The Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin,

1187
The Battle of Hattin decimated ]Adapted from Brundage[
the knights and soldiers of the Latin states. The remnants of
the fighting forces of the Kingdom sought refuge in the
fortified coastal cities and especially at Tyre. Through the
months of July and August, Saladin successively occupied
the remaining towns, cities, and castles of the Holy Land.
His initial attack upon Tyre failed, however, and the city
was bypassed. Late in September Saladin's armies camped
.before the Holy City itself

The Holy City of Jerusalem was besieged on September 20.

It was surrounded on every side by unbelievers, who shot
arrows everywhere into the air. They were accompanied by
frightening armaments and, with a great clamor of
trumpets, they shrieked and wailed, "Hai, hai." The city
was aroused by the noise and tumult of the barbarians and,
for a time, they all cried out: "True and Holy Cross!
Sepulchre of Jesus Christ's resurrection! Save the city of
"!Jerusalem and its dwellers

The battle was then joined and both sides began

courageously to fight. But since so much unhappiness was
produced through sorrow and sadness, we shall not
enumerate all the Turkish attacks and assemblies, by which,
for two weeks, the Christians were worn down.... During
this time it seemed that God had charge over the city, for
who can say why one man who was hit died, while another
wounded man escaped? Arrows fell like raindrops, so that
one could not show a finger above the ramparts without
being hit. There were so many wounded that all the
hospitals and physicians in the city were hard put to it just
to extract the missiles from their bodies. I myself was
wounded in the face by an arrow which struck the bridge of
my nose. The wooden shaft has been taken out, but the
metal tip has remained there to this day. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem fought courageously enough for a week, while
.the enemy settled down opposite the tower of David

Saladin saw that he was making no progress and that as

things were going he could do no damage to the city.
Accordingly, he and his aides began to circle around the
city and to examine the city's weak points, in search of a
place where he could set up his engines without fear of the
Christians and where he could more easily attack the
town.... At dawn on a certain day [Sept 26] the King of
Egypt (that is, Saladin) ordered the camp to be moved
without any tumult or commotion. He ordered the tents to
be pitched in the Vale of Jehosephat, on the Mount of
Olives, and on Mount joy, and throughout the hills in that
region. When morning had come the men of Jerusalem
lifted up their eyes and, when the darkness of the clouds
had gone, they saw that the Saracens were pulling up their
tents as if they were going to leave. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem rejoiced greatly and said: "The King of Syria has
fled, because he could not destroy the city as be had
planned." When the turn of the matter was known,
however, this rejoicing was quickly turned into grief and
.lamentation
The tyrant[Saladin] at once ordered the engines to be
constructed and balistas to be put up. He likewise ordered
olive branches and branches of other trees to be collected
and piled between the city and the engines. That evening he
ordered the army to take up arms and the engineers to
proceed with their iron tools, so that before the Christians
could do anything about it, they would all be prepared at
the foot of the walls. The cruelest of tyrants also arrayed up
to ten thousand armed knights with bows and lances on
horseback, so that if the men of the city attempted a foray
they would be blocked. He stationed another ten thousand
or more men armed to the teeth with bows for shooting
arrows, under cover of shields and targets. He kept the rest
.with himself and his lieutenants around the engines

When everything was arranged in this fashion, at daybreak

they began to break down the comer of the tower and to
attack all around the walls. The archers began shooting
arrows and those who were at the engines began to fire
.rocks in earnest

The men of the city expected nothing of the sort and left the
city walls without guard. Tired and worn out, they slept
until morning, for unless the Lord watch the city, he labors
in vain who guards it. When the sun had risen, those who
were sleep ing in the towers were startled by the noise of
the barbarians. When they saw these things they were
terrified and overcome with fear. Like madmen they yelled
out through the city: "Hurry, men of Jerusalem! Hasten!
Help! The walls have already been breached! The
foreigners are entering!" Aroused, they hastened through
the city as bravely as they could, but they were power less
to repulse the Damascenes from the walls, either with
spears, lances, arrows, stones, or with molten lead and
.bronze

The Turks unceasingly hurled rocks forcefully against the

ramparts. Between the walls and the outer defenses they
threw rocks and the socalled Greek fire, which bums wood,
stone, and whatever it touches. Everywhere the archers shot
arrows without measure and without ceasing, while the
.others were boldly smashing the walls

The men of Jerusalem, meanwhile, were taking counsel.

They decided that everyone, with such horses and arms as
could be mustered, should leave the city and march steadily
through the gate which leads to Jehosephat. Thus, if God
allowed it, they would push the enemy back a bit from the
walls. They were foiled, however, by the Turkish horsemen
.…and were woefully defeated

The Chaldeans [Saladin and his army] fought the battle

fiercely for a few days and triumphed. The Christians were
failing so by this time that scarcely twenty or thirty men
appeared to defend the city walls. No man could be found
in the whole city who was brave enough to dare keep watch
at the defences for a night, even for a fee of a hundred
besants .With my own ears I heard the voice of a public
crier between the great wall and the outer works
proclaiming (on behalf of the lord Patriarch and the other
great men of the city) that if fifty strong and brave
sergeants could be found who would take up arms
voluntarily and keep guard during the night over the comer
which had already been destroyed, they would receive five
....thousand besants. They were not found

Meanwhile, they sent legates to the King of Syria, begging

him to temper his anger toward them and accept them as
allies, as he had done for others. He refused and is reported
to have given this reply: "I have frequently heard from our
wise men, the fakih,[from al-Fakih - a wise man] that
Jerusalem cannot be cleansed, save by Christian blood, and
I wish to take counsel with them on this point." Thus,
uncertain, they returned. They sent others, Balian and
Ranier of Naples"' and Thomas Patrick, offering a hundred
thousand besants. Saladin would not receive them and, their
hopes shattered, they returned. They sent them back again
with others, demanding that Saladin himself say what kind
of agreement he wanted. If possible they would comply; if
.not, they would hold out to the death

Saladin had taken counsel and laid down these ransom

terms for the inhabitants of Jerusalem: each male, ten years
old and over, was to pay ten besants for his ransom;
females, five besants; boys, seven years old and under, one.
Those who wished would be freed on these terms and could
leave securely with their possessions. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem who would not accept these terms, or those who
did not have ten besants, were to become booty, to be slain
by the army's swords. This agreement pleased the lord
.... Patriarch and the others who had money
On Friday, October 2, this agreement was read out through
the streets of Jerusalem, so that everyone might within forty
days provide for himself and pay to Saladin the tribute as
aforesaid for his freedom. When they heard these
arrangements, the crowds throughout the city wailed in
sorrowful tones: "Woe, woe to us miserable people! We
have no gold! What are we to do? . . ." Who would ever
have thought that such wickedness would be perpetrated by
. ?Christians

But, alas, by the hands of wicked Christians Jerusalem was

turned over to the wicked. The gates were closed and
guards were posted. The fakihs and kadis, [judges] the
ministers of the wicked error, who are considered bishops
and priests by the Saracens came for prayer and religious
purposes first to the Temple of the Lord, which they call
Beithhalla and in which they have great faith for salvation.
They believed they were cleansing it and with unclean and
horrible bellows they defiled the Temple by shouting with
polluted lips the Muslim precept: "Allahu akbar! Allahu
akbar! . . ." [God is Great]

Our people held the city of Jerusalem for some eighty-nine

years. . . . Within a short time, Saladin had conquered
almost the whole Kingdom of Jerusalem. He exalted the
grandeur of Mohammed's law and showed that, in the
.event, its might exceeded that of the Christian religion

**********************
 The Byzantine Crusades on Domietta
1169
An embassy to Constantinople was more successful.
Manuel
was well aware that the balance of power in the East
had been
dangerously upset. He offered Amalric the co-operation
of the
great Imperial fleet for his next campaign.~ The King
accepted
gladly. Egypt might yet be recovered. Nur ed-Din seemed
to be
Ullyoccupied in the north. The death ofKara Arslan, the £
Ortoqid
emir of Diarbekir in I I68, and the quarrels over the
inheritance
had embroiled him with his brother Q!!tb ed-Din of Mosul;
and
the revolt of Ghazi ibn Hassan, governor ofMenbij, had
followed
soon afterwards and took several months to liquidate. Now
Q!!tb
ed-Din was dying, and the question of the succession
to Mosul
would soon arise.x In Egypt Shirkuh's titles and power had
passed
to his nephew Saladin. But Saladin was untried as a ruler.
Others
of Shirkuh's emirs had hoped for the succession; but the
Caliph
had chosen Saladin, trusting that his inexperience would
force him
to rely on Fatimid officials. Meanwhile al-Adid's chief
,eunuch
a Nubian called al-Mutamen, or the Confidential Adviser,
wrote
secretly to Jerusalem to promise help should the Franks
invade
Egypt. Unfortunately, one of Saladin's agents, puzzled
by the
shape of a pair of sandals worn by a court messenger, took
them
and unstitched them, and found the letter within. Saladin
waited
to take vengeance. But news of his insecurity
encouraged the
.Christians

Amalric had urged haste on the Emperor; and on 10 July

,I169
the Imperial armada set out from the Hellespont, under the
-com
mand of the Grand Duke Andronicus Contostephanus. The
main
fleet sailed to Cyprus, capturing two Egyptian ships on the
;way
and a smaller squadron made straight for Acre, bringing
-money
subsidies for Arnalric's soldiers. Arnalric was asked to
send to
Cyprus as soon as he wished the fleet to sail on. But
Amalric was
not ready. The campaign of I I68 had disorganized his
forces. The
Hospitallers' losses had been very heavy. The Templars
still
refused to take part; and the barons, discouraged by their
previous
experience, were no longer as enthusiastic as before. It
was only
in late September that he summoned the fleet to Acre,
where its
splendid appearance thrilled the inhabitants; and it was
only in
mid-October that the whole expedition was ready to
leave for
Egypt. The delay was doubly unfortunate. Manuel,
who was
given to optimism, had counted on a short campaign
and had
provisioned his ships for three months only. The three
months
were nearly over. Cyprus, not yet recovered from
Reynald's
ravaging, had not been able to help in the revictualment;
nor were
provisions obtainable at Acre. 1 At the same time Saladin
received
ample warning of the expedition. To secure himself in
Cairo, on
August I 169, he arrested and beheaded the eunuch al- 20
,Mutamen
then dismissed all the palace servants known to be faithful
to the
Caliph, replacing them by his own creatures. The
dismissed
officers, encouraged by the Caliph, incited the Nubian
Palace
Guard to revolt and attack Saladin's troops. Saladin's
,brother
Fakhr ed-Din, counter-attacked but could do nothing, till
Saladin
set fire to the Guards' barracks at Fostat. Knowing their
wives and
families to be there the Nubians fled to rescue them. Fakhr
ed-Din
then fell on them and slaughtered them almost to a
man. The
Caliph, who had been watching the battle, hastened to
assure
Saladin of his loyalty. His desertion of the Nubians
completed
their rout. The Armenian Guard, which had not taken part
in the
fighting, was burnt to death in the barracks. The
opposition to
.Saladin in Cairo was silenced
The Christian army set out at last on I6 October.
Andronicus
Contostephanus, chafing at Amalric's delays, offered to
convey
the bulk of the soldiers by sea; but the Franks insisted on
-the land
route. On 25 October the army entered Egypt at Farama,
near
Pelusium. Saladin expected an attack on Bilbeis and
concentrated
his forces there; but the Franks, ferried over the eastern
branches
of the Nile by tl1e Byzantine ships, who had kept pace with
them
along the coast, marched swiftly to Damietta, the rich
fortress that
commanded the main branch of the Nile, up which the fleet
could
sail towards Cairo. Saladin was taken by surprise. He
dared not
leave Cairo himself, for fear that the Fatimid supporters
might be
encouraged to revolt. But he sent reinforcements to
,Damietta
and wrote himself to Syria to beg for help from Nur ed-Din.
The
garrison at Damietta had thrown a great chain across
.the river
The Greek ships, already delayed by contrary winds,
could not
sail up past the city and intercept the troops and the
provisions
that came downstream from Cairo. A sudden assault
might have
captured the fortress; but though Contostephanus, anxious
about
his dwindling supplies, urged immediate action,
Amalric was
awed by the huge fortifications. He wished to
construct more
siege-towers. His first tower, by some error of
judgement, had
been placed against the strongest part of the walls. The
Greeks, to
the horror of local Christians and Moslems, used their
engines to
bombard a quarter sanctified by a chapel dedicated to the
,Virgin
who had halted there in her flight. Every day fresh troops
arrived
in the city. Every day the Greek sailors and their
compatriots on
shore had their rations reduced; and their Frankish
allies, who
were amply supplied, would give them no help. Every
day
Contostephanus pleaded with Amalric to risk a full-scale
attack on
the walls, and Amalric answered that the risk was too
great; and
his generals, always suspicious of the Greeks,
whispered that
Contostephanus's zeal was caused by a desire to have
Damietta as
part of the Imperial spoils. By the beginning of December
it was
clear that the expedition had failed. Without food the
Greeks
could go on no longer. A fire-boat launched by the
defenders into
the middle of the fleet had caused heavy losses, though
Amalric's
prompt intervention had restricted the damage. The fortress
was
now well manned and well supplied; and a Moslem
army was
said to be approaching from Syria. When the rains
came early
and turned the Christian camp into a morass, it was time to
raise
the siege. Whether Amalric or Contostephanus was the
first to
begin negotiations with the Saracens is uncertain; nor
are the
terms that were arranged known to us. A money-indemnity
was
probably given to the Christians; and Amalric certainly
hoped
that a show of friendship towards Saladin might detach him
from
Nur ed-Din with whom his relations were suspected of
lacking
.cordiality

On 13 December the Christians burnt all their siege-

machines to
prevent them falling into Moslem hands, and moved
from
Damictta. The army reached Ascalon on the 24th. The fleet
was
less fortunate. As it sailed northward a great storm
arose. The
starving sailors could not control their ships, and many of
them
foundered. For days Greek corpses were washed
ashore on the
coast of Palestine. Contostephanus himself escaped and
sailed to
Cilicia and thence travelled overland to report to the
.Emperor
The remnants of the armada reached the Bosphorus early
in the
.new year

The disastrous outcome of the expedition inevitably gave

rise
to recriminations. The Franks blamed the Greeks for
their
shortage of supplies; the Greeks, more reasonably,
blamed the
Franks for their endless delays. But both Amalric and
the
Emperor realized that the alliance must not be broken.
For
.Saladin was now unquestioned master of Egypt

Saladin was too wise to fall into the diplomatic trap

prepared
for him by Amalric. Nur ed-Din had trusted Shirkuh, but
he was
suspicious of the ambitions of the new ruler of Egypt.
,Saladin
however, behaved with perfect correctitude. In April
1170 his
father, Najm ed-Din Ayub, was sent to him by Nur ed-Din
with
a company of Syrian troops, partly as a gesture of
,friendship
partly perhaps as a hint; for Ayub was devoted to his
.master
As a large number of Damascene merchants travelled
with the
convoy, eager to open up trade with Cairo, Nur ed-Din
himself led
a demonstration against Kerak, in order to allow the
great
caravan to pass safely through the territory of
Oultrejourdain. 1 It
was Nur ed-Din's only move against the Franks.
During their
Egyptian expedition he had left them in peace, and in
January
they had even been able to recover the castle of 1170
,Akkar
on the south of the Buqaia, which had been lost
probably in
Amalric, as regent of Tripoli, assigned it together .1165
with
the town of Arqa to the Hospitallers, who now
controlled the
.whole valley

On 29 June 1170 Syria was visited by a terrible

earthquake, as
destructive as those of 1 157; and for the next few months
Christians
and Moslems alike were busy repairing ruined fortresses.
,Aleppo
Shaizar, Hama and Horns were all severely damaged,
as were
Krak des Chevaliers, Tripoli and Jebai.l. At Antioch the
damage
was enormous; but the Franks saw divine justice in it.
For the
Greek Patriarch and his clergy were celebrating Mass
in the
Cathedral of St Peter, when the edifice collapsed on
them. As
Athanasius lay dying under the ruins, Prince
Bohemond and
his court hurried to Qosair, to his rival Aimery, to beg
him to
return to his see. The brief episode of Greek
ecclesiastical rule
)was ended

The Emperor could not intervene, angry though he was at

the
news; for things were going badly in Cilici.a. The
Armenian
prince Thoros died in 1168, leaving a child, Roupen II, to
succeed
him, under the regency of a Frankish lord called Thomas,
whose
mother had been Thoros's sister. But Thoros's brother
Mleh
disputed tl1e succession. He had at one time taken
vows as a
Templar, then, after quarrelling with Thoros and
attempting to
assassinate him, he had fled to Nur ed-Din and become a
.Moslem
Early in 1170 Nur ed-Din lent him troops with which he
was able not
only to dethrone his nephew but also to invade the
Cilician
plain and take Mamistra, Adana and Tarsus from their
Greek
garrisons. He then attacked the Templars at Baghras.
Bohemond
appealed to Amalric, who marched up into Cilicia and
,temporarily
it seems, restored Imperial rule. This friendly action
may have
reconciled Manuel to his loss of ecclesiastical control in
.Antioch
But Mleh was irrepressible. A year or so later he
managed to
.capture Cons tan tine Coloman and again overrun Cilicia

Nur ed-Din was meanwhile occupied farther east. His

,brother
OEtb ed-Din ofMosul died in the summer ofii70. His two
,sons
Saif ed-Din and Imad ed-Din disputed the inheritance; and
some
months passed before Nur ed-Din could settle the matter
to his
liking.z The respite was useful for the Franks. But the
problem of
Egypt remained unsolved. Amalric remained faithful to
his
policy of a close alliance with the Emperor and constant
appeals to
the West. In the spring of I 171 he decided to pay a
personal visit
.to Constantinople

His departure was delayed by a sudden offensive made

by
Saladin against his southern frontier. Early in December
II70 a
great Egyptian army appeared before Daron, the
southemmost
Frankish fortress on the Mediterranean coast. Its
defences were
weak; and though Saladin had no siege-engines with him,
its fall
seemed imminent. Amalric, taking with him the Patriarch
and the
relic of the True Cross, hastened with a small but well-
trained force
to Ascalon, arriving there on r8 December and moving on
to the
Templars' fortress at Gaza, where he left Miles ofPlancy in
,charge
as the Templar knights joined him in the march on Daron.
He
managed to break through the Egyptian army and enter
;Daron
whereupon Saladin raised the siege and marched on
.Gaza
The lower town was taken, despite a futile resistance
;ordered by Miles
and its inhabitants were massacred. But the citadel was so
-formid
able that Saladin did not venture to attack it. As
suddenly as he
had come he disappeared back to the Egyptian frontier. He
then
sent a squadron up the Gulf of Akaba, which captured
the
Frankish outpost of Aila, at the head of the Gulf, during
the last
.days of the year

Amalric left Acre for Constantinople on IO March, with a

large
staff, including the Bishop of Acre and the Marshal of the
,Court
Gerard of Pougi. The Master of the Temple, Philip of
,Milly
resigned his post in order to go ahead as ambassador. After
calling
in at Tripoli the King sailed on to the north. At Gallipoli
he was
met by his father-in-law, who, as the wind was contrary,
took him
overland to Heraclea. There he embarked again in order to
enter
the capital through the palace gate at the harbour
ofBucoleon, an
.honour reserved for crowned heads alone

Amalric's reception delighted him and his staff. ·

Manuclliked
westemers in general, and he found Amalric
sympathetic. He
showed his usual lavish generosity. His family,
particularly the
King's father-in-law, all joined in offering hospitality.
There were
endless religious ceremonies and festivities. There was
a dancing
display in the Hippodrome and a trip in a barge up and
down the
Bosphorus. 1 In the midst of it all the Emperor and the
-King dis
cussed the future. A treaty was made and signed, but its
terms are
unrecorded. It seems that the King recognized in some
vague way
the Emperor's suzerainty over the native Christians; that
Manuel
promised naval and financial help whenever another
expedition
against Egypt should be planned; and that common action
should
be t:tken against Mleh of Armenia. There were probably
clauses
about the Greek Church in Antioch, and even perhaps
in the
kingdom, where Manuel had already in II69 taken charge
of the
redecoration of the Church of the Nativity at
Bethlehem. An
inscription on the mosaic attests that the artist Ephraim
made them
on the orders of the Emperor. He was also responsible
for the
.repairs at .the Holy Sepulchre
Whatever were the details of the treaty, the Franks were
well
satisfied by their visit and full of admiration for their host.
They
sailed homeward from Constantinople on 15 June, hopeful
for the
.future

The appeal to the West was less successful. Frederick of

Tyre
was still wandering ineffectually through the courts of
France and
England. About the end of 1170 Amalric wrote to him to
invite
Stephen of Champagne, Count ofSancerre, to Palestine, to
marry
the Princess Sibylla} The suggestion was prompted by a
tragedy
that had befallen the royal family. Amalric' s son Bald
win was
now nine years old and had been sent with comrades of his
own
age to be instructed by William, Archdeacon of Tyre.
He was
a handsome, intelligent boy; but one day, when his pupils
were
testing their endurance by driving their nails into each
other's
incestuous arms, William noticed that the prince alone
never flinched. He
watched carefully and soon realized that the boy was
insensitive to
pain because he was a leper.' It was the judgment of God
for the
incestuous marriage of his parents, Amalric and Agnes;
and it
boded ill for the kingdom. Even if Baldwin grew up he
could
never carry on the dynasty. The young Greek 0Eeen might
yet
bear a son; but meanwhile, for safety's sake, Amalric
would be
wise to marry his eldest child, Sibylla, to some rich
experienced
western prince who could act if need be as regent or even
.as king
Stephen accepted the invitation and landed with a party of
knights
in Palestine in the summer of 1171, a few days before
Amalric
arrived back from Constantinople. But he did not like the
look
of Palestine. He brusquely broke off the marriage
negotiations
and, after paying his vows at the Holy Places, left with his
-com
pany for the north, intending to visit Constantinople.
As he
passed through Cilicia he was waylaid by Mleh of
Armenia, who
.robbed him of all that he had with him
Next year an even more important visitor came to
,Jerusalem
Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, grandson
of the
Emperor Lothair and son-in-law of Henry 11 of England.
,But he
too, refused to fight for the Cross. He had come
merely as a
)pilgrim and left as soon as possible for Germany

The indifference of the West was bitterly disappointing;

but
perhaps an expedition against Egypt was not needed at
once. For
Saladin's relations with Nur ed-Din seemed close to
-breaking
point. By January I 171 Nur ed-Din had installed a
garrison of his
own at Mosul, where his nephew Saif ed-Din ruled,
and had
annexed Nisibin and the Khabur valley for himself and
Sinjar
for his favourite nephew Imad ed-Din. Then, piously
anxious for
the triumph of orthodox Islam, he wrote to Saladin
demanding that prayers in the Egyptian mosques should no
longer mention
the Fatimid Caliph but the Caliph of Baghdad. Saladin
did not
wish to comply. After two centuries of Fatimid rule
-Shia in
fluences were strong in Egypt. Moreover, though he might
own
Nur ed-Din as his master, his authority in Egypt came
from the
Fatimid Caliph. He prevaricated, till in August Nur ed-
Din
threatened to come himself to Egypt if he were not obeyed.
After
taking police precautions Saladin prepared for the change;
but no
one dared make the first move till on the first Friday
of the
Moslem year 567 a visiting divine from Mosul boldly
stepped into
the pulpit of the Great Mosque and prayed for the
-Caliph al
Mustadi. His lead was followed throughout Cairo. In the
palace
the Fatimi.d Caliph al-Adid lay dying. Saladin forbade his
servants
to tell him the news. 'If he recovers, he will learn soon
,'enough
he said. 'If he is to die, let him die in peace.' But when the
poor
youth a few hours before his death asked to see Saladin his
request
was refused for fear of a plot. Saladin repented ofhis
refusal when
it was too late, and spoke of him with affection. With al-
Adid the
Fatimid dynasty perished. The remaining princes and
princesses
were rounded up, to spend the rest of their lives in luxury
cut off
.from any contact with the world

A few days later Saladin set out to attack the castle of

,Montreal
south of the Dead Sea. He pressed tl1e siege hard; and
,Amalric
owing to misinformation, left Jerusalem too late to
come to its
rescue. But, just as the garrison was preparing to
-capitulate, sud
denly Nur ed-Din appeared on the road to Kerak;
whereat
Saladin raised the siege. He told Nur ed-Din that his
'brothers
wars in upper Egypt obliged him to return to Cairo.
To Nur
ed-Din his action seemed mere treachery that must be
punished
by force. Hearing of his anger Saladin was alarmed and
-sum
moned a council ofhis family and his chief generals. The
younger
members of the family counselled defiance. But Saladin's
,father
old Najm ed-Din Ayub, rose to say tha,t he for one was
loyal to his
master and berated his son for his ambition, and scolded
him
again in private for letting his ambition be so obvious.
Saladin
took his advice and sent abject apologies to Nur ed-
Din; who
'.accepted them for the moment

In the summer of II7I Nur ed-Din planned but gave up

an
expedition into Galilee. In the late autumn, angered by an
act of
piracy committed by Franks from Lattakieh on two
Egyptian
merchant ships, he devastated Antiochene and
-Tripolitan ter
ritory, destroying the castles of Safita and Araima, and had
to be
bought off with a heavy indemnity.l But in II72 he
kept the
peace, partly because of his distrust of Salad in and partly
because
he wished to gain Seldjuk help for an attack on Antioch.
But the
Seldjuk Sultan, after a stern warning from
,Constantinople
rejected his advances and instead began a two years' war
against
the Danishmends. The Byzantine alliance, though it was to
achieve
little else, at least saved Antioch from a coalition between
Aleppo
and Konya.3 About the same time Nur ed-Din at last
consented
to release Raymond of Tripoli for the sum of 8o,ooo dinars.
The
King and the Hospitallers together raised the bulk of the
;money
and Raymond was allowed to return home. He never paid
some
.dinars that remained owing to Nur ed-Din 30,000

War began again in II73· Amalric felt secure enough to

march
north into Cilicia to punish Mleh for his outrage against
Stephen
of Champagne and to carry out his promise to the Emperor.
The
campaign achieved nothing except to check Mleh's
-further ex
pansion. I Nur ed-Din used the opportunity to invade
-Oultrc
jourdain, and summoned Saladin to come to his support.
,Saladin
faithful to his father's advice, came up with an army from
Egypt
and laid siege to Kerak. Meanwhile Nur ed-Din moved
down
from Damascus. On his approach Saladin raised the
siege and
returned to Egypt, saying, with truth, that his father was
-danger
ously ill. But it was clear that he had no wish to
destroy the
Frankish buffer-state that lay between him and his
imperious
master. Nur ed-Din in his turn encamped before Kerak.
The fief
of Oultrejourdain, of which it was the capital, belonged
to an
heiress, Stephanie of Milly. Her first husband,
Humphrey, heir
of Toron, had died a few years before. Her second
,husband
Amalric's seneschal Miles ofPlancy, was away with the
King. It
was her first father-in-law, the old Constable,
Humphrey 11 of
Toron, who came to her rescue. On the mobilization of the
forces
left in the kingdom, Nur ed-Din retired. His fury against
Saladin
was unbounded. When he heard of the death, in
August, of
Najm ed-Din Ayub, his most loyal servant in Cairo, he
vowed to
.invade Egypt himself in the coming spring
This disunity in the Moslem world was consoling to the
;Franks
and in the autumn of I 173 they received overtures from
another
unexpected quarter. Little had been heard of the Assassins
during
the last decades, apart from their arbitrary murder
ofRaymond II
of Tripoli in II52. They had been quietly consolidating
their
territory in the Nosairi mountains. In general they
showed no
animosity towards the Franks. Their hated enemy was Nur
ed-Din
whose power restricted them on the east. But he had been
unable
to suppress them; and a dagger found on his pillow
one night
warned him not to go too far. Shia rather than Sunni in
their
sympathies, they had been shocked by the end of the
Fatimid
Caliphate. In 1169 the Assassin headquarters at Alamut in
Persia
sent a new governor for the Nosairi province, Rashid
ed-Din
Sinan of Basra. This formidable sheikh, who was to be
known to
the Franks as the Old Man of the Mountains, began a more
active
policy. He now sent to Amalric suggesting a close alliance
against
Nur ed-Din and hinting that he and all his flock were
considering
conversion to Christianity. In return he apparently
asked that
a tribute which the Templars at Tortosa had succeeded in
imposing
on various Assassin villages should be cancelled. Whether
or not
Amalric believed that the Assassins would ever become
,Christians
he was glad to encourage their friendship. The sheikh
Sinan's
envoys returned towards the mountains with the
promise of a
Frankish embassy to follow soon after. As cl1ey
journeyed past
Tripoli a Templar knight, Walter ofMesnil, acting with the
-con
nivance ofhis Grand Master, ambushed them and slew
.them all
King Amalric was horrified. His policy was ruined
and his
honour stained, just because the Order was too greedy to
sacrifice
a small portion of its revenues. He ordered the Grand
,Master
Odo of Saint-Amand, to hand over the culprit. Odo
,refused
merely offering to send W alter to be judged by the Pope,
whose
sole authority he recognized. But Amalric was too angry to
trouble
about the Order's constitution. He hurried with some
troops to
Sidon, where the Grand Master and the Chapter were
,staying
forced his way into their presence and kidnapped Waiter,
whom
he cast into prison at Tyre. The Assassins were assured that
justice
had been done; and they accepted the King's apologies.
-Mean
while Amalric planned to demand from Rome that the
Order
.be dissolved