A little about Knights and Tournaments.

The Crusades.

The First Crusade (1096-1099)


****************************

The Siege of Acre and the Crusade of Richard the Lionheart

(August 1189 - October 1192)

Engravings are posted below.
Guy de Lusignan gained his freedom in the summer of 1188 in exchange for the city of Ascalon, which Queen Sibylla had surrendered to Saladin as ransom for her husband. Saladin demanded an oath from Guy that he would sail overseas and never again take up arms against the sultan. After his release, Lusignan ordered a witty response to be delivered to Saladin – that he had indeed crossed the sea strait separating Tortosa from the island of Ruad. And he hung his sword not on his belt, but on the saddle strap: thus, it was not he, but his horse who carried the weapon!

The Kingdom of Jerusalem (cities, castles, fortresses, fortifications)

Upon returning to the kingdom, Guy clashed with Margrave Conrad of Montferrat, who had managed to hold Tyre and gather the nobility around himself, creating something of a center for the kingdom's revival. Many barons who had opposed Guy's accession to the royal throne now rallied around Conrad. Thus, when Guy appeared with Queen Sibylla under the walls of Tyre, Conrad ordered it be said "that he would never allow them to step within the city limits." The Margrave intended to hold Tyre until the arrival of the kings from overseas and, by the will of the late Baldwin IV, wished to let them decide whose claim to the throne was more valid – Sibylla's or Isabella's.
Having been refused by Conrad, Guy de Lusignan went to Tripoli where he established his residence; from there, in April 1189, he again attempted to force Conrad to recognize his rights to Tyre. After being refused once more, Guy decided to move toward conquering his own kingdom. He managed to rally almost all the barons who had been deprived of hope for the return of their own estates by Conrad's ideas. Guy assembled a small army consisting mainly of Sicilian knights who arrived in the Holy Land in 1188, as well as Jerusalemite barons and knights. One of the commanders of the royal army was the king's brother, Geoffroi de Lusignan, who had arrived from Europe.


From Tripoli, the king led his army in a rapid march through lands occupied by Saladin: without stopping at Tyre, on August 26, 1189, he reached Cazale Humbert, and just a day later the Franks appeared under Acre. Saladin, who was besieging Beaufort at the time, did not believe Guy's boldness and missed the opportunity to destroy him in the passes of Scandalion; by the time he rushed to meet him, it was too late—Guy had already fortified his positions. According to Arnold of Lübeck, there were only two hundred knights under Guy's command.
One by one, Western crusaders arrived under the walls of Acre, and Italian squadrons blockaded the city – the Third Crusade had been announced in the West. Conrad of Montferrat also set sail for Acre but still did not recognize Guy's authority. Italians, Germans, Champenois, Burgundians, Danes, Frisians, Bretons, and Flemings arrived at Acre. In September, the Christian army repelled an attack by a small Muslim army that attempted to lift the siege of the city. Overjoyed by this event, the Christians overlooked the fact that Saladin was within a three-week march with a significantly larger army. When Saladin approached, he managed to restore land communication between Acre and his army, rendering the naval blockade of the city useless. On October 4, 1189, Guy de Lusignan attempted to sever the Muslims' connection to the city, but his initial success was not sustained. In this battle, Gerard de Ridefort, Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, was captured and later executed. The Franks found themselves trapped between the city they were besieging and the sultan's army. Due to the threat of an epidemic, Saladin was forced to move his camp eastward; then the Franks restored the blockade by digging a ditch around Acre.
Saladin decided to restore communication with Acre, which he had just lost, using a fleet. Thanks to fierce fighting at sea, the Egyptian squadron managed to supply the garrison of Acre with provisions, but it could not prevent Conrad of Montferrat from bringing food from Tyre to the Frankish camp: the battle of March 4, 1190, ended the short-lived Muslim naval superiority.
On land, large siege towers were built for the assault on the city, but they were soon destroyed by the Muslims (May 5, 1190). On July 25, 1190, contrary to Guy de Lusignan's orders, Frankish infantry launched a surprise attack on the Muslim camp but suffered defeat; seven thousand killed "sergeants" remained on the battlefield. On July 27, 1190, Henry I, Count of Champagne, arrived at the crusader camp, which saved the Franks' position, but now both the besiegers and the besieged were threatened by famine.
On October 7, 1190, Frederick, Duke of Swabia, son of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, arrived under the walls of Acre with the small remnants of his father's crusading force. Guy and Frederick undertook a march to Haifa for provisions (November 1190), which was unsuccessful; however, so was Saladin's intention to crush their army. With the arrival of winter, the Muslims regained the advantage at sea, managing to break the blockade and partially replace the garrison of Acre (February 13, 1191).

The Siege of Acre
(engraving by Gustave Doré)


The crusaders' military operations became more successful as soon as Philip II Augustus arrived (April 20, 1191). Philip Augustus discovered that most French knights, led by his cousin Philip of Beauvais, were inclined toward Conrad of Montferrat; he then brought him from Tyre to the walls of Acre and declared himself Conrad's patron. In response, the "Angevin" party, favorable to Guy as a subject of the Plantagenets, publicly took Lusignan's side. Guy, Onfroi IV Lord of Montreal, and Geoffroi de Lusignan sailed to meet Richard I and arrived in time to help him conquer Cyprus.
With Richard's arrival (June 7, 1191), the conflict between Guy de Lusignan and Conrad of Montferrat continued: on June 24, 1191, Geoffroi de Lusignan challenged Conrad to a judicial duel, accusing him of treachery, betrayal, and perjury toward the legitimate king of Jerusalem. Conrad did not dare accept the challenge and departed for Tyre; only the persuasions of the King of France forced him to return to the crusader camp.
After Richard sank the last Muslim galley at sea and Philip II Augustus conducted several powerful assaults on the city, the kings "divided" their duties: the King of England took charge of the battle against Saladin's army, and the King of France took charge of the siege of Acre. After one of the most ferocious assaults on the city, the garrison of Acre announced its capitulation, and Saladin was forced to begin negotiations for the surrender of the city: he promised to pay 200 thousand dinars, release 2,500 prisoners, and return the Holy Cross captured at Hattin [1] to the Christians. Acre fell on July 12, 1191. Acre fell and was transferred into the possession of Guy de Lusignan.

On July 27 and 28, 1191, a meeting of the kingdom took place in Acre where the conflict between Guy and Conrad was considered; they reached a compromise: Guy was recognized as king for life; Conrad became his heir and received Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut as fiefs; Jaffa, which Guy had owned before his accession to the throne, would pass after his death to the king's closest relative, his brother Geoffroi (who was later replaced by another brother – Amery). To avoid any subsequent claims, it was decreed: if Conrad and Isabella [2] died without an heir, the kingdom would go to Richard I Plantagenet.
Richard the Lionheart during the Massacre of Ayyadieh
(engraving by Gustave Doré)

Immediately after the meeting, Philip II Augustus left Acre and first went to Tyre, where he handed over his prisoners to Conrad, including the ruler of Acre, "Karakua" or Karakush, and from there – to France. King Richard remained the sole leader of the crusading force, if one does not count Hugh III Capet, Duke of Burgundy [3], who commanded a strong French army (650 knights, 1,300 squires) left by King Philip.
Dissatisfied with the slowness with which Saladin fulfilled the terms of Acre's capitulation (although prisoners and the Holy Cross had been brought to the Muslim camp), Richard I lost patience and on August 20, 1191, ordered the slaughter of 2,700 prisoners taken in Acre, sparing only those who were able to pay a ransom. In response to this unforgivable act, Saladin ordered all Frankish prisoners executed.
On August 22, 1191, Richard headed south toward Haifa; his army moved in a solid column, and the fleet provided provisions from the sea. He managed to retake Haifa from the Muslims, crossed the demolished Capernaum and Le Merle, and reached Caesarea, which had also been destroyed by Saladin's order. On September 7, 1191, the Christian army approached Arsuf, near which a fierce battle took place, in which Richard emerged victorious over Saladin.
After the defeat at Arsuf, Saladin ordered the destruction of Jaffa and Ascalon (the garrisons of these cities refused to hold them, fearing the fate that befell the garrison of Acre), the fortified church in Lydda, and Ram Castle.







****************************

The Council of Clermont,
The People's Crusade

Urban II at the Council of Clermont

On January 27, 1095, the Western world entered a new phase of its development. The cause was the sermon of Pope Urban II (March 12, 1088 - July 29, 1099) delivered on a field near the town of Clermont (southern France). A crowd of clerics and laypeople of various estates listened intently to every word of the pontiff, his call to Frankish knighthood to vow to liberate the Christians of the East from Muslim slavery and reclaim the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem from the infidels.
To the cries of the crowd "Thus God wills it!" ("Deus lo voult!"), Adhemar of Le Puy, Bishop of Le Puy, stepped forward to Urban and was the first to take the cross from the Pope's hands. According to the chronicler Robert of Reims, the Pope concluded his sermon by saying: "Let this cry be your military signal, for these words are spoken by God… Let [he who has taken the vow] wear the image of the Lord's cross on his forehead or chest. He who wishes, having taken the vow, to return [removing the vow], let him place this image on his back between the shoulder blades…".
The cry "Deus lo voult!", which shook the Clermont plateau, was picked up in every corner of the Christian West with a readiness that Pope Urban II himself did not expect. Having subsided slightly, this cry would be heard for at least another two centuries.

Urban placed his hopes exclusively on knights and other combat-capable units; it was in them that he saw a crusading army capable of routing the Muslims and reclaiming what was lost. However, as news of the expedition to the East spread from Sicily to Scandinavia, more and more men and women from all social strata of the population took the cross.
The first to set out were completely unorganized detachments consisting of: Boulogne corsairs, Flemish, Frisian, and Antwerp pirates; popular crowds led by: Peter the Hermit, the knight Walter the Penniless (some historians call him the Pauper), Walter of Teck, the Count of Tübingen, Folkmar, Gottschalk, Emicho of Leiningen. While the barons prepared for the expedition, this "people" left northern France, Flanders, Normandy, the Rhineland, Saxony and rushed toward Constantinople. This campaign was destined to be called the People's Crusade. On the way, crowds of hungry people obtained food by looting and ravaging everything they could. Many were killed in armed clashes with the local populations of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire, and those who did reach Constantinople in August 1096 were quickly transported by the Greeks across the Bosphorus to Asia Minor. There they split into two groups. One attempted to capture the city of Nicaea but was surrounded and slaughtered by Turks on October 21, 1096 near Civitot. A similar fate awaited the second group. Of the twenty-five thousand who came to Byzantium, only three thousand survived, who returned to Constantinople, chosen as the gathering place for the main crusader army's forces. And only then did the real First Crusade begin. After the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II remained in France until September 1096, observing the preparations for the crusade. He maintained correspondence with Adhemar of Le Puy, appointed papal legate to the crusader army, and with Raymond IV of Toulouse, whom he wished to make the military leader of the campaign.
Each baron who decided to participate in the campaign separately gathered his men and formed a detachment, equipping them at his own expense; other "lone" fighters could join a lord's detachment on the way if they were from the same region; petty knights who lacked food for the entire journey fell under the command of any baron willing to take over their maintenance.

The crusader army was a union of four main detachments that advanced toward Constantinople along different roads: each detachment followed its own route, which resulted in far fewer difficulties with food and provisions. The size of the "regular" armies is poorly known. The total number of the crusader army consists of approximately sixty thousand warriors and as many other participants: pilgrims, women, servants.

In mid-August 1096, Godfrey of Bouillon (Godefroi de Bouillon), Duke of Lower Lorraine, set out on the campaign. Before leaving his homeland, Godfrey sold his ancestral estates in Andenne, including Boulogne, to Bishop Otbert of Liège. He was joined by his own brothers Eustace, Count of Boulogne, and Baldwin, Count of Hainaut and Toul, as well as cousin Baldwin de Burcq. This detachment moved by land through Germany, crossed the Hungarian border near Tulln and Zemlin, crossed Bulgaria, passed through Belgrade, Niš, Sofia, Philippopolis, and reached Constantinople on December 23, 1096. This journey was not without difficulties. In Hungary, for instance, negotiations had to be held with King Coloman, as they still remembered the participants of the People's Crusade. Godfrey personally met with Coloman and left his brother Baldwin as a hostage along with his wife and children; the death penalty was announced in the crusader detachment for any looting, and Coloman (1068-1116), for his part, threatened his subjects with the same punishment if they dared to raise food prices. Everything proceeded without incident, which cannot be said of the passage through Byzantium. On the way to Constantinople, the "Lorrainers" plundered Selebria in response to the capture of Hugh of Vermandois and announced their intention to storm the empire's capital when their food supplies were cut off. After lengthy negotiations (December 1096 - April 1097), Alexios Komnenos (Byzantine Emperor (1081-1118)) managed to deal a blow that forced the Duke of Lower Lorraine to submit to the emperor.

The detachment from northern and central France consisted of four armies. The lands of the French crown provided an army under the command of the king's brother Hugh, Count of Vermandois. King Philip of France did not take the cross as he had been excommunicated by the Church.
Three armies formed in northern France. Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, prepared to leave his duchy as he enjoyed very limited power and small incomes. By mortgaging his Norman duchy to his brother, King William II Rufus of England, for ten thousand marks, Robert obtained the sum necessary for the campaign and gathered knights from Normandy and England around himself. Two other armies were led by the nephew and brother-in-law of the Duke of Normandy – Robert Fries, Count of Flanders, and Stephen, Count of Blois (1089-1102).
All four armies of northern and central France crossed the Alps and passed through Italian cities: Lucca, where Urban II blessed the crusaders, Monte Cassino, and Bari, where they embarked on ships to cross the Adriatic Sea.
The landing of the main part of the detachment took place in the Dyrrhachium area, and their further path lay along the Via Egnatia, through Brindisi, Durazzo, Thessaloniki, and then they approached Constantinople.

Thank you for your additions.

Please create a reply after this message so that I can continue... The messages are very large; the forum does not accept them and tries to merge them, deleting 2 and putting 1 in its place.