Siege of Acre

The Siege of Acre was the most important event of the Third Crusade, lasting from August 28, 1189 until July 12, 1191, and the first time in the history of the crusades that the king was compelled to personally see to the defense of the Holy Land. It was also the deadliest event of the whole period of the crusades, for the Christian ruling class of the east.

The execution of the prisoners

It was now up to Richard and Saladin to finalize the surrender of the city. The Christians began to rebuild Acre?s defenses, and Saladin collected money to pay for the ransom of the imprisoned garrison. On August 11 Saladin delivered the first of the three planned payments and prisoner exchanges, but Richard rejected this because certain Christian nobles were not included. The exchange was broken off and further negotiations were unsuccessful. On August 20, Richard determined that Saladin had not kept his word, and had 2700 of the Muslim prisoners from the garrison of Acre killed, including women and children. The Muslims fought back in an attempt to prevent this, but they were defeated. On August 22 Richard and his army left the city, now fully under crusader control

Related Topics:
August 11 - August 20 - August 22

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