Análisis proteómicos

CHAPTER ONE

While the Fourth Crusade turned its attention to Constantinople (1203), Islām had another fifteen years of truce, which enabled al-Malik al-‘Adil to unite his brother Saladin’s kingdom firmly under his own control and to organize as one empire the Ayyubid domains from Egypt to Mesopotamia. The new Crusade had its eyes on Egypt itself, as the heart of Muslim resistance at a time when the Mongol threat loomed in the East, soon to grow to its full, terrible stature. Ibn al-Athīr, with his usual breadth of vision, rises above the level of a local chronicler to consider the fate of Islām as a whole, and perceives the gravity of the double threat. He expresses it both in his dramatic description of the Mongol invasion and in this history of the Fifth Crusade, uniting in one cogent account the four years of the Egyptian campaign (1217–21). As a complement to Ibn al-Athīr’s account we include that of Ibn Wasil, an Ayyubid historian until recently almost inaccessible in his original form and therefore little studied.

The Fifth Crusade

THE FRANKS GATHER IN SYRIA, MARCH ON EGYPT AND TAKE DAMIETTA, WHICH

IS RECOVERED BY THE MUSLIMS (IBN AL-ATHĪR, XII, 208–9)

From beginning to end this episode lasted for four years less one month. We shall speak of it at this point (614/1217) because it was in this year that the Franks appeared, and we shall give the whole account as a continuous narrative because its various phases followed one another without intervals. In this year, then, the Frankish reinforcements arrived from overseas, from Rome and the other countries west and north of us, all under the control of the Lord of Rome (the Pope), who held a very high place in their society, so that they dared not disobey him or stray from the path ordained by him for good or ill. He sent the armies from his own states under a group of commanders, and ordered the other Frankish Kings either to go in person or to send an army. They obeyed his command and assembled in Acre, on the coast of Syria.¹

1 With King John of Brienne, Andrew of Hungary, Hugh of Cyprus, etc.

152 Arab Historians of the Crusades

THE FRANKS BESIEGE AND TAKE DAMIETTA (IBN AL-ATHĪR, XII, 210–3)

When the Franks returned from the siege of at-Tur² they camped at Acre until the beginning of 615, and then set out for Damietta by sea, reaching it in safar/May 1218, and anchored at al-Jiza. The Nile was between them and Damietta, and one of its branches flowed into the sea near the city. At this point a tall and well-fortified tower had been built by the Egyptians, with massive iron chains slung across the river to the walls of Damietta to prevent ships arriving from the sea from travelling up the Nile into Egypt. The Franks disembarked at al-Jiza, with the Nile between them and Damietta, and built a wall on their side and dug out a trench to defend themselves from attack. Then they began to assault Damietta. They built siege-engines and mobile towers that they moved on ships to attack and seize the tower, which was full of defenders. Al-Malik al-Kamil, the son of al-Malik al-‘Adil and ruler of Damietta and all Egypt, had camped in a place called ‘Adiliyya, near Damietta, and sent continuous supplies of troops to Damietta to prevent the enemy from landing on his territory. The Franks, despite the unremitting attack on the tower, had no success and suffered the destruction of their own engines and machines of war. In spite of this they persevered in their attack, but spent fourteen months in unsuccessful attempts before they finally succeeded and cut the chains so that their ships could enter the Nile and they could step safely ashore on to Egyptian soil. Al-Malik al-Kamil then had a great bridge built to prevent their getting any further up the Nile, and it cost them a fierce battle to break through it. Then he took a large number of cargo vessels and sank them in the Nile to impede the Franks’ passage upstream. The Franks fell back on a canal called al-Azraq, through which the Nile used to flow in earlier times; they dredged it and deepened it upstream of the sunken ships, diverted the river into this channel to the sea, and sent their ships up that way as far as a place called Bura, also in the area of al-Jiza, facing the place where al-Malik al-Kamil was encamped, to attack him from there, for they had no other way of reaching him to attack him, as Damietta was situated between them and him. When they reached Bura they found themselves face to face with him and began to attack him across the river. Their repeated assaults had, however, no success, and made no impression on the situation at Damietta, which was being reinforced and supplied uninterruptedly, and had the Nile between itself and the Franks. The city stood safe and unharmed, its gates open, and suffered no hardship or damage from the siege.

Then in jumada II 615/August 1218, by God’s decree, al-Malik al-‘Adil died, as we shall describe, God willing. His death lowered public morale for he was the real Sultan and although his sons bore kingly titles they were subordinate to his command, by grace of which they governed the various provinces.¹ In this situation, under enemy attack, he died. One of the amīrs of Egypt was a man called ‘Imād ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Ali, known as Ibn al-Mashtūb, a Hakkarite Kurd. He was the leader of the Egyptian amīrs and had a great following among them, especially among the other Kurds, who all obeyed him docilely.

2 A Muslim fort near Acre.

1 Al-‘Adil had succeeded in uniting under his supreme command the various domains of his brother Saladin.

Part Three: The Ayyubids and the Invasion of Egypt 153 Ibn al-Mashtūb hatched a plot with the other amīrs to depose al-Malik al-Kamil in favour of his brother al-Malik al-Fa’iz ibn al-‘Adil, and through him to control the whole country.

When al-Kamil heard the news he abandoned his position and went by night with a small detachment to a village called Ashmūn Tannāh, near which he made his camp. The army, its Sultan gone, was left to look after itself. No one gave a moment’s thought to his nearest neighbour. They could only carry a little of the lightest gear in the way of tents, provisions, arms and equipment, so they left the rest where it was: stores, arms, horses and tents, and made their way toward al-Kamil.

The following morning the Franks could not see a single Muslim on the river-bank where they were used to seeing them. At first they were unsure what had happened, but when information reached them later on they crossed the Nile unopposed, without any incidents or any need to defend themselves, and set foot on the soil of Damietta. This was on 20 dhu l-qa‘da 615/ 8 February 1219. They collected enormous, incalculable quantities of booty from the Muslim camp. Al-Malik al-Kamil was inclined to leave Egypt, for he did not trust a single member of his army and the Franks had seized everything without any effort or work on their part. But God was gracious to the Muslims, and al-Malik al-Mu‘azzam Isa, the son of al-‘Adil,¹ arrived two days after this, while everything was in turmoil. His arrival cheered and strengthened his brother, who held his position with renewed courage.

Ibn al-Mashtūb, driven out into Syria, came to an understanding with al-Malik al-Ashraf and went to join his army.

When the Franks crossed to Damietta all the Arab nomads of the various tribes united to pillage the area around the city. They cut the roads and indulged in the most ruinous sort of brigandage, which caused the Muslims more damage than it did the Franks themselves.

The gravest disadvantage that the people of Damietta suffered was their lack of any local militia, for until then the Sultan and his troops had been within reach of the city to defend it from an enemy, but when this catastrophe occurred no soldiers were sent in to garrison the city. This was the fault of Ibn al-Mashtūb, whose just punishment was not long delayed, for he met a violent end, as we shall describe later, God willing. So the Franks laid siege to Damietta and attacked it by land and sea. They dug a trench in their usual way to defend themselves from Muslim attacks. After a prolonged struggle the defenders reached the end of their resources. They were almost without food, and exhausted by unending battle. The Franks were sufficiently numerous to take turns at the fighting, but Damietta lacked the soldiers to make this possible. In spite of this they held out amazingly and suffered great losses from death in battle, wounds and sickness. The siege lasted until 27 sha‘bān 616/8 November 1219, when the survivors, few in number and without provisions, were unable any longer to defend their city. So they surrendered the city to the Franks in exchange for their lives. Some left, some stayed, unable to move; the city’s inhabitants were scattered.

1 Sultan of Damascus.

154 Arab Historians of the Crusades

THE MUSLIMS RECONQUER DAMIETTA FROM THE FRANKS (IBN AL-ATHĪR, XII, 213–6)

The Franks settled in Damietta after the conquest and sent out raiding parties into all the surrounding territories to pillage and slaughter. The population evacuated the region, and the Franks began to set things in order and to fortify the citadel most carefully in an effort to make it impregnable. Al-Malik al-Kamil for his part was stationed close to the enemy, on the borders of his own territory, ready to defend it. When the Franks at home learnt that the Franks had seized Damietta they hurried there from all directions, so that it became a centre for them when they emigrated. Al-Malik al-Mu‘azzam returned to Syria and destroyed (the walls of) Jerusalem in dhu l-qa‘da of that year, because of the general fear of the Franks.¹ The entire Muslim world, men and territories, seemed likely at this moment to be lost to the East on the one hand and the West on the other: from the East came the Tartars, who reached Irāq, Azarbaijān, Arrān and other provinces, as we shall narrate, God willing;

while from the West came the Franks, who took a city like Damietta in Egypt because of its lack of fortifications to protect it from an enemy. All the rest of Egypt and Syria was on the point of collapse and everyone was terrified of the invaders and went in anticipation of disaster night and day. The population of Egypt was even ready to evacuate the country for fear of the enemy, but ‘It was no time to escape’,² surrounded as they were on all sides by the enemy. If al-Kamil had allowed them, they would have abandoned the country altogether, but impeded as they were they stood firm. Al-Malik al-Kamil sent a stream of letters to his two brothers al-Malik al-Mu‘azzam of Damascus and al-Malik al-Ashraf who ruled the Jazira, Armenia and the rest, imploring their help and begging them to come in person, or at least to send him their troops. The Lord of Damascus went himself to al-Ashraf, but found him unable to send help to their brother because many of his vassals were in a state of rebellion, as will be explained under the year 615, following the death of al-Malik al-Qahir, ruler of Mosul. He therefore excused him and returned home, and the situation facing al-Malik al-Kamil remained unchanged.

Then the rebellions in al-Malik al-Ashraf’s kingdom were put down and the rebellious Princes restored to obedience. This was accomplished by 618, at which time al-Malik al-Kamil was still confronting the Franks. At the beginning of 618 al-Kamil learnt that al-Ashraf’s troubles had subsided and so he sent to his brothers to ask their help. The ruler of Damascus once again begged his brother to set out, and he did in fact start for Damascus with the troops at his disposal, commanding the rest to join him there, where he would halt and wait for them. Some of his amīrs and courtiers advised him to send the troops on and return home himself, for fear of an uprising there, but he rejected their advice: ‘I have set out on a Holy War,’ he said, ‘and must carry it through to the end.’ So he set off for Egypt.

The Franks with all their forces came out of Damietta to confront al-Malik al-Kamil.

The two armies encamped facing one another but separated by a tributary of the Nile

1 Because he was afraid that he might have to hand the Holy City back to them (it was in fact offered to them at one point), and wanted at least to destroy its military significance.

2 Qur’ān XXXVIII, 2.

Part Three: The Ayyubids and the Invasion of Egypt 155 known as Bahr Ashmūn. The Franks attacked the Muslims with catapults and ballistas, and were, like everyone else, sure that they would gain control of the whole of Egypt. When al-Ashraf reached Egypt his brother al-Kamil learnt of his arrival and set out to meet him, delighting both himself and the other Muslims by this meeting, which all hoped would lead to success and (final) victory. (Even) al-Mu‘azzam of Damascus came to Egypt and made for Damietta, thinking that his two brothers and their armies would already have laid siege to it. Others say that he heard that the Franks were making for Damietta¹ and went in that direction to confront them while the two brothers fell on them from behind; but God knows best. When al-Ashraf and al-Kamil met they decided to make for a branch of the Nile known as Bahr al-Mahalla, which they did, and pressed the Franks more and more closely.

The Muslim galleys came down the Nile, attacked the Frankish fleet and took three ships with all their crew, cargo and arms. This delighted and encouraged the Muslims, who saw it as a good omen and drew from it the strength they needed to overcome the enemy.

Meanwhile ambassadors passed between the two sides to discuss the terms of the peace. The Muslims offered the Franks Ascalon, Tiberias, Sidon, Jábala, Laodicea and all Saladin’s conquests except al-Karak, in return for Damietta,¹ but the Franks refused and asked for 300,000 dinar as indemnity for the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem, to be used to rebuild them, and made no further moves, except to say that they could not give up their claim to al-Karak. In such a situation, being on the losing side, the Muslims could do nothing but continue the fight.

The Franks were confident of their own strength and had brought with them provisions for only a few days, thinking that the Muslim army would offer no resistance and that the whole of the cultivated area of Egypt would fall into their hands, so that they would be able to obtain whatever provisions they wanted; this was because of the divinely predestined intention (to destroy them). A detachment of Muslims crossed the river to the Frankish side and opened the flood-gates. The river flooded most of the area and left the Franks with only one way out, along a narrow causeway. Al-Kamil threw a bridge over the Nile at Ashmūn, and his troops crossed it and held the road along which the Franks would have to pass to reach Damietta. There was no escape. In this crisis a big cargo vessel called a maramma reached the Franks. It was defended by a convoy of fire-ships, all loaded with food, arms and reinforcements. The Muslim galleys attacked and fought them, and overcame and seized the maramma and all its fire-ships. When the Franks saw this they lost heart and realized that they had made a serious error in leaving Damietta to venture into unknown terrain, surrounded, harassed by arrows and attacked by Muslim forces on all sides. The situation became so serious for the Franks that they burnt their tents, ballistas and luggage and decided to attack the Muslims in the hope of breaking through and getting back to Damietta. But the object of their longings was far off and their way to it restricted, by the mud and water surrounding them, to a single path, along which they would have to fight their way through the Muslims who held it.

1 In an attempt to withdraw from the flooded Delta: see below, p. 262.

1 This gives some idea of the relative importance of Damietta, and the wisdom of the Franks in attacking it. The al-Karak excepted from the towns offered (almost all the towns that Saladin conquered!) is al-Karak in Moab, a vital point on the line of communication between Syria and Egypt.

156 Arab Historians of the Crusades

When they realized that they were completely surrounded, that communications were very difficult and destruction imminent,¹ they lost heart, broke their crosses, and their devil abandoned them. They sent messages to al-Malik al-Kamil and al-Ashraf asking for their lives in exchange for Damietta with no indemnity. While negotiations were in progress they saw a great cloud of dust in the sky and heard a great noise from Damietta. The Muslims thought that it must be help coming for the Franks and were alarmed, but in fact it was al-Malik al-Mu‘azzam from Damascus, who had taken the route to Damietta, as we mentioned. He reinforced the Muslims and caused the Franks still greater dread and despondency. They agreed to make peace in return for Damietta, and the agreement was reached and the oaths taken on 7 rajab 618/27 August 1221, The Frankish kings, counts and barons came from Damietta as hostages in the hands of al-Malik al-Kamil and al-Ashraf.

There was the King of Acre, the Papal Legate, Louis² and others; twenty in all. They sent

There was the King of Acre, the Papal Legate, Louis² and others; twenty in all. They sent