“Through the winter of 1191 and the spring of 1192, Richard laid siege to Acre, a city whete the Muslims were purported to be hiding the ‘true cross of Christ.’ Finally, in July 1192, the Muslims surrendered and promised to return the True Cross, two hundred thousand gold pieces, and two thousand Christian prisoners, in return for their lives. The only problem was, they did not have any of these.
It was at this juncture, however, that the armies of God once again descended to levels unforseen by the Christian community of history.”
(Christian Jihad, pp. 128-129)
Resuming now the story (with the memory of the massacre at Malmedy in World War II fresh in our minds) -
“King Richard brought twenty-seven hundred Muslim men outside the city walls, and proceeded to have them slaughtered, one by one. A Muslim historian recorded the horror:
’The king of England, seeing all the delays interposed by the Sultan [Saladin] to the execution of the treaty, acted perfidiously as regards the Muusulinan prisoners. On their yielding the town he engaged to grant their life, adding that if the Sultan carried out the bargain he would give them freedom and [allow] them to carry off their children and wives; if the Sultan did not fulfill his engagements they were to be made slaves. Now the king
broke his promises to them and made open display of what he had till now kept hidden in his heart, by carrying out what he had intended to do after he had received the money and the Frank prisoners. It is thus that people of his nation ultimately admitted.
In the afternoon of Tuesday, 27 Rajab [August 20] about four o’clock, he came out on horseback with all the Frankish army, … [King Richard] ordered all the Muslim prisoners, whose martyrdom God had decreed for this day, to be brought before him. They … were all bound with ropes. The Franks then flung themselves upon them all at once and massacred them with sword and lance in cold blood … On the morrow morning our people gathered at the spot and found Muslims stretched out upon the ground as martyrs for the faith. They even recognized some of the dead, and the sight was a great affliction to them. The enemy had only spared the prisoners of noteand such as were strong enough to work.’
Not only did the Christian forces not get to Jerusalem, but they earned the everlasting mistrust of the Muslims, who believed King Richard when he promised to allow them to live. It was becoming difficult to distinguish between Christian and non-Christian forces, as each were reaching new heights in brutality and deceit.”
(
Christian Jihad, pp. 129-130)
@Wrangler has said he is sad this ended.
@Armour of God supports the crusaders. Whether or not he is sad that it ended, we don’t know. He’s silent about it.
King Richard didn’t act like a Christian. He acted like the Germans did many centuries later - in fact worse, but let’s not quibble about it - during the massacre at Malmedy.
Are you outraged by what happened at Malmedy but not at what happened at Acre?
)
