Laura Morreale TIGHTENING THE NOOSE THE BATTLE OF HATTIN

April 2012
TIGHTENING THE NOOSE
THE BATTLE OF HATTIN
Saladin in Battle,
13th century
German
manuscript,
Wikiimedia
Commons
Laura Morreale
Today, Jerusalem is one of the
world’s most contested cities,
with Jews, Christians, and
Muslims jockeying for control
of the city and its holy sites. In
the Middle Ages, the city and
surrounding area was no less
divided than it is today, with
control of the city passing back
and forth between Muslims and
Christians several times.
In 1187, eight hundred and
twenty-five years ago,
Christians and Muslims met in
a battle that decided the fate of
the holy city...at least for a
while.
In June of that year, Saladin, a
brilliant Kurdish Muslim
military leader, had seized the
city of Tiberias, near
Jerusalem. Saladin, whose
1
name means “Righteousness of
Faith,” believed that he could
lure the Christian army (or the
“Franks” as they were called by
Muslims) into open combat. Once he had brought the
Franks into open combat,
Saladin planned to strike a
decisive blow for Muslim
forces. In previous years, Saladin had
unsuccessfully raided Christian
settlements with small bands of
warriors, but now his army
boasted roughly 30,000 men; it
was the largest army he had
ever commanded and it posed a
real threat to the Christian
army.
Preparing for Battle
Saladin was fortunate in that
the Franks were already
divided among themselves,
with Guy of Lusignan, the
King of Jersulam, and Reynald
of Transjordan both struggling
for control over the Frankishheld territories. However, the
Christians managed to answer
Saladin’s challenge by
assembling a Christian army
numbering around 20,000. The
army included knights and
soldiers whose main job was to
protect and defend the
Crusader cities of Jerusalem
and Tripoli.
On July 2nd, the Franks held a
war council to decide whether
to confront the Muslims at
Tiberias, or to allow the city to
fall into Muslim hands.
Attacking Saladin and his army
APRIL 2012
The ultimate prize---the Dome
of the Rock, built 688-691 AD,
UHP PHOTO
at Tiberias would require the Franks to march fifteen By mid-afternoon, the Frankish army was so tired,
miles to Tiberias in the summer heat, over a hot, dry thirsty, and overextended that the order was given to
landscape with few sources of water.
halt and make camp. They had covered only half the
distance between Turan and Tiberias.
At the war council, Guy argued that the Franks
should take the chance of marching in the heat. Reynald disagreed. Dismissing Reynald’s warnings The Battle
as a sign of cowardice, Guy managed to win over the
majority of the Franks to his view. The decision to rest proved a fatal error.
On the morning of July 3rd, the Frankish army
began its long march towards Tiberias. At mid-day
they stopped at a spring located in Turan, six miles
from their point of departure.
Sensing that the Franks had fallen into his trap,
Saladin flanked the Christian forces on two sides,
surrounding them, and cutting off their access to the
water at Turan.
Muslim cavalrymen had been harassing the
Christian army at its fringes almost immediately
since they had left their encampment in the morning,
and now they continued to badger the Franks while
they took their noontime water and rest.
The Christians spent a tortured night with no water,
no hope for reinforcements, and no path for retreat.
It was still nine miles to Tiberas, more than a full
day’s march, but Guy of Lusignan elected to leave
Turan and its water and venture out across the
plateau that same afternoon.
Now, the Muslim army left Tiberias to meet the
oncoming Christian threat face to face.
Saladin positioned his men atop a ridge of hills,
overlooking the hot, dry plain the Franks were
struggling to cross.
2
The Muslim army pressed ever closer upon them,
taunting them with whooping cries of victory as the
night wore on.
When morning arrived, the Christians were greeted
with a blinding screen of smoke, coming from the
brush fires the Muslims had lit. In the scorching
heat, struggling with stinging eyes, noses and
throats, the Christians’ thirst intensified.
Desperate to abandon the scorching heat of the
plateau and head for the water supply at the springs
of Hattin, the Christians fled north. But there, the
Muslim army cut them off, forcing them into a
battle.
APRIL 2012
At roughly nine o’clock on the morning of July 4,
the two armies directly clashed on the plains
located just to the south of the Horns of Hattin, a
two-peaked slope to the north of the Christian
encampment.
The Christians resorted to tactics that had been
successful against the Muslims in previous
campaigns, by assembling their infantrymen and
cavalry in tight formation.
Turning the Battle
Usually, their infantry, armed with crossbows and
pikes and clothed in heavy leather cloaks, shielded
the armored knights from the shower of incoming
arrows, and allowed the mounted warriors to serve
as a second wave against the oncoming enemy.
But on this morning, the exhausted and parched
infantry offered little resistance to the Muslim
onslaught. They broke ranks after only a few
charges, fleeing towards the Horns of Hattin in a
desperate search for water.
When the infantry fled, the knights on horseback
were bombarded with Muslim arrows and forced
to dismount. While some knights escaped through
THE ARID
PLAINS OF
HATTIN,
PUBLIC DOMAIN
3
enemy lines, a greater number gathered together
near their rallying point, the Holy Cross
(containing what was believed to be a piece of the
True Cross). The Christians had brought this relic
intending it to serve as divine help and inspiration
during the battle.
Amid his disoriented cavalry, Guy of Lusignan
pitched his red tent, which was known to belong to
the king, and made three final attempts to advance
on the enemy. Each time the Franks rallied for a charge, Saladin,
who was watching from afar, pulled nervously at
his beard, according to his son al-Afdal. But after
the third charge Saladin finally saw the red tent
fall. He fell to the ground and knelt in prayer,
thanking God for his victory.
Both Guy and Reynald were captured and brought
before Saladin. Guy was treated with the
hospitality and respect due a conquered king. But
Reynald, who had provoked Saladin many times
before, received no such treatment. Instead,
Saladin ordered Reynald into his tent and
beheaded him with his own sword.
Reynald’s corpse was then dragged before
APRIL 2012
Guy, who looked on in horror. The Frankish army was
decimated by the defeat, with the majority of the
infantry and knights killed, captured, or sold into
slavery. The Christian relic, the Holy Cross, was
seized and paraded upside-down through the streets of
Damascus.
With so few soldiers remaining to mount an effective
defense, Jerusalem quickly fell to the Muslim forces. But transfer of the city from Christian to Muslim
hands did not mean an end to the struggles to control
the Holy Land. In Europe, Saladin’s victory led to a
resounding cry for a new Crusade to reclaim the Holy
Land…and a Third Crusade was quickly launched. Dr. Laura Morreale is an independent
historian. Her dissertation, Chronicle and
Community in Northern Italy, 1270-1360,
explored the introduction of vernacular Italian
into local historical writing. She has recently
written about the interaction between French
and Italian vernacular traditions in thirteenthcentury Florentine historiography (Speculum,
October, 2010), and has produced an English
translation of Martin da Canal’s Old French
history of Venice, Les Estoires de Venise
(Unipress, 2009). She also edits Fordham’s
French of Italy website.
Tight Formation, The Battle of Hattin, Medieval
Manuscript, Date Unknown, Wikimedia