Ah, Lord God! he cried. We are betrayed unto death! The kingdom of Jerusalem is finished!
King Guy then asked Count Raymond what they should do. To which Count Raymond answered that had his advice been taken they would not be where they found themselves. As it is now too late, he said, I have no better advice than for the king to pitch his tent on the summit of this hill. With God’s help the enemy may think we cannot be dislodged.
Yet there could be no worse place to camp or fight, exposed like fowl, the earth studded with volcanic rock that made it difficult for men and horses to move. So all night these Franks peered toward the lake by starlight and saw death in every shadow.
During the night they were surrounded. Saladin ordered his mameluks to collect brushwood and stubble and make a palisade. At dawn he set this afire to blind and choke the Christians and punish them with heat. Soon enough the Franks heard Saracen bows creak, arrows pierced the smoke. Camel caravans brought jars of water from Lake Tiberias and God’s servants watched this water emptied on the ground. What did Saladin do but give them the wine of remorse to drink. These errant knights were plagued by havoc of their own making.
Until high tierce the Jerusalem army waited, encircled by a pagan horde so dense that not a cat could escape. Five or six knights followed by sergeants rode down to consult Saladin. These were Laodicius from Tiberias, Ralph Buceus, Baldwin of Fortuna, and I do not know the others. Why, they asked, did Saladin choose not to fight? The Franks are all but dead, said they. And by certain accounts these knights renounced our Lord to save themselves. As for the sergeants whose mouths hung open, tongues protruding, miserably they bared their necks. King Guy observing this ordered Count Raymond to attack.
Therefore, calling upon Jesus and Our Lady, Count Raymond did as the king commanded. And the experienced Saracens feigned retreat, opening a path, only to close swiftly around him. Many of his knights, burdened with axes and maces, bodies swollen inside coats of mail, gave up hope and surrendered. Ten or twelve fought through the Saracen ranks, among them Reynald of Sidon, Balian d’Ibelin, and Count Raymond himself. It is said they charged so impetuously that nothing could withstand them. Or it may be they deserted the field, trampled their comrades, fled in panic to Tripoli. The truth is not known.
King Guy retreated to the summit where his men began digging trenches, which caused Saladin’s son to exclaim that the Franks were destroyed. Chronicles relate that Saladin plucked his beard and frowned. Be quiet, he said, they are not defeated until the king’s banner falls. But even as he spoke these words the Jerusalem banner fell. He dismounted, prostrated himself and wept for joy, praising Allah while his soldiers tore apart King Guy’s red silk tent. Later in gratitude for this victory he constructed a mosque on the summit.
From that great army of Jerusalem less than two hundred got out. Count Raymond died some months after the battle, wracked by fearful dreams. Frank and Muslim alike regarded him as the true master of Christian Syria, scorning King Guy, and thought him destined for the crown of Jerusalem. He ascended to Paradise thinking infidels and Christians might equably share the land. He had learnt Arabic, studied the pagan faith. His skin was dark and his nose like that of a vulture. Excepting his great size he could pass for a Syrian emir. They say his body showed evidence of circumcision, undeniable proof that he rejected our Lord. If so, what impels honorable men to recant? How does apostasy creep into creation?
As to misbelievers, they fought with the strength of pilgrims. Mangouras, who some thought related to Saladin, charged by himself against the army of God. Franks promptly cut him down and displayed his head. Turks argue that Mangouras through intemperate courage succeeded to the abode of the merciful, which is fallacious and wrong. They are evil who hold evil opinions and will become godly only as they perceive the truth. We who have been led toward the light do not fear to give up earthly things since we are instructed by Jesus Christ and the examples of numerous saints.
This battle took place in the providential year 1187 on the fourth day of July, which was the feast of Saint Martin Calidus. How bitter that on this very summit our Lord preached his most famous sermon of peace.
Imad al-Din served as secretary to Saladin as well as to Nur al-Din and compiled a narrative of those days which delights at butchery. He went among the Christian dead noting Trinitarians cut in two, bowels drained, the stench more intoxicating than perfume, bellies slashed, skin flayed, limbs scattered, genitals sundered, ribs splintered, faces pressed to earth, spirits flown, no longer animate with desire, stones among stones. And how should this Turk respond to Christian death but quote from the villainous book they worship. It is said, too, that pagan alchemists crept around the field plucking out the eyeballs of knights or sergeants since they believe the eyes of young men hold nutritious elixir. And such people believe our Lord suffered crucifixion in appearance only, claiming that God so loved the son of Mary that He would not countenance torture, and any who assert that He emerged from a woman’s private parts must be mad, having neither faith nor intellect. Yet we firmly accept these points and articles that are witnessed and taught us by saints of both Testaments, from the mouth of our Lord. Let us not forget the debt we owe to a spring so bounteous.
On the slope of
