A Letter of Richard the Lionheart from the Third Crusade

Hi, it's J. Stephen Roberts of Real Crusades History. I have a video coming up soon called the Crusades Top Ten Victories. Look for that probably in the next few days or so. But for now, I'm going to read a letter from Richard the Lionheart. This is a very interesting primary source from the Third Crusade. Richard, by the grace of God, King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his venerable and most dear friend in Christ, the Abbot of Clairvaux, greetings and best wishes. After the tragic and universally lamented destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem, the city of the living God, by which his name is invoked, the world was shaken and trembled because the King of Heaven had lost his land wherein his feet had stood. But as your sanctity is well aware, God's blessing was spread by the apostolic sea throughout the whole world, and the friends of the cross of Christ sprang forth eagerly to take the sign of salvation on their foreheads and on their shoulders and avenge the injuries done to the holy cross. To serve the living God, we too have accepted the sign of the cross to defend the places of his death that have been consecrated by his precious blood, in which the enemies of the cross of Christ have hitherto shamefully profaned, and we have taken upon us the burden of so great and so holy a work. Soon after the arrival of the Lord King of the Franks at Acre, we too arrived there, thanks to God's favorable providence. Not long afterwards, the city of Acre was surrendered to the King of the Franks and ourselves, on condition that the lives of the Saracens who had been stationed there to guard and defend it should be spared. On Saladin's behalf, it had been agreed that the holy cross and 1,500 living prisoners would be handed over to us, and he fixed a day for us when all this was to be done. But the time limit expired, and as the pact which we had agreed was entirely made void, we quite properly had the Saracens that we had in custody, about 2,600 of them, put to death. A few of the more noble were spared, and we hoped to recover the holy cross and certain Christian captives in exchange for them. After the King of the Franks had returned to his own lands, and the ruined and broken walls of the city of Acre had been repaired and the city fully fortified by ditches and a wall, we set off to go to Jaffa, so as to further the affairs of Christendom and achieve the intention of our vow. With us was Hugh, Duke of Burgundy, with the French under his command, Count Henry of Champagne with his men, and many other counts and barons and an innumerable people. It is a good distance between Acre and Jaffa, and the roads are long, and it was with much fatigue and grave loss of our men that we eventually made it to Caesarea. Saladin, too, lost very many of his own men during that journey. After the people of God had rested there for a while, we continued on our intended route to Jaffa. Our vanguard was proceeding, and was already setting up camp at Arsuf, when Saladin and his Saracens made a violent attack on our rearguard. But, by the grace of God's favorable mercy, they were forced into flight just by the four squadrons that were facing them. The Christians chased them for a whole league. So great was the slaughter among Saladin's more noble Saracens, that he lost more that day, near Arsuf, it was a Sunday, the vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, than on any day in the previous forty years. By the grace of God, we lost no one that day, except that best of men whose merits had made him dear to the whole army, James of Avens. He had been in the Christian army for several years, in the service of the living God, and he had been like a pillar of the army, ready and devout in all holiness and sincerity of faith. Then, by the will of God, we reached Jaffa. We have fortified that town with ditches and a wall, having as our plan the effective furtherance of the affairs of Christendom, everywhere, to the best of our ability. Since his defeat that day, Saladin had not dared to do battle with the Christians. Instead, he lies in wait, at a distance, out of sight, like a lion in his den, and he is intent on killing of the friends of the cross, like sheep led to the slaughter. But he learned that we intend to make rapid progress to Ascalon, and so he has destroyed it, and raised it to the ground. He is now abandoning and disdaining the whole land of Syria, as if deprived of the benefit of counsel and aid. We take this as grounds for optimism, that soon, by God's grant, the Lord's inheritance will be fully restored.