Siege of Damascus (1148)

Second Crusade

The crusader kingdom of the County of Edessa fell to Imad al-Din Zengi, a Turkoman atabeg of the Seljuk Empire,^[9] on 24 December 1144.^[10] In response, Pope Eugene III in December 1145 called for a Second Crusade to retake the kingdom.^[10]

The two main Christian forces that marched to the Holy Land were led by Kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. King Stephen of England did not participate in the second crusade due to internal conflicts.^[11] Meanwhile, King David I of Scotland was dissuaded by his subjects from joining the crusade himself.^[12] Conrad's army may have been 30,000 to 35,000 combatants at most.^[13] Contributors to Conrad's forces included Dukes Bolesław IV of Poland and Vladislaus II of Bohemia (who halted his march at Constantinople and subsequently returned), and Conrad's nephew, Frederick Barbarossa of Swabia.^[14] The size of the French army is more difficult to estimate, but was likely the size of the German force.^[15][a]

The crusaders marched across Europe and arrived at Constantinople in September and October 1147.^[16] Both Louis and Conrad faced disastrous marches across Anatolia in the months that followed. The Germans left Nicaea about 25 October, headed for Antioch, constantly harassed by mounted Turkish archers. Infantry and support personnel suffered the most, and Conrad got about three days out of Dorylaeum before he turned back.^[17] Only about a tenth of his army remained.^[18]

The French chose a less direct route to Antioch. They stopped at the Crusader strongholds of Lopadium and Esseron before passing through Pergamon, Smyrna, and Ephesus.^[19] Using the valley of the Maeander River, they headed overland southeast, headed for the port of Adalia.^[20] Reaching Mount Cadmus, Geoffrey of Rancon led the vanguard up to summit. He moved so swiftly, he left the baggage train behind. Louis, in the rearguard, remained in camp, not intending to ascend until the next day. The Turks attacked the baggage train, which was only saved when Louis rushed to its rescue.^[21] Three-fourths of the French army was lost.^[22]

Louis abandoned his troops and travelled by ship to the Principality of Antioch, where his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine's uncle Raymond was prince. Raymond expected him to offer military assistance against the Seljuk Turks threatening the principality, but Louis refused and went to Jerusalem to fulfill his crusader vow.^[23] Conrad, stricken by illness, had earlier returned to Constantinople, but arrived in Jerusalem in early April 1148.^[24]

Council of Acre

The Council of Acre was called with the High Court of Jerusalem at Acre on 24 June. This was the most spectacular meeting of the High Court in its existence: King Conrad, Bishop Otto of Freising, Duke Henry II of Austria, Margrave Welf VI of Tuscany, Duke Frederick Barbarossa of Swabia, and Marquess William V of Montferrat represented the Holy Roman Empire.^[25] King Louis, Count Thierry of Flanders, and various other ecclesiastical and secular lords represented the French. From Jerusalem King Baldwin, Queen Melisende, Patriarch Fulk, Robert de Craon (master of the Knights Templar), Raymond du Puy de Provence (master of the Knights Hospitaller), Manasses of Hierges (constable of Jerusalem), Humphrey II of Toron, Philip of Milly, Walter I Grenier, and Barisan of Ibelin were among those present.^[b] Notably, no one from Antioch, Tripoli, or the former County of Edessa attended. Both Louis and Conrad were persuaded to attack Damascus.^[16]

Some of the barons native to Jerusalem pointed out that it would be unwise to attack Damascus, as the Burid dynasty, though Muslim, were their allies against the Zengid dynasty. Imad ad-Din Zengi had besieged the city in 1140, and Mu'in ad-Din Unur, a Mamluk acting as vizier for the young Mujir ad-Din Abaq, negotiated an alliance with Jerusalem through the chronicler Usama ibn Munqidh. Conrad, Louis, and Baldwin insisted that Damascus was a holy city for Christianity. Like Jerusalem and Antioch, it would be a noteworthy prize in the eyes of European Christians. In July their armies assembled at Tiberias and marched to Damascus, around the Sea of Galilee by way of Banias. There were perhaps 50,000 troops in total.^[1]

The general view now appears to be that the decision to attack Damascus was somewhat inevitable. Historians, such as Martin Hoch, regard the decision as the logical outcome of Damascene's foreign policy shifting into alignment with the Zengid dynasty. King Baldwin III had previously launched a campaign with the sole objective of capturing the city. This damaged the Burid dynasty's relations with the Kingdom of Jerusalem.^[27]

24 July

On Saturday 24 July, the crusaders began with an attack in the morning along the banks of the Barada river,^[30] as far as al-Rabweh. The Muslims were well prepared and constantly attacked the army advancing through the orchards outside Damascus. These orchards were defended by towers and walls and the crusaders were constantly pelted with arrows and lances along the narrow paths.^[23] There was ferocious combat (pl) in the orchards and narrow roads at Mezzeh,^[31] between the Christian force and a mixture of professional troops of Damascus, the ahdath militia and Turkoman mercenaries.^[30] William of Tyre reported:

The cavalry forces of the townsmen and those who had come to their assistance realized that our army was coming through the orchards in order to besiege the city and they accordingly approached the stream which flowed into the town. This they did with their bows and their balistas [crossbows] so that they could fight off the Latin army...The emperor [Konrad], in command of the forces following, demanded to know why the army did not advance. He was told the enemy was in possession of the river and would not allow our forces to pass. Enraged at this news, Konrad and his knights galloped swiftly forward through the king's lines and reached the fighters who were trying to win the river. Here all leaped down from their horses and become foot soldiers, as is the custom of the Teutons when a desperate crisis occurs.^[32]

The historian David Nicolle wrote that William of Tyre did not explain how Conrad could bring his forces from the rear to the front without totally disorganizing the Christian army.^[30] Thanks to a charge by Conrad, the crusaders fought their way through and chased the defenders across the Barada river and into Damascus,^[33][c] in which fortifications were installed to cut off any possible supplies to Damascus from the Beqaa Valley.^[35]

In the meantime, according to Syrian chronicler Abu Shama:

Despite the multitude of ahdath [militia], Turks, and common people of the town, volunteers and soldiers who had come from the provinces and had joined with them, the Muslims were overwhelmed by the enemy's numbers and were defeated by the infidels. The latter crossed the river, found themselves in the gardens and made camp there...The Franks...cut down trees to make palisades. They destroyed the orchards and passed the night in these tasks.^[33]

Having arrived outside the walls of the city, the crusaders immediately put it to siege, using wood from the orchards. They attacked the suburbs of Faradis at first,^[35] then began to build their siege position opposite Bab al-Jabiya, where the Barada did not run past Damascus.^[33] Inside the city the inhabitants barricaded the major streets, preparing for what they believed to be an inevitable assault.^[23] Unur had sought help from Saif ad-Din Ghazi I of Mosul and Nur ad-Din Zangi of Aleppo, and led an attack on the crusader camp; the crusaders were pushed back from the walls into the orchards, where they were prone to ambushes and guerrilla attacks.^[36]

25 July

During the counter-attack on Sunday, 25 July, the Damascus forces took heavy losses, including the 71-year-old lawyer and scholar Yusuf al-Findalawi, the Sufi mystic Al-Halhli and emir of Baalbek, Nur ad-Din Shahanshah, elder brother of Saladin.^[37][36] By the end of 25 July, the crusaders set up camp on the Green Field (Maydan al-Akhdar in modern-day Baramkeh), a grassy area the Damascene cavalry used as a training ground.^[35]

26 July

The defenders launched an attack to the north of Damascus to repel the attackers. Despite heavy fighting, they cleared the area and received reinforcements from Lebanon and Saif ad-Din,^[35] including archers from the Beqaa Valley, increasing the number of defenders and doubling their supply of arms, according to Ibn al-Qalanisi.^[38] During a raid on the crusader camp on 26 July, according to Abu Shama:

A large group of inhabitants and villagers...put to flight all the sentries, killed them, without fear of danger, taking the heads of all the enemy they killed and wanting to touch these trophies. The numbers of heads they gathered was considerable.^[39]

27 July

The crusaders probably intended to concentrate on the eastern and southern edge of the city by attacking the weakest gate, Bab al-Saghir (Small Gate), built only of mud bricks.^[35] In the late afternoon, King Louis asked his senior lieutenant Godefroy de la Roche Vanneau to assess the defenses of the south and southeastern walls.^[36] According to William of Tyre, on 27 July, the crusaders decided to move to the plain on the eastern side of the city, opposite Bab Tuma and Bab Sharqi, which was less heavily fortified but had much less food and water.^[16]

There were conflicts in both camps: Unur did not trust Saif ad-Din or Nur ad-Din not to conquer the city if their offer of help was accepted and the crusaders could not agree on who would receive the city if they captured it. Guy I Brisebarre, lord of Beirut, was the suggestion of the local barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, wanted it for himself and was supported by Baldwin, Louis, and Conrad. According to William of Tyre, the resulting dispute contributed to the siege's failure: 'for the local barons preferred that the Damascenes should keep their city rather than to see it given to the count', and so did all they could to ensure the siege collapsed.^[40][d] Some recorded that Unur had bribed the leaders to move to a less defensible position and promised to break off his alliance with Nur ad-Din if the crusaders went home.^[23]

28 July

Nur ad-Din and Saif ad-Din arrived at Homs and were negotiating with Unur for possession of Damascus, something neither Unur nor the crusaders wanted. Saif ad-Din apparently also wrote to the crusaders, urging them to return home. With Nur ad-Din in the field it was impossible to return to their better position.^[23] The local Crusader lords refused to continue the siege, and the three kings had to abandon the city.^[16] First Conrad, then the rest of the army, retreated to Jerusalem on 28 July. Throughout their retreat they were followed by Muslim archers who constantly harassed them.^[43] Historians such as Ralph of Coggeshall, John of Salisbury, and the annalist of Würzburg report that the siege was abandoned when the Templars accepted a bribe, while William of Tyre and Michael the Syrian say that the given coins were made of copper instead of gold.^[44][45][e]

English historian Henry of Huntingdon summed up the whole expedition by writing:

1148. In this year, the armies of the Emperor of Germany and the King of France were annihilated. though … they had commenced their march under the greatest leaders and in the proudest confidence. But God despised them … for they abandoned themselves to open fornication … to robbery and every sort of wickedness. First they were starved by famine, through the false conduct of the Emperor of Constantinople, and afterwards were destroyed by the enemy's sword. King Louis and the emperor took refuge, at Antioch, and afterwards in Jerusalem with the remnant of their followers. And the French king, wishing to do something to restore his reputation, laid siege to Damascus with the aid of the Knights Templars of Jerusalem, and a force drawn from all quarters. But lacking the favor of God, and therefore having no success, he returned to France.