The devastating defeat of the combined Christian army
at the Battle of Hattin on July 4, 1187, was one of the most significant
disasters in medieval military history.
Christian casualties at the battle were so enormous, that the defense of
the rest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem became impossible, and so the defeat at
Hattin led directly to the loss of the entire kingdom including Jerusalem
itself. The loss of the Holy City, led to the Third Crusade, and so to the
death of the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I “Barbarossa”, and extended absence
from his domains of Richard I “the Lionheart.” Both circumstances had a
profound impact on the balance of power in Western Europe. Meanwhile the role
of the critical of Pisan and Genoese fleets in supplying the only city left in
Christian hands, Tyre, and in supporting Richard I’s land army resulted in trading
privileges that led to the establishment of powerful trading centers in the
Levant. These in turn fostered the exchange of goods and ideas that led
historian Claude Reignier Condor to write at the end of the 19th
Century that: “…the result of the Crusades was the Renaissance.” (The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099 to 1291
AD, The Committee of Palestine Exploration Fund, 1897, p. 163.)
The importance of Hattin to contemporaries was not
just the magnitude of the defeat, but the unexpectedness of it. In retrospect, the victory seems inevitable.
Muslim states had always surrounded the crusader kingdom (as they hem in Israel
today) and the Muslim rulers had always been able to call on much larger
military forces than their Christian opponents.
In the early years of Latin presence in the Holy Land, the divisions
among the Muslim leaders, most especially the rivalry and hatred between Shiite
Caliphate of Cairo and the Sunni Caliphate of Baghdad, had played into
Christian hands. However, once Saladin
had managed to unite Syria and Egypt under a single, charismatic leader the
balance of power clearly tipped to the Muslims.
However, Christian armies under
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Richard I of England defeated Saladin on the
battlefield more than once. Saladin was
a powerful, charismatic and clever commander, who knew how to deploy his forces
effectively and use terrain to his advantage — but he was not invincible.
Indeed, he was dealt a defeat every bit as devastating as Hattin in November
1177 at the Battle of Montgisard. His invading army was annihilated, and he
himself had to flee on the back of a pack-camel. In July 1182, the Christian
army under Baldwin IV stopped another full-scale invasion by Saladin, forcing
him to withdraw across the Jordan with comparatively few Christian losses. In
June the following year, 1183, the Christian army confronted yet another
invasion on an even larger force and again forced Saladin to withdraw — this
time without even engaging in an all-out battle.
Despite these apparent successes, it was clear to the
King of Jerusalem that Saladin was getting stronger with each new invasion
attempt. Saladin had increased his own
power base from Cairo and Damascus to Aleppo, Homs and Mosul, while the
Christians had no new infusions of blood, territory or income. In consequence, in
1184 Baldwin IV sent a frantic plea to the West, begging for a new crusade and
offering the Western leader — whoever he might be — the keys to the kingdom.
The lack of response reflected Western complacency about the threat to
Jerusalem and implicit confidence in the ability of Baldwin and his barons to
continue to defeat Saladin’s attempts to push the Christian kingdom into the
sea.
It was because of Baldwin’s earlier successes against
Saladin, that the news of Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem shocked the West,
allegedly causing the immediate death of Pope Urban III. How was it possible
that a young and vigorous king, Guy I, could lead the same army to defeat that
a youth suffering from leprosy (and only commanding his armies from a liter)
had led to victory again and again?
Rarely in human history has a defeat been so wholly
attributable to poor generalship on the losing side as at Hattin. To be sure, Saladin
set a trap for the Christian armies. The bait was the citizens and garrison of
Tiberius under the command of the Countess of Tripoli, who were besieged in the
citadel after the fall of the city on July 2.
The Christian army was mustered at Sephorie, only some 15 miles to the
west. The pleas for help from the Countess and Tiberius naturally evoked a
response from the Christian army, most notably her four grown sons. But the Count of Tripoli himself warned that
it was a trap and opposed the decision to go to the aid of his wife and Tiberius. Tripoli’s
reasoning convinced the majority of his peers and the council of war composed
of the leading barons agreed to stay where they were and force Saladin to come
to them. However, the Grand Master of the Temple went separately and secretly
to King Guy after the council dispersed and convinced him to order the advance
for the following day. In short, although warned, King Guy took the bait.
To relieve Tiberius, the Christian army had to cross territory
that was at this time of year devoid of fodder for the horses and where water sources
were widely dispersed. With Saladin’s forces already occupying the springs at
Cafarsset, on the southern route from Sephorie to Tiberias, the Christian had
no choice but to follow the northern track, which led via the springs of Turan.
Intense heat and harassment by the enemy slowed the Christian march to a crawl,
and by noon on July 3, the Christian army had advanced only six miles to the
springs of Turan. With nine miles more
to go, it was clear the army could not reach Tiberius before nightfall and
prudence alone should have dictated a halt at Turan, where men and horse could
rest and drink. Instead, King Guy against all reason ordered the advance to
continue. Immediately, Saladin sent his troops to occupy Turan, thereby not-only
blocking the Christian retreat but harassing the Christian rear-guard and
further slowing the rate of advance.
A depiction of the Christian
army advancing toward Hattin carrying the “True Cross”
from the film “The Kingdom
of Heaven”
|
When darkness fell on July 3, the Christian army was
still six miles short of its objective and forced to camp in an open field
completely surrounded by enemy forces.
The Christians had been marching and fighting for hours without water in
the intense heat of a Palestinian summer. Men and horses were exhausted and
further demoralized by the sound of Saracen drums surrounding them and the
countless campfires advertising the enemy’s strength.
By morning, those fires were brush-fires intentionally
set ablaze to windward of the Christian army in a maneuver that dried their
already parched throats further while half-blinding them with smoke. Out of the
smoke came volleys of arrows, and again “some of the Christian lords” urged
King Guy to charge Saladin’s position at once, in an attempt to win the battle
by killing the Sultan. King Guy instead
chose to try to march the entire army toward the springs of Hattin, still some
three miles away and cut off by one wing of Saladin’s army.
While the Frankish cavalry tried to drive off the
Saracens in a series of charges and counter-charges, the infantry
stumbled forward until, half-blinded by smoke, constantly attacked by the enemy
and near dying of thirst, their morale broke. As casualties mounted, some of the infantry
retreated up the slopes of the “horns” of Hattin, two steep hills that flanked
the plane on which the army had camped and now marched and refused to fight any
more.
Meanwhile, the Count of Tripoli with his knights and
Lord Reginald of Sidon finally broke-through the surrounding enemy, charging
east toward the Lake of Tiberius. The
Christian infantry that had not fled up the slopes tried to follow in the wake
of the cavalry, but the Saracens under the command of one of Saladin’s nephews
stepped aside to let the armored knights through and then closed ranks again,
cutting off the Christian infantry that was cut down or taken captive.
By now it was late afternoon, and with the infantry
either already slaughtered or refusing to come down from the hilltop, King Guy
ordered his knights to retreat up the slope as well. At this stage, many of the
knights were fighting on foot because their horses became vulnerable once the
infantry cover was withdraw. It was
probably at point in the battle that the relic, believed to be a piece of
the cross on which Christ was crucified, was lost. The Bishop of Acre, who had
been carrying it, was killed. The loss of
this most precious relic — believed to have brought victory in dozens of
earlier battles -- was devastating to Christian morale.
The final stages of the Battle
of Hattin as depicted in the film “The Kingdom of Heaven”
But still King Guy did not surrender. What few knights were still mounted made one (or
two) last desperate charge(s) to try to kill Saladin, who was mounted and
clearly identifiable among his troops.
One of these charges was probably lead by Balian d’Ibelin. While the charge came
close enough to Saladin for him to have to shout encouragement to his men, like
Tripoli before him, once Ibelin was through the enemy, he had no chance of
fighting his way back up-hill through the ever thickening ranks of the enemy
closing in on their prey. Within minutes, King Guy’s last position was over-run
and he along with most of his barons were taken prisoner.
Of the roughly 20,000 Christian soldiers who had set
out from Sephorie, only an estimated 3,000 infantry managed somehow to escape
into the surrounding countryside and eventually take refuge in the castles and
walled towns then still in Frankish hands. Of the 1,200 knights and barons
that mustered for the battle, only four barons, Tripoli, Sidon, Edessa and
Ibelin, escaped capture along with maybe 100 - 200 knights. The remainder
including the King of Jerusalem, the Masters of the Temple and Hospital, the
Constable Aimery de Lusignan, the Lords of Oultrajourdain, Toron, Gibelet, and
others — effectively the entire nobility of the Kingdom of Jerusalem -- were taken captive. While the
majority of these lords and knights were held for ransom, the 230 Templars and
Hospitallers that survived the battle were executed at Saladin’s orders.
Medieval painting of
prisoners being led away (here by a Christian king)
Hattin is a major episode in the second book of my Balian d'Ibelin trilogy, "Defender of Jerusalem." The ebook is on sale for just $4.99 through July 4, 2016. Buy Now!
Warfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
ReplyDeleteYour article is very well done, a good read.