Return of the Lion Heart

Today, we’ve got a story about two great leaders-- One Christian, one Muslim.

First, the Muslim. His name is Saladin. We’ve talked about several Muslim leaders who nearly conquered the Christians. Well, Saladin finally does it. He captures the King of Jerusalem (King Guy)-- and then he sweeps over the Christian kingdom and captures every major Christian city in the Holy Lands, within a matter of weeks.

However, unlike the Christians, when Saladin conquers those cities, he doesn’t allow any looting, none of the buildings are destroyed and no one is harmed. So, essentially, the Crusader Kingdom is gone. There are still a few smaller Christian cities out there, but for the most part, the Muslims once again control the Holy Lands.

That brings us to England. OK, in England, the King has been Henry II-- but Henry is dead. His successor is his son, this guy named Richard. Now, Richard is a pretty unlikely candidate to be the King of England. He hates England and can’t stand the English. He can’t even speak one word of English. He’s French. He finds England to be wet and boring.

But Richard sure looks like a King. When this guy walks into a room, he just commands respect. He’s tall, has big broad shoulders, very athletic, bright red hair and very good manners.

When Richard hears about Saladin’s destruction of the Christian Army, he vows to take up the cause of the Crusades and re-conquer Jerusalem. So, he plans a 3rd Crusade. He combs England and squeezes every single penny out of it he can, leaving the country in near financial ruin.

Richard builds a huge fleet of 250 ships to transport he and his Crusaders to the Holy Lands. Before Richard leaves, he recruits the help of the French King, Philip. Philip was a really strange guy. He had one eye, he was clumsy and he wasn’t real bright either.

Now, Richard doesn’t really care about Philip-- nor does he really care about Philips help. But, if Philip goes with Richard, he can’t attack England while Richard is gone.

So, Richard and Philip head out for the Holy Lands on July 4, 1190, nearly 100 years after the First Crusade left. And before Richard even makes it to the Holy Lands, he makes quite a reputation for himself. He and his men are on the island of Sicily trying to capture the city of Messina. While the English Army is attacking the main gate, Richard decides to take a stroll around the walls of the city.

He spots an unguarded gate, so he smashes the lock with his hatchet and sneaks into the city. He very quietly makes his way to the front gate and opens it-- letting his soldiers rush into the city. So, basically, he single-handedly conquered the city of Messina.

Several months later, he leaves Messina and sets sail for the Holy Lands. But, before they make it, they are hit by a massive storm and about 25 ships disappear and Richard is forced to land at Cyprus. Richards pretty lucky because he finds his missing ships at Cyprus. Unfortunately, they are being held captive by the “Emperor” of Cyprus (who isn’t much of an Emperor). Needless to say, Richard wants his ships, men and everything else back.

So, Richard and all of his men row ashore in the middle of a barrage of arrows being fired at them. At one point, Richard actually jumped from his boat and charged at the Cypriots, his soldiers following behind him.

One of his men commented that he was like “a raging lion.” It’s because of exploits like this, that Richard earns the nickname, Richard the Lion Heart. When Richard’s army enters Cyprus, the Emperor is terrified and he jumps out of his bed completely naked, and runs off into the woods. The Emperor is eventually captured-- and once he is captured he has only one request of Richard.

He doesn’t want to be placed in iron chains. So, the gracious Richard sees to his prisoners request and doesn’t put him in iron chains-- he makes sure the chains are made out of silver.

So, having conquered Cyprus, he once again makes his way for Palestine and the Holy Lands.

Meanwhile, the Christians in the Holy Lands had been attempting to attack the city of Acre for quite some time. Their efforts were about to fall through, when Richard finally arrives. Cheers go up throughout the Christian camp at Richard’s arrival.

Not long after their arrival, King Philip falls victim to a terrible disease that causes his fingernails and hair to fall out (as if the guy wasn’t ugly enough as it was). This disease also makes you really sick and is extraordinarily painful. Not long after, Richard is inflicted with the same disease-- only his case is much worse than Philips.

Richard is incredibly weak at this point, but he still has them carry his stretcher to the front lines of combat.

He props himself up in a sitting position and shoots arrows at the watch towers. As a gesture of respect, Saladin sends Richard some fruit (ironically, fruit is the best cure for this strange disease).

At one point during the battle at Acre, one of Richard’s military commanders, Alberic Clemens, vows that he will enter the city that day or parish. Well, he fulfills his promise. The Muslims drop down a giant grappling hook and pull Alberic up-- and kill him.

And then, just to taunt the Christians, one of the Muslims puts Alberics armor on and dances around on the wall. Richard watched this spectacle, and even though he was still deathly ill-- managed to sit up and shoot the dancing Muslim in the heart, with his crossbow.

The battle at Acre was exhausting-- and it went on for months. The Crusaders were too tired to bury their dead. The heat was scorching (it was July). There were outbreaks of all sorts of strange diseases they’d never heard of before.

They were down to eating leather. There were thousands of rotting corpses and everything was covered with swarms of flies. Vultures and wild dogs were feasting on the dead.

Conditions were even worse inside the city. There were even reports of cannibalism. Finally, the Muslims come out of the city and bargain for a truce. The Christians make a triumphant entrance into the city and Richard takes up residence in the Royal Palace.

Well, at this point, Philip decides he is going home. He has had enough of Richard and the Crusades, and besides that, France is in the middle of a war. So, he packs up his stuff and takes his army back to Europe.

Now, Saladin is not living up to his word. He promised Richard a whole bunch of stuff after his loss at Acre. He’s supposed to hand over 1500 prisoners and 200,000 gold pieces. And so far, he hasn’t followed through with his end of the deal. So, Richard gives him one month-- 30 days-- to pay up. Well, 30 days comes and goes, still no payment.

Richard is furious. So, he takes every Muslim prisoner he has-- takes them out on a hill, where Saladin can see them, and has their heads cut off and their intestines torn from their bodies. Richard begins his march to Jerusalem. As Richard and his men march, Saladin and his army follow like a shadow, picking off stragglers and performing hit and run attacks.

Every morning, Richard’s army would wake up and find dead soldiers. On top of that, turantulas were a major problem. They would bite the Crusaders as they slept and leave painful welts.

They eventually discovered that loud noise kept the turantulas away, so they had people stay up all night and beat on drums. The only problem with that is, it was pretty hard to sleep with all that noise.

One of the most decisive battles between Richard and Saladin came in September of 1191, at a place called Arsuf. At about 9:00 in the morning, the Arabs came screeching out of the woods, yelling and screaming wildly.

They dismounted their horses so they could aim their bows more accurately. As they dismounted, Knights plowed through them-- and of course, Richard was leading the charge. This is what one knight wrote about Richard during that battle, “the extraordinary King cut down the Turks in every direction, none could escape the force of his arm.”

At the end of the day, 1,000 Christians were dead and 10,000 Muslims were dead. Richard and Saladin had fought in battle and Richard had won. The myth of Saladin’s invincibility has been shattered. After some failed negotiations with Saladin-- Richard once again begins his march towards Jerusalem.

However, when they reach Jerusalem, Richard decides there is no way he has enough men to hold the city if he conquered it-- so he falls back to Ascalon. When they reach Ascalon, they find it in ruins-- and they begin the task of rebuilding the city into a fortress. Knights and priests suddenly find new occupations as bricklayers. Richard himself even carried stones to help build the walls.

A few months later, Richard has decided to leave, he’s going to go back to England. But, before he gets the chance, Saladin attacks the city of Jaffa. The Christians in Jaffa fought bravely, but the Muslims pour into the city.

When Richard hears this, he immediately sets sail towards Jaffa. When he sees Saladin’s flag flying over the city, Richard becomes furious. He jumps out of his ship and wades ashore with his shield and battle ax raised above his head.

As he and his men enter the city, they catch the Muslims completely off guard. They look up and see Richard and his men charging towards them-- hacking through the Muslim Army, so they evacuate. Richard has just re-captured the city with 150 men.

Not but a few days later though, Saladin strikes again. A sneak attack against Richard’s camp in the middle of the night. As soon as the attack begins, the alarm is sounded and the Crusaders retaliate. This begins a battle that lasts all day.

At one point during this battle, Richard actually rode his war horse in front of Saladin’s army. No one dared attack him. They had never seen another Knight or any other warrior like this one. Several days later, Richard becomes seriously ill. Saladin sends him peaches. Richard accepts the gift and a few days later, a peace agreement is finally signed between the two sides.

The agreement between the two sides looks like this: The Christians get to keep the coastal regions, the Arabs get the rest. Christians will be allowed to visit Jerusalem whenever they want to. BUT, this agreement is only good for the next three years.

Richard wanted it that way. He believed that in three years, he would have enough money and men to come back and defeat Saladin. He even told Saladin that. Saladin’s response was -- he told Richard that if he had to lose his land, than he would rather lose it to Richard than any other man alive.

Richard returns to England and fights a war against France. He dies in 1199 at the age of 42 from an infected arrow wound. Five months later, Saladin dies at the age of 54.

Richard leaves no heirs, no children or grandchildren. But, for hundreds of years after his death, Arab children would be warned, “You better behave, or Richard will come and get you.”

Extra Facts:

--Richard’s mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine, the lady who was having an affair with her uncle.

--Before Richard left for the Crusades, he issued a general amnesty to all prisoners. Setting free every single thief, rapist and murderer.

--When Richard conquered Acre, the Merchants of Pisa sent a boatload of prostitutes to the city to entertain Richard’s men.

--While fighting a war in France, Richard once pursued a retreating French force. He was in such a hurry, he forgot to put on his armor or take a sword.