Posted on 07/29/2021 3:50:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
This week in history witnessed a small band of Christian knights terrify and brutally defeat a massive horde of Muslims -- at the battle of Jaffa.
On July 27, 1192, Saladin, the great hero sultan of Islam, surrounded and besieged the tiny Christian-held town of Jaffa. According to chroniclers, the Muslims numbered around 20,000 and “covered the face of the earth like locusts.”
Messengers were instantly dispatched to King Richard I, who was then in Acre, preparing to sail back to England. Before the battered and bruised messengers had finished relaying their message, “With God as my guide,” Richard declared, “I will set out to do what I can,” and instantly disembarked on his fleet with slightly over 2,000 fighters.
Meanwhile, Jaffa was fighting for its life. According to Saladin’s confidant and court historian, Baha’ al-Din, after one of its walls collapsed, all the Muslims rushed into the city, “and there was not an enemy heart that did not tremble and shake.” Even so, the Christians “were more fierce and determined in the fight and more eager for and devoted to death.”
When the main gate was finally battered down and an adjoining wall collapsed from the bombardment, a “cloud of dust and smoke went up and darkened the sky.” Once it cleared, the Muslims saw that “spear-points had replaced the walls and lances had blocked the breach.” Only death would release the crusaders of their charge to defend Jaffa.
Due to the great masses of rushing Muslims, the garrison was eventually driven to and holed up in the citadel, even as the sackers turned their attention to Jaffa’s civilian populace: “Alas for the pitiful slaughter of the sick!” recalls the chronicler. “They lay weakly on couches everywhere in the houses of the city;
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
St. James, the Moors killer, day was July 25th. Walk the Camino de Satiago.
King Richard was the man for the job.
Wealthy Christian Knights truly sacrificed much of their wealth and property to outfit for the journey to Jerusalem. The horses, armor, weapons, supplies, payroll. It cost men their fortunes, many even had to borrow funds to Crusade.
Thanks for posting
That was a good day!
Walk the Camino de Satiago.
My next vacation in the spring of 2022.
Islam has never been a religion of peace.
One of the worst lies ever told by an American President.
Ancestor bump
I walked it three years ago. It was a wonderful experience and I’ve wanted to do it again ever since!
Thanks for posting
Proof that Christianity does not make wimps. Only practicing Christianity (or anything else) in a wimpish way makes wimps.
Richard the Lionheart was aptly named. Badass on the battlefield and utterly fearless.
I've not walked the route but I've been to the Cathedral in Santiago. There's a statue in the entryway where pilgrims / visitors traditionally place a hand before entering. There's a palm print worn into the stone from the light touch of perhaps millions of people over the centuries. Hard not to feel connected to them all when you add your own touch to that lineage.
Pity that Saladin escaped the Lion Heart’s wrath and blade...middle east history would have been quite different.
The Christians were not really unified. The French king bailed in the middle of the Crusade taking most of his men and the ones that remained were tepid on following the leadership of Richard, and sometimes woudn’t. At the same time there were competing claims on the Christian side on the crown of King of Jerusalem with one backed by the French and the other backed by the English. This further divided the Christian army. I don’t think victory was achievable under the circumstances, which is why (I believe) Richard settled for a brokered peace.
Who do we have leading our military? We have Biden, Austin and Thoroughly Modern Millie! I wonder what China’s plans are for the next three plus years? We live in unsettling times.
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