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| Siege of Kerak | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCrusades | |||||||
 TheKerak Castle in the present-day inJordan | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Jerusalem |  Ayyubid Dynasty | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Baldwin IV of JerusalemRaynald of ChâtillonRaymond III of Tripoli |  SaladinAl-Adil I[1]Al-Muzaffar Umar Kara Arslan Sheref ad-Din Barghosh † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 8siege engines[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | A couple hundred[3] | ||||||
 | |||||||
Thesiege of Kerak was conducted by the forces ofAyyubidSultan of EgyptSaladin against theCrusaders led byRaynald of Châtillon at theKerak Castle from early November to 4 December 1183. Saladin had besieged Raynald's stronghold of Kerak in response to the latter's naval raids on the Pilgrim ships in theRed Sea. Saladin withdrew and returned toDamascus afterKingBaldwin IV of Jerusalem arrived with reinforcements.[4]
Kerak was the stronghold of Raynald of Châtillon,Lord of Oultrejordain, 124 km south ofAmman.[5] The fortress was built in 1142 byPagan the Butler, Lord ofMontreal.[5] While Raynald ruled, several truces existed between theChristian andMuslim states in theHoly Land, but none were truly respected. In particular, soldiers under his command frequently raided Muslim trading caravans. Raynald's most daring raid was an 1182 naval expedition down the Red Sea toMecca andMedina.[4][6][unreliable source] He continuously plundered the Red Sea coast and threatened the routes of pilgrims to Mecca in spring 1183. He captured the town ofAqaba, giving him a base of operations to attack the holy city itself. Saladin, a Sunni Muslim and the leader of the Muslim forces, decided that the Kerak castle would be an ideal target, both to protect the ability of Muslims to travel freely between Egypt to Damascus and to dissuade future Christian attacks on Mecca.[7][better source needed]
Saladin and his commander, al-Adil, led the Muslim effort to capture Kerak.[8] The Muslims had sought to take the fortress for several years, but now they stretched its defenses to the breaking point. There had long been plans for Baldwin's half-sisterIsabella to marry Reynald's stepson in the autumn of 1183, with the potential to fashion a powerful new alliance between the Christian powers. When Saladin learned of this, he ordered that the besieging army be given eight catapults in order to speed up their conquest.
Inside the walls of Kerak, the marriage betweenHumphrey IV of Toron, Raynald's stepson and heir, and Isabella was performed. According to some accounts, food was sent from the feast to Saladin, who in return ordered his troops to avoid bombarding the specific tower where the newlyweds were housed.This act could have been due to courtesy, or because he did not want to harm two potentially valuable hostages.[citation needed] Messengers managed to escape the town and take word toBaldwin IV, who was in Jerusalem at the time. In the following days, the Muslim forces aggressively went after Kerak's walls. They continuously sent stones and projectiles through, damaging buildings on the inside.[citation needed]
Baldwin, carried on a stretcher to relieve the pain of hisleprosy, immediately marched with a relief force, with his regentRaymond III of Tripoli as acting commander. A beacon was promptly lit on theTower of David in Jerusalem as a sign that help was coming to relieve the siege.[6][unreliable source] Saladin, fearful of being caught between Raynald's and Baldwin's forces, stopped the siege and retreated with his army.[9]
In the following spring of 1184, Saladin advanced throughAmman, and again attacked Kerak on August 13. A relieving army once again arrived to save Kerak after three weeks of Saladin's siege.[6][unreliable source] Kerak remained a Crusader stronghold and a symbol of the Christian grip on the region until falling to Muslim control in 1188.[10]
The motion pictureKingdom of Heaven contains a fictional portrayal of the siege.[11] In the film, knights under the command of Balian engaged the Ayyubids as they approached Kerak, so that defenseless citizens could retreat to Raynald's castle. The film also showed the siege not taking place, but King Baldwin IV and Saladin negotiating a settlement. Baldwin then punished Raynald for breaking the truce (with Saladin) by attacking a Muslim caravan.[citation needed]
There is also a "Siege of Kerak" soundtrack in the gameCrusader Kings II.[12]
The siege plays a significant role in the climax ofThe Sultan's Siege, the first book of theTil Time series, where the protagonists attempt to find one another amongst the chaos of an attack on Kerak Castle.[13][self-published source?]
