Siege of Kerak

This article is about the siege that occurred in 1183 and is not to be confused with the Siege of Al-Karak in 1834.

The siege of Kerak was conducted by the forces of Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt Saladin against the Crusaders led by Raynald of Châtillon at the Kerak Castle from early November to 4 December 1183. Saladin had besieged Raynald's stronghold of Kerak in response to the latter's naval raids on the Pilgrim ships in the Red Sea. Saladin withdrew and returned to Damascus after King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem arrived with reinforcements.^[4]

Siege of Kerak
Part of the Crusades
The Kerak Castle in the present-day in Jordan
Date Early November — 4 December 1183 Location Kerak Castle, Lordship of Oultrejordain of the Kingdom of Jerusalem 31.181°N 35.701°E / 31.181; 35.701 Result Crusader victory[citation needed]
Belligerents
Kingdom of Jerusalem	Ayyubid Dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem Raynald of Châtillon Raymond III of Tripoli	Saladin Al-Adil I[1] Al-Muzaffar Umar Kara Arslan Sheref ad-Din Barghosh †
Strength
Unknown	8 siege engines[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	A couple hundred[3]

Prelude

Kerak was the stronghold of Raynald of Châtillon, Lord of Oultrejordain, 124 km south of Amman.^[5] The fortress was built in 1142 by Pagan the Butler, Lord of Montreal.^[5] While Raynald ruled, several truces existed between the Christian and Muslim states in the Holy Land, but none were truly respected. In particular, soldiers under his command frequently raided Muslim trading caravans. Raynald's most daring raid was an 1182 naval expedition down the Red Sea to Mecca and Medina.^{[4][6][unreliable source]} He continuously plundered the Red Sea coast and threatened the routes of pilgrims to Mecca in spring 1183. He captured the town of Aqaba, giving him a base of operations to attack the holy city itself. Saladin, a Sunni Muslim and the leader of the Muslim forces, decided that the Kerak castle would be an ideal target, both to protect the ability of Muslims to travel freely between Egypt to Damascus and to dissuade future Christian attacks on Mecca.^{[7][better source needed]}

Demonstrations of war machines used during the siege of Kerak in Kerak Castle Museum

Siege and relief

Saladin and his commander, al-Adil, led the Muslim effort to capture Kerak.^[8] The Muslims had sought to take the fortress for several years, but now they stretched its defenses to the breaking point. There had long been plans for Baldwin's half-sister Isabella to marry Reynald's stepson in the autumn of 1183, with the potential to fashion a powerful new alliance between the Christian powers. When Saladin learned of this, he ordered that the besieging army be given eight catapults in order to speed up their conquest.

Inside the walls of Kerak, the marriage between Humphrey IV of Toron, Raynald's stepson and heir, and Isabella was performed. According to some accounts, food was sent from the feast to Saladin, who in return ordered his troops to avoid bombarding the specific tower where the newlyweds were housed. This act could have been due to courtesy, or because he did not want to harm two potentially valuable hostages.^{[citation needed]} Messengers managed to escape the town and take word to Baldwin IV, who was in Jerusalem at the time. In the following days, the Muslim forces aggressively went after Kerak's walls. They continuously sent stones and projectiles through, damaging buildings on the inside.^{[citation needed]}

Baldwin, carried on a stretcher to relieve the pain of his leprosy, immediately marched with a relief force, with his regent Raymond III of Tripoli as acting commander. A beacon was promptly lit on the Tower of David in Jerusalem as a sign that help was coming to relieve the siege.^{[6][unreliable source]} Saladin, fearful of being caught between Raynald's and Baldwin's forces, stopped the siege and retreated with his army.^[9]

Aftermath

In the following spring of 1184, Saladin advanced through Amman, and again attacked Kerak on August 13. A relieving army once again arrived to save Kerak after three weeks of Saladin's siege.^{[6][unreliable source]} Kerak remained a Crusader stronghold and a symbol of the Christian grip on the region until falling to Muslim control in 1188.^[10]

In fiction

The motion picture Kingdom of Heaven contains a fictional portrayal of the siege.^[11] In the film, knights under the command of Balian engaged the Ayyubids as they approached Kerak, so that defenseless citizens could retreat to Raynald's castle. The film also showed the siege not taking place, but King Baldwin IV and Saladin negotiating a settlement. Baldwin then punished Raynald for breaking the truce (with Saladin) by attacking a Muslim caravan.^{[citation needed]}

There is also a "Siege of Kerak" soundtrack in the game Crusader Kings II.^[12]

The siege plays a significant role in the climax of The Sultan's Siege, the first book of the Til Time series, where the protagonists attempt to find one another amongst the chaos of an attack on Kerak Castle.^{[13][self-published source?]}