On 12 June, the princes made a pilgrimage to the Mount of Olives with the intention of purifying their souls, but also with hopes that one person or vision would promise them a swift victory. There, they were greeted by an old hermit — possibly one of the native Christian inhabitants who had been forced to leave Jerusalem. He implored them to attack Jerusalem at once. According to Raymond of Aguilers, a chronicler of the First Crusade, the hermit said this:
“The Lord will give you Jerusalem if you will storm it tomorrow until the ninth hour.”
The Christians replied; “We do not have any siege machinery.”
Then the hermit said; “God is so omnipotent that if he wishes, you could scale the wall with one ladder. He is with those who work for the truth.”
On the hermit’s advice, the crusaders attacked the north wall the next morning with much fervor. But since they had few scaling ladders and since they had set their ladders too far apart from each other, the crusaders were beaten back. Disappointed and disheartened, they retreated. The princes realized in that moment that faith alone wasn’t going to ensure them victory. So, on 15 June, the princes held a council meeting. In that meeting they agreed to hold off on another assault until the army was better supplied with scaling ladders, siege towers and mangonels.
They made their decision at the right time because, two days later, six ships from Europe made entrance into the harbor at Jaffa*. Two of those ships were Genoese, commanded by the Embriaco brothers. The other four ships were possibly from England. All ships carried soldiers, craftsmen and plenty of supplies needed to build siege towers, scaling ladders and mangonels.
When the crusaders learnt of this maritime relief force, they sent a small force under the command of Raymond Pilet to greet them.
Al-Afdal must have found out about the western relief force because, no sooner had the six ships entered the port, an Egyptian fleet appeared at Jaffa and blockaded the port. However, the crew, craftsmen and soldiers hastily abandoned their ships and marched to Jerusalem with Raymond Pilet and his force, carrying all the supplies they had brought with them.
The crusaders now had all the supplies they needed, but they didn’t have the wood needed to build the siege machinery. Thanks to native Christian intelligence, they didn’t have to wander aimlessly through the Judean countryside, searching for trees. The native Christians knew exactly where all the woodlands were and so, they led the crusaders to those areas.
The crusaders spent the next three weeks working furiously, chopping down trees, hauling them back to camp and then building the siege machinery. Elderly men, women and children even shared in the work: they sewed ox-hide and camel hide and nailed it to the ‘exposed parts of the woodwork as protection against the Greek fire used by the Saracens.’ (Runciman, 285)
Godfrey of Bouillon oversaw the construction of an immense siege tower. It was built beside the north wall, directly across from the Quadrangular Tower. Strategically, the design of this siege tower was brilliant: it could be dismantled into small, compartments that could be moved on wheels and erected quickly.
Meanwhile, on the south end of Jerusalem, at Mount Zion, Count Raymond had his men fill in the ditch with stones and oversaw the construction of his own siege tower, mangonels and scaling ladders.
The crusaders tried to build their siege engines out of the Egyptians’ site, but they could not escape Iftikhar’s watchful eye. As they built their siege engines, Iftikhar saw to it that the city’s fortifications were strengthened and oversaw the construction of his own mangonels. He looked upon the crusaders’ vigor and preparation with some trepidation. Yet, he wasn’t going to let them take his city. He was prepared to fight them to the bitter end. At the same time, Iftikhar wished his overlord, Al-Afdal would arrive soon with his relief army.
Make no mistake; the three-week period of construction on both sides did not pass without violence. Muslim warriors hung wooden crosses on the walls, spat and urinated on them in plain view of the crusaders.
Horrified and infuriated, the crusaders took their revenge in the most brutal manner. As they had done before, they decapitated all Egyptian spies they caught in their camp and catapulted their heads over the city’s walls. However, on one occasion, they stuck an Egyptian captive in a catapult alive and attempted to fling him over the city wall. But since the catapult was weighed to heavily by his body, he wasn’t flung far. “He soon fell onto the sharp stones near the walls, broke his neck, his nerves and bones, and is reported to have died instantly,” wrote one chronicler.” (quoted in Asbridge, 96)
*Jaffa is the nearest Mediterranean port to Jerusalem.
Sources Used:
Asbridge, Thomas. The Crusades: The Authoritative History of The War For The Holy Land. New York; Ecco, 2011.
Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades: The First Crusade. Vol.1. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1951.
Ed. Tyerman, Christopher. Chronicles of the First Crusade. Penguin Classics; London; New York; Penguin Classics, 2012.
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