The Siege of Jerusalem: Crusade and Conquest in 1099 Read online

  And there were no shortage of targets about to present themselves.2

  With the blare of trumpets from the north of the city and their echo from the south the peace of the dawn was destroyed by a mighty roar of ‘God wills it!’

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  e crusader assault began. Startled buzzards and vultures fl apped into the air from the remains of animals and humans around the city, but there was no safety in a sky that was suddenly full of swift arrows and falling stones, not until they had beaten their way clear to the pure blue air far above human concerns.

  Initially all was an indecipherable din, but over time a pattern began to emerge. A tone below the high-pitched whistling fl ight of arrows were the deep thumping beats of the mangonels, their upfl ung arms striking their wooden frames and casting out their contents. And for every individual beat of a Christian device, there was a staccato drumming response from within the city as dozens of stones came fl ying back out at the attacking forces, one moment seeming to hang in the air far above, the next crashing and splintering on the hard ground, sometimes bouncing into human beings, shattering bones and bringing into existence new sounds: screams for aid and screams of pure pain.

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  e defenders of Jerusalem had prepared bundles of fi rewood and straw, wrapped in pitch, wax, sulphur and any kinds of rag available, which as well as rocks, they fi red in great numbers. Th

  ese medieval ‘Molotov cocktails’ burned

  furiously and left a bright trail as they streaked through the air. Th e wood

  was covered in nails, so that on impact with the siege tower or a timber stone-thrower it might stick fast, while the straw bundles were carefully cast ahead of the siege towers to make barriers of fl ame through which it would be hazardous for the Christians to risk bringing their machines. Soon tall columns of smoke

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  rose north and south of Jerusalem and the inhabitants of the region for miles around knew that fatal events were underway at the Holy City.

  With cries of ‘heave’ a Christian trebuchet crew pulled down the weighted arm of their machine: the other end of the arm shot up, the sling with it, and –

  with a motion that was quiet and almost elegant – the leather cup swept to the very top of its arc, releasing a heavy stone towards the city, crashing into the walls ahead with a satisfying percussive clap. Th

  is was hard work for those

  hauling time aft er time at the ropes and as their aching arms began to tire the stones failed to reach quite so high on the walls. It was dangerous work too, because on the top platforms of the nearby towers of Jerusalem there were enemy mangonel crews who were doing their best to infl ict harm on their eff orts. Th

  ey were close enough that those working the rival machines could

  see one another quite distinctly.

  Sometimes their trebuchet would shudder from the blows of a hostile rock.

  Other stones, despite the surrounding protective shield of wicker mantels, crashed into skin and bone, either crushing a limb or instantly killing the crew member by a blow to the skull or torso. Despite the fact that several of the enemy mangonels had clearly been assigned to their destruction, there were many willing hands to take up the work and with regular changes of crew the trebuchet stones fl ung by the Christian army were generally pitched well up.

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  e reward for an accurate well-delivered cast was, however, lessened by the defenders once again lowering bags fattened out with chaff . Crude and simple, the garrison’s tactic was nevertheless very eff ective because the energy of the stones thrown by the trebuchets available to the crusaders was not so great as to be able to force the missile through the padding. Th

  e walls of Jerusalem

  could absorb the blows from the incoming rocks so long as they were covered in these bags and ropes.

  On the north side of the city it was the battering ram that was much more of a danger to the defenders than the continual shower of rocks. Slowly at fi rst, but building up a powerful momentum, the Lotharingians and their allies had pushed the ram up to the outer walls where a few heaves of the swinging beam had demonstrated how eff ective it could be. Th

  ey had battered away the remains

  of the outer defences with ease. Th

  en the ram was pushed right up against

  the inner wall. Th

  is close to the city the ram was safe from attack by mangonel,

  but it was now vulnerable to rocks of immense weight being dropped directly upon it.

  Fortunately for those inside, the steep-sided structure was sturdy enough that these stones were defl ected and their thunderous blows echoing within the

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  confi ned space were made less frightening by the crashing sound that the attackers themselves were generating each time they swung the iron head of ram into the city wall. Th

  is was hot work, soon made hotter by a change of

  tactic by the garrison. From atop the wall the defenders anxiously poured sulphur, pitch and wax onto the machine and set it alight. Th

  e cries of alarm

  from those inside the ram spurred on the entire northern army and all the way back to the camp and the tents there was a great clamour. Soon hundreds of men and women were running up to the ram with skins of water and dousing the fl ames. Th

  ey did not mind expending the precious liquid in this fashion,

  for they hoped to soon be able to satisfy their thirst from the cisterns inside the city.

  At great cost in limbs and lives, for the ground around the ram was strewn with the injured and the dead, the ram survived. Again and again the beam was swung hard into the wall before it. And to the excitement of the northern army the news came that the stones were cracking and disintegrating, the ram was forcing a way through! To support the ram the siege tower was pushed forward, close up behind, so close in fact that those on the top fl oor could throw down rocks at the defenders of the city. It was a brave person who now risked pouring pitch or wax onto the ram. Nevertheless, the city’s defenders continued to do so. For a second time the panels on top of the ram caught fi re and for a second time, at great cost to their lives, the northern army managed to douse the fl ames and preserve the ram intact. 3

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  e Lotharingian warriors on top of the siege tower were infl icting many casualties on the garrison of the nearby walls, but their position was not safe, the shining cross that had been mounted to reassure the army was a prime target for the fi ve Fatimid mangonel crews assigned to deal with the tower, whose stones battered away at the wicker panels protecting the cross and all those stood near it, including Duke Godfrey.

  By the time the sun had risen to its zenith over the Holy City considerable numbers of people had lost their lives, particularly on the Christian side.

  A steady stream of wounded were being brought to the tents of the northern camp, most of the casualties had been hit by arrows; although there were some who had been fortunate enough to survive having been struck by the heavy rocks fi red from the enemy mangonels, even if they were to be disabled for the rest of their lives. Th

  e losses among the poor did not undermine the military

  effi

  ciency of the attack. Th

  ere were many more people capable of bringing water

  to the combatants or to assist dousing fl ames on the ram. Nor was there any lack of personnel for heaving stones into slings or lift ing rocks into the back of the siege tower, to be hauled up by rope, so that they could be thrown down at

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  the city. But every single casuality among the knights was a signifi cant loss in military terms; these were warriors who could not be replaced. With around 1,200 knights in total, across both camps, the army could not aff ord a high rate of attrition. Foot soldiers too, especially the
archers, were present in limited numbers. Although they protected themselves as well as they could behind their wicker mantles, the fact was that in the exchange of missile fi re the Christian forces were faring worse than the defenders of the city. Th eir great

  hope and consolation was the success of the ram.

  On the southern side of the city the situation was even worse for the Christians. From his vantage point on Mount Zion, Count Raymond could see that there was a great danger that if he brought his siege tower into action prematurely it would be burnt: for bundles of fi ery debris had been strewn between his camp and the city walls, forming a more eff ective barrier than the great ditch had been. Th

  e Provençals had to be patient and endure an uneven

  exchange of missile fi re while the fl ames died down and the Fatimids began to run short of their carefully prepared combustible missiles. Th

  is was immensely

  fearsome work, without the encouragement of having placed a ram at the city walls.

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  e Provençal army did have one unexpected source of succour. Back

  when Count Raymond had been given a massive bribe by the emir of Tripoli to leave the city in peace, he had also been provided with an envoy from the city. Th

  is envoy claimed to have prophetic powers and told the Christians that they would indeed succeed in capturing the city on this day. Tripoli had always held a great degree of autonomy from Cairo and the ambassador had been encouraged by his master to make a positive impression on those who might become important princes in the region in case they had to change allegiances.

  Aft er some discussion as to whether it was ‘godly’ to believe in pagan magi-cians, the clergy informed the rest of the Provençal army that just as in the Old Testament there were examples of true prophecies by pagans, so this was another example.4

  Not that the prophecy seemed to be coming true. Although some members of the southern army came within a few metres of the walls of Jerusalem, protected by mantels, their trebuchets and bow fi re simply could not deal anything like the damage that they were receiving in return. Nor was it a great comfort to Count Raymond that the threat of his siege tower was keeping the majority of Ift ikhār’s troops and mangonels busy at the southern wall, making the assault easier for his fellow Christians on the other side of the city. Clearly, whoever obtained the city fi rst and in particular obtained David’s Tower, would be the strongest candidate to rule aft erwards and if Ift ikhār continued to guard against

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  the motion of Raymond’s tower, it would not be the Provençals who broke through.

  As the day waned, it seemed that if the Christian army were to gain the city, it would be from the north. Th

  ere the ram was enduring a constant battering of

  heavy stones combined with attempts to set it alight, but it was hammering away at a wall that was beginning to crumble. Behind the ram the siege tower too was creaking and groaning with every blow, but so far the panels, covered in skins of animals and soaked in vinegar, were defl ecting the rocks and fi ery bundles of rags. When the outer panels weakened and slipped, the crusaders did their best to pull them back into shape from inside the tower, Duke Godfrey himself lending a hand.

  With joyful cheers from within the frame holding up the ram, the news spread that they had made a hole in the wall. Th

  e iron head had broken through

  completely. Now they needed to move the machine slightly and widen the opening. But at this point the cheering and excitement faded. Th

  e ram was

  stuck. It had been relatively easy to move the whole construction forward, to the eff orts of those inside had been added the thrust of crusaders from behind, pushing on long poles. But in the hours that it had been exposed to constant blows, its rollers had broken and the housing of the ram had settled hard in a slight depression now made more diffi

  cult to move from due to the rocks piled

  either side. Although they were exerting themselves to the utmost, the ram would not come away in any direction. Tantalizingly, the soldiers at the wall could thrust the head of the ram right through into the city, but they could not widen the hole. Behind them siege tower was blocking the direct route by which the crusaders could have tried pulling away the machine with ropes.

  Before the Christians could improvise some means of shift ing the ram it began to disintegrate. Bouts of fi re, a constant battering, and now the strain of being forced out of the position into which it had become jammed proved too much, the structure began to crack and the soldiers inside fl ed. From being on the cusp of victory, the northern army was suddenly thrown into a general dismay. Th

  eir ram had become useless and the momentum of the attack had

  been lost. Worse, the ruined device was in the direct path of the siege tower. If they wanted to move the tower closer to the walls, the Christians had to get their own ram out of the way. A curious about turn in the tactics of the attackers and defenders now took place. It was the crusaders who decided to set fi re to the ram and the defenders of the city who when they realized the advantages of the obstacle, began pouring water and vinegar over it to douse the fl ames. 5

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  e battle on the north side of Jerusalem remained centred on the ram, but now the Christian casualties seemed to be in vain. Th

  e enthusiasm of the

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  crowd waned. It was one thing to risk your life running with water to assist a ram that was striking a way through the enemy walls, it was another to try to bring fi re to the same timber when it was so easily doused from the walls.

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  e commoners began to hang back and the foot soldiers too. Eventually, the more experienced commanders acknowledged that the assault was over. Th ere

  was no prospect of clearing the walls suffi

  ciently to bring up ladders, and the

  siege tower was not going to become a means of entering the city while the last few metres between it and the walls was blocked by the ruined ram. Th ey would

  have to retreat and try to change the angle of the tower during the night, so that it could have a clear path to the walls.

  Towards evening the northern army pulled back, with the famous knights of France cursing loudly, striking their hands together in grief and shouting that God had deserted them that day. Robert of Normandy came over to Robert of Flanders and the two of them shared their mutual dismay. To be tearful under the circumstances was not shameful and the princes demonstrated their frustration by their loud laments. Battle was a test of God’s will and the Christian army had been judged wanting. Th

  ey were not worthy to worship

  at Christ’s tomb.6

  Bitterly, the Lotharingians hauled at their tower, pulling it back a little, until it was out of danger from the stones of the Fatimid mangonels. Eventually too, the exchange of arrows that had darkened the sky throughout the day waned.

  As the sun descended, shadows crept from the valleys to cover the battle scene and cloak the dead. Th

  e northern army had failed.

  Had the southern army fared any better? Christian knights rode around the walls of the city to exchange reports on the day’s events. But there was no encouragement to be found among the Provençals. In the aft ernoon Count Raymond had felt the danger from fi re was suffi

  ciently reduced that he could

  bring forward the siege tower. Ift ikhār had been waiting for some time for this and all his mangonel crews were focused on the slow moving machine.

  A barrage of stones struck blow aft er blow against the tower, eventually causing the upper stories to splinter and fragment, with perforations appearing in the defences as stones shot right through the outer lay of skins. Th

  e knights on

  the top of the tower hastily got down from the machine, just in time too, because the subsequ
ent fi re from the Fatimid mangonels was accurate, sending stones ripping through the platform they had just been standing on.

  Once the momentum of the siege tower had been halted, all the sacrifi ce and danger of the missile fi re – an exchange that clearly favoured the defenders of the city – was pointless. Furthermore, late in the day a fi re had taken hold on the front of the tower. Th

  e fi rst priority of the southern army had to be to

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  preserve their siege machine; if they lost the tower, they were left only with ladders and no serious prospect of forcing a way into the city. Th e attack had

  therefore petered out entirely while the Provençal army hauled their machine back and successfully fought the fl ames.7

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  e sun set on a violent and bloody day; a day that had seen the northern army come close to creating an opening in the wall of the city, but which ultimately had been a failure for the Christian army. Many a crusader shed tears of desperation that evening. Th

  is was to have been their moment, the day on

  which they saw their dreams fulfi lled and were able to approach the Holy Places in Jerusalem, most importantly, the Holy Sepulchre. Instead God had favoured their enemies. Were they unworthy? Was it not enough that they had starved, fought and marched their way to Jerusalem during the course of the last three years?

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  ere was hardly any moon that night and the Milky Way shone brightly, a wealth of silver stars streaming across the sky. Th

  e constellations on the land

  below were bright too: orange torches and red braziers lined the walls and streets of the city and outlined the camps of the besiegers. Very few people inside or outside of the city could sleep due to anxiety. Could the defenders of Jerusalem dare to hope that the worst was over? Th