Crusades · 1189 to 1191

Siege of Acre

After a two-year siege the port fell. Richard had about 2,700 Muslim prisoners executed when ransom talks stalled.

The site of the battle on the 1190 map. Shaded: Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Ayyubid Sultanate, 1192, Crusader territory left in 1192.

Key facts

When: 1189 to 1191
Where: Akka, Palestine
Sides: Third Crusade vs Ayyubids
Commanders: Richard I and Philip II vs Salahuddin
Result: Crusader victory
Type: Crusades
Chapter: 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols

Who led it

Salahuddin al-Ayyubi1137 to 1193
A Kurdish officer who ended the Fatimid caliphate in 1171 and united Egypt and Syria.

The wider picture: The Crusades and Salahuddin

The Seljuk win at Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to the Turks, and Byzantium asked Europe for help. The First Crusade took Jerusalem in 1099. Zengi, his son Nur al-Din and then Salahuddin rebuilt Muslim unity, and Salahuddin won back Jerusalem in October 1187, three months after Hattin.

See the 1190 map Read chapter 3

More crusades battles

All 9 crusades battles · Battle explorer

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