A History of the Crusades-Vol 2 (21 page)

When the news of the revolution at Kharpurt
reached Balak he at once brought his army up from the south at a speed that
astounded contemporaries. On his arrival he offered Baldwin a safe-conduct to
his home if he would surrender the castle. Baldwin refused, either distrusting
the emir or not wishing to abandon his comrades. But the castle was less
impregnable than he had thought. Balak’s engineers soon undermined a wall, and
the Ortoqid army broke in. Balak now showed no mercy. His harem had been in the
castle and its sanctity had been violated. Every defender of the castle, Frank
or Armenian, and every woman who had aided them — there were, probably, Armenian
slaves in the harem — was hurled over the battlements to death. Only the King,
a nephew of his and Waleran were spared. They were moved for greater safety to
the castle of Harran.

1124: Death of
Balak

Joscelin could not risk the hazards of a
campaign against Harran. After utilizing his army for a successful raid in the
neighbourhood of Aleppo he dismissed it and returned to Turbessel. But Balak
was equally unable to profit by the situation. His lieutenant in Aleppo could
only answer the Franks by converting the churches of Aleppo into mosques,
thereby outraging the local Christians and in no way harming the Latins. Balak
himself came to Aleppo to organize a fresh campaign. But, early in 1124, the
governor of Menbij revolted against his authority. He was arrested by the
Ortoqid Timurtash, whom Balak asked to crush the rebellion; but the rebel’s
brother Isa held the citadel and appealed to Joscelin for help. Balak met
Joscelin’s army and defeated it, slaying Geoffrey the Monk. He went on to
Menbij, eager to restore order there as he had just received an urgent summons
from the south, from Tyre. But a stray arrow from the citadel ended his life,
on 6 May. He died murmuring that his death was a mortal blow for Islam. He was
right; for of all the Turkish leaders that the Crusaders had encountered he had
shown the greatest energy and wisdom. The power of the Ortoqids did not long
survive him.

In the kingdom of Jerusalem itself Baldwin’s
absence in captivity had had no harmful effect. It had tempted the Egyptians
once more to invade the country. In May 1123 a large Egyptian army moved out
from Ascalon towards Jaffa. Eustace Gamier at once led the army of Jerusalem to
oppose it. With him went the True Cross; while the Christian civilians of
Jerusalem made barefoot processions to the churches. These pious precautions
were barely needed; for when the Franks came up with the Egyptians at Ibelin,
on 29 May, the enemy, despite his vast numerical superiority, turned and fled,
leaving his camp to be plundered by the Christians. It was Eustace’s last
achievement. On 15 May he died. Following the custom of the kingdom, his widow,
the Patriarch Arnulf’s rich niece Emma, promptly took a new husband, Hugh of Le
Puiset, Count of Jaffa, in order that her lands should not lack an effective
tenant. The office of Constable of the Kingdom was given by the council to
William of Bures, Prince of Galilee.

1123: Venetian
Squadron arrives at Acre

In 1119, just after the Field of Blood, King
Baldwin had written to the Republic of Venice to plead for its help. The
Egyptians might not be formidable on land, but their fleet still dominated
Palestinian waters. In return he offered Venice commercial advantages. The Pope
supported his appeal; and the Doge, Domenico Michiel, decided to answer it.
Nearly three years passed before the Venetian expedition was ready. On 8 August
1122, a fleet of well over a hundred great men-of-war set sail from Venice,
carrying a number of men and horses and siege-material. But it did not sail
direct for Palestine. Venice had recently quarrelled with Byzantium, over an
attempt of the Emperor John Comnenus to reduce its trading privileges. So the
Venetians paused to attack the Byzantine island of Corfu. For some six months,
throughout the winter of 1122-3, the Doge laid siege, ineffectively, to the
city of Corfu. At the end of April a ship sailing swiftly from Palestine told
the Venetians of the disaster to the King. Reluctantly the Doge lifted the
siege and took his armada eastward, merely stopping to attack whatever
Byzantine ships he met. He arrived at Acre at the end of May and heard that the
Egyptian fleet was cruising off Ascalon. He sailed down to meet it and, to lure
it to battle, sent his lighter-armed ships ahead. The Egyptians fell into the
trap. Thinking to have an easy victory they sailed out only to find themselves
caught between two Venetian squadrons and outnumbered. Scarcely an Egyptian
ship escaped from disaster. Some were sunk, others captured; and the Venetians
added to their triumph when, sailing back to Acre, they met and captured a
merchant-fleet of ten richly laden vessels.

The presence of the Venetians was too valuable
to be wasted. There was a debate whether their fleet should be used to capture
Ascalon or Tyre, the two remaining Moslem strongholds on the coast. The nobles
of Judea favoured the attack on Ascalon, those of Galilee that on Tyre. The
Venetians finally decided upon Tyre. Its harbour was the best along the coast
and it was now the port of the rich lands of Damascus; it was a far more
important trading-centre than Ascalon, with its open roadstead and its poor
hinterland. But they insisted on their price. Negotiations about the terms
dragged on throughout the autumn. At Christmas 1123, the Venetian commanders
were sumptuously entertained at Jerusalem and attended the services at
Bethlehem. Early in the new year a treaty was signed at Acre between the
representatives of the Republic on the one hand and the Patriarch Gormond, the
Constable William and the Chancellor Pagan on the other, in the name of the
captive King. The Venetians were to receive a street, with a church, baths and
a bakery, free of all customary obligations, in every town of the kingdom. They
were to be free to use their own weights and measures in all their transactions,
not only amongst themselves. They were to be excused all tolls and customs-duties
throughout the kingdom. They were to receive additional houses in Acre and a
third of the cities of Tyre and Ascalon, if they helped in their capture. In
addition they were to be paid an annual sum of three hundred Saracen besants,
chargeable on royal revenues at Acre. They agreed in return to continue the
customary payment of a third of the fare charged for pilgrims to the royal
treasury. The Venetians further demanded that the kingdom should not reduce the
customs-dues charged on other nationals without Venetian consent. The Patriarch
Gormond swore on the Gospel that King Baldwin would confirm the treaty when he
was released. This was in fact done two years later, though Baldwin refused to
accept the last clause, which would entirely have subordinated the commerce of
the kingdom to Venetian interests. When the treaty was signed the Frankish army
moved up the coast to Tyre and the Venetian fleet sailed parallel to it. The
siege of Tyre was begun on 15 February 1124.

1124: Siege of
Tyre

Tyre still belonged to the Fatimid Caliphate.
In 1112 its citizens, shocked by the little support that they had received from
Egypt during the siege of the city in 1111, had allowed Toghtekin to install a
governor. He sent one of his ablest captains, the emir Mas’ud, to take over the
city. At the same time the suzerainty of Egypt was recognized and prayers in
the mosques were made for the Fatimid Caliph, who was periodically asked to
send naval help to the city. The dyarchy worked smoothly for ten years, largely
because the vizier al-Afdal was anxious to keep on good terms with Toghtekin,
whose friendship was needed against the Franks. But in December 1121 al-Afdal
was murdered by an Assassin in the streets of Cairo. The Caliph al-Amir, who
then at last became his own master, wished to recover control of Tyre. He sent
a fleet to Tyre in 1122, as though to strengthen its defences. The admiral
invited Mas’ud to inspect the ships and, when he came, kidnapped him and
brought him to Cairo. He was well received there and sent with every mark of
honour to Toghtekin, who agreed not to dispute the Fatimid restoration. But
when the Franks approached the city, al-Amir, declaring that with his fleet
destroyed he could do nothing to save it, formally handed over its defences to
Toghtekin; who rushed up seven hundred Turkish troops and provisions against
the siege.

The city of Tyre was joined to the mainland
only by the narrow isthmus that Alexander the Great had constructed; and its
fortifications were in good order. But it had one weakness; the drinking water
came through an aqueduct from the mainland, for there was no well on the
peninsula. The day after their arrival the Franks cut this aqueduct. But winter
rains had filled the city cisterns; it was some time before the shortage of
water made itself felt. The Franks settled down in a camp in the gardens and
orchards where the isthmus joined the mainland. The Venetians beached their
vessels alongside of them, but always kept at least one galley at sea to
intercept any vessel that might attempt to sail through to the harbour. The
supreme commander of the army was the Patriarch Gormond, who was felt to
possess greater authority than the Constable. When the Count of Tripoli came up
with his army to join the besieging forces, he showed himself willing to obey
the Patriarch in everything, a concession that he would not probably have made
to William of Bures.

The siege lasted on throughout the spring and
early summer. The Franks kept up a steady bombardment of the walls across the
isthmus from engines whose material had been brought up by the Venetians. The
defenders on their side were well equipped with machines for hurling stones and
Greek fire on their assailants. They fought magnificently; but they were not
sufficiently numerous to attempt sorties. Fearing lest hunger and thirst and
shortage of man-power might force them to capitulate, their messengers slipped
out of the city to urge Toghtekin and the Egyptians to hurry to their rescue.
An Egyptian army attempted a diversion against Jerusalem itself and reached the
outskirts of the Holy City. But its civilians, merchants, clerks and priests,
hastened to man its tremendous walls; and the Egyptian commander did not venture
to attack them. Soon afterwards a second Egyptian army sacked the little town
of Belin, or La Mahomerie, a few miles to the north, and massacred its
inhabitants. But such isolated raids would not save Tyre. Toghtekin was even
less enterprising. When the siege began he moved with his army to Banyas, by
the source of the Jordan, waiting for news of an Egyptian fleet with which he
could concert his attack on the Frankish camp. But no Egyptian fleet sailed up
the coast; the Caliph could not muster one. The Franks had feared this
combination. The Venetian fleet lay for some weeks off the Ladder of Tyre to
intercept the Egyptians; and the Patriarch detached Pons of Tripoli and William
of Bures with a considerable army to go to meet Toghtekin. When they approached
towards Banyas, Toghtekin decided not to risk a battle and retired to Damascus.
The only hope of the besieged city now lay in Balak the Ortoqid, the renowned
captor of the King. Balak planned to come to their aid; but in May he was
killed at Menbij.

1124: Ransom of
King Baldwin

By the end of June the situation inside Tyre
was desperate. Food and water were alike running out, and many of the garrison
had fallen. Toghtekin was warned that it must surrender. He sent to the
Frankish camp offering its capitulation on the usual terms; that those of the
inhabitants that wished to leave the city should do so in peace with all their
movable belongings and those that wished to remain should keep their rights as
citizens. The Frankish and Venetian leaders accepted the offer, though the
common soldiers and sailors were furious to hear that there would be no looting
and threatened mutiny. On 7 July 1124 the gates were opened and the Christian
army took over the city. The King’s standard was hoisted over the main gate,
and the Count of Tripoli’s and the Doge’s over towers on either side. The
leaders kept their word. There was no looting; and a long procession of Moslems
passed safely through the Crusader camp. The last Moslem town on the coast
north of Ascalon thus passed to the Christians. Their army returned rejoicing
to Jerusalem; and the Venetians sailed back to Venice, having extracted their
pound of flesh.

The good news reached King Baldwin at Shaizar.
On Balak’s death his custody had passed to Ilghazi’s son Timurtash, who
disliked the responsibility of it and preferred the idea of a rich ransom. He
asked the emir of Shaizar to open negotiations with the Franks. Queen Morphia
had journeyed to the north to be as near as possible to her husband; and she
and Count Joscelin arranged terms with the emir. The price demanded was high.
The King was to pay Timurtash eighty thousand dinars and was to cede to Aleppo,
where Timurtash had succeeded to Balak’s power, the towns of Athareb, Zerdana,
Azaz, Kafartab and the Jasr; he must also help Timurtash in suppressing the
Bedouin leader Dubais ibn Sadaqa, who had settled in the Jezireh. Twenty
thousand dinars were to be paid in advance; and hostages were to be deposited
at Shaizar for the payment of the remainder. As soon as they were handed over
to the Moslems, Baldwin would be freed. For hostages Timurtash demanded the
King’s youngest child, the four-year old Princess Joveta, and the son and heir
of Joscelin, a boy of eleven, and ten scions of the nobility. The emir Sultan of
Shaizar, to show his good faith, sent various members of his family to Aleppo.
At the end of June 1124 Baldwin left Harran, on his own charger, which had been
restored to him by Timurtash, together with many costly gifts. He went to
Shaizar, where the emir, who remembered him kindly for his remission of the
money due from Shaizar to Antioch five years before, offered him lavish
entertainment. He met there his daughter and her fellow-hostages. On their
arrival he was allowed to proceed to Antioch, which he reached in the last days
of August.