Siege of Acre ( 1189 – 91 ) The Siege of Acre was one of the first confrontations of the Third Crusade , lasting from August 28 , 1189 until July 12 , 1191 , and the first time in history that the King of Jerusalem was compelled to personally see to the defence of the Holy Land . It was also the deadliest event of the whole period of the Crusades for the Christian ruling class of the east . Background . After Saladin had decisively defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin on July 4 , 1187 , he was able to conquer a great part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with little opposition , among them the cities of Acre and ( on October 2 ) Jerusalem itself . The Crusaders afterwards controlled only Tyre , Tripoli , and Antioch , which Saladin likewise attacked in 1188 , although unsuccessfully . News of the loss of Jerusalem and Palestine was shocking to Europe , and there was soon demand for a new Crusade , called by Pope Gregory VIII in October 1187 and continued by his successor Pope Clement III . Tyre . In Tyre , Conrad of Montferrat had entrenched himself and had successfully resisted Saladin ’ s assault at the end of 1187 . The sultan then turned his attention to other tasks , but then tried to negotiate the surrender of the city by treaty , as in mid - 1188 the first reinforcements from Europe arrived at Tyre by sea . Under the terms of the treaty , Saladin would , among other things , release King Guy , whom he had captured at Hattin . This would have escalated the conflict between Guy , who was blamed for the catastrophe of Hattin , and Conrad , who had successfully defended Tyre from the subsequent invasion . Guy was released and appeared before Tyre , but Conrad would not let him in , claiming that he was administering it until the kings should arrive from across the sea to settle the succession . This was in accordance with Baldwin IV ' s will : he was the nearest paternal kinsman of Baldwin V . Guy left before appearing once again outside Tyre with his wife Queen Sibylla , who held the legal title to the kingdom , but he was again rejected by Conrad , and he set up his camp outside the gates of the city . In late spring 1188 , William II of Sicily sent a fleet with 200 knights ; on April 6 , 1189 , Ubaldo Lanfranchi , Archbishop of Pisa , arrived with 52 ships . Guy succeeded in bringing both contingents over to his side . In August , Conrad again refused him entry to the city , so he broke camp and made his way south to attack Acre ; he and his troops travelled along the coast , while the Pisans and Sicilians went by sea . Guy urgently needed a firm base from which he could organize a counterattack on Saladin , and since he could not have Tyre , he directed his plans to Acre , ( ) to the south . Thus Guy and Conrad were allies against Saladin . Acre . The port of Acre lay on a peninsula in the Gulf of Haifa . East of the old part of the city was the port , protected against the open sea , while to the west and south the coast was protected by a strong dyke wall . The peninsula was guarded on the mainland side by double barrier reinforced with towers . The Muslim garrison of the city might have been twice as large as the army led by Guy , who arrived on August 28 , 1189 . He tried to surprise the garrison with an assault on the walls , but this failed and Guy thus established his camp outside the city , to wait for reinforcements , which began to arrive by sea a few days later . A Danish and Frisia n fleet replaced that of the Sicilians , who withdrew when they heard news of the death of William II . French and Flemish soldiers also arrived under James of Avesnes , Henry I of Bar , Andrew of Brienne , Robert II of Dreux , and his brother Philip of Dreux , the Bishop of Beauvais . Germans under Margrave Louis III of Thuringia and Otto I of Guelders , and Italians under Archbishop Gerhard of Ravenna and the Bishop of Verona , also arrived . Louis of Thuringia was able to convince Conrad , his mother ' s cousin , to send troops from Tyre as well . When Saladin was informed about this development , he gathered his troops and marched to Acre , where he unsuccessfully attacked Guy ’ s camp on September 15 . Battle of Acre . On October 4 , 1189 , Saladin moved to the east of the city to confront Guy ’ s camp . The Crusader army ( which consisted of 7 , 000 infantry and 400 cavalry ) under Guy stood its ground in front of Saladin ’ s forces . The Christian army consisted of the feudal lords of the kingdom , many smaller contingents of European Crusaders , and members of the military orders ; the Muslim army consisted of troops from Egypt , Turkestan , Syria , and Mesopotamia . The Muslims lay in a semicircle east of the city facing inwards towards Acre . The Crusader army lay in between , with lightly armed crossbow men in the first line and the heavy cavalry in second . At the later Battle of Arsuf the Christians fought coherently ; here the battle began with a disjointed combat between the Templars and Saladin ' s right wing . The Crusaders were so far successful that the enemy had to send reinforcements from other parts of the field . Thus the steady advance of the Christian center against Saladin ' s own corps , in which the crossbows prepared the way for the charge of the men - at - arms , met with no great resistance . Saladin ’ s center and right flanks were put to flight . But the victors scattered to plunder . Saladin rallied his men , and , when the Christians began to retire with their booty , let loose his light cavalry upon them . No connected resistance was offered , and the Turks slaughtered the fugitives until checked by the fresh troops of the Christian right flank . Into this fight , Guy ' s reserves , charged with holding back the Saracens in Acre , were also drawn , and , thus freed , 5 , 000 men sallied out from the town to the northward ; uniting with the Saracen right wing , they fell upon the Templars , who suffered severely in their retreat . Gerard de Ridefort , Grand Master of the Templars , was killed . Andrew of Brienne was also killed and Conrad had to be rescued by Guy . In the end , the Crusaders repulsed the relieving army . Christian casualties ranged from 4 , 000 or 5 , 000 to 10 , 000 men . Saladin could not push them back without another pitched battle , and his victory remained incomplete . The double siege . During the autumn , more European Crusaders arrived , allowing Guy to blockade Acre by land . News of the imminent arrival of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa reached the Crusaders , which not only raised the morale of the Christian soldiers , but also compelled Saladin to bring in so many more troops that he was able to surround both the city and the Crusade camp in two separate sieges . The next fifteen months passed with no major actions on either side . On October 31 , 50 Muslim galley s broke through the Christian sea blockade and supplied the city with food and weapons . On December 26 , an Egyptian fleet arrived to reestablish control over the port and the road leading to it . In March 1190 , when the weather was better , Conrad traveled to Tyre on his own ship and soon returned with supplies for the Crusaders , which helped the resistance against the Egyptian fleet on the shore . The building materials brought by Conrad were constructed into siege machinery , although these machines were lost when the Crusaders tried to assault the city on May 5 . On May 19 , Saladin , who had continued to strengthen his army over the previous months , began an attack on the Christian camp , which lasted eight days before it could be repelled . On July 25 , against the orders of their commanders , the Christian soldiers attacked Saladin ’ s right flank and were defeated . Further reinforcements from France arrived in the Crusader camp over the summer , led by Henry II of Champagne , Theobald V of Blois , Stephen I of Sancerre , , John of Fontigny , Alain of Saint - Valéry , the Archbishop of Besançon , the Bishop of Blois , and the Bishop of Toul . Duke Frederick IV of Swabia arrived at the beginning of October with the rest of his father ’ s army , after the emperor had drowned in the Saleph River on June 10 , and shortly afterwards English Crusaders arrived under Baldwin of Exeter , Archbishop of Canterbury . In October , the Count of Bar also arrived , and the Christians had a breakthrough in Haifa , which allowed more food to be brought to the camp at Acre . Life in the city and the Christian camp quickly became difficult after their containment by Saladin . Food remained limited , the water supply became contaminated with human and animal corpses , and epidemics soon began to spread . Louis of Thuringia , sick with malaria , made plans to return home when the French arrived , and died in Cyprus on the way back on October 16 . At some point between late July and October , Guy ’ s wife Queen Sibylla died , a few days after both of their daughters , Alais and Marie . With her death , Guy lost his claim to the throne of Jerusalem , as Sibylla was the legal heiress . Her rightful heir was her younger half - sister , Isabella of Jerusalem . Guy , however , refused to step aside for her . The barons of the kingdom used this opportunity to rid themselves of Guy , and arranged the marriage of Conrad to Isabella . However , Isabella was already married to Humphrey IV of Toron , and Conrad ' s marital status was uncertain ( he had married a Byzantine princess in 1187 , a few months before arriving at Tyre , and it was unclear whether she had had him annulled in his absence ) . Also , Sibylla ' s first husband had been Conrad ' s older brother William Longsword , which made a marriage between Isabella and Conrad canonically ' incestuous ' . Patriarch Eraclius was sick , and his appointed representative Baldwin of Exeter died suddenly on November 19 . Therefore it was Archbishop Ubaldo Lanfranchi of Pisa and papal legate , as well as Philip , Bishop of Beauvais , who gave their consent to divorce Isabella from Humphrey on November 24 . Conrad withdrew with Isabella to Tyre , but Guy still insisted that he was king : the succession would not be settled finally until an election in 1192 . Saladin ’ s army was now so large that it was impossible for any more Crusaders to arrive by land , and winter meant that no more supplies or reinforcements could arrive by sea . In the Christian camp , the leaders began to succumb to the epidemics . Theobald of Blois and Stephen of Sancerre died , and Frederick of Swabia also died , on January 20 , 1191 . Henry of Champagne struggled with sickness for many weeks before recovering . Patriarch Eraclius also died during the siege , but the date is unknown . On December 31 , another attempt to breach the walls failed , and on January 6 , 1191 , the partial collapse of the walls led to many Christian attempts at overrunning the Muslim garrisons . On February 13 , Saladin succeeded in breaking through the Christian lines and reaching the city , so that he could replace the exhausted defenders with a new garrison ; otherwise , the old garrison would have all died of disease . Conrad of Montferrat attempted an attack by sea on the Tower of Flies , but adverse winds and rocks below the surface prevented his ship getting close enough to do significant damage . In March , however , when the weather was better and ships could once again unload supplies on the coast , the danger of failure was again averted for the Christians . Duke Leopold V of Austria arrived and took control of the Christian forces . Ships also brought devastating news for Saladin . He had missed his chance to crush the remaining Christians and now King Richard of England and King Philip of France were on their way to the Holy Land , each accompanied by an army . Saladin ’ s chance for victory had slipped away . The kings at Acre . Philip arrived on April 20 , 1191 , and Richard on June 8 , after he had used the opportunity to conquer Cyprus along the way . Richard I arrived with an English fleet of 100 ships ( which carried 8 , 000 men ) while Philip II arrived with a Genoese fleet under Simone Doria . Philip had used the time before Richard ’ s arrival to build siege engines like the trebuchet , and now that stronger leadership from Europe had arrived , it was the city and not the Christian camp that was besieged . When Richard arrived , he sought a meeting with Saladin , and an armistice of three days was agreed upon so that the meeting could take place . However , both Richard and Philip fell ill , and the meeting did not take place . The siege machines broke holes into the walls of Acre , but every new breach led to an attack from Saladin ’ s army , giving the garrison of Acre an opportunity to repair the damage while the Christians were distracted . On July 1 , Philip of Alsace died in the camp , which was a major crisis for the French king , since Philip , the Count of Flanders and Vermandois and one of the most important men in the king ’ s retinue , had no heirs and settling his inheritance was an urgent matter , yet a very difficult one so far away from France . On July 3 , a sufficiently large breach was again created in the walls , but the Christian attack was repelled . On July 4 , the city offered its surrender , but Richard rejected the conditions . This time Saladin did not make a large - scale attack on the Christian camp . On July 7 , the city sent an embassy to Saladin asking for assistance one last time , and threatened to surrender if he did not help . On July 11 , there was one final battle , and on July 12 , the city once more offered terms of surrender to the Crusaders , who found their offer acceptable this time . Conrad of Montferrat , who had returned to Tyre because of Richard ' s support for Guy of Lusignan as king of Jerusalem , was recalled to act as negotiator , at Saladin ' s request . Saladin was not personally involved in the negotiations , but accepted the surrender . The Christians entered the city and the Muslim garrison was taken into captivity . Conrad raised the banners of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and of France , England and the Duchy of Austria over the city . Leopold of Austria left shortly after the capture of the city , after quarrelling with Richard : as the surviving leader of the German Imperial contingent , he had demanded the same position as Philip and Richard , but had been rejected and his flag torn down from the ramparts of Acre . On July 31 , Philip also returned home , to settle the succession in Vermandois and Flanders , and Richard was left solely in charge of the Christian expeditionary forces . Execution of the prisoners . It was now up to Richard and Saladin to finalize the surrender of the city . The Christians began to rebuild Acre ’ s defenses , and Saladin collected money to pay for the ransom of the imprisoned garrison . On August 11 , Saladin delivered the first of the three planned payments and prisoner exchanges , but Richard rejected this because certain Christian nobles were not included . The exchange was broken off and further negotiations were unsuccessful . Richard had also insisted on the handover of Philip ' s share of the prisoners , whom the French king had entrusted to his kinsman Conrad of Montferrat . Conrad reluctantly agreed , under pressure . On August 20 , Richard thought that Saladin had delayed too much , and had 2 , 700 of the Muslim prisoners from the garrison of Acre decapitated ( " Massacre at Ayyadieh " ) . Saladin responded in kind , killing all of the Christian prisoners he had captured . On August 22 , Richard and his army left the city , given in custody to the crusaders Bertram de Verdun and . Aftermath . The Crusader army marched south , with the sea to their right and Saladin ’ s army following them to their left . On September 7 , they met at the Battle of Arsuf , north of Jaffa , in which Saladin was defeated . Richard captured Jaffa on September 10 , but throughout the remainder of 1191 and into the summer of 1192 , he was unable to realize his ultimate goal of recapturing Jerusalem . The dispute over the kingship of Jerusalem was resolved in April 1192 , with the election of Conrad of Montferrat , but he was assassinated only days after his victory . The pregnant Queen Isabella was hastily married off to Richard and Philip ' s nephew , Henry of Champagne . Meanwhile , Richard was informed that his brother , John Lackland , was attempting to usurp the throne in England . He arranged for a treaty with Saladin , and the Third Crusade came to an end when Richard rashly left for England in late October . However , Philip of France meanwhile had come to terms with John and had closed the French harbours ; Richard was forced to make his way across the Adriatic Sea and went ashore near Aquileia . Due to the coming winter , crossing the Alps proved to be impossible , and the king " incognito " passed through the Austrian capital Vienna shortly before Christmas , where he was recognized , captured and imprisoned by Duke Leopold at Dürnstein . Leopold did not hesitate to gain the support of Emperor Henry VI . In March 1193 he delivered Richard to the emperor , who had him arrested at Trifels Castle . The king was charged with the murder of Conrad , who was Leopold ' s cousin , and also with insulting the Austrian duke by throwing down his banner at Acre . Richard refused the accusations and was backed by Pope Celestine III , who threatened Henry with excommunication , nevertheless his imminent extradition to Philip of France made him strike a ransom deal . He was released for an enormous price , and did not return to his own territories until 1194 . Leopold received his share . The Kingdom of Jerusalem was now relatively secure , with its new capital at Acre , from which a narrow strip along the Mediterranean coast was ruled . By 1291 , all of this had been conquered as well , with Acre falling to the Mamluk s that year .