The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632–750 by David Nicolle

Author:David Nicolle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632–750
ISBN: 9781472810342
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

The surrender of Jerusalem

Even after the great Muslim victory at the battle of Yarmuk, and their second, conclusive conquest of Damascus, pockets of Byzantine resistance remained. These were not only in north Syria and the coastal mountains where the struggle would be long and bitter, but also in the cities of Palestine.

With the Byzantine field army to the north defeated, Jerusalem was gradually surrounded by the Islamic armies moving west, and besieged. Yet the siege of Jerusalem was less a direct military assault than an ever-tightening blockade, cutting the city and its inhabitants off from any realistic hope of relief. Two years after the Byzantine defeat at the battle of Yarmuk, Jerusalem finally opened its gates to the Caliph ’Umar in person in 638.

Because this surrender was negotiated and peaceful, the Christian population was not punished, and nor was their great Church of the Holy Sepulchre taken over as a mosque. Instead the Caliph prayed outside the church, on a spot where the much smaller Mosque of ‘Umar would later be built. This left Caesarea Maritima as the only Byzantine stronghold remaining in Palestine. Unlike the situation in Jerusalem, its garrison could be resupplied by sea, despite the Muslim forces blockading it by land. Even so, in 640, Caesarea Maritima and all the remaining Byzantine-held coastal enclaves except Tripoli fell to a series of determined Muslim assaults. With the coasts secure and their armies powerful and confident, the Islamic forces were ready to push further into the extremities of the Byzantine Empire.

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