Battle of Harim The Battle of Harim ( Harenc ) was fought on 12 August 1164 between the forces of Nur ad - Din Zangi and a combined army from the County of Tripoli , the Principality of Antioch , the Byzantine Empire and Armenia . Nur ad - Din won a crushing victory , capturing most of the leaders of the opposing army . Background . In 1163 King Amalric I of Jerusalem led an invasion of Egypt , leaving the crusader state s open to attack from the east . Nur ad - Din took advantage of this to invade Tripoli , but he was taken by surprise by a large combination of enemies at the Battle of al - Buqaia and was almost killed himself . He then moved north to Antioch , with assistance from his brother Qutb ad - Din in Mosul , his other vassals from Aleppo and Damascus , and the Ortoqids of the Jazira , and besieged the fortress of Harim ( Harenc ) in 1164 . As William of Tyre says , " he stationed his engines around it in the customary manner and began to assault the place with a fury which permitted the inhabitants no rest . " Battle . Reginald of Saint Valery , lord of Harim , called for help , and Raymond III of Tripoli , Bohemund III of Antioch , and Joscelin III of Edessa arrived to relieve the siege . They were joined by Konstantinos Kalamanos , the Byzantine governor of Cilicia , and Thoros , and Mleh of Armenia , as well as Hugh VIII of Lusignan and Geoffrey Martel , brother of William IV of Angoulême , both of whom had recently arrived on pilgrimage . Nur ad - Din prepared to give up the siege when they arrived , but the crusaders , inspired by the victory at al - Buqaia , and , " regardless of the rules of military discipline . . . recklessly dispersed and roved hither and yon in pursuit of the foe . " Nur ad - Din ' s troops defended against their charge and led a counterattack , pushing the crusaders into a swamp , and they were massacred " like victims before the altar . " It is possible that Nur ad - Din was only feigning a retreat in order to draw the crusaders into an ambush , but abandoning a siege when a relief army arrived was a standard tactic and Nur ad - Din presumably had no way of knowing the crusaders would follow him . William ' s assertion that this was a reckless move is further evidence of this . " Only the Armenian Thoros , who had forseen the Turkish maneuver and had not set off in pursuit , escaped from the disaster " . Mleh also avoided capture . Konstantinos Kalamanos , Hugh , Raymond , Bohemund , and Joscelin were captured and imprisoned in Aleppo . According to Ibn al - Athir , 10 , 000 crusaders were killed . Aftermath . Nur ad - Din resumed the siege and captured Harim a few days later . With Amalric absent in Egypt , all three crusader states were now without their rulers , but Nur ad - Din did not want to attack Antioch itself for fear of provoking a Byzantine response , as the Principality was technically an Imperial fief . To his critics he replied , " I would rather have Bohemund as a neighbor than the King of the Greeks ! " . Nur ad - Din went on to besiege and capture Banias . Amalric abandoned Egypt and marched north with Thierry of Alsace to relieve Nur ad - Din ' s pressure on Antioch . Bohemund was released from captivity in 1165 but Raymond remained in prison until 1173 .