View source for Siege of Jerusalem (1187)

{{Short description|Conquest of Jerusalem by the Ayyubids}}
{{For|other sieges laid upon Jerusalem|Siege of Jerusalem (disambiguation){{!}}Siege of Jerusalem}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Siege of Jerusalem (1187)
| image             = [[File:ChristiansBeforeSaladin.jpg|250px]]
| caption           = Saladin and Christians of Jerusalem, illustration by [[François Guizot]] (1883)
| date              = 20 September – 2 October, 1187 <br /> ({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=09|day1=20 |year1=1187|month2=10|day2=2|year2=1187}})
| place             = [[Jerusalem]]
| result            = Ayyubid victory 
| combatant1        = [[Ayyubid Sultanate]]
| combatant2        = [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]<br/>[[Knights Hospitaller]]<br/>[[Knights Templar]]<br/>[[Order of Saint Lazarus|Order of St. Lazarus]]<br/>[[Order of Mountjoy]]<br/>[[County of Tripoli]]
| commander1        = [[Saladin]]
| commander2        = [[Balian of Ibelin]]{{surrender}}<br/>[[Heraclius of Jerusalem|Heraclius]]{{surrender}}
| strength1         = Unknown,
the army primarily made up of the surviving army from the [[Battle of Hattin]] and reinforcements gathered from Syria and Egypt. 
*Likely strength around 20,000 men
| strength2         = Unknown
| casualties1       = Unknown
| casualties2       = Unknown
}}
{{Campaignbox Ayyubid–Crusader War}}
{{Campaignbox Crusades Battles}}
{{Jerusalem sidebar}}

The '''siege of Jerusalem''' lasted from 20 September to 2 October 1187, when [[Balian of Ibelin]] surrendered the city to [[Saladin]]. Earlier that summer, Saladin had [[Battle of Hattin|defeated the kingdom's army]] and conquered several cities. Balian was charged with organizing a defense. The city was full of refugees but had few soldiers. Despite this fact the defenders managed to repulse several attempts by Saladin's army to take the city by storm. Balian bargained with Saladin to buy safe passage for many, and the city was peacefully surrendered with limited bloodshed. Though [[Jerusalem]] fell, it was not the end of the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], as the capital shifted first to [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and later to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] after the [[Third Crusade]]. [[Latin Christians]] responded in 1189 by launching the Third Crusade led by [[Richard the Lionheart]], [[Philip Augustus]], and [[Frederick Barbarossa]] separately.<ref>"Kingdom of Jerusalem" 2009</ref> In Jerusalem, Saladin restored Muslim holy sites and generally showed tolerance towards Christians; he allowed Orthodox and Eastern Christian pilgrims to visit the holy sites freely—though Frankish (i.e. Catholic) pilgrims were required to pay a fee for entry. The control of Christian affairs in the city was handed over to the [[patriarch of Constantinople]].

==Background==
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, weakened by internal disputes, was defeated at the [[Battle of Hattin]] on 4 July 1187. Most of the nobility were taken prisoner, including [[Guy of Lusignan|King Guy]]. Thousands of Muslim slaves were freed.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA135 |title=Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem |first=Geoffrey |last=Regan |year= 1987 |page=135 |publisher=Croom Helm |isbn=9780709942085 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=God's War: A New History of the Crusades |first=Christopher |last=Tyerman |year=2006 |author-link = Christopher Tyerman|page=230 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674023871 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULDUopVCVPoC&pg=PA230 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Knights of Jerusalem: The Crusading Order of Hospitallers 1100–1565 |first=David |last=Nicolle |year=2008 |page=73 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781846030802 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=homJ22nhCBMC&pg=PA73 }}</ref> By mid-September, Saladin had taken [[Acre (city)|Acre]], [[Nablus]], [[Jaffa, Israel|Jaffa]], [[Toron]], [[Sidon]], [[Beirut]], and [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]].  The survivors of the battle and other refugees fled to [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]], the only city able to [[Siege of Tyre (1187)|hold out against Saladin]], due to the fortuitous arrival of [[Conrad of Montferrat]].

==Situation in Jerusalem==
In Tyre, [[Balian of Ibelin]] had asked Saladin for safe passage to Jerusalem to retrieve his wife [[Maria Komnene, Queen of Jerusalem]] and their family. Saladin granted his request, provided that Balian not take up arms against him and not remain in Jerusalem for more than one day; however, upon arrival in the holy city, [[Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem]], [[Sibylla of Jerusalem|Queen Sibylla]], and the rest of the inhabitants begged him to take charge of the defense of the city. Heraclius, who argued that he must stay for the sake of Christianity, offered to absolve him of the oath, and Balian agreed.

He sent word of his decision to Saladin at Ascalon via a deputation of burgesses, who rejected the sultan's proposals for a negotiated surrender of Jerusalem; however, Saladin arranged for an escort to accompany Maria, their children, and all their household to [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]. As the highest-ranking lord remaining in Jerusalem, according to the chronicler [[Ibn al-Athir]], Balian was seen by the Muslims as holding a rank "more or less equal to that of a king."<ref>Ibn Al-Athir, D.S. Richards trans, Vol. II, 330–331</ref>

Balian found the situation in Jerusalem dire. The city was filled with refugees fleeing Saladin's conquests, with more arriving daily. There were fewer than fourteen knights in the whole city, so he created sixty new knights from the ranks of the [[squire]]s (knights in training) and [[burgess (title)|burgess]]es. He prepared for the inevitable siege by storing food and money. The armies of [[Syria]] and [[Egypt]] assembled under Saladin, and after conquering Acre, Jaffa, and Caesarea (though he unsuccessfully besieged Tyre), the sultan arrived outside Jerusalem on September 20.<ref name="Malcolm and Lyons, 272">Malcolm and Lyons, 272</ref>

==Siege==

After a brief reconnoitre around the city, Saladin's army came to a rest before the [[Tower of David]] and the [[Damascus Gate]].<ref name="Malcolm and Lyons, 272"/> His archers continually pelted the ramparts with arrows. [[Siege tower]]s/belfries were rolled up to the walls but were pushed back each time. For six days, skirmishes were fought with little result. Saladin's forces suffered heavy casualties after each assault. On September 26, Saladin moved his camp to a different part of the city, on the [[Mount of Olives]] where there was no major gate from which the crusaders could counter-attack. The walls were constantly pounded by the siege engines, [[catapult]]s, [[mangonel]]s, [[petrary|petraries]], [[Greek fire]], [[crossbow]]s, and arrows. A portion of the wall was [[Mining (military)|mined]], and it collapsed on September 29. The crusaders were unable to push Saladin's troops back from the breach, but at the same time, the Muslims could not gain entrance to the city. Soon there were only a few dozen knights and a handful of remaining men-at-arms defending the wall, as no more men could be found even for the promise of an enormous fee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1187saladin.asp|title = Internet History Sourcebooks Project}}</ref>

The civilians were in great despair. According to a passage possibly written by [[Ernoul]], a [[squire]] of Balian, in the ''Old French Continuation of [[William of Tyre]]'', the clergy organized a barefoot procession around the walls, much as the clergy on the First Crusade had done outside the walls in 1099. At Mount Calvary, women cropped their children's hair, after immersing them chin-deep in basins of cold water. These penances were aimed at turning away God's wrath from the city, but "...Our Lord did not deign to hear the prayers or noise that was made in the city. For the stench of adultery, of disgusting extravagance and of sin against nature would not let their prayers rise to God."<ref>''The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade'', Trans Peter Edbury, 58–59</ref>

At the end of September, Balian rode out with an envoy to meet with the sultan, offering surrender. Saladin told Balian that he had sworn to take the city by force, and would only accept an unconditional surrender.<ref>Edbury, 60</ref> Saladin told Balian that Saladin's banner had been raised on the city wall, but his army was driven back. Balian threatened that the defenders would destroy the Muslim holy places, slaughter their own families and the 5000 Muslim slaves, and burn all the wealth and treasures of the Crusaders.<ref>Malcolm and Lyons, 274–276</ref> Saladin, who wanted to take the city with as little bloodshed of his fellow Muslims as possible, insisted that the Crusaders were to unconditionally surrender but could leave by paying a ransom of ten dinars for men, five for women and two for children; those who couldn't pay would be enslaved. Balian told him that there were 20,000 in the city who could never pay that amount. Saladin proposed a total of 100,000 dinars to free all the 20,000 Crusaders who were unable to pay. Balian complained that the Christian authorities could never raise such a sum. He proposed that 7,000 of them would be freed for a sum of 30,000 dinars, and Saladin agreed.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QL88AAAAIAAJ&q=editions:FCi_QPOwjk4C&pg=PA466 |title = A History of the Crusades|isbn = 9780521347716|last1 = Runciman|first1 = Steven|year = 1987| publisher=CUP Archive }}</ref>

==Aftermath==

[[File:BalianofIbelin1490.jpg|right|frame|Balian of Ibelin surrendering the city of [[Jerusalem]] to [[Saladin]], from ''[[Passages d'outremer|Les Passages faits Outremer par les Français contre les Turcs et autres Sarrasins et Maures outremarins]]'', c. 1490]]

{{quote box|align=right|width=34%|style=min-width:15em|quote=Women and children together came to 8,000 and were quickly divided up among us, bringing a smile to Muslim faces at their lamentations. How many well-guarded women were profaned and women who had been kept hidden stripped of their modesty, and virgins dishonoured and proud women deflowered, and lovey women's red lips kissed, and happy ones made to weep. How many noblemen took them as concubines, how many ardent men blazed for one of them, and celibates were satisfied by them, and thirsty men sated by them and turbulent men able to give vent to their passion.|source=— Translation of the account of [[Saladin]]'s secretary [[Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani|Imad al-Din]] of the treatment of female captives following the siege of Jerusalem{{sfn|Gabrieli|1969|pp=162-163}}}}

On Balian's orders, the Crusaders surrendered the city to Saladin's army on October 2. The take-over of the city was relatively peaceful especially in contrast to the Crusader [[Siege of Jerusalem (1099)|siege of the city]] in 1099. Balian paid 30,000 dinars for freeing 7,000 of those unable to pay from the treasury of the city. The large golden [[Christian cross]] that had been placed over the [[Dome of the Rock]] by the Crusaders was pulled down and all Muslim prisoners of war taken by the Crusaders were released by Saladin. According to the [[Kurds|Kurdish]] scholar and historian [[Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad]], these numbered close to 3,000. Saladin allowed many of the noblewomen of the city to leave without paying any ransom. For example, [[Maria Komnene, Queen of Jerusalem|Queen Maria]] was allowed to leave the city with her retinue and associates, as was [[Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem|Queen Sibylla]]. Saladin also granted Sibylla safe passage to visit her captive husband, [[Guy of Lusignan|King Guy]], in [[Nablus]]. The native Christians were allowed to remain in the city while those of Crusader origin were allowed to leave Jerusalem for other lands along with their goods through a safe passage via [[Akko]] by paying a ransom of 10 dinars. Saladin's brother [[Al-Adil]] was moved by the sight and asked Saladin for 1,000 of them as a reward for his services. Saladin granted his wish and Al-Adil immediately released them all. Heraclius, upon seeing this, asked Saladin for some slaves to liberate. He was granted 700 while Balian was granted 500 and all of them were freed by them. All the aged people who could not pay the ransom were freed by orders of Saladin and allowed to leave the city. Saladin then proceeded to free 1,000 more captives upon request of Muzaffar al-Din Ibn Ali Kuchuk, who claimed they were from his hometown of [[Urfa]]. In order to control the departing population, Saladin ordered the gates of the city to be closed. At each gate of the city, a commander was placed to check the movement of the Crusaders and make sure only those who paid the ransom left the city. Saladin then assigned some of his officers the job of ensuring the safe arrival of the Crusaders in Christian lands. 15,000 of those who could not pay the ransom were sold into slavery. According to [[Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani]], 7,000 of them were men and 8,000 were women and children.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hGR5M0druJIC&q=al+adil+jerusalem+8%2C000+women&pg=PA277|title= Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War|author= Malcolm Cameron Lyons, D.E.P. Jackson|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|year= 1984|isbn= 9780521317399|page= 277}}</ref>

On Saladin's orders, the ransomed inhabitants marched away in three columns accompanied by 50 cavalrymen of Saladin's army. The [[Knights Templar]] and [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]] led the first two, with Balian and the Patriarch leading the third. Balian joined his wife and family in the [[County of Tripoli]]. The refugees first reached [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], where only men who could fight were allowed to enter by [[Conrad of Montferrat]]. The remaining refugees went to the [[County of Tripoli]], which was under Crusader control. They were denied entrance and robbed of their possessions by raiding parties from within the city. Most of the less affluent refugees went to Armenian and Antiochian territories and were later successful in gaining entrance into [[Antioch]]. The remaining refugees fled from [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]] to [[Alexandria]], where they were housed in makeshift stockades and received hospitable treatment from the city officials and elders. They then boarded [[Italy|Italian]] ships which arrived from [[Pisa]], [[Genoa]] and [[Venice]] in March 1188. The captains of the ships at first refused to take the refugees since they were not being paid for them and did not have supplies for them. The governor of Alexandria, who had earlier taken the oars of the ships for payment of taxes, refused to grant sailing permits to the captains until they agreed. The latter then agreed to take the refugees along with them and were made to swear decent treatment and safe arrival of the refugees before they left.<ref name= "Nicholson1973">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R9QUAAAAIAAJ&q=jerusalem+three+columns+balian+crusade&pg=PA174|title= Joscelyn III and the Fall of the Crusader States: 1134–1199|author= Robert Lawrence Nicholson|publisher= [[Brill Publishers]]|year= 1973|isbn= 9789004036765|pages= 174–175}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mCg7AwAAQBAJ&q=jerusalem+three+columns+balian+crusade&pg=PT196|title= Downfall of the Crusader Kingdom|author= W.B. Bartlett|publisher= [[The History Press]]|year= 2011|isbn= 9780752468075|page= 196}}</ref>

After the surrender of the city, the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] was ordered to be closed for three days by Saladin while he considered what to do with it. Some of his advisers told him to destroy the Church in order to end all Christian interest in Jerusalem. Most of his advisers, however, told him to spare the Church, saying that Christian pilgrimages would continue anyway because of the sanctity of the place and also reminded him of the Caliph [[Umar]], who allowed the Church to remain in Christian hands after [[Siege of Jerusalem (637)|conquering the city]]. Saladin ultimately decided not to destroy the church, saying that he had no intention to discourage Christian pilgrimages to the site; it was reopened after three days on his orders. The Frankish pilgrims were allowed to enter the church upon paying a fee. To solidify Muslim claims to Jerusalem, many holy sites, including the shrine known as [[Al-Aqsa]], were ritually purified with rose water. Christian furnishings were removed from the mosque and it was fitted with oriental carpets. Its walls were illuminated with candelabras and text from the [[Quran]]. The Orthodox Christians and [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriacs]] were allowed to remain and to worship as they chose. The [[Copts]], who were barred from entering Jerusalem by the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem as they were considered heretics and atheists, were allowed to enter the city without paying any fees by Saladin as he considered them his subjects. The Coptic places of worship that were earlier taken over by the Crusaders were returned to the Coptic priests. The Copts were also allowed to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other Christian sites. The [[Christianity in Ethiopia|Abyssinian Christians]] were allowed to visit the holy places of Jerusalem without paying any fees.<ref name= "Maher2007">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kT0BAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA152|title= Islamic Jerusalem and its Christianity: A History of Tolerance and Tensions|author= Maher Abu-Munshar|publisher= [[I.B. Tauris]]|year= 2007|isbn= 9780857713827|pages= 152–158}}</ref><ref name= "Runciman">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QL88AAAAIAAJ&q=editions:FCi_QPOwjk4C&pg=PA466|title= A History of the Crusades: The Kingdom of Jerusalem|author= Steven Runciman|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|year= 1987|isbn= 9780521347716|pages= 465–468|author-link= Steven Runciman}}</ref><ref name= "Nicholson1973"/>

The Byzantine emperor, [[Isaac Angelus]], sent a message to Saladin congratulating him on taking the city, requesting him to convert all the churches in the city back to the Orthodox church and all Christian ceremonies to be performed according to the Greek Orthodox liturgy. His request was granted and the rights of other confessions were preserved. The local Christians were allowed to pray freely in their churches and the control of Christian affairs was handed over to the [[ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople]].<ref name= "Maher2007"/><ref name= "Runciman"/>

Saladin went on to capture a number of other castles that were still holding out against him, including [[Belvoir (Crusader castle)|Belvoir]], [[Kerak]], and [[Montreal (Crusader castle)|Montreal]], and returned to Tyre to besiege it for a second time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Milwright|first=Marcus|date=2006|title=Central and Southern Jordan in the Ayyubid Period: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives|jstor=25188591|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume=16|issue=1|pages=1–27}}</ref>

Meanwhile, news of the disastrous defeat at Hattin was brought to Europe by [[Joscius, Archbishop of Tyre]], as well as other pilgrims and travellers, while Saladin was conquering the rest of the kingdom throughout the summer of 1187. Plans were immediately made for a new crusade; on October 29, [[Pope Gregory VIII]] issued the [[papal bull|bull]] ''[[Audita tremendi]]'', even before hearing of the fall of Jerusalem. In England and France, the [[Saladin tithe]] was enacted in order to finance expenses. The [[Third Crusade]] did not get underway until 1189, in three separate contingents led by [[Richard I of England]], [[Philip II of France]], and [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Freed |first=John |year=2016 |title=Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |isbn=978-0-300-122763|page=482}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
*The final part of [[H. Rider Haggard|H.R. Haggard's]] novel ''[[The Brethren (Haggard novel)|The Brethren]]'' takes place during the siege.
*Much of the film ''[[Kingdom of Heaven (film)|Kingdom of Heaven]]'' focuses on the siege.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*{{cite book |first=Amin |last=Maalouf |title=The Crusades Through Arab Eyes |location=London |year=1984 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |title=Crusades |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=2011 |access-date=24 Oct 2011 |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades }}
*{{cite book |first=James A. |last=Brundage |title=The Crusades: A Documentary Survey |publisher=Marquette University Press |year=1962 }}
*{{Setton-A History of the Crusades |volume=1 }}
*{{cite book |first=Peter W. |last=Edbury |title=The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation |publisher=Ashgate |year=1996 }}
*{{cite book |first=Francesco |last=Gabrieli |title=Arab Historians of the Crusades |publisher=University of California Press |year=1969 }}
*{{cite book |first=R.C. |last=Smail |title=Crusading Warfare, 1097–1193 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1956 }}
*{{Runciman-A History of the Crusades|volume=2}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Jerusalem (1187)}}
[[Category:Conflicts in 1187|Jerusalem]]
[[Category:1187 in Asia]]
[[Category:1180s in the Kingdom of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Sieges of the Crusades|Jerusalem 1187]]
[[Category:Sieges of Jerusalem|1187]]
[[Category:Sieges involving the Kingdom of Jerusalem|Jerusalem 1187]]
[[Category:Sieges involving the Ayyubid Sultanate|Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Battles of Saladin|Jerusalem]]