p towards overthrowing the
kingdom of Jerusalem. The Crusaders moved against him from Seffuriyeh.
It was July, and the Crusaders were absolutely without water; the
Saracens, with Lake Tiberias at their back, had abundance. The
Crusaders, suffering terribly from thirst, nevertheless attacked. The
result of the battle was a foregone conclusion. Here, at the Horns of
Hattin, the Mount of Beatitudes, was the Crusaders' army destroyed and
the power of the Christian completely crushed. Jerusalem itself, after a
short, fierce struggle, fell in the following October. The inhabitants
were not put to the sword. Huge ransoms were paid and the Christian
population allowed to disperse throughout Syria. Jerusalem had passed
again (it seemed as if for ever) into the hands of the Mahomedan.

"The news of the fall of Jerusalem was received in Europe with a thrill
of horror and indignation."[7] Thereupon set forth the Third Crusade,
that which is identified with Richard I of England. Travelling by sea,
these Crusaders avoided the horrible sufferings inevitable to the
crossing of Asia Minor. Acre was captured in 1190, by the Crusaders,
after a siege lasting for two years. Thence they marched southwards,
through Caesarea to Jaffa, fighting on their way the great battle of
Assur, when Saladin was defeated. But Richard, instead of marching upon
Jerusalem, which lay in his grasp, vacillated and negotiated. At length
he decided to go up against Jerusalem. Some twenty miles from the city
he stopped. Again he vacillated. Dissensions broke out between the Duke
of Burgundy and King Richard. The design of besieging Jerusalem was
given up, and the army slowly and sadly returned to Jaffa. Thereupon, in
1192, a peace was concluded, whereby the sea coast, from Jaffa to Acre,
was ceded to the Franks, but Jerusalem still remained in the hands of
the Saracens.

There were several more Crusades. None of them (unless we except the
treaty of the excommunicated Frederick in 1229) ever reached Jerusalem.
Some of them never even reached Palestine, being shamefully diverted to
other purposes. Saddest of all was the Children's Crusade, when fifty
thousand poor misguided children followed the Cross (like the Pied Piper
of Hamelin) to slavery, dishonour, or death. But these form no part of
the history of Jerusalem.

In 1244, we find Christian and Saracen making common cause in Palestine
against the Kharezmians. These Mongols, who only appeared on the stage
of hi