Jerusalem Falls by John D. Hosler

Author:John D. Hosler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300268690
Publisher: Yale University Press

The Truce Expires

As he sailed from Acre, Frederick II named two men the custodians, or baillies, of the kingdom of Jerusalem: Balian of Sidon and Garnier l’Aleman.135 In a shifting political landscape, these Syrian barons could at least look forward to a measure of peace with the Egyptian Ayyubids over the next decade. It was fleeting, however, because the kingdom was only one piece in a puzzle involving the other Latin states and the interests and possessions of the military religious orders.

By negotiating with al-Kamil, the Franks had aligned with the Egyptian branch of the Ayyubids, but after al-Kamil’s death in 1238 alliances shifted in a curious manner. The politics are complicated but center on four actors. Al-Kamil had two sons: al-Adil II, who took control of Egypt from his father, and al-Salih Ayyub. The latter initially accepted this arrangement, as well as the rule of the third actor, al-Kamil’s brother (for casual readers, unhelpfully named al-Salih Ismaˈil) in Damascus. In 1240, however, al-Salih Ayyub ousted his brother with the help of the fourth actor, al-Nasir Daˈud, a former lord of Damascus, and now controlled Egypt himself.136

These events have a backstory that involves Jerusalem. Frederick II’s 1229 Jaffa treaty had a term of ten years, five months, and forty days, and this expired in the fall of 1239. Despair percolated as the end date drew near. Pope Gregory IX, figuring that by the time masses could be assembled Jerusalem would be lost once more, issued a letter to all Christians lamenting the city’s fall.137 The Franks moved swiftly to reconcile their defensive situation with the new threat environment. Calls for a renewed crusade had been ongoing since Frederick’s departure from Acre, and preparations for what would become known as the Barons’ Crusade were active in the late 1230s. However, some of its forces ended up diverted to the aid of Constantinople instead and only small contingents ended up in the East. One, led by Count Theobald of Champagne, arrived in Acre in September 1239: it marched to fortify Ascalon but was defeated in November by an Egyptian army and limped back north to Jaffa without several captured and imprisoned magnates.138

Also in November, the resident Franks began to rebuild the city’s defensive walls. The construction included a new citadel on the western edge, which incorporated the Tower of David.139 But they, too, had waited too long: in the same month, al-Nasir Daˈud, now the ruler of Kerak, made two power moves. First, he imprisoned his cousin, al-Salih Ayyub, and then he moved against Jerusalem and besieged the Tower of David from the city’s western side.140 For three weeks, the Muslims assaulted the tower, perhaps using artillery against it, while the small garrison put up a desperate fight.141 With no relief armies on the horizon its members surrendered the tower in exchange for their lives. In the aftermath, al-Nasir sent his miners forward, and they proceeded to crack its mortar, pry out its iron bindings, and tear it down stone by stone:

Thus

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