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The Chertsey Abbey floor tiles of the thirteenth century. Said to depict Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in Combat

Gloucester: The trick of that voice I do well remember. Is it not the king? Lear: Aye, every inch a king. When I do stare, see how the subject quakes.

William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6.

Saladin’s funds were exhausted and his forces clearly feared Richard’s troops. Perhaps the knowledge that the Crusaders had lost so many men at Acre buoyed the sultan at this darkest moment. He spoke to his troops before they rode out to meet Richard’s march on Ascalon: ‘Only our army is facing the army of infidelity. There is none among the Muslims who will come to our succour and there is none in the lands of Islam who will help us.’

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Richard was a brilliant soldier and his chosen route down the coast towards Jaffa allowed him to strike inland for Jerusalem, but also to threaten Ascalon and thereby Egypt. He was also able to transport a great deal of his supplies by ship, and the sea secured his right flank. There was no way that Saladin could counter this, as the last of his Syrian fleet had been lost to the Crusaders with the capitulation of Acre. Saladin burnt crops and destroyed the fortifications and ports at Caesarea, Arsuf and Jaffa as no men willing to defend them could be found.

Richard’s column attempted to maintain an unbroken and disciplined march. The knights rode in companies, with a screen of heavy infantry covering their left flank. Saladin’s troopers continually tried to break the column up, while he shadowed the Crusaders and hoped for an opportunity to launch an attack in force.

At the Nahr Zerka, the ‘River of Crocodiles’, Saladin mounted a major attack and tried to taunt knights out of the column to meet him on open ground, using charges against the column and archery assaults. Richard’s troops kept steadfast and perfect formation, undismayed and undisturbed. Such discipline had been the key to all the Crusaders’ successes in the Levant.

As Richard turned inland, Saladin’s troopers took advantage of the open country and killed virtually all the Templars’ horses. Richard was also wounded during a desperate defence of the column. The forests of Arsuf effected him some cover, but a battle was inevitable.

It was fought on a plateau that ended on a cliff. Richard needed to reach Arsuf by the day’s end, which would put him only nine miles short of Jaffa. Saladin aimed to destroy his army. The Battle of Arsuf showed both leaders, and their men, at their very best. The Crusader infantry’s discipline, opening their ranks to allow knights to charge, whilst shielding the column and taking a heavy toll of the Muslim cavalry with their crossbows, was magnificent, but Saladin’s troopers also had the bit between their teeth and many even dismounted to pour more arrows into the Crusaders’ ranks. Richard saw his moment and charged with his household troops. Many of the sultan’s troops fled or were pushed off the cliff and into the sea. Incredibly, Saladin managed to rapidly reorganise amidst this chaos and, when the Crusader attack had begun to lose momentum, he sent his askari forward. They pushed the Franks back, but Richard still had an uncommitted reserve and two further Crusader charges decided the day.

The sultan re-engaged Richard only two days later, but Saladin had failed in his aim. The Crusaders reached Arsuf, and they marched from there into the ruins of Jaffa.

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