The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (83 page)

93 Even Ibn Jubayr–the source of so many revealing insights into transcultural encounters–peppered his testimony with the language of hate and prejudice: describing Baldwin IV of Jerusalem as ‘the accursed king’ and a ‘pig’, and characterising Acre as a stinking hotbed of ‘unbelief and impiety’ that he hoped God would destroy (pp. 316, 318). Hillenbrand,
The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives
, pp. 257–429.


C. Hillenbrand, ‘Abominable acts: the career of Zengi’,
The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences
, ed. J. P. Phillips and M. Hoch (Manchester, 2001), pp. 111–32; Holt,
The Age of the Crusades
, pp. 38–42; H. Gibb, ‘Zengi and the fall of Edessa’,
A History of the Crusades
, vol. 1, ed. K. M. Setton and M. W. Baldwin (Philadelphia, 1958), pp. 449–62.


In 1140 Zangi gained mention of his name in the
khutba
(Friday prayer) as overlord of Damascus, but this was really an empty honorific. William of Tyre, p. 684.


Matthew of Edessa (Continuation), p. 243; William of Tyre, p. 739; Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘
Epistolae
’,
Sancti Bernardi Opera
, vol. 8, ed. J. Leclercq and H. M. Rochais (Rome, 1977), pp. 314–15.


On the history and significance of assigning numbers to crusading expeditions see: Constable, ‘The Historiography of the Crusades’, pp. 16–17.


Calixtus II,
Bullaire
, ed. U. Roberts (Paris, 1891), vol. 2, pp. 266–7; D. Girgensohn, ‘Das Pisaner Konzil von 1153 in der Überlieferung des Pisaner Konzils von 1409’,
Festschrift für Hermann Heimpel
, vol. 2 (Göttingen, 1971), pp. 1099–100; Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘
Epistolae
’, p. 435.


For the text of
Quantum praedecessores
see: R. Grosse, ‘Überlegungen zum kreuzzugeaufreuf Eugens III. von 1145/6. Mit einer Neueedition von JL 8876’,
Francia
, vol. 18 (1991), pp. 85–92. On the history of the Second Crusade see: V. Berry, ‘The Second Crusade’,
A History of the Crusades
, vol. 1, ed. K. M. Setton and M. W. Baldwin (Philadelphia, 1958), pp. 463–511; G. Constable, ‘The Second Crusade as Seen by Contemporaries’,
Traditio
, vol. 9 (1953), pp. 213–79; M. Gervers (ed.),
The Second Crusade and the Cistercians
(New York, 1992); A. Grabois, ‘Crusade of Louis VII: a Reconsideration’,
Crusade and Settlement
, ed. P. W. Edbury (Cardiff, 1985), pp. 94–104; J. P. Phillips and M. Hoch (eds),
The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences
(Manchester, 2001); J. P. Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
(London, 2007). The main primary sources for the Near Eastern element of the Second Crusade are: Odo of Deuil,
De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem
, ed. and trans. V. G. Berry (New York, 1948); Otto of Freising,
Gesta Frederici seu rectius Chronica
, ed. G. Waitz, B. Simon and F.-J. Schmale, trans. A. Schmidt (Darmstadt, 1965); William of Tyre, pp. 718–70; John of Salisbury,
Historia Pontificalis
, ed. and trans. M. Chibnall (London, 1956), pp. 52–9; John Kinnamos,
The Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus
, trans. C. M. Brand (New York, 1976), pp. 58–72; Niketas Choniates,
O’ City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates
(Detroit, 1984), pp. 35–42; Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 270–89; Ibn al-Athir,
The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh
, trans. D. S. Richards, vol. 2 (Aldershot, 2007), pp. 7–22; Sibt ibn al-Jauzi, ‘The Mirror of the Times’,
Arab Historians of the Crusades
, trans. F. Gabrieli, pp. 62–3; Michael the Syrian,
Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarche jacobite d’Antioche (1166–1199)
, ed. and trans. J. B. Chabot, vol. 3 (Paris, 1905); Anonymous Syriac Chronicle, ‘The First and Second Crusades from an Anonymous Syriac Chronicle’, ed. and trans. A. S. Tritton and H. A. R. Gibb,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
, vol. 92 (1933), pp. 273–306.


On St Bernard and the Cistercians see: G. R. Evans,
Bernard of Clairvaux
(New York, 2000); C. H. Berman,
The Cistercian Evolution
(Philadelphia, 2000).


Odo of Deuil, pp. 8–9; Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘
Epistolae
’, pp. 314–15, 435; Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
, pp. 61–79.


‘
Vita Prima Sancti Bernardi
’,
Patrologia Latina
, J. P. Migne, vol. 185 (Paris, 1855), col. 381; Tyerman,
God’s War
, p. 280; J. Phillips, ‘Papacy, empire and the Second Crusade’,
The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences
, ed. J. P. Phillips and M. Hoch (Manchester, 2001), pp. 15–31; G. A. Loud, ‘Some reflections on the failure of the Second Crusade’,
Crusades
, vol. 4 (2005), pp. 1–14. Despite Graham Loud’s convincing refutation of the arguments posited by Jonathan Phillips in 2001, Phillips made a rather ill-advised attempt in 2007 to defend his suggestion that Pope Eugenius was involved in Conrad’s recruitment. By contrast, Phillips’ observations on the impact of memory and kinship upon recruitment are persuasive (Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
, pp. 25, 87–98, 99–103, 129–30).


‘Chevalier, Mult es Guariz’,
The Crusades: A Reader
, ed. S. J. Allen and E. Amt (Peterborough, Ontario, 2003), pp. 213–14. For an introduction to crusader songs see: M. Routledge, ‘Songs’,
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades
, ed. J. S. C. Riley-Smith (Oxford, 1995), pp. 91–111.


Helmold of Bosau,
Chronica Slavorum
, ed. and trans. H. Stoob (Darmstadt, 1963), pp. 216–17; Eugenius III, ‘
Epistolae et privilegia
’,
Patrologia Latina
, J. P. Migne, vol. 180 (Paris, 1902), col. 1203–4; Constable, ‘The Second Crusade as Seen by Contemporaries’, pp. 213–79; A. Forey, ‘The Second Crusade: Scope and Objectives’,
Durham University Journal
, vol. 86 (1994), pp. 165–75; A. Forey, ‘The siege of Lisbon and the Second Crusade’,
Portuguese Studies
, vol. 20 (2004), pp. 1–13; Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
, pp. 136–67, 228–68.


Lilie,
Byzantium and the Crusader States
, pp. 142–69; Phillips,
Defenders of the Holy Land
, pp. 73–99; P. Magdalino,
The Empire of Manuel Komnenos, 1143–1180
(Cambridge, 1994).


Odo of Deuil, pp. 16–17.


Suger, ‘
Epistolae
’,
Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France
, ed. M. Bouquet et al., vol. 15 (Paris, 1878), p. 496; William of Tyre, pp. 751–2.

PART II: THE RESPONSE OF ISLAM

Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 266; Hillenbrand,
The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives
, pp. 112–16; Hillenbrand, ‘Abominable acts: the career of Zengi’, pp. 111–32; C. Hillenbrand, ‘
Jihad
propaganda in Syria from the time of the First Crusade until the death of Zengi: the evidence of monumental inscriptions’,
The Frankish Wars and Their Influence on Palestine
, ed. K. Athamina and R. Heacock (Birzeit, 1994), pp. 60–69; H. Dajani-Shakeel, ‘
Jihad
in twelfth-century Arabic poetry’,
Muslim World
, vol. 66 (1976), pp. 96–113; H. Dajani-Shakeel, ‘
Al-Quds
: Jerusalem in the consciousness of the counter-crusade’,
The Meeting of Two Worlds
, ed. V. P. Goss (Kalamazoo, 1986), pp. 201–21.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 1, p. 382; Hillenbrand, ‘Abominable acts: the career of Zengi’, p. 120.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 271–2; Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 222; William of Tyre, p. 956. On Nur al-Din’s career see: H. Gibb, ‘The career of Nur ad-Din’,
A History of the Crusades
, vol. 1, ed. K. M. Setton and M. W. Baldwin (Philadelphia, 1958), pp. 513–27; N. Elisséeff,
Nur al-Din: un grand prince musulman de Syrie au temps des Croisades
, 3 vols (Damascus, 1967); Holt,
The Age of the Crusades
, pp. 42–52; Hillenbrand,
The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives
, pp. 117–41.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 272; Ibn Jubayr, p. 260. In the centuries before the crusading era, Aleppo was ruled first by the Seleucids during the Hellenistic period (that followed Alexander the Great’s conquests), and then prospered for six centuries under the Romans before falling to the Arabs in 637
CE
, assuming something of a secondary role to Damascus. The city’s fortunes were rejuvenated under the Iraqi Hamdanid dynasty (944–1003) and, when conquered by the Seljuq Turks in 1070, it stood as a bastion on the frontier with Byzantium.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 274–5; Michael the Syrian, vol. 3, p. 270; Matthew of Edessa, Continuation, pp. 244–5; Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 8.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 1, p. 350; Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 280–81.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 281–2. The esteemed German historian Hans Mayer went so far as to describe the attack on Damascus as ‘incredibly stupid’ and even ‘ridiculous’ (Mayer,
The Crusades
, p. 103). On this debate see: M. Hoch,
Jerusalem, Damaskus und der Zweite Kreuzzug: Konstitutionelle Krise und äussere Sicherheit des Kreuzfahrerkönigreiches Jerusalem, AD 1126–54
(Frankfurt, 1993); M. Hoch, ‘The choice of Damascus as the objective of the Second Crusade: A re-evaluation’,
Autour de la Première Croisade
, ed. M. Balard (Paris, 1996), pp. 359–69; Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
, pp. 207–18.


Sibt ibn al-Jauzi, p. 62; Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 22; Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 286; ‘Die Urkunden Konrads III. und seines Sohnes Heinrich’, ed. F. Hausmann,
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
,
Diplomata
, vol. 9 (Vienna, 1969), n. 197, p. 357; William of Tyre, pp. 760–70; A. Forey, ‘The Failure of the Siege of Damascus in 1148’,
Journal of Medieval History
, vol. 10 (1984), pp. 13–24; M. Hoch, ‘The price of failure: The Second Crusade as a turning point in the history of the Latin East’,
The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences
(Manchester, 2001), pp. 180–200; Phillips,
The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom
, pp. 218–27.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 39–40; Lilie,
Byzantium and the Crusader States
, pp. 163–4.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 1–4, 222–3. One source offering a modicum of balance was authored by Ibn al-Qalanisi (d. 1160), who wrote his
Damascus Chronicle
while living in that city during the mid-twelfth century, but even he ended up writing under Zangid rule. Ibn al-Qalanisi twice held the office of
ra’is
–leader of townspeople and head of the urban militia (Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 7–14). On the Arabic sources for this period see: F. Gabrieli, ‘The Arabic historiography of the crusades’,
Historians of the Middle East
, ed. B. Lewis and P. M. Holt (London, 1962), pp. 98–107; D. S. Richards, ‘Ibn al-Athir and the later parts of the
Kamil
’,
Medieval Historical Writing in the Christian and Islamic Worlds
, ed. D. O. Morgan (London, 1982), pp. 76–108; A. M. Eddé, ‘Claude Cahen et les sources arabes des Croisades’,
Arabica
, vol. 43 (1996), pp. 89–97.


For Sir Hamilton Gibb, the renowned British scholar of Arabic history, the change came in 1149. Gibb declared that this was ‘the turning-point in [Nur al-Din’s] own conception of his mission and in the history of Muslim Syria. In the eyes of all Islam he had become a champion of the faith, and he now consciously set himself to fulfil the duties of that role’ (Gibb, ‘The career of Nur ad-Din’, p. 515). Just over a decade later, in 1967, Nikita Elisséeff published an influential three-volume biography of the ‘great Muslim prince of Syria’, refining this view. Elisséeff argued that it was only after 1154 that Nur al-Din truly was driven by authentic devotion to
jihad
and an overwhelming desire to reconquer Jerusalem (Elisséeff,
Nur al-Din
, II, p. 426). In 1991, Michael Köhler adopted a less sympathetic tone, suggesting that Nur al-Din was never truly dedicated to the struggle to reclaim the Holy City, but merely used
jihad
propaganda after 1157 to further his political aims (Köhler,
Allianzen und Verträge
, pp. 239, 277). On this issue see: Hillenbrand,
The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives
, pp. 132–41.


On the Battle of Inab see: Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 288–94; Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 31–2; William of Tyre, pp. 770–74; John Kinnamos, p. 97; Matthew of Edessa, Continuation, p. 257; Michael the Syrian, vol. 3, pp. 288–9; Abu Shama, ‘Le Livre des Deux Jardins’,
RHC Or
. IV–V, pp. 61–4.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 31–2, 36; Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 295; Gibb, ‘The career of Nur ad-Din’, pp. 515–16; Holt,
The Age of the Crusades
, p. 44; Mayer,
The Crusades
, pp. 107–8; Richard,
The Crusades,
p. 171; Jotischky,
Crusading and the Crusader States
, p. 111.


The Zangid supporter Ibn al-Athir later argued that in the early 1150s ‘Nur al-Din had no route to hinder [the Franks] because Damascus was an obstacle between [them]’. It was feared, so the chronicler asserted, that the Franks would soon occupy that ancient metropolis, because they were sucking it dry of wealth through hefty annual tribute payments that ‘their agents used to enter the city and collect…from the population’ (Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 71). Nur al-Din was only too aware of the power of these arguments and actively engaged in a propaganda war against Damascus, sponsoring the composition of poetry decrying the city’s policy of allying with the Franks. On the kingdom of Jerusalem in the period see: Mayer, ‘Studies in Queen Melisende’, pp. 95–183; M. W. Baldwin, ‘The Latin states under Baldwin III and Amalric I 1143–74’,
A History of the Crusades
, vol. 1, ed. K. M. Setton and M. W. Baldwin (Philadelphia, 1958), pp. 528–62.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 296–327. Elisséeff echoed the view that Nur al-Din prioritised the Holy War after occupying Damascus, claiming that after 1154 the emir proceeded solely ‘in the name of
jihad
against the crusaders and to help the revitalisation of Sunni Islam’ (Elisséeff,
Nur al-Din
, II, p. 426). Hillenbrand,
The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives
, p. 134.


Ibn Jubayr, pp. 271–2, 279; R. Burns,
Damascus
(London, 2004), p. 169. Damascus developed around an oasis formed by a delta of the Barada River that flows out of the mountains of Lebanon. Muslims conquered the city in the seventh century
CE
, during the first rush of Arab-Islamic expansion, and it remained the capital of the Umayyad Empire and seat of the caliphate until 750.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 340; B. Hamilton, ‘The Elephant of Christ: Reynald of Châtillon’,
Studies in Church History
, vol. 15 (1978), pp. 97–108.


William of Tyre, pp. 860–61; Phillips,
Defenders of the Holy Land
, pp. 100–39; Lilie,
Byzantium and the Crusader States
, pp. 163–87.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 141–2; William of Tyre, pp. 873–4.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 146–50; William of Tyre, pp. 874–7; Cahen,
La Syrie du Nord
, pp. 408–9.


Elsewhere in his realm, Nur al-Din promoted a similar building programme: in 1159 he sponsored the building of the
Madrasa al-Shu‘aybiyya
in Aleppo, one of forty-two Islamic teaching colleges built in the city during his rule, half of which enjoyed his personal patronage. Nur al-Din’s pulpit survived intact for eight hundred years. But in 1969 it was destroyed by a fire lit by a fanatical Australian. Hillenbrand,
The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives
, pp. 118–67; D. S. Richards, ‘A text of Imad al-Din on twelfth-century Frankish-Muslim relations’,
Arabica
, vol. 25 (1978), pp. 202–4; D. S. Richards, ‘Imad al-Din al-Isfahani: Administrator, litterateur and historian’,
Crusaders and Muslims in Twelfth-Century Syria
, ed. M. Shatzmiller (Leiden, 1993), pp. 133–46; E. Sivan, ‘The beginnings of the
Fada’il al-Quds
literature’,
Israel Oriental Studies
, vol. 1 (1971), pp. 263–72; E. Sivan, ‘Le caractère sacré de Jérusalem dans l’Islam aux XII
^e
–XIII
^e
siècles’,
Studia Islamica
, vol. 27 (1967), pp. 149–82; N. Elisséeff, ‘Les monuments de Nur al-Din’,
Bulletin des Études Orientales
, vol. 12 (1949–51), pp. 5–43; N. Elisséeff, ‘La titulaire de Nur al-Din d’après ses inscriptions’,
Bulletin des Études Orientales
, vol. 14 (1952–4), pp. 155–96; I. Hasson, ‘Muslim literature in praise of Jerusalem:
Fada‘il Bayt al-Maqdis
’,
The Jerusalem Cathedra
(Jerusalem, 1981), pp. 168–84; Y. Tabbaa, ‘Monuments with a message: propagation of
jihad
under Nur al-Din’,
The Meeting of Two Worlds
, ed. V. P. Goss (Kalamazoo, 1986), pp. 223–40.


Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 303.


William of Tyre, p. 903; Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 62; C. F. Petry (ed.),
Cambridge History of Egypt: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517
(Cambridge, 1998); Y. Lev,
State and Society in Fatimid Egypt
(Leiden, 1991); Y. Lev, ‘Regime, army and society in medieval Egypt, 9th–12th centuries’,
War and Society in the Eastern Mediterranean, 7th–15th Centuries
, ed. Y. Lev (Leiden, 1997), pp. 115–52.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 138; William of Tyre, pp. 864–8. For the Latin perspective on the Egyptian campaigns of the 1160s see: Mayer,
The Crusades
, pp. 117–22; Phillips,
Defenders of the Holy Land
, pp. 140–67.


William of Tyre, p. 871; Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 144; M. C. Lyons and D. E. P. Jackson,
Saladin. The Politics of the Holy War
(Cambridge, 1979), pp. 6–9.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 144, 163; William of Tyre, p. 922; Lyons and Jackson,
Saladin
, pp. 9–25; Smail,
Crusading Warfare
, pp. 183–5.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 175, 177; Lyons and Jackson,
Saladin
, pp. 25–9.


Holt,
The Age of the Crusades
, pp. 48–52; Mayer,
The Crusades
, p. 122; Jotischky,
Crusading and the Crusader States
, pp. 115–16; Madden,
The New Concise History of the Crusades
, p. 68. On Saladin’s rule in Egypt see: Y. Lev,
Saladin in Egypt
(Leiden, 1999); Lyons and Jackson,
Saladin
, pp. 31–69.


This colourful story makes a fine tale and, while it could be factual, it is recorded only in Ayyubid sources and thus remains uncorroborated. It is possible that some of its details may have been fabricated to justify a clampdown on the Fatimid court. Lyons and Jackson,
Saladin
, pp. 33–4.


Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, p. 180. On Outremer’s relations with Byzantium and the West in this period see: J. L. La Monte, ‘To What Extent was the Byzantine Emperor the Suzerain of the Latin Crusading States?’,
Byzantion
, vol. 7 (1932), pp. 253–64; R. C. Smail, ‘Relations between Latin Syria and the West, 1149–1187’,
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
, 5th series, vol. 19 (1969), pp. 1–20; Lilie,
Byzantium and the Crusader States
, pp. 198–209; Phillips,
Defenders of the Holy Land
, pp. 168–224.


One Arabic chronicler suggested that al-Adid was poisoned, but even if Saladin was indeed involved in engineering the caliph’s rather timely death, a subtler form of assassination had been preferred to the traditional Egyptian bloodbath. Lyons and Jackson,
Saladin
, pp. 44–8.