History
The Conquest of Arsuf by the Crusaders
Arsuf played an important role during the Crusades and, as such, it is much better documented in the written sources of the period. Following the conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in mid-July 1099 C.E., it became vital for them to capture the coastal cities, which were still in Muslim hands, in order to secure communication with Europe. This proved to be a difficult task. After their failure to conquer the large and strongly fortified city of Ascalon, the Crusaders laid siege, in October 1099 C.E., to the smaller town of Arsuf. However, Arsuf was well fortified too, and although its population was prepared to negotiate a formal surrender, they were also willing to defend their city, if necessary. The siege failed, partly because of the lack of men and ships, and partly because of the bitter rivalry between the two commanders of the Christian armies, Godfrey of Bouillon and Raymond of Toulouse. These two leaders were even on the brink of an armed clash but this was avoided in a critical moment by the dramatic intervention of Robert of Flanders. It followed that Arsuf nominally surrendered to Godfrey, and through an exchange of hostages, the knight Gerard of Avesnes was admitted into the town.
The Crusaders could not accept this arrangement which actually left Arsuf in Muslim hands, because only direct control of the city and of its haven could satisfy their needs. Therefore, soon afterwards, Godfrey of Bouillon renewed the siege on the city using mobile wooden siege-towers. Although the defenders tried to discourage their assailants by crucifying and then exposing Gerard of Avesnes atop the city wall, baring him to the arrows of his fellow Christians, it had no effect on Godfrey. On the contrary, it enhanced the Crusaders' determination to take the town. Nevertheless, the siege failed once again. The two siege-towers erected by the attackers were set ablaze by the defender's 'Greek fire', one after another, and the Crusader army, only 3,000 strong, was too small to take over the fortifications. In mid-December 1099 C.E. Godfrey raised the siege but left part of his army at Ramla with orders to harass the city's hinterland constantly. Through these efforts, the Crusaders managed to ambush and annihilate a relief garrison of 300 men sent by sea from Egypt to Arsuf. The Arsufis, realizing the need to come to terms with Godfrey, sent an embassy to Jerusalem in late March 1100 C.E., and symbolically offered him the keys to the city's gates and towers, as well as an annual tribute. Godfrey accepted this formal submission of Arsuf and allocated the tribute to one of his most loyal knights, Robert of Apulia. Soon afterwards, Gerard of Avesnes made his astonishing appearance in Jerusalem safe and sound after being released by the Arsufis in an act of good will.
The fate of Muslim Arsuf was sealed one year later in late April 1101 C.E., soon after Godfrey's brother, Baldwin, assumed the royal title and became the first king of the Crusader state. At that time, a Genoese fleet reached the coast of the Holy Land and Baldwin concluded a pact with the Italian seamen promising that for every coastal town jointly conquered, he would give one third of the spoils and ownership of a market street. Following the agreement, a strong Crusader army under the sole command of Baldwin besieged Arsuf by land, while the Genoese fleet sealed off any approach by sea. The growing despair of the Arsufis was further enhanced by fear of merciless reprisals because of their cruel behaviour toward Gerard of Avesnes during the previous siege. Their resistance broke after three days of fighting and they offered to capitulate on condition that their lives would be spared and that they would be free to leave town safely with their possessions. Baldwin agreed to their terms and kept his word. Arsuf was abandoned by its Muslim population, which immigrated first to Ascalon and then later to Egypt.
Crusader Period
The Crusader city, now called Arsur, became a possession of the Crown. King Baldwin assigned the agreed share to the Genoese, defined as one third of the city, and garrisoned the place with a small contingent. Arsur became a link in the Crusaders' maritime chain connecting Europe by sea, and a garrisoned stronghold on land.
Several decades later Arsur became the seat of a feudal seigneury which extended over the southern Sharon Plain between Nahal Yarkon and Nahal Poleg and from the Mediterranean coast to the foothills of Samaria. The first known lord of the seigneury was a certain Johannes de Arsur listed as a witness in a legal document of 1163 C.E. This John of Arsur, also known as Dominus Johannes de Azoto, seems to have inherited the seigneury from his father, whose name and date of lordship are not known to us.
During his lordship the Crusader kingdom faced great upheavals, which culminated in July 1187 C.E. in the debacle at the Horns of Hattin. Soon afterwards, the entire Palestinian coast, including Arsur, fell into Muslim hands. Four years later, when the Third Crusade reached the Holy Land, the walls of Arsur and of other coastal cities were demolished by order of Saladin. This act was carried out, apparently, because of Saladin's naval inferiority following the loss of his fleet during the siege of Acco (Akko). On September 7, 1191 C.E. the Crusaders, led by King Richard I 'Lion Heart', won a major victory over Saladin's army in the famous military encounter known as the Battle of Arsuf, which took place near the town. The knight Jacques d'Avesnes heroically fell in battle and his body was later found covered with blood and swollen with wounds, with 15 Muslim corpses round him. This great warrior was solemnly buried the next day in the Church of the Holy Lady (El moster de la seinte dame), that is St. Mary, within the city of Arsur.
Following the peace treaty between the Christians and the Muslims in early September 1192 C.E., the town and lordship of Arsur was formally returned to the Crusaders, and to its legal owners - the lords of Arsur. John of Arsur’s son died in 1198 C.E. while hunting in the woods of his domain. Having no children with his wife, Helois de Brie, his lordship passed over to his sister Melisende.
The Crusader harbor, looking east
Melisende married John of Ibelin, later known as the 'Old Lord of Beirut,' who served as Constable of the kingdom of Jerusalem and played a prominent role in the Crusaders' affairs. Thus, Arsur became the fief of the Ibelins, one of the most powerful families of the Crusader aristocracy. Its seigneur had the right for court et coins et justise, that is, for the three main organs of feudal power: an upper court for the feudals and their vassals; a seigneurial seal to sanction legal documents; and a court of justice for the lordship's subjects. The seigneury of Arsur contributed fifty foot soldiers to defend the kingdom and from a later document we learn that its vassals consisted of six knights and twenty-one sergeantries.
John of Ibelin died in 1236 C.E. and his fourth son, John II of Ibelin, inherited the lordship of Arsur. During his lordship he served as Constable and Bailli of the kingdom of Jerusalem. In his own domain he began to fortify the castle of Arsur in 1241 C.E.
Crusader castle after excavations, looking east
John II died in 1258 C.E. and the seigneury was inherited by his son, Balian of Ibelin. A very important item has been preserved from the short time of Balian's actual lordship (1258 -1261 C.E.). This is the reproduction of his official seal. One side of the seal represents a fully armoured knight brandishing his sword and galloping to the right on a caparisoned horse. The surrounding inscription reads: Ba(lian) d'Ybel(in) s(eigneur) d'Ars(ur) co(n)establ(e) dou reaume d(e) I(e)r(usa)l(e)m. The other side depicts a castle with crenellated fortifications, which include two corner towers and a gate dominated by a central donjon. The inscription around it reads: Ce est le chastiau d(')Arsur. The reproduced document, though schematic, provides a unique iconographical representation of the lord of Arsur and his castle.
The Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem had already been involved in the affairs of Arsur and its domain throughout the 12th century C.E. A possession, located in the upper Yarkon basin, which included "... mills in the three bridges (area), a whole island and ten carrucates of land" (molendina trium pontium, insulam totam et X terrae carrucatas), was confirmed in 1153 C.E. by Pope Eugenius III. The remainder of the mills, up to "... the old bridge on the road to Arsur" (inter molendina predicta et veterem pontem, per quem itur apud Arsur), were purchased by the Order from John II of Ibelin in 1241 C.E., for 3,000 besants. It is plausible that this income was used by John II to finance the building of his castle, a task he began that same year, as mentioned above. With the growing danger from the expanding Mamluk empire, headed by the sultan Baybars who had seized power in 1260 C.E., it became crucial for a strong and well-organized military order to take over and garrison Arsur. Hence, in 1261 C.E., the castle, the town, and the entire seigneury of Arsur (castellum, civitatem et dominium Arsur) were leased to the Hospitallers by Balian of Ibelin, for 4,000 besants a year. Actually, this act brought an end to the lordship of Arsuf. Nevertheless, the later heirs of the Arsur line of the Ibelins continued to bear the formal title of lord or lady of Arsur until the late 14th century C.E.
Crusader castle, looking north
The Hospitallers were granted the profits of justice in Arsur in 1263 and according to Muslim sources, in that same year they "... started to build up a rabad" in the town. This probably meant an eastern enlargement of the walled city. Baybars considered this act as a violation of the treaty, which he had just concluded with some Crusader leaders. It was on this occasion that the Mamluk sultan formulated his famous derisive dictum against the very concept of the stronghold system of the Crusaders: "Towns are not guarded by walls, nor are the citizens protected by trenches,... We have no strongholds but our horses, for trenches we have nothing but our swords, and our only walls are our men."
The Conquest of Arsuf by the Mamluks
In mid-March 1265 C.E. a large and well-prepared Muslim army under the personal command of Baybars laid siege to Arsur. From the Crusader's point of view, Arsur was relatively well prepared. Its city and castle were strongly fortified, well-provisioned, and defended by some 2,000 warriors, with about 270 of them belonging to the Brothers of the Order. The Muslim's first step was to fill the city wall's moat with wooden beams, but the defenders soon set them ablaze. Then the attackers dug two mines straight towards the castle, probably from the north, close to the city wall. They were met with counter-mines and their wooden frame was torched. Then Baybars gave the order to simultaneously dig camouflaged approaching ditches that were carefully planned by his engineers, pile up assault ramps in the moat, continuously bombard the city wall with heavy stones thrown by mangonels and constantly harass its defenders with arrows. On April 26, 1265 C.E., after forty days of siege, a concerted attack was carried out and the city was taken by storm. The surviving defenders took refuge in the castle and continued to fight with superb courage. However, after three more days of fierce fighting, Muslim warriors took control of part of the castle's fortifications and were able to raise the banners of Islam over the walls. The Hospitallers, after having lost up to 1,000 warriors including 90 knights, asked to surrender on the condition that the survivors would be free to leave. Baybars at first agreed but then broke his word and all of them were taken into slavery. Moreover, he forced the Christian prisoners to participate in the systematic demolition of their own stronghold. It followed that the entire site of Arsur was razed to the ground and left in ruins. This final destruction is largely attested by thick conflagration layers and ruins that were uncovered in the excavated areas all over the fortified site in general, and in the castle in particular.
In the Muslim camp the victory over the Christians was followed by a joyful distribution of spoils to the troops and the granting of ownership over the captured lands to the emirs who participated in the fighting. In the Christian world the fall of Arsur, and of Caesarea before it, had a dreadful echo. Pope Clement IV officially acknowledged the huge loss of men of faith at Arsur in several occasions. There were popular expressions of despair, like that of the Templar troubadour Ricaut Bonomel, who wrote a bitter poem, in which he complains that God slept whilst the Muslims triumphed at Arsur and that He seemed to be pleased by the defeat of the Christians. Finally, it seems that the best way to end the discussion on Medieval Arsur is with the summary of Abu al-Fida, who wrote in 1321 C.E.: "Arsuf, in Filastin, was a populous town, having a castle. It lies on the coast of the Greek Sea, 12 miles from Ar-Ramlah, 6 miles from Yafa and 18 miles from Kaisariyyah. It had a market, and it was surrounded by a wall; but at the present-day the town is in ruins and there are no inhabitants."
