The Third Crusade: Saladin & Richard the Lionheart Documentary

the 12th century the third crusade two great leaders would come to symbolize the struggle between the empires of islam and christianity saladin the arab world's greatest champion and richard the lionheart christendom's finest warrior divided by religion they would be brought together in holy war driven by honor obsessed with fame and power richard and saladin would ascend into legend fighting for the sacred city of jerusalem based on the latest research from both muslim and christian sources this is their story hello in 1187 a muslim army battered at the gates of jerusalem united behind saladin the most powerful commander they've ever had for four generations the holy city had been in the hands of the christian infidel now saladin was poised to reclaim jerusalem for the muslim world inside the holy city the christian population panicked mothers hacked off their daughter's hair in hope that saladin's men wouldn't rape them monks hid their sacred icons they had good reason to be terrified saladin was driven on by the terrible events of the first crusade 88 years earlier following an appeal from the catholic church the first crusaders had ripped jerusalem from the heart of the islamic world slaughtering every living thing in the name of their christian god the first crusader invasion of jerusalem was horrific a lot of blood was shed for no reason the amount of bloodshed was not based on military needs but rather to create terrorism now saladin had gathered his own terrifying army he believed that soon jerusalem and victory would be his islam could take its revenge for the first crusade but saladin knew very little of the remote corner of the world that had spawned the crusaders europe europe was considered to be a cold foggy ambiguous place where people actually didn't have a clear idea how to govern themselves their religion wasn't clear to them and they didn't have a proper cultural civilization and what the arabs had in mind was philosophy medicine music literature poetry and the europeans were sought to lack all of these things to arab belief western society was increasingly sophisticated and strong valuing military skill above all else it bred ever more deadly warriors determined to hold on to jerusalem the man who would one day be saladin's nemesis was one of europe's most proud feared and powerful princes richard of england richard's heroic deeds would one day earn him the title lionheart richards was the member of a fractious violent family that ruled england and northern france in the 12th century he was very strong through his bravery through his astuteness through his intelligence he was somebody who was admired and respected throughout the known world a devout catholic richard came from an intensely religious society obsessed with jerusalem the holy city was thousands of miles away but it was the epicenter of his faith here jesus christ had lived and died since the first crusade generations of knights had fought to keep it in christian hands it was a deeply felt belief within christian society at this time that if the land on which christ had walked if the city in which he was buried was not in christian hands that was an affront to their god that their god would feel that they had let him down also if jerusalem was in the hands of men of another faith the pilgrim route to jerusalem might be barred for generations unless you controlled that root and the holy city itself prince richard knew he had an obligation to jerusalem that he might be called on to become a crusader as he honed his skills fighting christian rivals in europe the holy city was never far from his mind jerusalem was in richard's blood his great-grandfather had been king of the holy city his father the king of england sent huge sums of money to the holy land even his mother had been on crusade it was natural that richard would follow in his ancestors crusading footsteps while richard was still a child saladin was a young man in his twenties as a polo playing cavalry officer he never imagined a future as one of the arab world's greatest heroes he wasn't even an arab we know that he was born in 1137 in tikrit the birthplace of saddam hussein his family were kurds he was to some extent anyway an ethnic outsider in the lands where he became so powerful as saladin came of age descendants of the first european crusaders known as the franks were fortifying their new kingdom of jerusalem their growing network of crusader castles was a clear sign that they intended to stay and colonize arab territory the arab world did nothing it was paralyzed by internal conflicts there wasn't a unity of purpose in the arab world it took the arabs and the muslims a long time to work out a formula by which they can actually counter attack and this didn't happen until after the first crusade had taken deep roots in society as a young man saladin was under the command of his warrior uncle in egypt in time saladin would unite the feuding factions of the arab world and take on the crusaders but like richard he began his rise to power fighting his neighbors as egypt's ruler circle to stamp out his muslim rivals an unlikely beginning for islam's holiest of warriors but a twist of fate would change his life forever died from overeating as his nephew saladin took command it slowly dawned on him that he was destined for leadership and that this suited him that and people were willing to follow his leadership and he built on it egypt was the richest country in the middle east the perfect power base for a young warrior as soon as he became ruler of egypt salahuddin conceived of the idea of setting up a monarchy however at the start he did not have plans to liberate jerusalem but rather he desired the vast kingdom an empire saladin spent the next decade attacking his muslim neighbors with the might of egypt behind him he brought arabia and syria under his control only a small enclave was left untouched the crusader occupied kingdom of jerusalem after many years of fighting saladin was the most powerful man in the middle east but now approaching 50 he was criticized by muslim holy men a number of clerics and religious scholars started criticizing him and asked for how long will you keep fighting for power people were asking him to stop the bloodshed of muslims they said enough is enough driven by ambition saladin had killed many muslims on his rise to power now he searched for a way to return and show he was also a pious man the answer only came to him after a near-death experience in the spring of 1185 he felt gravely ill on the brink of death saladin called his holy mentee lived in the religious atmosphere he believed in the mystical power of a holy man and supernatural actions or miracles while listening to his holy men read from the quran had a revelation he became obsessed with the idea of liberating jerusalem and that such a task would bring him forgiveness of his sins and god's rewards as saladin began to recover his belief that god had spared him from death so that he could retake jerusalem dominated his thoughts he started to realize how he could both do god's will and unite the arab world under his leadership he would use the power of religion to create an indignant rage in the people of islam he would call for a jihad a righteous struggle in which all good muslims were obliged to rid the occupied territory of the infidels saladin spread news of his jihad throughout the middle east his scribes wrote of a new holy war saladin wanted to remind everyone of the importance of jerusalem to the muslims it was the place where the prophet muhammad went to heaven to speak to god the holy city had to be taken back he used religion because that's all they had this is the culture so he used what was available to him and he used it effectively in a positive sense he wasn't manipulating religion but there was nothing else this was the only element which could bring people together and make them feel that there was an ideal they were striving for crusaders returning from the holy land brought news of saladin's rise to power and the precarious position of the franks in jerusalem but richard and christendom's other european leaders were preoccupied fighting each other they felt they could spare no man to intervene in the holy land for saladin it was the perfect time to act once saladin had built up this confederation of people from egypt damascus and northern syria and created this moral pressure on people to join in his jihad he then had to deliver there was an immediacy a need for him to fight the christians in late 1187 otherwise the confederation would break up inside the holy city of jerusalem the occupying francs feared the united islamic forces they'd written to the pope and kings in europe begging for help but received no response now in the summer of 1187 they took the terrifying decision to fight saladin alone it's not a decision that people took very often in the middle ages to risk a battle against so successful a commander with such great resources at his disposal at a saladin head meant that you were taking three four times the normal terrible risk the franks in jerusalem put their faith in an extraordinary weapon a fragment of wood on which they believed christ was crucified to medieval christians the true cross was imbued with great power they had taken it into battle more than 20 times and won pardoned by the presence of the true cross the knights of the kingdom of jerusalem marched out to face saladin this was exactly what saladin had hoped for luring the franks away from the safety of jerusalem's walls he drew them 20 miles into the baron hills of hatton here he had poisoned the few sources of fresh water saladin had them trapped now at hatton he would confirm his authority amongst the other arab leaders by unleashing his great islamic army on the franks he ordered his troops to attack and torch the crusader camp thousands of christian knights were slaughtered at hatton saladin destroyed the bulk of the frank's army the true cross was also his but saladin did not destroy the great religious symbol to saladin personally the true cross was a worthless piece of wood as a muslim he believed that christ was a prophet but he did not believe that he was the son of god and therefore he could not attach the same spiritual significance as the christians did to this object saladin was aware however that the christians were highly highly attached to the true cross and if he was going to surrender it he would want something very very worthwhile in return the true cross might prove useful to saladin but the jihad was not yet over jerusalem was still in christian hands it took two months for news to reach europe from the holy land word of saladin's victory at hattin brought an increasing sense of unease to richard of england knew the road to jerusalem would now be wide open for saladin the holy city could fall and he would not know about it until it was too late richard's worst nightmare was about to come true just weeks after his victory at hatton saladin reached jerusalem his defining moment as a holy warrior had come on wanted jerusalem not just because of the importance of the city to islam the message of the first crusaders had been liberate jerusalem from the barbaric muslims wanted to neutralize that message jerusalem was of saladin's mercy uh as liberator of jerusalem saladin guaranteed his place in history but it was his treatment of the christian population that would make him a legend saladin decided not to cleanse jerusalem with christian blood he preferred rose water muslim soldiers turned their energies to purifying the holy places on saladin's orders the christian descendants of the first crusaders were allowed to live after capturing the city he said nobody will be killed he banned the killing saladin aimed to show that islam was militarily and morally superior to the christian faith saladin decided to teach the crusaders a lesson that was that when you conquer a city you show mercy and you show the values of your faith as being superior to those of the enemy and that was the lesson of jerusalem in 1187 for the first time in 88 years muslims could pray in jerusalem there is nothing comparable with the restoration of an occupied homeland and achieving victory jerusalem is the sister of mecca medina so a lot of passions accumulate salahaddin had a feeling of unlimited exaltation and he became then the main leader in the islamic world saladin had achieved his goal the middle east was finally united under his leadership and he would be forever known as islam's greatest holy warrior but he did not anticipate the storm that would be unleashed when richard of england heard the holy city was back in muslim hands the loss of jerusalem was a disaster for richard and the christians in europe the pope immediately issued a decree jerusalem was to be recaptured at all costs in christianity's darkest hour richard prepared to take on salad richard would have heard the name saladin many many times he would have known of saladin's huge success as the leader of the muslim world the opportunity to match himself against someone so famous was an opportunity not to be missed as soon as he heard the news that saladin had taken jerusalem he at once without a moment's thought impetuously knowing instinctively it was the right thing to do took the cross richard received a fabric cross that all crusaders pledged to wear until jerusalem was back in christian hands richard would know that if he could lead a crusade that recaptured jerusalem he would go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest heroes of christendom this was his time when richard the greatest night in europe became a crusader thousands followed his example men prepared to leave their families the cross is sewn onto their tunics signifying that they were now a part of christ's army led by richard men who had never left their villages would travel 2 000 miles to join him in the fight for jerusalem in return the church would forgive them all their sins a reward for which many were ready to die crusaders embarking for the holy land must have felt an enormous mix of emotions they were leaving their wives their families they themselves were going into the unknown they were going into lands that they hadn't seen or experienced before they knew from previous crusades you probably had a one in three chance of dying or not coming back so great fear and also a sense of moral right they felt crusading was a good purpose in the summer of 1190 richard now king of england set sail for the holy land richard had spent a fortune on provisions it was said he would have been prepared to sell london to a jerusalem in jerusalem saladin realized instead of stopping the holy war his actions had inflamed it they knew that richard's army was sailing to join franks released from jerusalem who had regrouped 100 miles north and were now besieging the muslim port of acre acre was the key port in the eastern mediterranean if the christians could seize it they would secure a bridgehead into the holy land but if saladin could break the siege he could force the invaders back into the sea when saladin arrived at acre he ordered his army to surround the christian procedures but the crusaders were too deeply entrenched for him to win another dramatic victory the siege was a stalemate now saladin decided to starve the christians into submission in the crusader camp around acre food was so scarce mounted knights were forced to eat grass they had already eaten their horses hunger malnutrition and disease killed thousands and made some desperate men desert the crusade a few even converted to islam and went over to saladin the crusaders tenuous hold on acre was slipping away after months at sea in may 1191 richard king of england sighted the holy land for the first time it was the crucial point in a great world struggle between two great religions as richard sails to it we get a description of him looking at the tents seeing where saladin's lines are assessing the strengths of the walls already the soldier planning what he will do next he approached aker not as a pilgrim but as a commander richard's arrival brought a new sense of hope to the desperate men and acres the starving crusaders lit fires in honor of their new leader in the muslim camp above acre salad incensed that in richard he would face a difficult opponent the king of england's reputation as a formidable warrior preceded him but at the city walls the crusader catapults were quiet richard was ill with the deadly camp fever and incapable of fighting he was confined to his sick bed but richard knew there were other ways of winning a war one of the first things he did was to send a message to saladin saying can we have a summit meeting let's you and i meet face to face and sort this out now no crusading commander had ever done anything like this before it was unprecedented richard sought to establish a personal relationship with sam to try and win the war with diplomacy the idea that they were not just your great enemy whom you fought and hoped to send to hell but someone you could talk to partly it's richard's belief that he could persuade people if only he could meet them and talk to them then he could get through to them they could bring an end to the whole business of the crusade on terms that suited richard by talking to the saladin himself but saladin would not be so easily seduced believing he had the advantage and considering it dishonorable to meet someone he intended to kill saladin politely declined to meet richard i think richard was taken aback when saladin refused to meet him he thought he was a persuasive character but this didn't apparently cut ice with saladin in the sense that he first of all didn't trust richard he thought he would never keep his word second he thought there was no possibility of reaching a peace treaty with richard early attempts at diplomacy failed but saladin decided to show richard that he followed the chivalry code as well as any christian night he sent the alien king of england a gift saladin was proud of his reputation as a generous man he had already given away thousands of horses to his troops at acre to richard he sent fruit for his illness it seemed as if saladin was impatient for richard to recover soon richard was well again and he descended on acre in richard the muslim defenders faced a new kind of leader who fought from the front risking his life alongside his troops he seemed unstoppable the muslim defenders were facing the crunch the arrival of richard meant that the pressure exerted by the christians was now almost unbearable they were very very short of food and saladin didn't seem to be able to offer them relief from his hilltop camp saladin could do little to help but he refused to let the muslims in acre surrender richard's onslaught continues the muslims resisted for almost a week and still no relief came from saladin it seemed like the people of acre were being left to die eventually without saladin's permission they gave up the fight in the end they forced his hand they forced him to surrender the city and this wasn't to his liking but at the same time everybody was exhausted his resources were running out he couldn't actually keep paying everybody and he was forced to surrender aker at the same time regret the fact that he had to do so saladin had enjoyed decades of loyalty and success but now against richard his authority was beginning to unravel christianity's new holy warrior had brought his own brand of hell to the orient it was at acre that richard king of england earned the title lionheart victory at the siege of acre was a great breakthrough for richard it meant that the christians had been blessed by god how else could they explain their victory it also in strategic terms he knew would be a big step forward it would help to break the power of saladin would help open the way to the holy city of jerusalem with the muslim held port of acre back in christian hands richard the lionheart king of england had completed the first stage of his quest for jerusalem he thanked god for his recent victory but now instead of marching on the holy city he found himself guarding three thousand muslim prisoners in acres dungeons taken hostage after the battle he sent envoys to saladin's camp to negotiate for their release in exchange for the prisoners saladin was asked to give back christendom's greatest holy relic the so-called true cross which the muslims had captured four years earlier christians believed it was part of the wood on which christ was crucified saladin knew richard valued the true cross highly and hoped the crusaders would not want to continue their march on jerusalem without it risking the lives of three thousand of his fellow muslims he delayed the exchange stuck in acre richard's crusade ground to a halt as the weeks passed his fellow holy warriors occupied themselves in acres famous brothels crusaders from across europe had vowed to fight for jerusalem and the true cross and act piously in the land of christ but every day saladin spun out the negotiations the crusaders behave less and less like holy warriors in the dungeons below the muslim prisoners could not understand why saladin continued to delay they grew more and more fearful eventually richard decided his march on jerusalem could wait no longer he ordered the prisoners to be taken from their cells they couldn't just stay at acre as month succeeded month waiting perhaps endlessly to leave so many fighting men in captivity in acre would have entailed money a great many men would have to guard them this he calculated was a cost that he could not bear in the end he has them slaughtered zealous christian knights believed slaughtering the muslims was god's will richard had agonized over whether to kill the prisoners but in the end he felt saladin gave him no choice richard's decision went against all conventions of the time his crusaders executed the muslims in full view of saladin's troops according to the codes of warfare in the middle ages you simply captured prisoners and exchanged them or ransomed them you never kill them they're supposed to be worth something with the prisoners out of his way richard was free to continue his crusade to jerusalem and with his new reputation for brutality other arab cities would now think twice before opposing him saladin was furious he ordered the true cross to be taken to his treasury in damascus the relic was lost to christendom forever now with neither man trusting the other both richard and saladin prepared to intensify the holy war for jerusalem in the autumn of 1191 richard began his march towards the holy city the first stage on the road to jerusalem would take him to the port of jaffa 60 miles to the south richard knew he would need to march through saladin's territory to reach jaffa but the port was key to his crusade saladin knew as they knew that if they once held jaffa they would have a bridgehead the most convenient bridgehead for the march inland to jerusalem saladin was determined if at all possible to stop them taking jaffa saladin's army shadowed richard's march his cavalry harassed the crusader line stragglers exhausted by thirst and heat were isolated from the main body of the christian army and shown no mercy slaughtered in revenge for the massacre at acre by night the full force of the treacherous situation the crusaders found themselves in hit home men took strength from prayer and the proximity of their ultimate goal jerusalem richard knew he risked everything exposing almost all the crusader forces to the perilous march tarantulas emerged at night to bite the crusaders terrified men beat shields to drive the vermin away in the minds of the crusaders this endurance test if you like was something sent by god churchmen would explain setbacks and hardship in those terms god really does want you to succeed but to make sure you've got to prove it you've got to undergo these ordeals and come through them richard expected the greatest test was yet to come an all-out attack by saladin with a mixture of belief and determination he arrived within a few miles of jaffa at the plains of azur at azuf saladin intended to stop richard with an all-out attack saladin risked a full scale battle to stop this steady march southwards the crusaders were determined to get to jaffa there was a head-on conflict between the two great armies as saladin's lines advanced richard commanded his crusaders to hold formation then against richard's direct order two nights seeking glory broke ranks richard saw this he was horrified it was the last thing he wanted it was vital that the christians maintain formation yet he reacted to it he saw that if this charge took place the christian force would be fragmented he needed to keep his men together and immediately he said right okay if they've gone we'll all go and he ordered a general charge within minutes richard turned the tide of the battle to the muslims the king of england seemed to possess superhuman power comes across to saladin and his contemporaries as an extraordinary monarch he's described as an extremely courageous and clever warrior the muslim army fled in confusion from richard's ferocious attack after the carnage despite overwhelming odds richard found himself victorious again ah by taking the city of acre the city which had dominated as it were world news for the last two years and then winning the the battle of arsuth richard had within a short space of time destroyed the reputation that saladin had built up over several decades of being an unstoppable successful politician and soldier with saladin now defeated richard entered jaffa unopposed behind the thick castle walls richard surgeons tried to keep the wounded crusaders alive many of these exhausted men would now be expected to march inland to jerusalem hundreds had fallen and every death made richard's quest more and more difficult any major victory by the crusaders such as the one at our suf shouldn't blind us to the reality of their very precarious existence at all times in in the holy land because after all they were a minority they always were a minority inside jaffa richard began to realize how vulnerable his crusade was instead of marching swiftly on jerusalem as his followers urged he once again decided to attempt secret negotiations with saladin trying to capture jerusalem simply by military means is phenomenally dangerous it will be much better if saladin can be persuaded by diplomatic means by negotiation to allow jerusalem to be handed back to the christians richard wrote a private letter appealing to saladin's famous generosity the muslims and the crusaders are bleeding to death the country is utterly ruined lives have been sacrificed on both sides the time has come to stop this jerusalem is for us an object of worship it must be consigned to us but the holy city was also sacred to muslims richard does not know just how centrally important jerusalem was to the muslims he probably overestimates his ability to persuade saladin to give up this city thinking it doesn't mean so much saladin has to dissuade him persuade him i know it's jerusalem means as much to us as it does to you saladin sent his brother aladio with his response to richard's request jerusalem is ours as much as yours indeed it's even more sacred to us than it is to you do not imagine that we can renounce it or waiver on this point the land was originally ours whereas you have only just arrived jerusalem was a sacred islamic site where the prophet muhammad ascended to heaven saladin would never give it up his status in the arab world depended on retaining but he was completely unprepared for what happened next richard and aledil continued to meet and became close friends they discovered they had a great deal in common men like richard and al-adil both believe they have been born to rule to lead armies to enjoy hunting to enjoy hawking to enjoy fine horses to enjoy music they have so much in common that once they get talking it's not surprising they appreciate each other's qualities richard began to call a lady brother and knighted his son as if he were a european prince the massacre at acre seemed a distant memory once he has met with saladin's brother al adil he felt these were not merely stereotypical nightmare figures of some horrible hideous alien people and from that moment on the rest of the crusade there is nothing remotely approaching the slaughter of the garrison of acre with richard on crusade were his wife berengaria and his sister joanna his sister would be an essential part in his new diplomatic thrust for the holy city sent a letter to saladin outlining a radical new peace proposal the king of england suggested al-adil should marry richard's sister joanna and jointly share the kingdom of jerusalem this on the surface is a terribly strange idea a christian princess marrying a muslim prince it's a very interesting attack by richard i think what he's doing there is trying to divide off al-adil from saladin he's suggesting that allah deal should become the ruler of jerusalem in his own right he's trying to exploit tensions within the muslim camp richard the lionheart was happy to negotiate with al adil but he neglected to consult joanna joanna refused to marry a muslim and aladio refused to convert christianity the wedding was off she was a divorced woman in the first place she hoped to marry some kind of christian count didn't want to become part of a muslim family and she knew that this was simply a straightforward political proposal when richard's secret dealings with the muslims were revealed his fellow crusaders were scathing the church preferred to drive the infidel from the holy land by force richard had little choice but to heed the demands of his increasingly impatient army reluctantly he prepared to face the dangers of the treacherous winter road to jerusalem despite weeks of torrential rain the devoted crusaders struggled on but the nearer richard got to his goal the more worried he became just six miles from the holy city richard brought his army to a halt he held counsel with a group of local knights who had made the holy land their home and were concerned about the long-term future of the crusader kingdom of jerusalem it became clear and this is what richard was told above all by the men who had lived all their lives there who knew the country world who understood its problems that it just wasn't on even if they were to succeed in capturing uh jerusalem they wouldn't be able to hold it for long part of the trouble was that those who were keenness to go to jerusalem those who pushed hardest for this march were precisely the people who felt themselves to be pilgrims and as pilgrims once they had fulfilled their vow of getting to jerusalem would then go home abandoning the city that they had struggled so long to take and they would lose it again quickly what was the point of that richard could see no point in pressing home the attack only to lose jerusalem a few months later on the advice of his local knights he decided to turn his army around and march back to jaffa the idea of not going to jerusalem provokes outrage and uproar in the crusader army they committed themselves to the cause of christ they wanted to complete their pilgrimage and here was their their leader their esteemed leader telling them that it wasn't possible they couldn't understand it they felt some of them felt very betrayed some of them felt almost that rich was being a coward but the reality was their leaders said they had to turn around and go back their hopes shattered many pilgrims died of exposure thousands of others deserted richard's crusade in disgust in jerusalem saladin gained little political capital from richard's retreat he was increasingly isolated from his counsel started declining he had reports that it was becoming impossible to find soldiers or supplies he also received the news from damascus stating that even if trees of the fertile oasis were cut there was no more timber to make weapons like arrows and catapults as time passed saladin became more and more vulnerable it was becoming increasingly clear that if richard tried to attack jerusalem again when the weather improved the holy city would be almost impossible to defend it seemed only a matter of time in jaffa richard attempted to rally his troops after the bitter disappointment of the failure to reach jerusalem then he received some devastating news from england his brother prince john was attempting to seize power from richard in his absence richard was urged to stop the crusade and return to england to fight for his crown to know that he was flung into depression withdrew into his tent wouldn't talk to people for a while must have been a very difficult decision to have to take if i stay here i may not be able to take jerusalem and if i stay here trying to do the impossible maybe i will lose my kingdom back home if i give up jerusalem and head straight back to counter my treacherous little brother john it may be that i shall get there too late and he will have taken over anyway and i shall have abandoned jerusalem what does anyone do in that situation either way probably you're going to get it wrong the hopes of thousands of crusaders rested on richard's decision all were desperate to receive the divine salvation the holy city offered richard's chaplain approached the king's room in a desperate plea he attempted to shame richard into making the decision they all earned for pray consider deeply in your heart how god has honored and magnified you with countless triumphs and successes if you deserve jerusalem it will be the same as if you left it to be destroyed by its enemies as the weather improved richards in action threatened his reputation as a holy warrior it seemed he had little choice but to make one last advance on jerusalem he had to risk it even though he must have known it was probably impossible but not to try it when the moment came would have been a moral cowardice which he did not think he was capable as richard's army approached jerusalem for the second time saladin met with his council of emirs this time they felt certain richard would crush them demanded they pledge to defend jerusalem to the death but no one spoke and she had the westerners will roll up this land like the rolling up of the scroll of saladin's emmys suggested that he simply withdraw for saladin this was not acceptable at all he had spent all those years gathering the muslims together to regain the holy city the holding of jerusalem was so tied into his own personal prestigious authority it was something he could not countenance in the hills outside jerusalem richard made his camp crusaders prepared for martyrdom the sick and wounded arrived in the hope of being healed by the holy city richard was tantalizingly close to his ultimate goal but on the eve of battle he was haunted by the fear of failure there's a story told that on one patrol he got close enough to jerusalem to be able to see the holy city itself beholding jerusalem only added to richard's dilemma realizing that he was so close he flung up his cloak covered his eyes saying i will not see that which i cannot capture just as before the closer richard got to taking jerusalem the greater his doubts became about holding the city inside jerusalem saladin was also kept awake by his fears when he conquered the holy city saladin had allowed the christian population to live but he suspected richard would not be so generous the terrified muslim population knew richard had massacred the people of acre they feared they would be next they prepared to defend their holy city with everything they had in the middle of the night saladin met his secretary biha aldin who gave him some advice your highness is weighed down with anxiety earthly means are useless you can only turn to god almighty perhaps god will take pity on you and answer your petition saladin and the whole of jerusalem braced themselves for richard's onslaught but it did not come the crusader camp was deserted on the verge of achieving his goal once again richard had ordered his men back to the coast to saladin it looked like richard had given up on his crusade for the medieval muslim the retreat of richard the second time from jerusalem would have been regarded as a sign of god's benevolence towards them they would not have seen it in personal terms richard is chickening out this was god's favor towards them returning richard had retreated to acre now saladin seized the initiative and descended on jaffa the port was quickly overrun like his conquest of jerusalem saladin tried to stop the looting and sacking of the city but his troops had begun to resent his generosity to the christians and many ignored his command worst news was yet to come for saladin richard may have forsaken jerusalem but when he heard jaffa was threatened he raced with only a handful of men to save the port richard mowed down everyone who dared challenge saladin commanded his men to keep fighting but his orders carried no weight his top ranking officer said to him let your bastards let your bastards who prevented us from looting go and fight him saladin had no response to the insubordination despite being massively outnumbered richard won the battle of jaffa it's in that moment i think that you see richard's reputation as a legendary warrior working even in his own lifetime working on the minds of his enemies people against whom he's been fighting for the last 15 months the great encounter of jaffa becomes a miracle sent by god to allow our great christian hero richard to hold on to at least one of the successes of the crusade with richard sick from exhaustion neither man could continue a face-saving truce was all that was left yes see at jaffa richard had saved his reputation as a holy warrior but his crusade was over the ultimate prize jerusalem would never be hit under the treaty richard kept control of jaffa and acre and a stretch of the coast that the holy city and everywhere else remained in saladin's hands there was neither victor nor vanquish at the same time saladin had clearly won a decisive victory in regaining jerusalem and as long as he managed to keep it the other side would consider this to be some kind of a defeat although the truce confirmed jerusalem as his for saladin it was too late his authority over his empire was on the verge of collapse he died six months later aged fifty-six foreign the treaty might have contributed to his death he could not tolerate what had happened in many cases when a hero collapses then either he commits suicide or he dies under the stress of what he's been through richard left the holy land in 1192 he had marched on jerusalem twice and failed thwarted by his own caution as much as by saladin he died fighting fellow christians in france aged 42 even though richard did not manage to recapture jerusalem for the christians his reputation was made on the international stage he had fought with honor with glory and with a large amount of success everybody recognized that the christian world the muslim world his status moved to a new level he became the standard which kings and warriors should aspire to richard and saladin gave everything for love of jerusalem even in europe saladin gained a glowing reputation in the first guide to christian chivalry he was the leading example saladin is the most famous muslim in the whole world after the prophet muhammed of course his legacy is with us even today he symbolizes virtue magnanimity and generosity and was a worthy person for medieval europe to admire richard and saladin never met but their epic struggle set the tone for religious conflict for centuries to come in their own lifetimes chroniclers imagined how unstoppable they would have been if they had worked together putting aside sins if anyone could give saladin's noble qualities to king richard and his to saladin and the whole world could not furnish two such princess

Channel: CJTReviews

Views: 1,960,536

Rating: 4.5004125 out of 5

Keywords: Third, Crusade, Medieval, History, Military, Leaders, Crusades, Saladin, Richard, Lionheart, dominate, Documentary, Stories, Centuries, Knights, Tony, Robinson, Religion, Cross, Crescent, Kingdom, Heaven, of, Christians, Muslims, Fact, Truth, First, Second, Islam, Dark, Ages, Holy, Wars, Battles, Campaigns, Franks, Roman, Empire, 1095, 1291, Christianity, Eastern, Western, Byzantine, Allah, Jerusalem, Constantinople

Id: CiYNdexDwYw

Length: 88min 53sec (5333 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/TH3GHOSTWAFFL3]

Probably just a generic sound used in a lot of things, but this is the first time I've heard it outside of Daggerfall

[u/DFInterkarma]

A lot of these sound effects are from the venerable Sound Ideas 6000 collection, used in TV, movies, and video games for decades. Once you know a few of these sounds, you start hearing them everywhere. :)

https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/42/General-Series-6000-Sound-Effect-Library

[u/RedDeadRevengeance]

I keep hearing it on NCIS. Also a few really old cartoons. Pretty standard stock effect, but Daggerfall was the only time I heard it clearly enough to associate it with the game.

[u/Lava_Croft]

I love stuff like this, thanks!

[u/[deleted]]

Nicely spotted... the door creak at 1:05:41

[u/OrcSorcerer]

You'll also hear the Daggerfall horse SFX in plenty of TV and movie fantasy. I once heard the DOOM door effect and explosion noise used in Dr Who. Stock footage gets everywhere. I like this.

[u/KraykenTheSlasher]

they used this sound effect in code geass too i think

[u/BGoodej]

I swear this sample is everywhere.