The Battle of Cresson was a small battle fought on May 1, 1187, at the springs of Cresson, or 'Ain Gozeh, near Nazareth. It was a prelude to the defeat of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin two months later. This article is about the medieval crusades. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... // Events May 1 - Battle of Cresson - Saladin defeats the crusaders July 4 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin. ... Nazareth (IPA: ) (Arabic الناصرة an-Nāṣira lit. ... The Ayyubid Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Egypt, Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries. ... The Ayyubid Dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Egypt, Iraq in the 12th and 13th centuries. ... Official language Latin, French, Italian, and other western languages; Greek and Arabic also widely spoken Capital Jerusalem, later Acre Constitution Various laws, so-called Assizes of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 by the First Crusade. ... Gerard of Ridefort (died October 1, 1189) was Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1184 until his death. ... Combatants Kingdom of Jerusalem Ayyubids Commanders Baldwin IV, Raynald of Chatillon, Knights Templar Saladin Strength 375 knights, 80 Templars, Several thousand infantry About 30,000 Casualties 1100 killed 750 wounded About 27,000 The Battle of Montgisard was fought between Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem on November 25, 1177. ... Combatants Kingdom of Jerusalem Ayyubids Commanders Baldwin IV of Jerusalem Saladin Strength About 1500 unknown Casualties 700 killed, 800 captive unknown The Battle of Jacobs Ford was fought in 1179 between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of Saladin. ... The Siege of Kerak took place in in 1183 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and Saladin at Kerak Castle, stronghold of Raynald of Chatillon. ... Combatants Ayyubids Kingdom of Jerusalem Commanders Saladin Guy of Lusignan Raymond III of Tripoli Strength Est. ... The Siege of Jerusalem took place from September 20 to October 2, 1187. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... // Events May 1 - Battle of Cresson - Saladin defeats the crusaders July 4 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin. ... Cresson may refer to: Cresson, Pennsylvania Battle of Cresson, fought in 1187, near Nazareth. ... Nazareth (IPA: ) (Arabic الناصرة an-Nāṣira lit. ... Official language Latin, French, Italian, and other western languages; Greek and Arabic also widely spoken Capital Jerusalem, later Acre Constitution Various laws, so-called Assizes of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 by the First Crusade. ... Combatants Ayyubids Kingdom of Jerusalem Commanders Saladin Guy of Lusignan Raymond III of Tripoli Strength Est. ...

Background

The political situation in Jerusalem was tense. Raymond III of Tripoli, who had previously been regent for the kingdom and was still one of the kingdom's wisest advisors, refused to accept Guy of Lusignan as king, Guy being a recent arrival from Europe. Gerard of Ridefort, master of the Knights Templar, Roger des Moulins, master of the Knights Hospitaller, Balian of Ibelin, Joscius, Archbishop of Tyre, and Reginald, lord of Sidon, were sent to Tiberias to negotiate with Raymond. Raymond III of Tripoli (1140–1187) was Count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias in right of his wife Eschiva. ... Guy of Lusignan (c. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... Gerard of Ridefort (died October 1, 1189) was Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1184 until his death. ... The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple, were the first and among the most famous of the Christian military orders. ... Roger de Moulins was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1177 to his death in 1187. ... The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Knights of Malta, Knights of Rhodes, and Chevaliers of Malta) is an organization that began as an Amalfitan hospital founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor and sick... Drawing of Balian of Ibelins seal, from The Crusades: The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, by T. A. Archer and Charles Lethbridge Kingsford (London & NY, 1894). ... Joscius, also Josce or Josias (died 1202), was Archbishop of Tyre in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late 12th century. ... Reginald Grenier (died 1202; also Reynald or Renaud) was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. ... The Lordship of Sidon was one of the four major seigneuries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to the 13th-century writer John of Ibelin. ... Tiberias in 1862, the ruins reminiscent of its ancient heritage. ...

The battle

Meanwhile, Saladin had sent a small force towards Tiberias led by his son al-Afdal, seeking revenge for an attack on a Muslim caravan by Raynald of Chatillon. 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 Qaqun and al-Fulah and the royal knights stationed at Nazareth, only about 140 knights in total; Balian had stopped along the way at his fief of Nablus and Reginald was also elsewhere. Saladin's force, led by his son, consisted of about 7000 men. Artistic representation of Saladin. ... A caravan is a group of travellers, such as merchants or pilgrims, journeying together. ... Raynald of Châtillon (also Reynaud or Renaud or Reginald of Chastillon) (c. ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining. ... Map of the West Bank, with Nablus in the center north. ...

Gerard reached Cresson on May 1. As the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, a chronicle of the Third Crusade, records it: The Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin. ...

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 knights 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. The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ...

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 Ernoul 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. Sebastia (סבסטיה) is located in the West Bank also referred to in the bible as Samaria. ... The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with a saint, and referring to the day as the saints day of that saint. ... Ernoul 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. ...

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. For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ...

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 Latin De expugnatione Terrae Sanctae libellus. The aforementioned Latin Itinerarium was probably written around 1191 or 1192 by a crusader who had served under Richard I 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. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. ...

The Old French 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 III to Baldwin of Exeter, archbishop of Canterbury. The Arabic 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 Damascus. Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300 A.D. It was known at the time as the langue doïl to distinguish it from the langue... Urban III, né Uberto Crivelli (d. ... Categories: | ... The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader and senior clergyman of the Church of England, recognized by convention as the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... The Hauran or Hawran (Arabic: حوران) is the southern region of modern-day Syria. ... Damascus ( transliteration: , also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the largest city of Syria and is also the capital. ...

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.

Bibliography

• Kenneth Setton, ed., A History of the Crusades. Madison, 1969-1989 (available online).
• Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press, 1952.
• R. C. Smail, Crusading Warfare, 1097-1193. Cambridge, 1995 (first published 1956)
• Christopher Marshall, Warfare in the Latin East 1197 - 1291 Cambridge, 1992
• De Expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum, translated by James A. Brundage, in The Crusades: A Documentary Survey. Marquette University Press, 1962.
• Chronicle of the Third Crusade, a Translation of Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, translated by Helen J. Nicholson. Ashgate, 1997.
• Peter W. Edbury, The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation. Ashgate, 1996. [Includes the Chronicle of Ernoul and Pope Urban III's letter.]