The Massacre of Ayyadieh, August 20, 1191

No one messed with the Plantagenets.  Scots, Welsh, French, Saracens and others learned the hard way that defying a Plantagenet king came at great cost.  Unfortunately, one of these episodes has cast a stain on the honor of the most famous Plantagenet King, Richard I, the Lionheart.

The siege of Acre (1189-1191), took almost two years to break.  It was long, costly, bloody and deadly as both besiegers and besieged succumbed to disease, including for a time, Richard himself.  In the aftermath of the siege, as Saladin the Magnificent, Sultan of the Seljuk Turks, dickered terms with representatives of the European commanders, thousands of prisoners languished in Acre in terrible conditions and tempers flared.  Among the main bones of contention were the return of a relic of the True Cross and the return of Christian captives taken in earlier battles.  Saladin stalled for time, waiting for reinforcements to arrive that might enable him to retake Acre and short-circuit the Third Crusade before it got started. 

Richard fumed, knowing exactly what Saladin's intentions were.  When Richard demanded a list of the more important prisoners Saladin had taken, Saladin refused.  Richard set a one-month deadline for exchange of ransom, relic and prisoners.  When the deadline passed, the fuse that was Richard's temper on the best of days finally snapped.  He ordered the execution of the Saracen prisoners of Acre on a hill called Ayyadieh, in full view of the encamped Muslim army and Saladin's headquarters.  Around 3,000 men, and possibly some female camp followers, were executed.  As the execution progressed, Muslim forces attempted to rush the Crusader camp, but were beaten back.  The execution was completed and drawings of it illustrated the methodical, almost assembly line nature of the work.  Events like this would sear the bitterness between Christians and Muslims even down to today.