ON THIS DAY ·
Execution of the Acre prisoners
20 Aug 1191 — ransom negotiations have stalled, and Richard orders the execution of some 2,700 Muslim prisoners from Acre’s surrendered garrison. Saladin’s army can see the killings. This brutal act of war is a site of memory.
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The moment in context
The loss of Jerusalem and the True Cross in 1187 brought rival European kings to a common cause. Their expedition soon lost much of its strength. Frederick Barbarossa led a huge German army overland, but drowned crossing the Saleph in Cilicia in 1190; grief and disease dispersed much of his force. Philip II of France would leave the campaign early. Richard the Lionheart traveled by sea, seizing Cyprus from its Byzantine ruler on the way. This unplanned conquest became a Latin kingdom that survived the mainland states by centuries.
From Third Crusade, chapter 7 of The Crusades, 1095–1291 (1191).
The place: Execution of the Acre prisoners — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — The shock of 1187. Jerusalem and the True Cross were lost in 1187. The shock galvanized western Europe as nothing had since 1095, bringing kings who were bitter rivals…
- The turn — Arsuf, 7 September 1191. On 7 September 1191, Richard’s disciplined army defeated Saladin at Arsuf and secured its march along the coast. The victory demonstrated the…
- What it changed — A rescued but truncated kingdom. The surviving state of Outremer was smaller and governed from Acre, with its strength concentrated along the coast. Jerusalem stayed under Muslim…
Then ask the room: Richard defeated Saladin at Arsuf and Jaffa but did not try to hold Jerusalem. Was his decision a failure or a realistic judgment? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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