The Crusades Through Arab Eyes

Civil war plagued Saladin’s empire, as strife set in soon after his death. His brother al-‘Adil proved victorious when he took Damascus from Saladin’s inept son in July 1196, and by 1202 he was the “uncontested master of the Ayyubid Empire” (219). He proved a more capable administrator than his predecessor and the Muslim world experienced peace and prosperity under his governance. He concluded the jihad against the Franks, since the Ayyubids controlled Jerusalem, and promoted “coexistence” (219). He entered a commercial alliance with the Venetians, Europe’s leading maritime power in the late Middle Ages, which gave them access to prosperous Egyptian ports and discouraged them from enjoining others in new crusading efforts. Venice, unbeknownst to the Ayyubids, had already agreed to help finance and transport new Crusaders who planned to target Egypt before moving to Jerusalem.

This Fourth Crusade, however, went completely off course and led to the sack of Zara, in Croatia, and multiple Crusader attacks on Constantinople, the expulsion of the Byzantine rulers, and the creation of a short-lived Latin Empire. This affair benefitted the Ayyubids because no western Crusaders arrived to help the Syrian Franks reconquer Jerusalem. Indeed, the Franj in the east were content with the peaceful coexistence that al-‘Adil fostered. The West had other plans. The Fifth Crusade, launched in 1218, besieged the Egyptian city of Damietta. The citadel fell to the Crusaders despite the city’s extraordinary defenses. Al-‘Adil died shortly after and “the inevitable debilitating struggle for succession erupted” (224). For example, some emirs in Cairo tried to depose al-Kāmil, the new sultan, while he dealt with the siege at Damietta.

The sultan raced back to his capital to crush the revolt, but his absence allowed the Franks to surround Damietta. The new sultan offered to give up Jerusalem, the True Cross, and more if the Crusaders would leave Egypt, but they rejected his proposal at the direction of a Spanish cardinal in command of the campaign, Pelagius, who was “a fanatical advocate of holy war” (225). He wanted to seize all of Egypt but depended on Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily. Frederick did not arrive for eight years and in the meantime built cordial relations with the Ayyubid court. Frederick spoke Arabic, was well-acquainted with Islam, and highly influenced by eastern culture because he was reared in Sicily. The Crusaders also became mired in mud due to the Nile’s annual flood, asked for peace, and left Damietta.

Al-Kāmil even offered Jerusalem to Frederick II for strategic political reasons. His brother al-Mu’azam, with whom he quarreled, governed it. More significantly, the sultan worried about the rising Mongol threat and believed that a Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem would create a protective zone between Egypt and these steppe horsemen. Frederick was also politically motivated to take possession of this city rather than religiously motivated. The Pope had recently excommunicated him, and by taking Jerusalem, Frederick would “strengthen his position” (227) in his feud with the papacy.

Political circumstances swiftly changed when Frederick arrived in 1228. Al-Mu’azam was dead, and his incompetent son took his place. Al-Kāmil sought Syria, Palestine, and Egypt’s reunification rather than foster the Frankish buffer-zone. Frederick and Al-Kāmil therefore created a minor conflict to save face and reached a treaty within a few weeks. Frederick got Jerusalem and some other coastal territories but agreed that Muslim quarters within the city would remain. The Damascenes reacted violently to the sultan’s treaty, which they saw as treasonous.

Al-Kāmil’s nephew, Al-Nāsir, declared war, but his uncle succeeded in reinstituting suzerainty over the city. Al-Nāsir went on to reconquer Jerusalem, but only destroyed some fortifications before retreating. When his uncle died and a new war broke out among the Ayyubids, he even sought an alliance with the Franks against his rivals: “In 1243 he officially recognized their right to Jerusalem in an effort to pacify the Occidentals, even offering to withdraw the Muslim religious leaders from Haram al-Sharīf [the Temple Mount, where al-Aqsa mosque stands]” (231).