The
Battle of Cresson was a small battle fought on May 1, 1187, at the springs of
CressonCresson may refer to:* Battle of Cresson, a small battle fought on May 1, 1187 in what now is Israel, near Nazareth* Cresson, Pennsylvania, a United States borough* Cressona, Pennsylvania, a United States borough...
, or 'Ain Gozeh, near
NazarethNazareth is the capital and largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
. It was a prelude to the decisive defeat of the
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
at the
Battle of HattinThe Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
two months later.
The political situation in Jerusalem was tense.
Raymond III of TripoliRaymond III of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias in right of his wife Eschiva.-Early life:...
, who had previously been regent for the kingdom and was still one of the kingdom's wisest advisors, refused to accept
Guy of LusignanGuy of Lusignan, Guy of Jerusalem or Guy of Cyprus was a French Knight who, through marriage, became King of Jerusalem, and led the kingdom to disaster at the Battle of Hattin in 1187....
as king, Guy being a recent arrival from
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
.
The
Battle of Cresson was a small battle fought on May 1, 1187, at the springs of
CressonCresson may refer to:* Battle of Cresson, a small battle fought on May 1, 1187 in what now is Israel, near Nazareth* Cresson, Pennsylvania, a United States borough* Cressona, Pennsylvania, a United States borough...
, or 'Ain Gozeh, near
NazarethNazareth is the capital and largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
. It was a prelude to the decisive defeat of the
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
at the
Battle of HattinThe Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
two months later.
Background
The political situation in Jerusalem was tense.
Raymond III of TripoliRaymond III of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias in right of his wife Eschiva.-Early life:...
, who had previously been regent for the kingdom and was still one of the kingdom's wisest advisors, refused to accept
Guy of LusignanGuy of Lusignan, Guy of Jerusalem or Guy of Cyprus was a French Knight who, through marriage, became King of Jerusalem, and led the kingdom to disaster at the Battle of Hattin in 1187....
as king, Guy being a recent arrival from
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. Gerard of Ridefort, master of the
Knights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
,
Roger de MoulinsRoger de Moulins was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1177 to his death in 1187, succeeding Jobert of Syria.The Hospitallers were rivals of the Knights Templar, but Pope Alexander III persuaded Roger to make a truce with them in 1179...
, master of the
Knights HospitallerThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta is a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy...
,
Balian of IbelinBalian of Ibelin was an important noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century.-Early life:Balian was the youngest son of Barisan of Ibelin, and brother of Hugh and Baldwin. His father, a knight in the County of Jaffa, had been rewarded with the lordship of Ibelin after the...
,
Joscius, Archbishop of TyreJoscius, also Josce or Josias , was Archbishop of Tyre in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late 12th century.He was a canon and subdeacon of the church of Acre, and became Bishop of Acre on November 23, 1172. He was a member of the delegation from the Latin church of the Crusader states at...
, and
ReginaldReginald Grenier was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century crusade Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Rise to fame:...
, lord of Sidon, were sent to
TiberiasTiberias is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Lower Galilee, Israel. Established in 20 CE, it was named in honour of the emperor Tiberius. Since the sixteenth century, Tiberias has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed...
to negotiate with Raymond.
The battle
Meanwhile,
SaladinṢalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim who became the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
had sent a small force towards Tiberias led by his son al-Afdal, seeking revenge for an attack on a Muslim
caravanA caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defense against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.One example is a camel train.-...
by
Raynald of ChatillonRaynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
. Raymond III hoped Saladin would ally with him against Guy, and allowed this force to pass through Tiberias on April 30, although he warned the Christians in Nazareth about the army's presence. Hearing this, Gerard quickly assembled a small army, consisting of the Templar garrisons from
QaqunQaqun was a Palestinian Arab village located northwest of the city of Tulkarm at the only entrance to Mount Nablus from the coastal Sharon plain....
and
al-FulahAfula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 39,200 at the end of 2007.-History:...
and the royal knights stationed at Nazareth, only about 140 knights in total; Balian had stopped along the way at his fief of
NablusNablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 134,000...
and Reginald was also elsewhere. Saladin's force, led by his son, consisted of about 7000 men.
Gerard reached Cresson on May 1. As the
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, a chronicle of the
Third CrusadeThe Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin ....
, records it:
So Saladin assembled armed forces and marched violently on Palestine. He sent the emir of Edessa, Manafaradin [al-Muzaffar], on ahead with 7000 Turks to ravage the Holy Land. Now, when this Manafaradin advanced into the Tiberias region, he happened to encounter the master of the Temple, Gerard de Ridefort, and the master of the Hospital, Roger des Moulins. In the unexpected battle which followed, he put the former to flight and killed the latter.
The Muslims feigned a retreat, a common tactic which should not have fooled Gerard; nevertheless, he ordered a charge, against Roger's advice, and the
knightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
s were separated from the foot-soldiers. The Muslims easily repulsed a direct Christian attack, killing both the exhausted knights, and, later, the foot-soldiers. Gerard survived but almost all the others were killed. According to the
Itinerarium, however, Gerard did not rashly engage the enemy, but was actually caught unaware and was the victim of an attack himself. The
Itinerarium also records the exploits of a certain Templar named Jakelin de Mailly, who, after all his companions had been killed, fought singlehandedly against the throng of Muslims until he too fell.
Balian was still a day behind, and had also stopped at Sebastea to celebrate a feast day. After reaching the castle of La Fève, where the Templars and Hospitallers had camped, he found that the place was deserted. He sent his squire
ErnoulErnoul is the name generally given to the author of a chronicle of the late 12th century dealing with the fall of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Biography:Ernoul himself is mentioned only once in history, and only in his own chronicle...
ahead to learn what had happened, and news of the disastrous battle soon arrived from the few survivors. Raymond heard about the battle as well and met the embassy at Tiberias, and agreed to accompany them back to Jerusalem.
Raymond was finally willing to acknowledge Guy as king, but the damage to the kingdom was severe, and both Gerard and Raynald considered Raymond a traitor. Saladin gathered a much larger army of 20 000 men, invaded the kingdom in June, and defeated Guy at Hattin on July 4; by October he captured Jerusalem itself.
The problem of the sources
The battle is mentioned in a number of contemporary chronicles. These accounts differ considerably, and have never been fully reconciled by historians. Instead historical accounts tend to be dominated by the early interpretations of the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
De expugnatione Terrae Sanctae libellus. The aforementioned Latin
Itinerarium was probably written around 1191 or 1192 by a crusader who had served under
Richard IRichard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death in 1199.He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Ireland, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
during the unsuccessful Third Crusade. Variations in style and some disorder (especially in the early chapters) indicate that it was patched together from a number of other accounts.
The
Old FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 900 to 1300...
account of Balian's squire Ernoul gives an account of the immediate aftermath, although Ernoul himself was travelling with his lord and was not present for the actual fighting. Gerard of Ridefort's own report of the battle was the source for a short narrative written by
Pope Urban IIIPope Urban III , born Uberto Crivelli, was Pope from 1185 to 1187. He was made cardinal and archbishop of Milan by Pope Lucius III, whom he succeeded on November 25, 1185...
to
Baldwin of ExeterBaldwin of Exeter was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. Son of a clergyman, he studied both canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pope Eugenius III's nephew before returning to England to serve successive bishops of Exeter...
,
archbishop of CanterburyAlso see Leaders of ChristianityThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in order to be...
. The
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
chronicle of Baha ad-Din briefly mentions Saladin's expedition but does not refer specifically to Cresson; according to him the advance guard remained in the Hawran while Saladin was in
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
.
There is no real secondary literature on this battle, which was a minor prelude to Hattin. However, the classic study on crusader warfare of this period is Smail. A useful additional read is Marshall, which covers the armies of the region shortly after the battle of Hattin.