from Byzantium, and their competitors, the Genoese, concluded a trade agreement with Basileus Michael, and significantly strengthened their positions.
But what were the Christians of the Latin East? Following the “Templar of Tyre”, all historians, without exception, unanimously quote: “The people do not experience physical weakening; almost all, according to their chroniclers, are beautiful in face and tall in body. But for the next generations, they are colorless, pathetic and unconscious beings next to the old chivalry of the Holy Land. Perhaps too long a stay in the Middle East has changed - profoundly for the worse - the Franco-Norman character, which has lost the fine traits of intelligence and fidelity. For the degeneration of recent generations is manifested in an indescribable mixture of petty quarrels and selfish reasons caused by the absence of an elite capable of reasonable politics.
But the author of these lines contradicts himself. The first - "beautiful in face and tall in body" people, he, without hesitation, calls degenerates. Secondly, multiple sources and chronicles testify that the pulen and the aristocracy of Islam practically did not intersect - there was neither mixed marriages nor cultural assimilation. Thirdly, the aristocracy of England, France and Italy, in terms of lifestyle, did not differ much from the nobles of Cyprus and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By “placing” responsibility for the death of Acre on the Poulenes, the author diverts attention from the fact that by 1289 the Jerusalem crown had practically no knightly fiefs left, that is, the feudal nobility simply disappeared as a stratum that had incomes and was able to somehow influence developments.

Mongols, Ayyubids and Mameluks

At the same time, in 1259, the Mongol army led by Khan Hulagu invaded Syria, capturing Damascus.
Despite the fact that a number of nobles in Europe and the Latin East, including Saint Louis himself, were ready to conclude an alliance with the Mongols against the Ayyubids, this was opposed by large military monastic orders. The Templars and Hospitallers made several raids on the areas conquered by the Mongols and killed the ambassadors, after which the Hulagu carried out a retaliatory attack, capturing Sidon. After that, expecting an assault, the crusaders of Acre destroyed all the peaceful suburbs of the city.
In 1260, Sultan Katuz invaded Syria with a strong army, and having defeated the Mongols in several battles, drove the conquerors out of the region. In the same year, Egypt palace coup and Sultan Baybars came to power.
In 1262, Baibars undertook a military campaign, devastating the lands in the vicinity of Antioch, Tripoli, Tire and Acre. In 1265 Baibars captured Caesarea after a systematic siege. The city surrendered after a few days of battering rams. Then, after forty days of siege, Arzuf was surrendered. Safet surrendered in 1266. In 1268, Jaffa was taken, and then Antioch. During this period, two attempts were made to attack Acre, but they failed.
In 1269, a battle took place near the walls of Acre between the French detachment commanded by Robert de Crescy and the Mamelukes under the command of Baybars. The French detachment consisted of 130 cavalry and some infantry. Baybars had 4,500 soldiers at his disposal. In this battle, the French suffered a crushing defeat, after which the military contingent of the French crown practically lost its significance.
In 1270 Saint Louis undertook the last Crusade. French, Flemish and English troops, joined by the knights of Aragon, Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, who had gathered to assist the Holy Land in the war against the Mamelukes, instead landed in Tunisia and began hostilities against the local emir. But after the capture of the Carthaginian castle, dysentery began in the crusader army. As a result of the epidemic, many knights died, as well as Louis himself. The headless expedition fell apart, and by 1271 only the Crown Prince of England, the future King Edward I Longshanks (1272-1307) and his knights, had reached Acre. He arrived there at the head of a detachment of 1000 people and, just like Saint Louis in his time, left a small military contingent there, establishing the Order of St. Thomas of Acre 1. In fact, this order represented the military forces of the English crown in the Latin East until the final fall.
After a three-year break caused by the need to resist the Mongols and the European invasion of Tunisia, Baibars, convinced of the failure of the Crusade, again went to war against the Christians. In 1271, he captured Krak des Chevaliers, Accor and Montfort, and also made an unsuccessful attempt at amphibious assault on Cyprus - his fleet was caught in a storm, and almost all the ships crashed on the rocks.
After that, between Charles of Anjou, who at that time bore the title of King of Jerusalem, and Baibars, on April 22, 1272, a truce was concluded for a period of 10 years, 10 months and 10 days.
The death of Baibars in 1277 and two years of dispute over the inheritance gave the Christians a brief respite. The plain around Acre was plundered by Saracen raids.
During this period, the territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was limited to the cities of Acre, Tripoli, Tire and Tortosa, as well as Sidon and Atlit, belonging to the Templars and Margat, which belonged to the Hospitallers.
The next turning point in the chain of events was the fall of Tripoli. The new sultan of Egypt, the Mamluk Calaun, began the siege of the city on March 17, 1289. The garrison, divided and mixed, defended itself without much zeal. At the end of April, after a siege and bombardment, the city was taken by storm.
At the same time, Europe did not provide any significant support to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Except that immediately after the fall of the city, Pope Nicholas IV sent 1,600 Lombard mercenaries to Acre in twenty galleys, 2 who did not receive a salary, and engaged in looting the surrounding Muslim settlements.
After the capture of Tripoli, Sultan Calaun concluded a truce with King Henry II of Cyprus for two years, two months, two weeks, two days and two hours.
But, in addition, in the spring of 1290, Calaun concluded a trade agreement with Genoa, as well as a defensive alliance with the Aragonese king, which radically changed the balance of power in the Middle East. Now, having made the Genoese his allies, the Sultan of Egypt does not need the Kingdom of Jerusalem as a trade gateway between West and East, but Acre as a trading center. While the situation is turned to his advantage, he looks for an excuse to resume hostilities, and quickly finds one.

The beginning of hostilities 1290-1291.

In August 1290, the "mercenaries" - the Lombards - who arrived in Acre, took advantage of the very first pretext to start looting and robbery. Allegedly, they heard rumors that a certain Christian woman was seduced by a Saracen, and they, not understanding the intricacies of local relationships, staged a pogrom in the Muslim quarters. Local knights stopped the marauders, and they were taken into custody, but this was reported to Calaun. He was furious, considered that the truce had been violated by the Christians, and sent a letter to Acre demanding that those responsible be punished.
But the city council, under pressure from the former archbishop of Tyre, Bernard, who was responsible to the pope for this contingent, refused to condemn the perpetrators, pointing out that they, as crusaders, were under the exclusive jurisdiction of the pope.
Then Guillaume de Gode, the Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, according to the chronicler, proposed to deceive the Sultan, instead of executing the criminals already held in the city prison. Jacques from Montreal further tells that this proposal did not pass at the city council, and a vague message was sent to the Sultan in response, after which he decided to start a war.
The fact that the Sultan seriously decided to take advantage of the precedent and break the agreement under any circumstances is evidenced by the fact that he gathered a council of imams to provide a religious and legal justification for the justice of his actions.
Guillaume de God sent another, his own embassy to Calaun with a request for peace, and he demanded a ransom of one sequin for each citizen. The city council again rejected the proposal.
Already in October 1290, the mobilization and preparation of siege equipment began in the Sultanate, which united Syria and Egypt. But on November 4, having left Cairo for his headquarters, Sultan Kalaun suddenly fell ill, and on November 10 he died. His son Al-Esseraf became his heir, who swore not to pay honor at the burial of his father until Acre was destroyed to the ground.
The new sultan sent a letter to the Grand Master of the Templars in Akra with the following content: “Sultan of sultans, king of kings, lord of lords, Malek al-Esseraf; powerful, formidable, punisher of rebels, winner of the Franks, and Tatars, and Armenians, wresting fortresses from the hands of the infidels<...>to you, Master, noble master of the order of the Temple, true and wise, greetings and our good will. Since you are a real husband, we send you messages about our will and let you know that we are going to your troops to repair the damage done to us, which is why we do not want the authorities of Acre to send us letters or gifts, because we we won't take it anymore." Since diplomatic relations were already broken off, the ambassadors who arrived at the headquarters, among whom were the Templars, were imprisoned.
During the winter of 1290-1291. Mamluks built catapults - timber was brought from the Lebanese mountains to Baalbek, and they were assembled there. In March 1291, the collection and promotion of troops began. The size of the army of the Sultan of Egypt, given in the sources, ranges from 85,000 to 600,000 people.
In his "campaign" published as part of the Osprey project, one of the main authors, David Nicolet, does not name any specific numbers at all. A more serious researcher, author of the work "Military Affairs in the Middle East 1191-1291." Christopher Marshall gives a summary table, and referring to the chroniclers, he names the following figures:
70,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry ("Deeds of the Cypriots").
40,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry ("Lament for the Fall of Acre").
200,000 cavalry and "many" infantry ("Chronicle of St. Petri").
Only 600,000. (Ludolf of Sadheim).
But it is likely that chroniclers, who, moreover, wrote their works already in the 14th century, cite figures that did not correspond well to the realities of the era. It seems that the standard "one hundred thousand" was not a counted number, but simply an idiomatic form, like the "darkness" of Russian chronicles. Of course, the Mamluks outnumbered the army of the crusaders, but did not pose a greater threat than the Mongols and were not so numerous.
The composition of the army is even more difficult to determine than its number. Directly, the "Mamelukes" were the guards of the Sultan, and also made up the officer corps. Detachments of professional warriors, bought in childhood in slave markets and trained in military craft, were one of the most combat-ready military formations of their time. The size of this regular army ranged from 9 to 12 thousand people (according to some sources up to 24 thousand people), the basis of which was cavalry detachments under the command of 24 beys from the environment big feudal lords 3. It is difficult to say what percentage of the total number of the Mameluke troops were cavalry, and what percentage was infantry. Many researchers are inclined to think that the cavalry was the majority.
The rest of the army consisted of mobilized peasants and townspeople. With its large number, it had practically no combat potential and was used for sapper and auxiliary work.
Concerning siege equipment. Its presence and power are not in serious doubt, since large catapults are described in detail in Arabic sources. But even here the numbers diverge.
The "demonic" figure of 666 cars only appears in Acre's Lament for the Doom. This figure, obviously, served only one thing - to emphasize the satanic essence of the enemy. The most likely, both technically and organizationally, is the mention of 92 siege engines, of which 4 are huge stone throwers, each of which, like a ship, had given name. Engineering troops during the shooting one car was served by at least four people, large cars - about 20 people.
From an economic point of view, even the figure of 100,000 of the total number of campaigners from the Sultanate is an overestimate. The surrounding lands were devastated and did not allow to feed such an army, and the delivery of food from Syria and Egypt increased the cost of the expedition several times.
The army consisted of three components - the army from Hama, the army from Damascus and the army from Egypt. The army advanced to Acre from two sides, from Cairo and Damascus. As an eyewitness testifies, the marching formation from Syria stretched to Carmel (20 km) and from Egypt to the Karuba Mountains.

Undoubtedly, in the spring of 1291, Acre was one of the most modern and most powerful fortresses in the region. It had excellent fortification of the outer walls and inner-city architecture, which made it possible to turn almost all of its quarters into separate, well-fortified centers of defense.
The outer wall encircled the city from all sides and was single from the sea, and double from the land. The city was divided by a large wall into two parts - directly Acre and the former suburb of Monmazar.
At that time, the city was full of refugees from the cities captured by Muslims, and was a mixture of a military camp and the largest trading port. It consisted of seventeen separate communities, each of which was actually a separate fortress inside the city walls.
With regard to the number of troops in the city during the siege, and their composition.
700-800 cavalry and 14,000 infantry ("Deeds of the Cypriots")
900 cavalry and 18,000 infantry ("Lament for the death of Acre")
1200 knights and only 30,000 troops (James Auria, "Annales").
Unfortunately, nowhere is indicated what is of primary interest for analysis: the number of shooters - archers and crossbowmen, as well as the presence, number and nature of stone throwers.
If we turn to indirect sources, we can determine the number and composition of the defenders more objectively. The Templars and Hospitallers, according to experts, in the second half of the XIII century, together had no more than 500 knight brothers, and in accordance with the general index of the armed forces of the orders, they could put up an army with a total number of up to 5000 combat units.
Teutons and swordsmen 4 - these orders had a certain contingent in Acre, the total number of brothers of German orders after the defeat in the Baltic states, and a new recruitment in Europe was about 2,000 brothers, most of whom were in the north.
Knights of the Order of St. Thomas of Acre - 9 knights and Master.
Lazarites, Knights of St. The Holy Sepulcher and the Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit are mentioned as the defenders of the city, but in extremely small numbers.
For the defense of the city, the walls were divided into four sectors. The Templars and Hospitallers were responsible for protecting the left flank - from the coast to the gates, St. Anthony, and the knights of the "small orders" made up a consolidated squadron. Next were the troops of the "combined detachment" of the Teutons and Lazarites, then the French contingent, along with the knights of the Order of St. Thomas, under the command of the seneschal Jacques de Grally, the troops of the Cypriot kingdom under the command of the constable Amaury de Lusignan. On the right flank were the Venetians and the "papal mercenaries" who arrived in 1290, followed by the Pisans and the city militia.
If we proceed from the fact that the responsibility for the walls and towers was distributed in proportion to the available forces, it turns out that the sectors of the Templars and Hospitallers amounted to about 40%, and others (orders, French, Cypriots, Venetians, crusaders, Pisans, militias) - 60%. This calculation shows that total number troops was closest to the figure given in the Acts of the Cypriots.
Thus, by the beginning of the siege, Guillaume de Beaugh, elected by the city council as leader, had at hand no more than 15,000 soldiers, of which 650-700 were mounted knights. Is it a lot or a little? The “norm” generally accepted for the era of edged weapons is 1.2 people per meter of wall and an average of 50 people per tower. As we have said, Acre is located on a peninsula, and its outer land walls are about two kilometers long. The walls are double and had 23 towers.
That is, 1,500 infantrymen were enough to protect the towers, and the defense of 4,000 meters of walls in three shifts required about 14,500 people.
The description of the fighting shows that the defenders had many crossbowmen, but nothing is said about the city artillery, although in the description of the "war of St. Sava" mentioned above, the Pisans and Genoese used stone throwers against each other inside the city. The only thing that is mentioned in passing in the chronicles is the use of throwing machines that were installed on ships.
The city was released from the sea, had no shortage of fresh water, food, ammunition, had regular water communication with the rest of the surviving fortresses of the Latin East and the island of Cyprus. The number, training, and composition of the armaments of the defenders of the city were sufficient for its effective defense, and made it possible to defend the walls from the many times superior enemy forces. However, Acre's defenses were broken by the Mamelukes in just twenty-seven days.

Siege of Acre. April 5 - May 17

On April 5, Sultan Al-Esseraf arrived from Cairo, placed his headquarters in the city suburb of Tal al-Fukar, and his troops took up their positions. April 6 officially begins the siege of Acre. Two days later, stone-throwers arrived and were placed in position, which on April 11 began regular shelling of the walls and towers.

“One of the machines, which was called Haveben [gab-dan - furious], in other words - Wrathful, was in front of the post of the Templars; and another machine, throwing at the post of Pisans, was called Mansur, that is, Victorious; the next, the big one, which I don't know what to call, was thrown into the post of hospitallers; and the fourth machine was thrown at a large tower called the Accursed Tower, which stands on the second wall and was defended by the king's company. On the first night they set up large shields, and shields made of rods lined up in front of our walls, and on the second night they approached still more, so they approached until they came to a moat, and behind these shields were warriors who dismounted from their horses on earth with bows in their hands.

From April 11 to May 7, the siege of the city is sluggish on the part of the besiegers. Stone-throwers methodically fire at the walls, the soldiers try to fill up the ditch, but they are driven away from the walls by crossbowmen. But the defenders, on the contrary, are constantly taking active steps.
The heavy knightly cavalry obviously could not be used inside the city, and the military leaders are reasonably looking for opportunities for it. effective application.
According to some sources, in the first week of the siege, the Templars organized a major sortie, as a result of which 5,000 prisoners were captured and brought to the city. This information, given by the chronicler Lancrost, differs from what the author of the Acts of the Cypriots writes, but, nevertheless, from these figures it can be concluded that many prisoners were indeed captured, which in turn means that the bulk of the army the invaders were untrained militias. Nowhere else is the fate of such an incredible number of prisoners mentioned.
Guillaume de God offered to take out the landing force from the city, and fight under the walls of the fortress in an open field. But spring thunderstorms, characteristic of the Mediterranean, prevented the implementation of these plans. On April 13-14, the crusaders launched a raid on the right flank of the Mameluke troops, but the ships were scattered by a storm, and the commanders preferred not to risk it anymore.
On the night of April 15-16, the Templars organized a night raid on the camp of Ham's army. It started well, but according to the chronicler, the horses got entangled in the tents in the dark, and no noticeable result was achieved.
The next sortie was organized by the Hospitallers on the night of April 18-19 against the southern flank, but it also ended unsuccessfully, since the Mamluks were on the alert and put up guards. After that, it was decided to stop the counterattacks, since they do not bring noticeable results, but lead to heavy losses.

“And when the day came, our people in council expressed the opinion to go out from all over on horseback and on foot and burn the wooden structure; so the monsignor master of the order of the Temple and his men, and sir Jean de Grandson 5 and other knights, came up at night to the gates of Ladre, and ordered the master to a certain Provençal, who was viscount of Bort in the district of Acre, to set fire to the wooden structure of the great machine of the sultan; and they went out that night and found themselves near a wooden shed; and the one who was supposed to throw the fire was frightened and threw it so that [the fire] flew away a short distance and fell to the ground and kindled on the ground. All the Saracens who were there, horsemen and footmen, were killed; and our men, all the brothers and knights, rode so far forward between the tents that their horses got entangled with their feet in the ropes of the tents and stumbled, and then the Saracens killed them; and thus we lost that night eighteen horsemen, brothers of the Order of the Temple and lay knights, but captured many Saracen shields [large] and small, and trumpets, and timpani<...>
From the moon it was as bright as day, and the Sultan of Hama, who was guarding this sector of the front, gathered two thousand horsemen, before whom a small detachment of three hundred soldiers, surrounding the master of the Order of the Temple, had to retreat. The sorties that were proposed to be carried out through the other gates of the city did not take place, since the Saracens were warned and prepared for defense.
Another night attack - this time on a moonless night - was no better, "the Saracens were notified and arranged such lighting with signal fires that it seemed they had day<...>and attacked our people so hard with arrows that it seemed that it was rain<...>"» .

After unsuccessful attacks in the city, evacuation begins.
By the end of April, the Sultan's engineers are finishing preparing siege equipment, and on May 4, a massive shelling begins, which continues for ten days without a break. On the same day, May 4, King Henry arrives in Acre with 40 ships. He brings his troops - about 100 cavalry and 3,000 infantry.
On May 7, Henry sends parliamentarians to al-Esseraf with a peace offer, but he demands the surrender of the city, does not stop the bombardment, and in the end, almost executing the ambassadors, answers with a categorical refusal. On the 8th of May, as a result of the bombardment, the barbican in front of the royal tower was destroyed, and the defenders leave it. Al-Esseraf begins an assault on the walls opposite the "royal" sector. It seems that the arrival of reinforcements from Cyprus only increases the pressure from the enemy, and now, on the third day after the negotiations, a cardinal turning point occurs in the situation. As a result of digging and bombing, the English Tower, the tower of the Countess de Blois, the walls at the gates of St. Anthony, and the walls near the tower of St. Nicholas (that is, almost the entire part of the fortifications, which was located in the Franco-Cypriot sector). On May 15, the outer walls of the King's Tower collapsed.
Mameluke engineers created a screen that allowed sappers on the night of May 15-16 in the area of ​​​​the gates of St. Anthony (at the junction between the Hospitaller sector and the French sector) to break through a wide passage. The Mamluk ruler of Kerak, Baibars al-Mansuri, left his memoirs of the siege of Acre in a chronicle known as Zubdat al-Fikra fi Tarikh al-Hijra. He recalls how, during the final phase of the siege of Acre, one of the crusader towers was badly damaged by mangonels, which made a gap between the tower and the main wall. But this gap was protected by the enemy's crossbowmen, so that the Mamluks could not begin to fill up the ditch to get to the breach. At night, Baybars used shields lined with felt on the inside, which he describes as "shaped like a long white cloud," which were raised vertically with a system of masts and ropes, similar to the rigging of a ship. Taking cover behind this screen, Baybars and his men filled in the ditch, creating a passage that the Sultan's army used to storm the city. But the troops of the Hospitallers and the Templars put a “cat” 6 in the gap, organize a counterattack, and beat off the enemy.
King Henry and his brother, Constable Amaury withdraw their troops, embark on ships and leave the city. 7. The departure of Henry of Cyprus's troops effectively left the central part of the outer walls undefended, and on May 16 the Mameluke troops advance under the cover of shields. At this time, Cypriots, Venetians, Pisans, as well as locals loaded onto ships.
The Templars and Hospitallers from the left wing repeatedly (at least three times) knock out the attackers from the central sector abandoned by the defenders, and build barricades. But the Mamluks, taking advantage of the numerical advantage and regardless of the losses, returned back, and in the end, they destroyed the walls and towers, making a breach 60 cubits long. After the walls and towers are destroyed, the Sultan appoints a general assault on the morning of May 18th.

Storm May 18-20

The attack began at dawn throughout the central sector. The royal detachments remaining in the city retreat to the sector of the Hospitallers and Templars, they are trying to recapture the captured walls, but to no avail.
At the same time, while trying to gather the defenders in a counterattack, Guillaume de Gode was mortally wounded.

« The Master of the Order of the Temple was accidentally overtaken by an arrow when the Master was raising his left hand, and she did not have a shield, only a dart in right hand, and this arrow struck him in the armpit, and the reed entered his body."
The master armed himself hastily and wore only light armor, the joints of which did not cover the sides well.
And when he felt that he was mortally wounded, he began to leave, but they thought that he was leaving voluntarily in order to save himself and his banner<...>and they ran before him, and then all his retinue followed him. And as he was withdrawing, a good twenty crusaders from the Spoleto Valley came up to him and said, "Ah, for God's sake, sire, don't leave, for the city will soon be lost." And he answered them loudly, so that everyone could hear: "Seniors, I cannot, for I am dead, see the blow." And then we saw an arrow immersed in his body. And at these words, he threw the dart on the ground, bowed his head and began to fall from the horse, but his retinue jumped down to the ground from their horses and supported him, and took him off the horse, and placed it on an abandoned shield, which they found there and which was very big and long.
Servants carried him into the city along a bridge, through water ditches and a secret passage that led to the palace of Mary of Antioch. Here they took off his armor, cutting off the straps of armor on his shoulders, then wrapped him in a blanket and carried him to the shore. Since the sea remained rough, and not a single boat could land, the retinue carried the master to the order's residence, dragging a stretcher through a hole in the wall.
And all day long he lay in the Temple without speaking.<...>, except for one word, when he heard the noise of people fleeing from death, and asked what it was; and he was told that the people were fighting; and ordered that they be left alone, and since then did not speak and gave his soul to God. And he was buried in front of his altar, that is, the throne, where mass was sung. And God was pleased with him, for from his death there was great damage» .

Part of the Hospitallers sailed to Cyprus, taking away their seriously wounded Grand Master. Here is what the Grand Master of the Hospitallers, Jean de Villiers of Cyprus, wrote to Guillaume de Villaret, prior of Saint-Gilles:

“They [Muslims] broke into the city early in the morning from all sides with large forces. The convention and I defended the gates of St. Anthony, where there were an uncountable number of Saracens. However, we beat them back three times, to a place commonly referred to as "The Cursed". Both in this and in other battles, the brothers of our order fought, defending the city, and its inhabitants and country, but, little by little, we lost all the brothers of our order, who were awarded all kinds of praise, who stood for the Holy Church, and met our last hour. Among them fell our dear friend, Brother Marshal Matthew de Clermont. He was a noble knight, a brave and experienced warrior. May the Lord receive his soul!
On the same day I received a spear blow between the shoulders 8, which almost killed me, which makes it very difficult for me to write this letter. Meanwhile, a huge crowd of Saracens broke into the city from all sides, by land and by sea, advancing along the walls, which were everywhere punched and destroyed, until they reached our hiding places 9. Our sergeants, servants, mercenaries and crusaders and all the rest turned out to be in a hopeless situation, and fled to the ships throwing their weapons and armor. We and our brothers, a huge number of whom were mortally or seriously wounded, protected them as much as God knows! And since some of us pretended to be half dead and lay in a swoon before the enemies, my sergeants and our servants carried me out of there, mortally wounded, and other brothers, exposing ourselves to great danger 10. Thus, I and some of the brothers were saved by the will of God, most of they were wounded and beaten without any hope of healing, and we arrived on the island of Cyprus. On the day this letter was written, we are still here, with great sadness in our hearts, captivated by overwhelming grief.

However, the surviving Templars and Hospitallers repelled the assault on the tower of St. Anthony. The second center of defense was the right flank of the "royal sector", which was headed by the representative of the king of England, Otto de Grandison.
Panic began in the city, residents rushed to the harbor to board ships, but a storm began at sea. The Templar Roger de Flor was able to take possession of one of the ships, and tried to take advantage of the situation to earn money that he extorted from noble ladies in exchange for their salvation 12. The patriarch of Jerusalem, the aged Nicholas, tried to reach the ships in the raid, but loaded so many refugees that the boat sank, and with it he died.
At the same time, apparently, the Venetians, Pisans and the city militia left their positions and began to evacuate. By evening, the surviving defenders of the city, those who did not flee, as well as those who, due to the storm, could not sail and returned back, gathered at the residences of the Templars, and decided to fight to the end, choosing their leader Marshal of the Templars Pierre de Sevry.

Defense in the fortress of the Templars

For two days and nights, complete confusion reigns inside the city. The connection between the Sultan's headquarters and the troops was lost and the detachments that broke into the city probably engaged in robberies, which made it possible for those who decided to defend the city to the end to regroup. All chroniclers unanimously note that there were very few prisoners. It is difficult to say whether the refugees managed to reach the galleys, but it is clear that many civilians and defenders drowned in the sea.
Until May 20, all the defenders of the city, previously blocked in their residences, are concentrated in the Templar fortress. Marshal of the Order of the Temple Pierre de Sevry is elected leader. The Mamelukes have been trying for a week to storm the Temple, but to no avail. During this period, the defenders, taking advantage of the fact that they have access to the sea, evacuate the civilian population, as well as the treasury of the order.
On May 28, the Sultan offers the Templars honorable terms of surrender - access to the harbor with weapons in their hands. On the same day, the conditions were accepted by the defenders. Galleys enter the harbor, the civilian population of the city, accompanied by knights, leaves the Temple. The flag of Islam hung over the tower served as a sign of surrender. But one of the emirs, who was scouring the city in search of booty, saw the flag and decided that the fortress had been taken and attacked the refugees. The defenders used their weapons in response and again locked themselves in the fortress.
On May 29, de Sevry, with two Templars, went to negotiate with the Sultan. But Al-Esseraf considered the crusaders violators of the oath, refused to listen to the parliamentarians, and ordered them to be beheaded.
The surviving defenders barricaded themselves in the Master's Tower. The sappers undermined its foundation during the day, on May 30 the tower collapsed, the Mamluks burst inside, and finished off those who survived under the rubble.

The Last Days of the Latin East

Immediately after it became known about the fall of the walls of Acre, on May 19, Tire surrendered without a fight. At the end of June, Sidon was captured. July 31 Beirut surrendered. Pilgrim Castle 13 and Tortosa were abandoned by the Templars between 3 and 14 August. They sailed to the waterless island of Ruad, which is located two miles from Tortosa, and held it for another twenty years.
Al-Esseraf ordered the destruction of all the castles that were on the coast so that the Franks could no longer take possession of it.
Around 1340, Ludolph of Sadheim, a German priest, wrote that while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he came across two old people living on the coast of the Dead Sea. He spoke to them and found out that they former Templars, captured at the fall of Acre in 1291, who have since lived in the mountains, cut off from Christendom. They were married, had children, and survived being in the service of the Sultan. They did not even know that the Order of the Temple was dissolved in 1212 and the Grand Master was burned as a heretic who refused to repent. These people were from Burgundy and Toulouse and were repatriated within a year with their families. In order to prevent a scandal, they were respectfully received by the pope, left at his court and spent the rest of their lives there.

History of Acre after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

Over the next four centuries, Acre lost all its significance, turning into a fishing village.
1750 - Dahar El-Omar, a Bedouin chief who rebelled against Turkish rule and conquered the Galilee, makes Acre his capital. He erects walls and restores the port.
1775 - Turkish commander Ahmet Al Jazir (Achmed El-Jazer) defeated Al-Omar, executed him, and became the ruler of the region. He built a well-fortified fortress on the site of old Acre.
1799 Napoleon besieges the city.
1804 - El Jazeer died. His heir, Suleiman Basha, continues to restore Acre and repairs the water supply. He died in 1819.
1819-1831 - Abdullah Ben Ali Bashi rules in the city.
1831 - Ibrahim Ben Muhammad (Ibrahim Ben Muhammad) at the head of the Egyptian troops conquers Israel. He establishes himself in Acre and continues his conquests in the east.
1840 - The combined British-Turkish-Austrian fleet besieges Acre.
Until 1918, Acre was the administrative center of the northern region of the province of Israel within the Ottoman Empire.
1918 - The province of Israel is occupied by the British, who founded the city of Haifa. Acre is losing its importance as a port city.
1948 - Acre is occupied by Israel.

Applications

1. Chroniclers of the siege and fall of Acre

The main source for the study of these events was the Acts of the Cypriots (Les Gestes des Chiprois). Chronicles are written in early XIV century, and cover the period from 1131 to 1314. 14. The siege of Acre and the situation in the Latin East described in the third part of the "Acts of the Cypriots" and belong to the pen of a certain "Templar from Tyre."

“In fact, the latter was not a Templar and spent only some time in Tire. Perhaps his name was Gerard of Montreal, and he belonged to the minor nobility of the kingdom. To him we owe the third book of the Acts of the Cypriots, probably a compilation from various sources. He himself appears first as a page of Margaret of Antioch, wife of Jean de Montfort, lord of Tyre, and at least 1269-1270. spends surrounded by Montforts. Fifteen years later, he appears as secretary to Guillaume de Bauge. He, of course, is not a brother of the order, but a trusted person and an employee of the master. The chronicler knew Arabic, it was he who translated letters for God into this language and composed messages addressed to Muslims. His functions may be identified with those of a Saracen scribe devoted to the person of the master, and he gives valuable details about the role of the Templars during the last twenty years of the Latin kingdom.

These chronicles were written in the interests of the ruling Lusignan dynasty in Cyprus and were published at the beginning of the 14th century, that is, at a time when the Kingdom of Jerusalem no longer existed. Most likely, that is why more often those who could not stand up for themselves are shown as the main "culprits" of the defeat - the disappeared rulers of the Overseas - the Pouleins, and the Templars defeated by the King of France.
The second main source most often cited is Lament for the Fall of Acre (De exidio urbis Acconis passim).

"Author of Lamentation at the Fall of Acre, Dominican monk Ricoldo de Monte Croce at the end of the 13th century. explained the collapse of the Crusades by the fact that the West refused effective support to the Holy Land, because the idea of ​​martyrdom for Jerusalem, according to this monk, ceased to bring moral satisfaction.

"Crying..." is official version events adopted by Rome.
The Venetian diplomat and chronicler Marin Sanudo (Sanudo, Marin il Giovane) (1466-1536) also mentions these events, but in describing what happened directly in Acre he uses the Acts of the Cypriots, and his work is more interesting in aspects relating directly to Venice.
Another chronicler, Lancrost, was not an eyewitness to the events, but in all likelihood described them from the words of Otto de Grandison.
Small notes made in Greek by the monk Arsenios refer to Bartolomeo of Neokastro, who accuses the Franks of laziness, of a depraved life and of cowardice.
The Chronicle of Ludolf of Sadhem is a traditional account of the East, written several years after the fall of Acre.
The chronicles of Abu al-Fida are very brief, but this is the only eyewitness account of the events. The most detailed Arabic document is a letter from the Sultan to the King of Armenia Hatum II.
The most unreliable of the Arab chronicles are the works of al-Maqrizi, which are completely refuted by other Arab chroniclers 15.

2. Overview of sources used

The history of the city of Acre, as well as the results of archaeological research, are taken mainly from the official website of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Descriptions of the history of the city during the era of the Crusades are based on the writings of Coogler and Riley-Smith.
As for the siege and capture of Acre itself, the basis was a wonderful collection of materials on the history of the Crusades, edited by Wolf and Hazard. This is an accurate and correct work, which used the maximum possible number medieval chronicles. It is replete with details, and is completely devoid of any subjectivity and "literary" in the description and evaluation of events. Its only but, unfortunately, very significant drawback is the almost complete lack of attention to military-technical aspects. But this gap almost completely fills fundamental work Christopher Marshall, Warfare in the Middle East.
As for other works, including those of Barber and Melville, they uncritically use exclusively the "Acts of the Cypriots", filling in the gaps of "Lament on the Fall of Acre", and served, along with other works, mainly as sources of indirect quotation.
The now widely known popular science series of the British publishing house Osprey deserve special mention. david nicholle, main author of this series on the era of the Crusades, in his issue "The Bloody Sunset of the Crusader States" approached the selection and presentation of material extremely casually. He simply omits many fundamentally important questions, to which there are no unambiguous answers either in the chronicles or in the works of researchers (estimation of the number and composition of the Mameluke army, the exact date of departure of the Cypriots, etc.), but questions that have almost nothing to do with the events described no relationship (the relationship between the Cairo Sultanate and Nubia) devotes dozens of pages. The facts and data given by him often do not coincide with what he writes in his other works, and the model of the city does not correspond to the results of archaeological research.

Notes:
1. It is not clear what kind of order it was, because. by this time, a bull of Pope Innocent III forbade the establishment of any new Catholic orders, both canonical and military. Also noteworthy is the fact that the preceptor of the Scottish province of Balantrodoch, the Templar Brian de Jay, in 1298, in direct violation of the charter of the order, took the vassal oath to Edward and fought on his side with the Scottish army (author's note).
2. A number of sources claim that these were, in fact, not mercenaries, as such, but urban rabble and criminals, whom the local bishops were obliged to accept the cross in exchange for protection from criminal prosecution, and the Venetians provided them with places on the trading galleys going to Acre (author's note).
3. Materials of the Soviet military encyclopedia in 8 volumes, volume 5 were used (author's note).
4. The chronicles mention the swordsmen, although this order merged with the Teutonic order in the middle of the thirteenth century (author's note).
5. This refers to Otto de Grandison (author's note).
6. Cat - a wooden tower upholstered with wet skins, which was installed to defend breaches in the walls (author's note).
7. Different sources give different dates for the departure of the Cypriots from the city. It is not entirely clear whether this happened on May 16 before the main assault, or on May 18. Nicolet generally omits this date. It is possible that the confusion occurred because the loading on the ships came over several days (author's note).
8. In the English translation "a lance between the shoulders" - the phrase is incomprehensible - "between the shoulders" - from above, in the chest, in the back? For the text of the letter, this is not important, but, nevertheless, it indicates that the Grand Master of the Hospital most likely did not have heavy weapons and was stabbed in the back with a spear (author's note).
9. From the translation it is difficult to understand what kind of shelters we are talking about. Whether the Hospitallers continued to defend the gates of St. Anthony, or took refuge in their residence (author's note).
10. With this sentence, the author of the letter is trying to justify the fact that he left the battlefield (author's note).
11. Translation of the author. The version of the translation of the letter posted on Vostlit has omissions and multiple inaccuracies (author's note).
12. This event is especially noted by the author of the Acts of the Cypriots in connection with the fact that the chronicles were being written at the very time when Roger de Flor became a famous person. He led the Catalan company as a mercenary of Basileus Andronicus, led several successful campaigns against the Turks, and received the Byzantine title of megaduki (grand duke) by marrying the emperor's niece (author's note).
13. The Castle of the Pilgrims, also known as Atlit and Château Pelerin (editor's note).
14. Location of the manuscript Torino, Biblioteca nazionale, Varia 433, 1343 (author's note).
15. The description of the sources is given mainly according to the assessment made in the works ed. Wolf, Hazard (author's note).

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The confrontation between Christians and Muslims in Syria continued for a long time. In 1277-1281, the Muslims were: you are your internal strife and war with the Mongols. At this time, a new crusade might have been successful, but Europe made no further attempts to help the Syrian Christians. In the Jerusalem state at that time there was a struggle for rule. In 1286, Hugh's son, King Henry II, expelled the Sicilians from Acre and united the thrones of the two states in his hands. Over the following years, Sultan Kilavun was busy campaigning against the Mongols and signed from 1281, 1283 a number of agreements with knightly orders and a truce for ten years, ten months and ten days.

It is not known who was the first to break the agreement, but in April 1285 the sultan approached the fortress of Maraba. The fortress was abandoned by the Christians and destroyed by the combined forces of Christian and Muslim workers. Peace was signed again, but then the Sultan captured the fortress of Laodicea and Tripolis.

Pope Nicholas IV received with deep sorrow the news of a new misfortune that befell the Holy Land, and felt the approach of the end of Christianity in Syria. He sent a small fleet, but the ships were not sufficiently armed and trained, and in a short time most of them returned to Italy. Even worse was the call for a new crusade. The Genoese, who fought on the walls of Tripolis, concluded a friendly treaty with Egypt because of trade benefits. At the same time, the kings of the House of Aragon, the enemies of the Roman Curia and the Neapolitan Angevin dynasty, Alphonse III of Aragon and his brother James of Sicily entered into a defensive and offensive alliance with the Sultan of Kilawun.

Under these circumstances, the Muslims were not slow to launch an attack on the remnants of the Jerusalem state. True, in the summer of 1289, the Sultan gave a two-year truce to King Henry II of Cyprus and Jerusalem, but the Christians themselves took care of being expelled from the Syrian coast even before the expiration of this period. The soldiers of the Cypriot garrison or the mercenaries of Pope Nicholas carried out brutal attacks in the neighboring Mohammedan region and violated the peace. As a result, Kilawun rightfully declared war on the Christians.

Acre was in those days one of the most beautiful and flourishing cities. The liveliest trade collected here the jewels of half the world. The news of the warlike intentions of the Sultan of Kilawun frightened the people of Acre. But after the excellent speech of Patriarch Nicholas of Jerusalem, the citizens and hired servants unanimously decided to defend "the magnificent city of Akkon, the gate to the Holy places of the promised land" to the last drop of blood. A request for help was sent to Europe. Spiritual knightly orders received reinforcements from the West: several military detachments came to the rescue from neighboring coastal cities and from Cyprus. Together with the small detachments which had been kept in the Holy Land for many years by the kings of France and England, they formed, in the end, military force: 20 thousand people. By its size, this army was able to defend a strong fortress for a long time, and at the beginning the army was filled with the greatest courage. But, unfortunately, the defenders of Acre experienced an extreme lack of unanimity, obedience and discipline, the Christians did not have a real leader, because the young king Henry II of Cyprus did not enjoy due authority and remained in Cyprus until the end of the siege of Acre. A battle plan was drawn up, but the Templars, Hospitallers, Pisans and Venetians, the knights of Syria, Cyprus, England and France did only what was necessary for their own benefit. Even the soldiers were self-governing. Sultan Kilavun, on the other hand, prepared for war with great care. He gathered all his lawyers and explained that the Christians had violated the peace and therefore war with them was a sacred duty for the Muslims. In the autumn of 1290, the Sultan set out on his journey, but on the way he fell ill and died on November 19, 1290. However, this death did not bring any relief to the Christians. Kilavun's son and successor, Almelik Azashraf, had a ferocious disposition and diligently continued the work begun by his father.

In March 1291, the vanguard of the Muslim troops arrived on the field near Acre. At the beginning of April, the Sultan also appeared with a huge army. It had 92 siege machines. The fight started small and major battles in an open field in front of the gates of the city. Christians were distinguished by bold attacks, firmness and courage. At the same time, the Templars, noting the superiority of the enemy and the lack of help from the West, tried to induce Azashraf to a truce. But the negotiations failed.

On May 4, King Henry and a small Cypriot auxiliary detachment arrived to the besieged. On May 5, the Muslims launched a simultaneous assault on Acre in several places, using tunnels, attacks, and shelling of the city. The battle lasted several days, exhausting the forces of the defenders. Many wealthy citizens left Acre with their wives, children and treasures and fled to Cyprus. And on the night of May 15-16, King Henry returned to Cyprus I with his troops and three thousand fugitives who joined him. The king was condemned for this flight, and only the fact that he was a sickly person can excuse him. The garrison remaining in the fortress numbered from 12 thousand to 13 thousand people.

On May 16, the Muslims again went on the assault. Part of the wall was destroyed, and the Muslim cry of victory was already heard through the streets of the half-conquered city. But the Christians gathered all their strength, and, thanks to the special courage of the Hospitallers, they drove out the intruders from the city and closed the gaps with a temporary wall of stones and all kinds of tools. Despite this, the fall of the fortress could no longer be avoided. The crusaders knew about this and on May 17 discussed the possibility of a general retreat to Cyprus. But there were not enough ships, and it was decided to wait for the end together. Before last fight Christians prayed and took communion.

On May 18, inspired by religious appeals, the Muslims stormed. The besieged repeatedly fought off their attack, but, in the end, the gaps were dismantled, the gates were broken and the Muslims broke into the city. They killed men and took women and children prisoner. Only a few managed to escape to the harbor and board the ships. But few of them escaped, as a strong storm broke out at sea, and the crowded ships began to sink. Several thousand Christians fled to the strong Templar castle, which was located in the west of the city by the sea. Negotiations and battles continued here for days. Some of the besieged fled to the sea, the rest died from the sword of a fierce enemy. Muslims rejoiced at the late, but complete revenge for the murder of Saladin's garrison in Acre, which Richard had once committed Lion Heart. The city was then burned down and razed to the ground.

The fall of this great fortress meant the end of Syrian Christianity. Significant Templar fortifications still remained south of Acre, but it was no longer possible to continue the war. Upon receiving news of the Muslim victory, the Christians fled. And a few weeks after the terrible May 18, the Syrian coast was completely abandoned by the Europeans. (Bernard Kugler. History of the Crusades. Rostov n / D., 1995. P. 484.)

Christians took the fall of Acre hard. Pope Nicholas IV appealed to the new crusades, but the troops failed to collect. Only a few wealthy Genoese armed a small fleet in 1301. They were filled with pious dreams, but ended up sacking Christian areas and persecuting the Jews. Sermons on the cross and military plans were left without any action, and Europe from then on limited its desire to bow to the Holy Sepulcher to only pilgrimage, as in the centuries preceding the crusades.

1. Military encyclopedia. - SPb., Ed. I. D. Sytina, 1911. - V.1. - S. 208–209.

2. Military encyclopedic lexicon published by the society of military men and writers. - Ed. 2nd. - In 14 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1852. - T. 1. - S. 206.

3. Stasyulevich M. M. The history of the Middle Ages in its writers and research of the latest scientists. - St. Petersburg, 1865. - T.Z. - S. 757–759.

4. Encyclopedia of military and marine sciences: In 8 volumes / Under the general. ed. G. A. Leera. - SPb., 1883. - T.1. - S. 100.

Fall of Acre

The confrontation between Christians and Muslims in Syria continued for a long time. In 1277-1281, the Muslims were: you are your internal strife and war with the Mongols. At this time, a new crusade might have been successful, but Europe made no further attempts to help the Syrian Christians. In the Jerusalem state at that time there was a struggle for rule. In 1286, Hugh's son, King Henry II, expelled the Sicilians from Acre and united the thrones of the two states in his hands. Over the following years, Sultan Kilavun was busy campaigning against the Mongols and signed from 1281, 1283 a number of agreements with knightly orders and a truce for ten years, ten months and ten days.

It is not known who was the first to break the agreement, but in April 1285 the sultan approached the fortress of Maraba. The fortress was abandoned by the Christians and destroyed by the combined forces of Christian and Muslim workers. Peace was signed again, but then the Sultan captured the fortress of Laodicea and Tripolis.

Pope Nicholas IV received with deep sorrow the news of a new misfortune that befell the Holy Land, and felt the approach of the end of Christianity in Syria. He sent a small fleet, but the ships were not sufficiently armed and trained, and in a short time most of them returned to Italy. Even worse was the call for a new crusade. The Genoese, who fought on the walls of Tripolis, concluded a friendly treaty with Egypt because of trade benefits. At the same time, the kings of the House of Aragon, the enemies of the Roman Curia and the Neapolitan Angevin dynasty, Alphonse III of Aragon and his brother James of Sicily entered into a defensive and offensive alliance with the Sultan of Kilawun.

Under these circumstances, the Muslims were not slow to launch an attack on the remnants of the Jerusalem state. True, in the summer of 1289, the Sultan gave a two-year truce to King Henry II of Cyprus and Jerusalem, but the Christians themselves took care of being expelled from the Syrian coast even before the expiration of this period. The soldiers of the Cypriot garrison or the mercenaries of Pope Nicholas carried out brutal attacks in the neighboring Mohammedan region and violated the peace. As a result, Kilawun rightfully declared war on the Christians.

Acre was in those days one of the most beautiful and flourishing cities. The liveliest trade collected here the jewels of half the world. The news of the warlike intentions of the Sultan of Kilawun frightened the people of Acre. But after the excellent speech of Patriarch Nicholas of Jerusalem, the citizens and hired servants unanimously decided to defend "the magnificent city of Akkon, the gate to the Holy places of the promised land" to the last drop of blood. A request for help was sent to Europe. Spiritual knightly orders received reinforcements from the West: several military detachments came to the rescue from neighboring coastal cities and from Cyprus. Together with the small detachments that had been kept in the Holy Land for many years by the kings of France and England, they finally amounted to a military force: 20,000 people. By its size, this army was able to defend a strong fortress for a long time, and at the beginning the army was filled with the greatest courage. But, unfortunately, the defenders of Acre experienced an extreme lack of unanimity, obedience and discipline, the Christians did not have a real leader, because the young king Henry II of Cyprus did not enjoy due authority and remained in Cyprus until the end of the siege of Acre. A battle plan was drawn up, but the Templars, Hospitallers, Pisans and Venetians, the knights of Syria, Cyprus, England and France did only what was necessary for their own benefit. Even the soldiers were self-governing. Sultan Kilavun, on the other hand, prepared for war with great care. He gathered all his lawyers and explained that the Christians had violated the peace and therefore war with them was a sacred duty for the Muslims. In the autumn of 1290, the Sultan set out on his journey, but on the way he fell ill and died on November 19, 1290. However, this death did not bring any relief to the Christians. Kilavun's son and successor, Almelik Azashraf, had a ferocious disposition and diligently continued the work begun by his father.

In March 1291, the vanguard of the Muslim troops arrived on the field near Acre. At the beginning of April, the Sultan also appeared with a huge army. It had 92 siege machines. The battle began with small and large battles in the open field in front of the gates of the city. Christians were distinguished by bold attacks, firmness and courage. At the same time, the Templars, noting the superiority of the enemy and the lack of help from the West, tried to induce Azashraf to a truce. But the negotiations failed.

On May 4, King Henry and a small Cypriot auxiliary detachment arrived to the besieged. On May 5, the Muslims launched a simultaneous assault on Acre in several places, using tunnels, attacks, and shelling of the city. The battle lasted several days, exhausting the forces of the defenders. Many wealthy citizens left Acre with their wives, children and treasures and fled to Cyprus. And on the night of May 15-16, King Henry returned to Cyprus I with his troops and three thousand fugitives who joined him. The king was condemned for this flight, and only the fact that he was a sickly person can excuse him. The garrison remaining in the fortress numbered from 12 thousand to 13 thousand people.

On May 16, the Muslims again went on the assault. Part of the wall was destroyed, and the Muslim cry of victory was already heard through the streets of the half-conquered city. But the Christians gathered all their strength, and, thanks to the special courage of the Hospitallers, they drove out the intruders from the city and closed the gaps with a temporary wall of stones and all kinds of tools. Despite this, the fall of the fortress could no longer be avoided. The crusaders knew about this and on May 17 discussed the possibility of a general retreat to Cyprus. But there were not enough ships, and it was decided to wait for the end together. Before the last battle, Christians prayed and took communion.

On May 18, inspired by religious appeals, the Muslims stormed. The besieged repeatedly fought off their attack, but, in the end, the gaps were dismantled, the gates were broken and the Muslims broke into the city. They killed men and took women and children prisoner. Only a few managed to escape to the harbor and board the ships. But few of them escaped, as a strong storm broke out at sea, and the crowded ships began to sink. Several thousand Christians fled to the strong Templar castle, which was located in the west of the city by the sea. Negotiations and battles continued here for days. Some of the besieged fled to the sea, the rest died from the sword of a fierce enemy. Muslims rejoiced at the late, but complete revenge for the murder of Saladin's garrison in Acre, which Richard the Lionheart had once committed. The city was then burned down and razed to the ground.

The fall of this great fortress meant the end of Syrian Christianity. Significant Templar fortifications still remained south of Acre, but it was no longer possible to continue the war. Upon receiving news of the Muslim victory, the Christians fled. And a few weeks after the terrible May 18, the Syrian coast was completely abandoned by the Europeans. (Bernard Kugler. History of the Crusades. Rostov n / D., 1995. P. 484.)

Christians took the fall of Acre hard. Pope Nicholas IV called for new crusades, but the troops could not be raised. Only a few wealthy Genoese armed a small fleet in 1301. They were filled with pious dreams, but ended up sacking Christian areas and persecuting the Jews. Sermons on the cross and military plans were left without any action, and Europe from then on limited its desire to bow to the Holy Sepulcher to only pilgrimage, as in the centuries preceding the crusades.

Siege of Acre - the capture of the city of Acre by the Egyptian Mamluks. The battle took place in 1291 and became important event in the history of the crusades, as it marked the capture of one of the few remaining major possessions of the crusaders.

Start of hostilities (1290-1291)

On April 27, 1289, the troops of the Mamluk Sultan Qalown, after a short siege that lasted just over a month, stormed Tripoli. This was a turning point in the history of the fall of the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem and the starting point in the fall of the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land - the city of Acre. Europe responded to the fall of Tripoli with silence. Except that immediately after the fall of the city, Pope Nicholas IV sent 1,600 Lombard mercenaries to Acre in twenty galleys. His Holiness did not think about who would pay their salaries. And, left without funds, the Lombard mercenaries began to rob the surrounding Muslim settlements. In August 1290, they staged a real pogrom in the Muslim quarters. Anyone who wore a beard was mercilessly killed. The reason was more than weighty - rumors allegedly reached them that a certain Christian woman was seduced by a Saracen. This is how Gerard of Montreal describes these events: “When these people were in Acre, the truce that the king concluded with the Sultan was well supported by both sides, and the poor simple Saracens entered Acre and brought their goods for sale, as they already did. By the will of the devil, who willingly seeks evil deeds among good people, it so happened that these crusaders, who arrived to do good and for the sake of their souls to help the city of Acre, contributed to its destruction, for they rushed through the land of Acre and put to the sword all the poor peasants who carried their goods, wheat for sale in Acre and other things and which were Saracens from the hedgerowed huts of Acre; and likewise they killed many Syrians who wore beards and were killed for their beards, mistaking them for Saracens; which was a very bad deed, and this was the reason for the capture of Acre by the Saracens, as you will hear ... ”The local knights stopped the marauders and took them into custody, but Calaun was informed about this. He was furious, considered that the truce had been violated by the Christians, and sent a letter to Acre demanding that those responsible be punished. But the city council, under pressure from the former archbishop of Tyre, Bernard, who was responsible to the pope for this contingent, refused to condemn the perpetrators, pointing out that they, as crusaders, were under the exclusive jurisdiction of the pope. Then Guillaume de God, the Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, according to the chronicler, proposed to deceive the Sultan: instead of the guilty, the criminals already held in the city prison should be executed. Gerard of Montreal further tells that this proposal did not pass at the city council, and a vague message was sent to the Sultan in response, after which he decided to start a war. The fact that the Sultan seriously decided to use the precedent and break the agreement under any circumstances is evidenced by the fact that he gathered a council of imams for religious ...

The confrontation between Christians and Muslims in Syria continued for a long time. In 1277-1281, the Muslims were busy with their internal strife and war with the Mongols. At this time, a new crusade might have been successful, but Europe made no further attempts to help the Syrian Christians. In the Jerusalem state at that time there was a struggle for rule. In 1286, Hugh's son, King Henry II, expelled the Sicilians from Acre and united the thrones of the two states in his hands. Over the following years, Sultan Kilavun was busy campaigning against the Mongols and signed from 1281 to 1283 a number of agreements with knightly orders and a truce for ten years, ten months and ten days.

It is not known who was the first to break the treaty, but in April 1285 the Sultan approached the fortress of Maraba. The fortress was abandoned by the Christians and destroyed by the combined forces of Christian and Muslim workers. Peace was signed again, but then the Sultan captured the fortresses of Laodicea and Tripolis.

Pope Nicholas IV received with deep sorrow the news of a new misfortune that befell the Holy Land, and felt the approach of the end of Christianity in Syria. He sent a small fleet to Acre, but the ships were not sufficiently armed and trained, and in a short time most of them returned back to Italy. Even worse was the call for a new crusade. The Genoese, who fought on the walls of Tripolis, concluded a friendly treaty with Egypt because of trade advantages. At the same time, the kings of the House of Aragon, the enemies of the Roman Curia and the Neapolitan Angevin dynasty, Alphonse III of Aragon and his brother James of Sicily entered into a defensive and offensive alliance with the Sultan of Kilawun.

Under these circumstances, the Muslims were not slow to launch an attack on the remnants of the Jerusalem state. True, in the summer of 1289, the Sultan gave a two-year truce to King Henry II of Cyprus and Jerusalem, but the Christians themselves took care to be expelled from the Syrian coast even before the expiration of this period. The soldiers of the Cypriot garrison or the mercenaries of Pope Nicholas carried out gross violence in the neighboring Mohammedan region and violated the peace. As a result, Kilawun rightfully declared war on the Christians.

Acre was in those days one of the most beautiful and flourishing cities. The liveliest trade collected here the jewels of half the world. The news of the warlike intentions of the Sultan of Kilawun frightened the people of Acre. But after the excellent speech of Patriarch Nicholas of Jerusalem, citizens and hired servants unanimously decided to defend "the magnificent city of Akkon, the gate to the Holy places of the promised land" to the last drop of blood. A request for help was sent to Europe. Spiritual knightly orders received reinforcements from the West: several military detachments came to the rescue from neighboring coastal cities and from Cyprus. Together with the small detachments which had been kept for many years in the Holy Land by the kings of France and England, they eventually amounted to a military force of 20,000 men. In terms of their numbers, this army was able to defend a strong fortress for a long time, and at the beginning the army was filled with the greatest courage. But, unfortunately, the defenders of Acre experienced an extreme lack of unanimity, obedience and discipline. The Christians did not have a real leader, because the young king Henry II of Cyprus did not enjoy due authority and remained in Cyprus until the end of the siege of Acre. A battle plan was drawn up, but the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Pisans and the Venetians, the knights of Syria and Cyprus, England and France, did only what was necessary for their own benefit. Even the soldiers were self-governing.

Sultan Kilavun, on the other hand, prepared for war with great care. He gathered all his lawyers and explained that the Christians had violated the peace and therefore the war with them is a sacred duty for the Muslims. In the autumn of 1290, the Sultan set out on his journey, but on the way he fell ill and died on November 19, 1290. However, this death did not bring any relief to the Christians. Kilavun's son and successor, Almelik Azashraf, had a ferocious disposition and diligently continued the work begun by his father.

In March 1291, the vanguard of the Muslim troops arrived on the field near Acre. At the beginning of April, the Sultan also appeared with a huge army. It had 92 siege machines. The battle began with small and large battles in the open field in front of the gates of the city. Christians were distinguished by bold attacks, firmness and courage. At the same time, the Templars, noting the superiority of the enemy and the lack of help from the West, tried to induce Azashraf to a truce. But the negotiations failed.

On May 4, King Henry and a small Cypriot auxiliary detachment arrived to the besieged. From May 5, the Muslims launched a simultaneous assault on Acre in several places, using tunnels, attacks and shelling of the city. The battle lasted several days, exhausting the forces of the defenders. Many wealthy citizens left Acre with their wives, children and treasures and fled to Cyprus. And on the night of May 15-16, King Henry returned to Cyprus with his troops and three thousand fugitives who joined him. The king was condemned for this flight, and only the fact that he was a sickly person can excuse him. The garrison remaining in the fortress numbered from 12 thousand to 13 thousand people.

On May 16, the Muslims again went on the assault. Part of the wall was destroyed, and the Muslim cry of victory was already heard through the streets of the half-conquered city. But the Christians gathered all their strength, and, thanks to the special courage of the Hospitallers, they drove out the intruders from the city and closed the gaps with a temporary wall of stones and all kinds of tools. Despite this, the fall of the fortress could no longer be avoided. The crusaders knew about this and on May 17 discussed the possibility of a general retreat to Cyprus. But there were not enough ships and it was decided to wait for the end together. Before the last battle, Christians prayed and took communion.

On May 18, inspired by religious appeals, the Muslims stormed. The besieged repeatedly fought off their attack, but in the end the gaps were dismantled, the gates were broken and the Muslims broke into the city. They killed men and took women and children prisoner. Only a few managed to escape to the harbor and board the ships. But few of them escaped, as a strong storm broke out at sea, and the crowded ships began to sink. Several thousand Christians fled to the strong Templar castle, which was located in the west of the city by the sea. Negotiations and battles continued here for days. Some of the besieged fled to the sea, the rest died from the sword of a fierce enemy. The Muslims rejoiced, albeit at a late, but complete revenge for the murder of Saladin's garrison in Acre, which Richard the Lionheart had once committed. The city was then burned down and razed to the ground.

The fall of this great fortress meant the end of Syrian Christianity. Significant Templar fortifications still remained south of Acre, but it was no longer possible to continue the war. Upon receiving news of the Muslim victory, the Christians fled. And a few weeks after the terrible May 18, the Syrian coast was completely abandoned by the Europeans. (Bernard Kugler. History of the Crusades. Rostov n / D., 1995. P. 484.)

Christians took the fall of Acre hard. Pope Nicholas IV called for new crusades, but the troops could not be raised. Only a few wealthy Genoese armed a small fleet in 1301. They were filled with pious dreams, but ended up sacking Christian areas and persecuting the Jews. Sermons on the cross and military plans were left without any action, and Europe from then on limited its desire to bow to the Holy Sepulcher to only pilgrimage, as in the centuries preceding the crusades.

Materials of the book were used: "One Hundred Great Battles", M. "Veche", 2002

Literature

1. Military encyclopedia. - SPb., Ed. I.D. Sytin, 1911. -T.I. - S. 208-209.

2. Military encyclopedic lexicon published by the society of military men and writers. - Ed. 2nd. - In the 14th vol. - St. Petersburg, 1852. - T.I. - S. 206.

3. Stasyulevich M.M. History of the Middle Ages in its writers and researches of the latest scientists. - St. Petersburg, 1865. - T.Z. - S. 757-759.

4. Encyclopedia of military and naval sciences: In the 8th vol. / Ed. ed. G.A. Leer. - SPb., 1883. -T.I.-S. 100.

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The whole world in the 13th century(chronological table).