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Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our verses – We will drive them into a Fire. Every time their skins are roasted through We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the punishment …
Quran. 4:56.
The Egyptian fleet failed miserably at the siege of Tyre, and five of its ships were boarded by Frankish raiding parties from the city. The maritime fiasco demoralised Saladin’s land forces, and the Muslims retreated to winter quarters at Acre. Sixty Sicilian-Norman ships entered Tyre and news came of a new and vast invasion of the Levant being planned in the West. King Guy was released, having promised to leave the Holy Land and never return. He reneged on his pledge and fled to Tyre. Tensions quickly arose between Guy and Conrad, now the popular saviour of Tyre, and Guy marched out to besiege Acre in August 1189.
Saladin attacked the Crusader positions around Acre, and his troopers reached the city but the Crusader infantry put up a magnificent defence and pushed the Muslims out. Conrad then bought reinforcements from Tyre to Acre and a series of vicious battles ensued. In early October Templar knights came out at the charge to attack the left flank of Saladin’s army. Saladin sent reinforcements from his centre. Guy saw this and made a charge. The Muslim centre caved in and the Crusaders penetrated the Muslim camp. A riderless Frank horse then caused panic in the Crusader infantry, as they thought that the knights who were plundering had been slaughtered. Saladin saw this collapse in the Crusader centre and quickly organised a charge. In the ensuing rout, the Master of the Temple was killed and Conrad had to be rescued by Guy. Three Frankish women, wearing armour and fighting in the front line, were also killed, according to the Muslim chroniclers. Then Saladin’s emirs abruptly stopped their advance and surrounded him. They demanded that he send a contingent to bring back their servants, who had fled with their treasure when the Crusaders had plundered the camp. The dark comedy of errors ended as a bloody draw.
Disease spread through both camps, but the Crusaders made another attempt on the city in April 1190. Their siege towers were burnt to the ground by an anonymous man of Damascus who was an enthusiastic collector of pyrotechnic devices. His friends had often reproached and rebuked him for his passion, but he replied that it was, ‘an occupation that did no harm to anyone and which interested him as a hobby’. His first hits were mocked by the Crusaders, and they laughed and danced about when they saw that the containers would not make their structure burn. Unfortunately for them, he was just getting the range. His tailor-made naphtha was then loaded up and shot at the towers, exploding on impact.
The Crusaders made a mass infantry attack on 25 July but were slaughtered in their thousands. By now the siege was becoming an apocalyptic scene.The besieged garrison of Acre and the Crusaders were starving, pestilence struck at all the camps and Saladin had to retire to new positions, as the simple volume of death that had taken place between his lines and those of the Crusaders made the passage of further contagion through his troops inevitable. Despite all this, the fourth horseman, war, continued on his way.