Saladin & the 3rd Crusade - Siege of Jerusalem - Extra History - #2

the horns of hatin july 4th 1187 the battle is over bodies lie across the slopes dismembered and baking in the sun there are thousands of captives but saladin has asked for two of them by name ghee de lucinion king of jerusalem and reynold of chattayon when they come saladin's palatial tent is still being set up saladin then offers ghee a glass of iced julep and the king dying of thirst sucks it down it's a relief in more ways than one he knows that in muslim culture to offer someone's sustenance is a promise they will not be harmed ghee then hands the cup to reynold but solidan interrupts he had given the cup to gee not reynold the sultan stance berating raynald for his blasphemy and treachery for breaking the peace between saladin and the crusader states by attacking pilgrim caravans for blaspheming god and torturing muslims he then gives reynold a choice convert or die reynold refuses and with one stroke solidan strikes off his head and upon seeing how the king now shakes the sultan leans in and assures ghee no harm will come to him kings he says do not kill kings [Music] the battle of a teen is often listed among the most pivotal military victories in world history this is because saladin had done much more than engage and defeat the armies of the crusader states he had utterly destroyed them he had broken the military power of the latin kingdoms to the point that they could garrison castles but had no field army he'd captured the true cross the most holy relic of the crusader states dealing a severe blow to the kingdom's morale and spurning a minor crisis of faith and finally he had taken hostage the king of jerusalem the grand master of the night's templar and so many high-ranking nobles that once the captives families ransomed them back their financial ability to wage war was diminished the lower ranking captives those without a noble family to bail them out were largely sold into slavery flooding the damascus markets to the point that a christian slave could be had for only three dinars knights of the military orders the knights templar and hospital who were too dangerous to let live and useless as captives because they refused to be ransomed were executed clumsily by clerics a few days after the battle only those few who did convert to islam were spared it was a monumental victory but to make it count solid and new he had to capitalize on it quickly see much like the christian force that they had just defeated solidan's army was a coalition of semi-rivals for over a decade solidan had essentially struck a bargain with the leaders of the muslim middle east unite under the leadership of saladin except the primacy of the ayubid dynasty and he would defeat and conquer the crusader states and while this victory had shut the doubters up temporarily he still needed to take a big prize in order to make that bargain seem fully worthwhile and there was really only one objective that would truly vindicate him jerusalem granted it wasn't the most strategically important target that would be tire with its defensive walls and positions on the silk road but jerusalem was symbolically crucial considered the second holiest city in islam jerusalem contained the dome of the rock the site where the prophet muhammad was set to have ascended to heaven standing on the rock where abraham had prepared to sacrifice his son to god across from it was the al-aqsa mosque where the prophet had led prayers and both were on the temple mount a site also sacred to jews and christians but when the first crusade took jerusalem in 1099 they'd turned the dome of the rock into a christian church and the al-aqsa mosque into a palace and later headquarters for the night's templar by islamic standards this had spiritually polluted both sites particularly the dome of the rock since the alterations had included religious art depicting human figures which are forbidden in islam but if saladin could reverse what the muslim world looked on as an 88-year occupation it would legitimize his campaign and jerusalem lay nearly undefended with ghee having thrown everything into hating solidan swept into christian-held palestine taking city after city knowing that his forces might splinter if defeated or even pinned down in a siege he kept the speed of the advance up by offering the christian cities generous terms if they surrendered without a fight all christians had the option to stay their properties unmolested provided they agreed to pay attacks and those that wanted to leave would have 40 days to settle their affairs and would not be attacked as they made their way to tyre when the cities agreed and most did he ensured the agreements were honored that summer solidan captured most cities in the latin kingdom save tyre and arrived outside jerusalem in late september with an army of twenty thousand where they found themselves facing a pitiful defense force the christian leader was balian of ibalan a crusader noble who'd escaped hatin and made it to tyre with three thousand men the only noble to escape with his troops separated from his wife and children in jerusalem which everyone knew was headed for a siege he'd brokered a safe passage agreement with saladin that allowed him to pick up his family and escort them through the muslim lines to his home city of tripoli but to get that sweet deal he'd sworn an oath not to fight saladin or stay in jerusalem for longer than a day but when balian and his 16 knights arrived in the holy city the patriarch of jerusalem declared him absolved of the oath and charged him with the city's defense he accepted even though it would mean murdering his family balian then sent a message to saladin informing him that he would be staying in jerusalem saladin's reaction he sent soldiers to escort balian's family to safety in tripoli the kind of merciful act saladin would later become famous for but with no knights in the city but his escort bayley and hastily knighted 60 squires and scratched together a few thousand in a defense force tradesmen carried spears women manned the wall defenses and on september 20th sullivan attacked the tower of david and the damascus gate sending clouds of arrows into the fortifications again and again they assaulted the walls with siege towers but the defenders pushed them back sallying out to harass the attackers so sullivan changed tactics attacking the city from the east with his host of siege artillery and greek fire engineers tunneled under the defensive wall collapsing a breach that his army took by assault inside christians carried out desperate acts of penance in hopes god would save them they cut their hair chanted prayers while walking the city barefoot and balian came to saladin to negotiate a surrender though saladin was not in the mood he was generous to cities that capitulated without a fight but by the customs of medieval warfare a city that resisted got sacked heck the crusaders had done as much when they took jerusalem slaughtering the muslim inhabitants so saladin stated he would kill the defenders and sell anyone left into slavery two which balian made a counter threat breached the city and they would not only slaughter the city's muslim population but destroy every mosque and shrine sullivan took a moment and met with his captains weighing the risk of damage against the possibility of looking weak to his allies he decided to make the deal the final negotiation centered around ransoms with the crusaders coming up with enough money to pay ransoms for 7 000 of their citizens with the 15 000 they could not afford sold into slavery however saladin was able to free 3 000 muslims previously kept by the crusaders as slaves and in the spirit of celebration he released nearly a thousand christian prisoners of war the holy city was handed over without a bloody sack muslim clerics stripped the images out of the dome of the rock and purified the temple mount with incense and rose water solid and then hand picked the cleric to give the first sermon there a man who called the recovery of jerusalem after 88 years a gift from god comparing saladin's achievement to that of the prophet muhammad himself his victory was complete casting saladin as both a victorious general and a man of integrity in taking jerusalem he had killed no innocents treated captive noble women well and abided by his oaths even when advisers pushed him he refused to attack the ransom christians headed to tyre or destroy the church of the holy sepulchre reportedly built over christ's tomb but the backlash was already on its way the vatican october 20th 1187 the archbishop of tyre approaches pope urban iii the pope is surprised to see him so far from the holy land the archbishop kisses the pope's ring and tells him of the disaster of hatin of the capture of king ghee and of the loss of the true cross he says jerusalem is vulnerable he doesn't know it's already fallen pope urban's face goes red then purple his guards think it's rage until the holy father coughs and grasps at his chest dead of a heart attack the last casualty of hattin but the word is out across europe now and nobles including kings are volunteering for a third crusade including one that will prove himself solidant's greatest foe richard the lionheart legendary patron roll call ahmed ziad turk alicia bramble casey muestia dominic valenciana gunner clovis kyle murgatroyd and auriel's one thank you so much [Music] um you

Channel: Extra Credits

Views: 356,842

Rating: 4.9466181 out of 5

Keywords: Extra credits, extra history, extra credits history, home learning, saladin, crusades, crusaders, third crusade, kingdom of jerusalem, siege of jerusalem, battle of hattin, crusader kings, middle ages, crusades history, high school history

Id: gzLacGirWWQ

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021