n 1289 Tripoli fell to the Muslims.
This was yet another blow in the long series of defeats the Franks had taken.
All remaining forces were gathered in Acre, with the result that there may
have been 2,000 to 3,000 knights, 18,000 foot soldiers, and up to 3,000
squires, sergeants, and Turcopoles. That Acre
would eventually be a target for Muslims was clear in 1289 too, because Papal
support was then requested for by a Templar and a Hospitaller sent to Rome.
he Muslim who was given the honor
of driving the Franks into the Mediterranean was called Al-Afdal, a son of
Qalawun. When he left Egypt on 6 March 1291, he
made sure he had the upper hand - it has been put forward that he may have
had 66,000 horsemen and 160,000 foot soldiers in his army. The defenders
of Acre had a terrible sight in front of them when Al-Ashraf arrived on 5
April, since he had assembled a hundred siege engines besides the formidable
army he had.
ith no delays the Muslims started
bombarding the city and trying to fill the moat, while letting the defenders
enjoy a constant hail of arrows. Engineers also attempted to undermine the
city walls. For some time the Christians gave a sound response to Al-Ashraf,
because they still had supplies brought in by the sea, which they controlled
at this stage. Muslims had arrows flying towards them from ships anchored
offshore.
hile the siege was on, the Templars
fought with renowned valiance. They were always at the hottest sites, leading
attacks and counterattacks. On 15 April they made a daring raid beyond the
city walls and into a Muslim camp but sustained heavy losses during it. In
the morning of 16 April the Muslims went for St. Anthony's gate, one of the
main entrances to the city. A massive battle ensued, the outcome of which
was favourable to the Franks only because of the joined efforts of the Templars
and the Hospitallers. Guillaume de Beaujeu, Grand Master of the Templars,
was wounded in the shoulder and carried to the Templar compound, where he
succumbed to the wounds. The battle resulted in the start of evacuations
from the city by Venetian ships, but the process only could save a small
percentage of all the people in the city.
e have the following description
of the Templar raid, written by Gerard de Montreal whose source is identified
as "The Templar of Tyre".
The Templars thought it necessary to try and set fire to the largest of the siege engines, and Guillaume de Beaujeu ordered a sortie to go out on the evening of 15 April. After breaking out, the knights attempted to reach the siege engine and throw Greek fire at it, but the one charged with the throw couldn't quite make it. The grass around the engine caught fire, but the engine itself was not ignited. The knights killed all Saracens they found that night, with the full moon shining they found many of them, but when they rode back towards safety, their horses tripped on tent wires and fell. [A Muslim source even cites that one knight drowned when he fell in a latrine ditch. With the somewhat faulty buoyancy features of the equipment, small wonder. -scribe] 18 knights were lost altogether, but Saracen losses were much heavier. (The Templar of Tyre is sometimes identified as a staff member of Peter de Sevrey, the commander of the Templar installation at Acre.)
he city surrendered in 18 April,
when it became evident that nothing else could be done. The Templars could
not surrender, and they locked themselves up in their church with some Christian
citizens to hold out for another week. Al-Ashraf tried negotiations, and
offered to allow Templars and all city inhabitants to retreat to Cyprus in
response to their surrender. However, the negotiating party of the Muslims
began to behave in an uncontrollable manner, and the Templars had no choice
but to take their heads and lock up the gates again.
he Sultan renewed his offer, and
Peter de Sevrey, the Marshal of the Order, had no option but to leave the
church to negotiate. When he was greeted by the Muslims, he and his party
were killed immediately, and a 2,000 strong assault force uncorked the Church
barriers. Only a handful of Templars survived, but the Sultan went so far
as to fill the harbor with rubble to make sure nothing would resist him any
longer.
he loss of Acre was a crushing blow
to all Chistians. It was now generally understood that there was no place
for a Lating Kingdom in the Holy Land. To the Templars and the Hospitallers
it was also the signal of a period of decline. The Hospitallers were better
equipped to manage the change from being a Military Order into being one
that did much more charitable work, but the Templars were obstinate and did
not grasp some offers that would have made their life purposeful once again.
For example, they were offered the rulership over Cyprus, and they even took
it for a while, but sold the island of after just a short period. Basically
they failed to see that the time was running out on knights and especially
on the Orders.
