The Absentee King: Richard the Lionheart has abandoned the country... (The Medieval Saga Series Book 5) by David Field

Author:David Field [Field, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2022-11-18T05:00:00+00:00

Back in Outremer, there appeared to be more animosity among the Crusade leaders than they were currently displaying towards the enemy. They had not yet progressed beyond Tyre, but open hostilities had resurfaced between Guy de Lusignan and Conrad of Montferrat regarding who was to be the rightful King of Jerusalem, should the Christian forces ever retake it.

Guy had previously occupied the throne by dint of his marriage to the heiress Princess Sibylla. But she had recently fallen victim to one of the many foul diseases that lurked in the hot, humid climate of the western shore of the Mediterranean, and her half-sister Isabella was claiming to inherit from her, at the urging of her husband Conrad of Montferrat. King Richard was obliged to support the claim of Guy de Lusignan, given the support he had received from him while rescuing his mother, sister and bride from Cyprus. However, the claim of Conrad of Montferrat was being championed by both Philip of France and King Leopold V of Austria, who had recently arrived in Outremer with a token force. They were related to Conrad as cousins in varying degrees, but it went beyond that.

Each had their reasons for wishing to remain on good terms with Conrad, given the location of his kingdom in Northern Italy. Philip of France wished to retain good relations with the ruler who controlled the Alpine passes that bordered southern France, and the two monarchs looked askance at Richard’s presumption in meddling in the title claims to a kingdom that he had thus far made no effort to retake.

Discord was simmering below the surface when the decision was made that it was time to move on Jerusalem, and that a good starting point would be to reinforce the siege of Acre, just two days’ ride down the coast to the south, but closer to the Holy City. It had been threatened by Christian forces, with varying degrees of determination, ever since the fall of Jerusalem, but was consistently defended by wave after wave of enemy cavalry under the command of the mighty Saladin, behind whom all the Muslim forces had united.

Now it was judged that the time was right for a combined assault, given the recent reinforcement of the Christian army by the arrivals of the forces from England, France, Austria and elsewhere. In July 1191, leaving Berengaria behind the safe walls of Tyre, Richard took the initiative by moving on Acre with two monstrous mangonels that he immediately employed in hurling massive rocks at the crumbling and previously weakened walls of Acre. Although Saladin’s forces were massed to the west of the city, and had previously been employed to good effect every time the Christians breached the walls, this time he ignored the pleas of its defenders to once again come to their assistance. The Muslim leaders behind the walls sent word that they were prepared to offer surrender terms, and on their second attempt Richard, in de facto command of the Christian forces, took the bait.

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