5 AUGUST 1192
infiltrate the town of Jaffa while the main battle
was underway outside the town. Neither group of
proud cavalrymen wanted to fight on foot.
When the call to arms was made in the crusader
camp, Richard formed his troops in a hedgehog
formation in which the soldiers faced outward in all
directions so that the Muslim horse-archers could
not get behind them or outflank them.
He ordered his spearmen to plant their spears
at an angle in the sandy soil and stay low behind
their shields to protect themselves from the thick
flights of Muslim arrows. He then ordered his
crossbowmen to work in pairs at intervals behind
the spearmen. One would draw their crossbow
while the other loosed their arrow.
Richard ordered his approximately 50
dismounted knights to fight on the front lines.
Meanwhile, Richard and his ten mounted knights
positioned themselves inside the hedgehog
formation, where they served as a reactionary force.
Although Saladin had a large army that heavily
outnumbered Richard’s army, only a fraction saw
action that day. Most of Saladin’s troops were
horse-archers and the few hundred Mamluk
and Kurdish troops, the former of whom were
Saladin’s bodyguards, were typically held in
reserve until victory was certain.
Two factors worked against Saladin. First, the
horse-archers disliked having to fight massed
crusader infantry –their horses would not charge
into a wall of spears. Second, the horse-archers’
light arrows were no match for the crusaders’
heavier crossbow bolts in a close-range contest.
After they rode throughout the morning along the
outside of the crusader formation, loosing arrows
as they went by, the Muslim horse-archers began
tiring and their losses piled up from crossbow hits.
Richard then ordered his spearmen to stab the
enemy horses and riders when they came
within striking distance of the front rank.
When the Muslim attack began to slow,
Richard sallied forth on horseback with his
fellow lords, including Henry of Champagne
and Earl Robert of Leicester, and hacked their
way into the front ranks of the Muslim host.
Although their initial charge would
have been made with lances, once the lances
shattered the Christian lords would have
resorted to their broadswords. The Anglo-
Norman chronicles waxed eloquently about
Richard’s feats that day. After their initial charge,
they pushed on, hewing and slashing at those
Muslim horse-archers who did not get out of the
way in time. After suffering this last humiliation,
Saladin withdrew, leaving Jaffa in Richard’s hands.
Although the Third Crusade did not result
in the recovery of Jerusalem, it did result in the
revitalisation of a viable crusader state, known
as the Kingdom of Acre, which succeeded the
Kingdom of Jerusalem. Having negotiated an
equitable truce with Saladin in September 1192
that allowed Christian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem,
Richard departed for home the following month.68
Greatest Battles
Richard^ and^ troops prepare^
to^ storm^ the^ beach at^ JaffaA©mla
y01
Crusader soldier
sounds alert
A Genoan soldier alerts the crusader camp
at first light that Saladin’s army is about to
attack. Richard deploys his foot soldiers and
dismounted knights in a hedgehog formation,
with spearmen in the front rank and
crossbowmen in the second rank.02
Horse-archers loose
showers of arrows
The Muslim horse-archers in the front ranks
of Saladin’s army advance towards the
crusaders and shower them from three sides
with flights of arrows in an attempt to thin
their ranks, but the foot soldiers use their
kite-shaped shields to protect them from
the light arrows.08