The siege of Acre was the first significant counterattack by Guy of Jerusalem against Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria. This pivotal siege formed part of what later became known as the Third Crusade. The siege lasted from August 1189 until July 1191, at which time the city's coastal position meant the attacking Latin forces were unable to fully capture the city and Saladin was unable to fully relieve it, with both sides receiving supplies and resources by sea. It concluded as a key victory for the Crusaders and a serious setback for Saladin's ambition to destroy the Crusader states.
Background
Egypt was ruled by the Shi'ite Fatimid dynasty from 969, independent from the Sunni Abbasid rulers in Baghdad and with a rival Shi'ite caliph—that is successor to the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Governance fell to the caliph's chief administrator called the vizier. From 1121, the system fell into murderous political intrigue and Egypt declined from its previous affluent state. This encouraged Baldwin III of Jerusalem to plan an invasion that was only halted by the payment by Egypt of a tribute of 160,000 gold dinars. In 1163 the deposed vizier, Shawar, visited Zengi's son and successor, Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo, in Damascus seeking political and military support. Some historians have considered Nur ad-Din's support as a visionary attempt to surround the Crusaders, but in practice he prevaricated before only responding when it became clear that the Crusaders might gain an unassailable foothold on the Nile. Nur al-Din sent his Kurdish general, Shirkuh, who stormed Egypt and restored Shawar. However, Shawar asserted his independence and allied with Baldwin's brother and successor Amalric of Jerusalem. When Amalric broke the alliance in a ferocious attack, Shawar again requested military support from Syria and Shirkuh was sent by Nur ad-Din for a second time. Amalric retreated, but the victorious Shirkuh had Shawar executed and was appointed vizier. Barely two months later he died to be succeeded by his nephew, Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who has become known by his honorific Salah al-Din, 'the goodness of faith', which in turn has become westernised as Saladin. Nur al-Din died in 1174. He was the first Muslim to unite Aleppo and Damascus in the Crusade era. Some Islamic contemporaries promoted the idea that there was a natural Islamic resurgence under Zengi, through Nur al-Din to Saladin, although this was not as straightforward and simple as it appears. Saladin imprisoned all the Caliph's heirs preventing them from having children, as opposed to having them all killed which would have been normal practice, to extinguish the bloodline. Assuming control after the death of his overlord, Nur al-Din, Saladin had the strategic choice of establishing Egypt as an autonomous power or attempting to become the preeminent Muslim in the Eastern Mediterranean—he chose the latter.
As Nur al-Din's territories fragmented after his death, Saladin legitimised his ascent through positioning himself as a defender of Sunni Islam subservient to both the Caliph of Baghdad and Nur al-Din's son and successor, As-Salih Ismail al-Malik. In his early ascendency he seized Damascus and much of Syria, but not Aleppo. After the building of a defensive force to resist a planned attack by the Kingdom of Jerusalem that never materialised, his first contest with the Latin Christians was not a success. His overconfidence and tactical errors led to defeat at the Battle of Montgisard. Despite this setback, Saladin established a domain stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates through a decade of politics, coercion and low level military action. After a life-threatening illness, he determined to make good on his propaganda as the champion of Islam, embarking on heightened campaigning against the Latin Christians. King Guy responded by raising the largest army that Jerusalem had ever put in the field. However, Saladin lured the force into inhospitable terrain without water, surrounded the Latins with a superior force and routed them at the Battle of Hattin. Saladin offered the Christians the options of remaining in peace under Islamic rule or taking advantage of 40 days' grace to leave. As a result, much of Palestine quickly fell to Saladin including, after a short 5 day siege, Jerusalem. According to Benedict of Peterborough, Pope Urban III died of deep sadness on 19 October 1187 on hearing of the defeat. Pope Gregory VIII issued a papal bull named Audita tremendi that proposed a further Crusade, later numbered the Third, to recapture Jerusalem. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor died en route to Jerusalem, drowning in the Saleph River, and few of his men reached the Eastern Mediterranean.
Tyre
In Tyre, Conrad of Montferrat had entrenched himself and had successfully resisted Saladin's assault at the end of 1187. The sultan then turned his attention to other tasks, but then tried to negotiate the surrender of the city by treaty, as in mid-1188 the first reinforcements from Europe arrived at Tyre by sea. Under the terms of the treaty, Saladin would, among other things, release King Guy, whom he had captured at Hattin. This would have escalated the conflict between Guy, who was blamed for the catastrophe of Hattin, and Conrad, who had successfully defended Tyre from the subsequent invasion. Guy was released and appeared before Tyre, but Conrad would not let him in, claiming that he was administering it until the kings should arrive from across the sea to settle the succession. This was in accordance with Baldwin IV's will: he was the nearest paternal kinsman of Baldwin V. Guy left before appearing once again outside Tyre with his wife Queen Sibylla, who held the legal title to the kingdom, but he was again rejected by Conrad, and he set up his camp outside the gates of the city.
Acre was an important port, and Saladin and his advisors considered how to prepare for the possibility that the crusaders would attempt to capture the city. Opinion was split on whether the city's fortification should be reinforced or whether they should destroy the city to prevent its capture. Saladin decided on the former option, and historian Hannes Möhring suggested the approach of destroying Acre to prevent it from being used by the crusaders would only have been effective if a similar approach was taken at other cities and ports along the coast.
In late spring 1188, William II of Sicily sent a fleet with 200 knights; on 6 April 1189, Ubaldo Lanfranchi, Archbishop of Pisa, arrived with 52 ships. Guy succeeded in bringing both contingents over to his side. In August, Conrad again refused him entry to the city, so he broke camp and made his way south to attack Acre; he and his troops travelled along the coast, while the Pisans and Sicilians went by sea. Guy urgently needed a firm base from which he could organize a counterattack on Saladin, and since he could not have Tyre, he directed his plans to Acre, 50 km (31 miles) to the south. Thus Guy and Conrad were allies against Saladin.
Beginning of the siege
The port of Acre lay on a peninsula in the Gulf of Haifa. East of the old part of the city was the port, protected against the open sea, while to the west and south the coast was protected by a strong dyke wall. The peninsula was guarded on the mainland side by double barrier reinforced with towers. As one of Saladin's main garrison nodes and arms depots, the force defending Acre was significant, consisting of several thousand troops. Guy's army consisted of 7,000–9,000 infantry and 400–700 knights. Hattin had left the Kingdom of Jerusalem with few troops left to call upon. In such a scenario, Guy was totally dependent on aid from the plethora of small armies and fleets descending on the Levant from around Europe.
Initially Guy tried to surprise the garrison with an assault on the walls, but this failed and Guy established his camp outside the city, to wait for reinforcements, which began to arrive by sea a few days later. A Danish and Frisian fleet replaced that of the Sicilians, who withdrew when they heard news of the death of William II. French and Flemish soldiers also arrived under James of Avesnes, Henry I of Bar, Andrew of Brienne, Robert II of Dreux, and his brother Philip of Dreux, the Bishop of Beauvais. Germans under Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Otto I of Guelders and Italians under Archbishop Gerhard of Ravenna and Bishop Adelard of Verona also arrived. Louis of Thuringia was able to convince Conrad, his mother's cousin, to send troops from Tyre as well. Armenian troops under Leo II of Cilicia also took part in the siege. When Saladin was informed about this development, he gathered his troops and marched to Acre, where he unsuccessfully attacked Guy's camp on 15 September.
Battle of Acre
On 4 October, Saladin moved to the east of the city to confront Guy's camp. The Crusader army had grown to 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry through reinforcements by the end of September. A Christian fleet of at least 102 ships blockaded the city. The Muslim army consisted of troops from Egypt, Kurd, Turkestan, Syria, and Mesopotamia.
The Muslims lay in a semicircle east of the city facing inwards towards Acre. The Crusader army lay in between, with lightly armed crossbowmen in the first line and the heavy cavalry in second. At the later Battle of Arsuf the Christians fought coherently; here the battle began with a disjointed combat between the Templars and Saladin's right wing. The Crusaders were so successful that the enemy had to send reinforcements from other parts of the field. Thus the steady advance of the Christian centre against Saladin's own corps, in which the crossbows prepared the way for the charge of the men-at-arms, met with no great resistance. Saladin's centre and right flanks were put to flight.
But the victors scattered to plunder. Saladin rallied his men, and, when the Christians began to retire with their booty, let loose his light cavalry upon them. No connected resistance was offered, and the Turks slaughtered the fugitives until checked by the fresh troops of the Christian right flank. Guy's reserves, who were in the Christian camp containing the Saracen garrison at Acre, were sent to reinforce the Christian line. The garrison at Acre realized that the Christian camp was undefended, so launched an attack into the Christian left flank's rear. They fell upon the Templars, assisting the Saracen right wing and inflicting heavy casualties. Gerard de Ridefort, Grand Master of the Templars, was killed. Andrew of Brienne was also killed and Conrad had to be rescued by Guy. In the end, the Crusaders repulsed the relieving army. Christian casualties ranged from 4,000 or 5,000 to 10,000 men. Saladin could not push them back without another pitched battle.
Double siege
During the autumn, more European Crusaders arrived, allowing Guy to blockade Acre by land. News of the imminent arrival of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa reached the Crusaders, which not only raised the morale of the Christian soldiers, but also compelled Saladin to bring in so many more troops that he was able to surround both the city and the Crusader camp in two separate sieges.
On 30 October, 50 Muslim galleys broke through the Christian sea blockade and reinforced the city with the crews of the ships, some 10,000 men, as well as food and weapons. On 17 December, an Egyptian fleet arrived to re-establish control over the port and the road leading to it. In March 1190, when the weather was better, Conrad travelled to Tyre on his own ship and soon returned with supplies for the Crusaders, which helped the resistance against the Egyptian fleet on the shore. The building materials brought by Conrad were constructed into siege machinery, although these machines were lost when the Crusaders tried to assault the city on 6 May.