How 300 knights saved Jerusalem | Battle of Montgisard 1177

The city of Jerusalem rose majestically, guarded by the Crusade knights. A lone soldier bursts through the streets of holy shrines, drawing pilgrims and worshippers from far and wide. He bears grave tidings to the ruler of Jerusalem, King Baldwin IV, a 16-year-old youth stricken with leprosy. The Ayyubid dynasty assembles an enormous army and invades the territories of the Christian kingdom, headed straight for Jerusalem. An army led by the nightmare of crusaders, There was a large crusader expedition from Europe in the kingdom at the time, led by Philip of Alsace, the Count of Flanders. But Philip was preoccupied with the city of Harim and Hama in northern Syria. There were only a few knights left in the kingdom. So Saladin seized the opportunity and brought his army from Egypt into the kingdom of Jerusalem in October, encountering very little resistance in the southern part of the kingdom. On top of this, Jerusalem's king, the young Baldwin IV, had leprosy. Although for the time being Baldwin's illness produced few physical signs, the lords and clergy of the kingdom knew that he was likely to die young. Learning of Saladin's plans, Baldwin left Jerusalem with, according to William of Tyre, only 375 knights to attempt a defense at Ascalon. When he reached Ascalon, Baldwin issued the obligation for all able-bodied men to serve in the military was, rarely enforced, and its use is an index of how desperate the situation appeared to be. Knowing that crusader forces were reduced, Saladin moved at a relaxed pace up the coast into Palestine, ravaging and burning farmland and collecting booty. In the fortress of Gaza, Grand Master Odo of St. Armand, gathers the Knights Templar within their stronghold and defends his position. However, Saladin opts to skirt around the Templar fortress and presses forward toward Ascalon. King Baldwin gathered the few troops available to him and led his forces out of the city to meet them. One knight is more eager to defeat Saladin, Reynald de Chatillon, lord of Outre-Jordain, who had just been released from captivity in Aleppo in 1176. Reynald was a fierce enemy of Saladin and was King Baldwin's second-in-command. However, due to Baldwin's condition, the Frankish forces were physically led by Reynald. The Saladin army came into view, and Reynald realized how hopelessly outnumbered they were and soon withdrew into the city again. Saladin considered that the royal army posed no threat and determined to leave it in his rear and to march straight on to Jerusalem. As Saladin's troops scattered to plunder the fertile coastal regions, they met parties of men hurrying on foot to join the king at Ascalon in obedience to the Armerban. They were taken prisoner and strapped to camels in Saladin's baggage train to be sold as slaves. They raided Ramla, Lydda, and Mirabel, among other places. Jerusalem had not been threatened for decades, its walls were in disrepair state, and the terrified population sought refuge in the Tower of David. He also didn't leave anyone behind to guard Ascalon, either to prevent Baldwin from marching out again or even just to report back to him if Baldwin left. Bernard Hamilton calls this an elementary lack of caution. Baldwin did indeed leave Ascalon and brought the army to Gaza, where they were joined by the Knight Templar. On November 25th, they tracked down the Sultan and his main army that had reached the hill of Montgisard, or Tel Jizar. Saladin's army was still widely dispersed and pillaging the surrounding land, and he could only recall the ones who were still within earshot. Consequently, he lost the advantage of overwhelmingly superior numbers, though he still had a larger force than the Franks, whose army consisted of 375 knights and a few thousand infantry. What the Saracens also failed to realize was they had been carefully maneuvered onto swampy ground, where superior numbers acted The local knowledge of the ground is likely attributed to Lord Iblin. As Baldwin's army looked upon Saladin's, the king summoned the Bishop of Bethlehem to ride forward. The crusaders had with them their most precious relic, the true cross believed to be wood, from the very cross of Jesus, carried by the bishop. The king, whose teenage body was already ravaged by aggressive leprosy, was helped from his horse and dropped to his knees before the cross. He prayed to God for victory, and rose to his feet to cheers from his men, who were moved and deeply inspired by what they had just witnessed. Forming for battle, Baldwin, Raynald's knights and the Templars, even though numerically inferior, executed a full frontal heavy armored cavalry charge at the center of Saladin's hurriedly formed battle lines, immediately inflicting heavy casualties. The impact was immediate and Saladin's troops were spread out over a large area. He was trying to organize them into three or four blocks around the hill, and Raynald surprised him with a charge. A common tactic was to allow the crusaders to charge, then maneuver the troops out of the way to almost let them pass through, but then surround and trap them. Saladin could have been planning to do that. Unfortunately for him, Raynald charged unexpectedly before Saladin had put all his remaining troops where he needed them. Saladin's army simply lost their formation, and the crusader army chased them. One of Saladin's great nephews was killed, and Saladin himself was nearly killed, but he managed to escape, mounting a racing camel and rushing away to safety with only a few companions. Crusaders chased down the fleeing enemy, killed or captured as many of them as they could, and also captured a large amount of booty. The Muslim troops that had previously wandered off to plunder the land were also easily captured when they tried to return. The pursuit lasted into the night, hundreds of the remnants of Saladin's army captured by the crusaders, who were surveying the area, uninterested in forgiveness. Baldwin pursued Saladin until nightfall, and then retired to Ascalon. Deluged by ten days of heavy rains, and suffering the loss of his army, including his personal bodyguard of Mamluks, Saladin fled back to Egypt, harassed by Bedouins along the way. Only one-tenth of his army made it back to Egypt with him. While Baldwin was on the throne despite his illness, the kingdom lost no territory, and it flourished. Ruling as king was probably an unbearable burden for him because of his leprosy. The story of Baldwin IV is a tragic story of a truly great leader, and we can only imagine what the kingdom of Jerusalem would have looked like if Baldwin had lived a full, healthy life.