Battle of Jaffa ( 1192 ) The Battle of Jaffa took place during the Crusades , as one of a series of campaigns between the army of Sultan Saladin ( Ṣalāḥ al - Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb ) and the Crusader forces led by King Richard I of England ( known as Richard the Lionheart ) . It was the final battle of the Third Crusade , after which Saladin and King Richard were able to negotiate a truce . Although the Crusaders did not regain possession of Jerusalem , Christian pilgrims were permitted entry into the city , and the Crusaders were able to retain control of a sizable strip of land stretching from Beirut to Jaffa . Although largely a footnote among the greater events that unfolded during the Crusades , the battle was a decisive encounter , in that it forced Saladin to negotiate an end to the immediate hostilities . The battle illustrated the determined spirit of Saladin and the courage and tactical skill of Richard . It was the final armed encounter between the two monarchs before the ratification of the Treaty of Jaffa brought the Crusade to an end . The battle ensured that the Crusader presence in the south of Palestine was secure . Prelude . On September 7 , 1191 , after the Battle of Arsuf , the Crusader army proceeded from Arsuf to Jaffa , which the Crusaders took and fortified . Jaffa , they hoped , would be the base of operations in a drive to reconquer Jerusalem itself . As the winter of 1191 – 1192 approached , sporadic negotiations between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin were taken up , though without any immediate result . In November of 1191 the Crusader army advanced inland towards Jerusalem . On the 12 December Saladin was forced by pressure from his emirs to disband the greater part of his army . Learning this , Richard pushed his army forward , spending Christmas at Latrun . The army then marched to Beit Nuba , only 12 miles from Jerusalem . Muslim morale in Jerusalem was so low that the arrival of the Crusaders would probably have caused the city to fall quickly . However , the weather was appallingly bad , cold with heavy rain and hailstorms ; this , combined with the fear that the Crusader army , if it besieged Jerusalem , might be trapped by a relieving force , caused the decision to retreat back to the coast to be made . During the winter months , Richard ' s men occupied and refortified Ascalon , whose fortifications had earlier been razed by Saladin . The spring of 1192 saw continued negotiations and further skirmishing between the opposing forces . The Crusader army made another advance on Jerusalem , coming within sight of the city before being forced to retreat once again because of dissention amongst its leaders . During this period , Richard began to receive disturbing news of the activities of his brother John and Philip Augustus . As the spring gave way to summer , it became evident that Richard would have to return soon to England to safeguard his own interests there . Contest for the control of Jaffa . Saladin takes Jaffa . By July 5 , 1192 , Richard began his withdrawal from the Holy Land . Having realized that Jerusalem would not be defensible if it were to be captured , he began the retreat of Crusader forces from hostile territory . Almost immediately after Richard ' s withdrawal , Saladin , still smarting from his recent defeat at Arsuf , saw a chance for revenge and , on the 27 July , laid siege to the town of Jaffa which had served as a base of operations for Richard during his previous march inland towards Jerusalem . The defending garrison , although taken by surprise , fought well before the odds against them proved too great . Saladin ' s soldiers successfully stormed the walls after three days of bloody clashes ; only Jaffa ' s citadel held out and the remaining Crusaders managed to send word of their plight . Richard storms Jaffa from the sea . Richard subsequently gathered a small army , including a large contingent of Italian sailors , and hurried south . Upon seeing Muslim banners flying from the walls , he falsely believed the town to be a lost cause , until a defender swam out to his flagship and informed him of the citadel ' s dire situation . Still in his sailor ' s deck shoes , Richard leaped into the sea and waded through the waves to reach the beach . The King again showed his personal bravery and martial prowess , leading fifty - four knights , a few hundred infantrymen , and about 2 , 000 Genoese and Pisan crossbow men into battle . The Muslim army began to panic at the sudden offensive by Richard ' s arriving force ; they feared it was but a spearhead of a much larger army coming to relieve Jaffa . The latter fought in person at the forefront of his attack , and Saladin ' s men were routed . Many of the Christian prisoners who had surrendered earlier also seized their arms and resumed combat , for their captors were in such disarray that they were unable to stop them . Saladin ' s fleeing army spilled out of Jaffa and escaped in a disorderly manner ; Saladin was unable to regroup his forces until they had retreated more than five miles inland . Battle - Saladin ' s counterattack defeated . When Saladin received reports that more of the Franks were coming down from Caesarea , he opted to launch a counterattack on Jaffa to recapture it before these additional reinforcements could arrive . On the early morning of August 4 , Muslim troops massed around the walled town , concealing themselves in the fields and intending to attack at dawn the next day . Just before sunrise , however , an Italian soldier out for a stroll discerned the hidden enemy ; the neighing of horses and glinting of armor only served to confirm his suspicions . The sentries promptly raised the alarm , and Richard quickly assembled his knights , infantry and crossbowmen for battle . He ordered his infantry , including unmounted knights , to form a defensive hedge of spears by kneeling and driving their shields and the shafts of their spears or lances into the ground , with the spearheads pointing towards their opponents . The crossbowmen stood behind the protective wall of spearmen , working in pairs , one firing whilst the other loaded . Richard kept his handful of mounted knights as a reserve in the rear . The lightly armoured Turkish , Egyptian and Bedouin cavalry repeatedly charged . However , when it was evident that the Crusaders were not going to break ranks , they veered away from the spears without coming to blows . Each Ayyubid attack lost heavily to the fire of the many crossbows . The armour of the Christians proved better able to withstand the arrows of the Saracens than the armour of the Saracens could withstand crossbow bolts . Also , being entirely cavalry , the many horses of Saladin ' s force were particularly vulnerable to missile fire . After a few hours ' onslaught , both sides began to tire . Having suffered considerably from the barrage of crossbow bolts without having been able to dent the Crusader ' s defences , Saladin ' s cavalrymen were in a demoralised state . They were put to flight by a charge of the knights , only 10 to 15 of whom were mounted , led by the king himself . While the battle raged , a group of Ayyubid soldiers were able to outflank the Crusader army and enter Jaffa . The Genoese marines who had been entrusted to remain behind and guard the gates offered little resistance before retreating to their ships . Before the Muslims could exploit their success , however , Richard himself galloped into the town and rallied all of its fighting men . By evening , it had become clear to Saladin that his men had been soundly defeated and he gave the order to withdraw . Saladin ' s forces had suffered 700 dead , and lost 1500 horses ; the Crusaders lost 2 dead , though many were wounded . However , as for many Medieval battles , the recorded figures for losses may not be entirely reliable . Leaving their dead on the field , the Ayyubid force began a long , weary , march back to Jerusalem . Aftermath . The repulse from Jaffa marked the end of Saladin ' s counter - offensive . Both sides were completely exhausted , and Palestine was in a ruinous state . Soon after the fighting at Jaffa Richard fell seriously ill . A three - year truce was negotiated , Ascalon had its defences razed and was handed back to Saladin , from Tyre to Jaffa the coast was to remain in Christian hands . Saladin retained Jerusalem , but Christian pilgrims would be free to visit the city . The retention of Jaffa allowed the Crusader kingdom to reconsolidate its control of the coastal lands of Palestine from its new capital at Acre .