Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
Off the dream!
We are in the year 1302.
Over the previous 200 years, the Crusader states in the "Holy Land" had been gradually pushed back by the Muslims.
After the fall of Jerusalem, the Crusaders moved their headquarters to the coastal city of Acre in 1191, where they held for 100 years until the city's fall on May 28, 1291.
The headquarters were first moved to Tartus to the north, but the city fell to the Mamluks in the same year, whereupon the crusaders gave up their positions on the mainland (especially Château Pèlerin) and withdrew their headquarters to the island of Cyprus.
The last king of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan...
...who is also King of Cyprus wants to try again to win back the "Holy Land" for "Christianity"!
In the year 1300, with the three most important knightly orders, Templars...
... Hospitaliters...
... and knigthts of the Teutonic order...
...take back Tartus to regain a foothold on the mainland.
Just offshore from Tartus lies the tiny fortified island of Aruad...:
The Fort of Aruad...
...the attackers can take, but they can't get any further.
While the "King" of Jerusalem" is returning to Cyprus with a large part of the troops, the Templars decide to set up a permanent base on Aruad, which at some point in the future will also be a "springboard" for reconquering the "Holy Land".
The then Pope Boniface VIII.
...confirms the island as their property for the Templars - it doesn't cost him anything to give away someone else's property...
Commander of the base becomes Barthélemy de Quincy, Marshal of the Knights Templars...:
His garrison in Aruad includes 120 knights, 500 archers and 400 men and women as civilian servants (mostly Syrian Christians) - that is four hundred servants for just 620 servants!
Life as an occupying power can be so beautiful...
Unfortunately, the real owners of the island don't like that at all - and so in September 1302 Mameluke troops land in two places on the island and start the siege...:
The Templars are initially pushed back into the fortress and soon have to give up the outer walls as well...
...and finally take refuge in the Donjon of Aruad (a kind of fortress within the fortress)
... where they are systematically starved.
Amazingly, at this point in time, quite a few of the local servants are also loyal to them!
On September 26, the Templar Hugues de Dampierre agreed...
...with the besiegers the surrender of the fortress with free deduction.
Two days later, on September 28, 1302, the gates of the donjon opened and the defeated garrison wanted to withdraw.
At this moment, however, the Mamluks break their word and attack the "Christians"! Their commander, Barthélemy de Quincy, who had survived until now, also falls in this last battle for the "Holy Land", as do many of his people...:
After the battle, the Muslims execute all surviving archers by beheading...:
They have a particular hatred of these, since it was the archers' arrows that caused the greatest losses to the besiegers.
Many of the servants are taken into slavery and all Templars who are still alive are deported to Cairo and imprisoned there...:
According to the account of a fellow prisoner at the time in the Cairo dungeon, the Genoese Matthias Zaccaria, many years later 40 of them were still alive, who were finally starved to death after adamantly refusing to convert to Islam...
The "Holy Land" is lost for "Christianity".
Deus io vult...
We are in the year 1302.
Over the previous 200 years, the Crusader states in the "Holy Land" had been gradually pushed back by the Muslims.
After the fall of Jerusalem, the Crusaders moved their headquarters to the coastal city of Acre in 1191, where they held for 100 years until the city's fall on May 28, 1291.
The headquarters were first moved to Tartus to the north, but the city fell to the Mamluks in the same year, whereupon the crusaders gave up their positions on the mainland (especially Château Pèlerin) and withdrew their headquarters to the island of Cyprus.
The last king of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan...
...who is also King of Cyprus wants to try again to win back the "Holy Land" for "Christianity"!
In the year 1300, with the three most important knightly orders, Templars...
... Hospitaliters...
... and knigthts of the Teutonic order...
...take back Tartus to regain a foothold on the mainland.
Just offshore from Tartus lies the tiny fortified island of Aruad...:
The Fort of Aruad...
...the attackers can take, but they can't get any further.
While the "King" of Jerusalem" is returning to Cyprus with a large part of the troops, the Templars decide to set up a permanent base on Aruad, which at some point in the future will also be a "springboard" for reconquering the "Holy Land".
The then Pope Boniface VIII.
...confirms the island as their property for the Templars - it doesn't cost him anything to give away someone else's property...
Commander of the base becomes Barthélemy de Quincy, Marshal of the Knights Templars...:
His garrison in Aruad includes 120 knights, 500 archers and 400 men and women as civilian servants (mostly Syrian Christians) - that is four hundred servants for just 620 servants!
Life as an occupying power can be so beautiful...
Unfortunately, the real owners of the island don't like that at all - and so in September 1302 Mameluke troops land in two places on the island and start the siege...:
The Templars are initially pushed back into the fortress and soon have to give up the outer walls as well...
...and finally take refuge in the Donjon of Aruad (a kind of fortress within the fortress)
... where they are systematically starved.
Amazingly, at this point in time, quite a few of the local servants are also loyal to them!
On September 26, the Templar Hugues de Dampierre agreed...
...with the besiegers the surrender of the fortress with free deduction.
Two days later, on September 28, 1302, the gates of the donjon opened and the defeated garrison wanted to withdraw.
At this moment, however, the Mamluks break their word and attack the "Christians"! Their commander, Barthélemy de Quincy, who had survived until now, also falls in this last battle for the "Holy Land", as do many of his people...:
After the battle, the Muslims execute all surviving archers by beheading...:
They have a particular hatred of these, since it was the archers' arrows that caused the greatest losses to the besiegers.
Many of the servants are taken into slavery and all Templars who are still alive are deported to Cairo and imprisoned there...:
According to the account of a fellow prisoner at the time in the Cairo dungeon, the Genoese Matthias Zaccaria, many years later 40 of them were still alive, who were finally starved to death after adamantly refusing to convert to Islam...
The "Holy Land" is lost for "Christianity".
Deus io vult...
