Caracois was a very ancient Turk who had seen Godfrey de Bouillon during the conquest. Now observing these Templars beheaded, he addressed Saladin. Do you think, Sire, what you have done will put an end to bloodshed? You should know that Templars are born with their beards and their deaths will be avenged by Christians who demand recompense.
Saladin indulged just one, Gérard de Ridfort, Grand Master of the Temple, whom he sent shackled to Damascus. It has been said that Gérard bought his life by spitting on the Cross, which is not so. As Grand Master he was useful because of various castles held by Templars. He would in time purchase his liberty by ordering the fortress at Gaza to surrender.
Muhammed al-Kadersi relates how carts piled high with Christian heads rolled through Damascus, so numerous they might have been watermelons. A glorious and beneficent year, writes Imad al-Din, a blessed age anticipated by previous ages. How many knights and common sergeants marched off to servitude is beyond computation. At auction some fetched a paltry three dinars. One Frank was sold for a pair of shoes. And to delight the citizens an image of our Lord was carried about the streets upside down that they might think the glory of Saladin suffused the earth by drowning Christ’s army in waves of blood. Yet there is a chain of necessity over which Almighty God presides, which banishes evil from His commonwealth.
Ibn al-Athir speaks of a Frankish woman captive in Aleppo who one day accompanied her master to visit a friend. When the door opened there stood another captive Frankish woman. They embraced and began to weep and flung themselves on the ground to talk because they were sisters. Al-Athir himself owned a young Frankish girl with an infant son who had been seized at Joppa. One day the child fell out of her arms and the mother wept. Al-Athir sought to comfort her by showing that her baby was not hurt. It is not for him, she said. My six brothers are dead and I do not know the fate of my sisters and my husband. Thus, grief and fear blazed across Syria for a multitude of Frankish sins.
Saladin returned to attack Tiberias. Before long he took the citadel. Toward Countess Eschiva it must be said he displayed chivalry that would honor a Christian prince, granting safe passage to Tripoli with her ladies and household goods. Five days later the proud city of Acre surrendered. The castle of Toron. Nablus. Sidon. Jebail. Beyrouth. Christianity oversea was falling.
His Holiness Urban chanced to be at Ferrara when he got the news.
By permission of God, Heraclius, miserable patriarch of the Church of the Holy Resurrection, sends greetings to the most holy father and lord, Urban, supreme pontiff. Our lamentation and sorrow we can but inadequately convey, Reverend Father. It is our misfortune to behold the calamitous subjugation of our people, to be present when all that we hold sacred is scattered to the dogs. The fury of the Lord has come against us and His fury drains our spirit. He has permitted the Cross, meant for our salvation, to be captured by Turks. His mercy has He withheld from the bishops of Lydda and Acre, one of whom is taken prisoner, the other slain. Our king and the Christian army has He abandoned, given up to Turks. Some have fallen beneath the sword, some led into vile captivity, a few have escaped. The cities and castles taken by these enemies of God include Tiberias, Sebastea, Nazareth, Lydda, Caesarea, Mirabel, Toron, Bethlehem, Nablus, and others. Alas, their inhabitants have fallen nearly all to the sword. Alas, the Lord has discarded His legacy. His anger surpasses His mercy and the magnitude of our grief knows no limit. The holy city of Jerusalem now lies imperiled, for Saracens have won the battle. Alas, Reverend Father, we despair of defending ourselves. We have no refuge apart from God. Therefore, unless compassion be stirred throughout the west, bringing aid speedily to the Holy Land, we in our grievous extremity will not prevail. The holy city of Jerusalem must fall. Saladin is near. Daily we anticipate his coming. He has subdued every bishopric and archbishopric of our patriarchate, excepting Tyre and Petra. He sweeps the earth. Therefore, in the name of God, Holy Father, do we entreat your counsel and your protection.
Now over the horizon sailed a fleet commanded by Marquis Conrad de Montferrat approaching the fortress of Acre. No bells peeled in celebration, nor did a boat put out to greet them as was customary when Christian vessels arrived. For this reason the marquis ordered certain of his mariners to go ashore to find out why they did not hear the bell and get the latest news. They pulled close by the Tower of Flies and called out, asking who governed the city. People in the tower replied that it belonged to Saladin but they might safely land.
We will not, they answered, if it has been captured by enemies.
Sail away to Tyre! shouted some renegade in the tower. There will my lord Saladin take you, even as he has taken your holy cross and your wretched king and all your Christian host!
The men in the boat pulled away. No more did Conrad get this news than he ordered the fleet north to see what was happening at Tyre.
That may be how it was. Yet according to the chronicle of Geoffrey de Vinsauf, Conrad’s galley dropped sail outside the port of Acre near sunset. And because a prevailing silence gave cause for suspicion he ordered all to remain
