| Siege of Jacob's Ford | |||||||||
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| Part of theCrusades | |||||||||
 The Ruins of theCrusader Fortress inJacob's Ford | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Kingdom of Jerusalem | Ayyubid Dynasty | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Unknown Castellan | Saladin Nur ad-Din Nuhammad bin Kara Arslan Ortoki[1] Badr al-Din Dolderim al-Yaruki | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 1,500 Crusaders[2] | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Total : 1,500+ casualties 800 killed[3] 700 captured[3] | Unknown | ||||||||
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Thesiege of Jacob's Ford was a victory of theMuslim Sultan Saladin over an unnamed TemplarCastellan of Jacob's Ford. It occurred in August 1179, whenSaladin conquered and destroyedChastelet, a new border castle built by theKnights Templar atJacob's Ford on the upperJordan River, a historic passage point between theGolan Heights and northGalilee.Jacob's Ford is also known by the Latin name ofVadum Iacob and in modern Hebrew asAteret. Many scholars believe thatSaladin's reconquest of theHoly Land andJerusalem in 1187 was heralded by this earlier victory.
Saladin wasSultan of Egypt and, by 1174,Sultan of Syria after his takeover ofDamascus.[4] After seizing power inSyria,Saladin vowed to forge an Islamic empire aroundJerusalem. Naturally, the end goal was to recapture theHoly City of Jerusalem from theCrusaders, a significant stride towards an end to theJihad. However, such a plan would take theHoly Land without major military conflict.
Baldwin IV took control over theKingdom of Jerusalem at the age of thirteen after the death of his fatherAmalric I in 1174, the same year thatSaladin came to power.Baldwin was a staunch believer inChristianity and, as a result,Saladin's biggest problem to overcome. AlthoughBaldwin was a rich and powerful leader, he was stricken withleprosy at a very young age.
After approximately three years on the throne atJerusalem,Baldwin was faced with his very first military challenge.Saladin invaded theChristian Kingdom in approximately 1177 to rout theCrusaders. AlthoughSaladin was almost twenty years older and more experienced thanBaldwin, the youthfulChristian King did not flounder in stressful situations.Baldwin and hisCrusaders outwitted theMuslims at thebattle of Montgisard on 25 November 1177.[5] As oneCrusade scholar wrote with regards to Montgisard, "[t]his was a striking achievement – the only defeat in pitched battle thatSaladin suffered before the advent ofRichard the Lionheart and theThird Crusade".[6] By the end of the battle,Saladin was forced to flee back toEgypt after narrowly escaping death. Although the victory resulted in tremendous losses forBaldwin's armies, his image throughout the kingdom gained in strength. In fact, someChristians in theNear East had even come to believe that 'miracle' of his victory [at Montgisard] appear[ed] as a sign of divine mandate".[6]
Jacob's Ford is approximately one hundred miles north ofJerusalem at theJordan River and was a key river crossing on one of the main roads betweenAcre andDamascus.[7]Jacob's Ford was also one of the safest crossings of theJordan and, because of its location and importance, was utilized byChristian Palestine andMuslim Syria as a major intersection between the two civilizations. In the twelfth century,Baldwin andSaladin continually contested over the area on whichJacob's Ford was situated. As a bold strategic move and as a result of his military victory at Montgodard,Baldwin decided to march toJacob's Ford and build a defensive fortress on its territory. TheKingBaldwin IV of Jerusalem and hisCrusaders theorized that such a fortification could protectJerusalem from a northern invasion and put pressure onSaladin's stronghold atDamascus.
Between October 1178 and April 1179,Baldwin IV began the first stages of constructing his new line of defense, a fortification calledChastelet. While construction was in progress,Saladin became fully aware of the task he would have to overcome atJacob's Ford if he were to protectSyria and conquerJerusalem. At the time, he was unable to stop the erection ofChastelet by military force because a large portion of his troops were stationed in northernSyria, putting downMuslim rebellions. As one author writes, "Saladin was always at pains to portray himself as the champion of Islam against the European intruders, although in fact he spent much of, if not more, of his career involved in a war against otherMuslims."[8] Consequently, the sultan turned to bribery and offeredBaldwin 60,000 dinars to halt construction.Baldwin declined, butSaladin made a counter-offer of 100,000dinars.[9] TheChristian King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem refused again and continued to buildChastelet. By the summer of 1179,Baldwin's forces had constructed a stone wall of massive proportions. "The Castle now had a formidable ten met[er] high wall – what one Arabic contemporary later described as ‘an impregnable rampart of stone and iron’ – and a single tower, but it was still a work in progress."[10] In April 1179, Baldwin gave command of Jacob's Ford to the Knights Templar.[11]
AfterBaldwin IV refused both bribes,Saladin turned his attention away from the uprisings in northernSyria and focused onJacob's Ford and theCastle of Chastelet. He was fully aware that any further bargaining or negotiations would only be in vain and that the more time he wasted, the more timeBaldwin IV would have to complete his massive fortification. In 1179, only a few months after construction ofChastelet began,Saladin summoned a largeMuslim army to march southeast towardsJacob’s Ford. The plan was simple: lay siege to the castle and its inhabitants before any reinforcements from Jerusalem or any of its neighboring territories could arrive.
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, on the other hand, was situated atTiberias, a province situated on theSea of Galilee, approximately a half day's march fromJacob's Ford. Tiberias was 65–75 km away by road or path. If any attack were to befall his project, reinforcements would be able to arrive relatively quickly. Moreover, the fortification atJacob’s Ford, at least what was completed of it, was relatively strong and was likely able to hold out until relief could arrive in case of siege. As oneCrusades author asserts and inquisitively asks, "[t]he siege was effectively a race – could theMuslims crack the stronghold's defenses before theLatin forces arrived?"[10]
On 23 August 1179,Saladin arrived atJacob's Ford and ordered his troops to shoot arrows at the castle, thus initiating the siege. While the archers distracted the men inside the fortification, miners were digging a tunnel to breach the stone and iron walls at the north-east corner ofChastelet. Once the tunnel was dug,Saladin's forces placed large amounts of wood inside and set it alight. This process, calledsapping, was a method in which the tunnel's supports were burnt away forcing the walls to eventually collapse under their own weight.[12] The walls didn't collapse, because the tunnel was too narrow. Sapping initially failed forSaladin and his troops, so the troops were forced to put out the fire with buckets of water and were paid one gold piece per bucket to do so.[12] After the fire was extinguished, the miners were instructed to broaden the tunnel and eventually relight the fire. At the same time,King Baldwin IV, having learned of this attack, called for reinforcements fromJerusalem. However, communications betweenBaldwin andChastelet were slow and, by this time, the siege had been under way for several days. The identity of the Templar Castellan remains unknown.
The Templar Castellan's forces inside the castle began to reinforce the main gates around the Castle. Shortly after, theMuslims relit the fire in the tunnel under the castle, and the walls collapsed. As a result, theCrusaders' attempts to refortify the castle were in vain and, approximately six days after the siege began,Saladin and his troops enteredChastelet. By 30 August 1179, theMuslim invaders had pillaged the castle atJacob's Ford and killed most of its residents. On the same day, less than one week after reinforcements were called,Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and his supporting army set out fromTiberias, only to discover smoke permeating the horizon directly aboveChastelet. Obviously, they were too late to save the 700 Knights, architects, and construction workers who were killed and the other 800 who were taken captive.[12]Baldwin and his reinforcements turned back towardsTiberias andSaladin ordered the remains of the fortification to be torn down.
AlthoughSaladin claimed a military victory atChastelet, his troops fell victim to another enemy. Directly after the siege, the bodies of the 700Crusaders killed atJacob's Ford were placed into a pit. The corpses in the pit began to decay in the August heat and, as a result, a plague ensued, killing approximately ten ofSaladin's senior officers.[13] However, this setback did not diminishSaladin's military prowess. In 1180,Saladin andBaldwin signed a truce.[14] Seven years after this peace treaty between theMuslims and theChristians,Saladincaptured Jerusalem from theCrusaders after theBattle of Hattin in 1187.[15]
Some scholars suggest that, followingSaladin’s victory atJacob's Ford in 1179,Jerusalem was extremely vulnerable to capture because "the entry into theKingdom of Jerusalem by way of theJordan crossing immediately south ofLake Tiberias, used [by]Saladin in 1182, 1184, and 1187 was virtually undefended".[16] However, that crossing has nothing to do with the more northerlyJacob's Ford, and beside that it was only some ten kilometres south from the fortified and garrisonedCrusader town ofTiberias, capital of thePrincipality of Galilee, this being one among severalCrusader strongholds in the easternGalilee andJordan Valley, which leaves space for debate.
After thecapture of Jerusalem,Saladin remained militarily and politically successful in the Near East until a military encounter withRichard the Lionheart, after which he was forced to make peace in 1192. He died the next year. Meanwhile,King Baldwin IV, afflicted with leprosy, died in 1185 at age twenty-three.[17]
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