Accursed Tower: The Crusaders’ Last Battle for the Holy Land

301 Pages·2019·4.133 MB·English

by  Roger Crowley

ACCURSED TOWER
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ACCURSED
TOWER
The crusaders’ last battle
for the Holy Land
R O G E R C R O W L E Y
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
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Copyright © 2019 Roger Crowley
All rights reserved. Th is book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond
that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by
reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact:
U.S. Offi ce: [email protected] yalebooks.com
Europe Offi ce: [email protected] yalebooks.co.uk
Set in Garamond Premier Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019941068
ISBN 978-0-300-23031-4
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For Richard and Sophie
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And it is worth noting that they say that Our Lord, when he travelled
beside the Syrian sea, did not enter this city, but cursed one of its towers,
which today is called Accursed by the inhabitants. But I believe rather
that it took its name fr om another source. When our men laid siege to
the city, this tower was the most strongly defended of all; whence they
called it the Accursed Tower.
Wilbrand van Oldenburg, visitor to Acre, 1211
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Maps xi
Prologue Th e Accursed Tower 1
1 Th e Second Kingdom of Jerusalem 8
2 Death on the Nile 22
3 Between the Mamluks and the Mongols 40
4 Th e Lion of Egypt 51
5 A Puppy Yelping at a Mastiff 71
6 War to the Enemy 90
7 ‘My Soul Longed for Jihad’ 105
8 Th e Red Tent 119
9 ‘Bolts of Th under, Flashes of Lightning’ 133
10 Sorties 149
11 Negotiations 162
12 ‘See the Wound!’ 178
13 Th e Terrible Day 191
14 ‘Everything Was Lost’ 202
Epilogue A Habitation for Snakes 216
A Brief Timeline of the Holy Land Crusades 220
Th e Evidence for the Fall of Acre 222
A Note on Names 227
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CONTENTS
Bibliography 229
Source Notes 238
Illustrations 256
Index 261
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks are due to many people for their help during the writing and
production of Accursed Tower. Firstly to Julian Loose who commis-
sioned it and the team at Yale for their professionalism, enthusiasm and
helpfulness throughout in the making of a better book. Behind them
stand ranks of advisors and contributors. I am deeply grateful to my two
doughty translators, Martin Dow for access to unreachable Arabic
sources and advice, and to Steve Elliott for German translations. Ron
Morton, Stan and Tom Ginn commented on the manuscript as general
readers, while two anonymous academic readers tried their best to
correct some of my doctrinal errors over the Crusades. Oliver Poole
redrew medieval miniatures for the pages of this book with remarkable
skill. In Acre my thanks are due to Danny Syon of the Israel Antiquities
Authority for giving me time, good advice, access to unpublished
research and photographs of the archaeology. I enjoyed the friendship
and hospitality of Joseph Gable and his family with whom I stayed in
Acre and who gave me an insight into life in this most extraordinary of
cities. Andrew Abado took me on a fascinating guided tour of its laby-
rinths. Mike Fulton answered my questions on trebuchets and toned
down my wildest imaginings about the power of medieval catapult
technology. Denys Pringle explained all that’s known of the naming of
the Accursed Tower. Andrew Lownie, my agent, continues energeti-
cally to promote my work. Lastly, as ever, my thanks are to Jan, a wise
voice.
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