Acre is a port, a fortress city, and a bridgehead to the Holy Land. If one side occupies the area, it may lead to a new Crusade to retake Jerusalem.
On May 15, 1291, Ake was on the verge of destruction. But before the Mamluk Sultanate besieged the holy city, Ak had sown the seeds of destruction for himself. Acre was the last Crusader outpost in the Holy Land, and as long as the Christians occupied Acre, it was highly likely that the fortified port city would be used as a base and logistical warehouse to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land. But if defeated, the Crusaders, especially those committed to the Crusades, would no longer have a foothold. Everything depends on whether they can hold Ake.
The remaining Crusader outposts had hoped that the death of the Mamluk sultan Baibar would lead to infighting among Muslims. Unfortunately, however, the general Gyalavin soon succeeded Baibar as sultan. Considering that a reckless attack might anger some European kings—after being provoked, Richard the Lionheart of England and King Philip II of France regained control of Acre from the Muslims—Galavin acted cautiously at first, sweeping up more fragile Crusader outposts. Latakia, centered on Antiochus, was the last remaining port of the Crusader states. After capturing the area, Galavin prepared to attack Tripoli. The city was considered to be poorly governed, so Gyalavin's informants said that capturing the city would be an easy task.
But Gyalawan's party included a spy, Emile Fahri, the templar commander-in-chief, Girami de Bojean, who was highly regarded and well versed in Galavin's plans. Unfortunately, when Boljan conveyed Gaillavin's plan to Tripoli, Tripoli's dignitaries did not believe him. Previously, Beaujan had been embroiled in a dispute over the templar succession in Tripoli, which eventually turned into an annoying little civil war. In this dispute, Beaujean was duplicitous and got a name of injustice that could not be shaken off. This ultimately had disastrous consequences for the Order.
Despite beaujean's warnings, the citizens of Tripoli did not expect that Galavin would actually break the armistice. Gyalavin found an excuse and, without hesitation, attacked the port of Latakia in March 1289. On 26 April, Tripoli fell after a brief siege. While the other commanders fled, the local commander of the temple, Peter of Moncada, remained firmly entrenched in the city and was brutally murdered, like all those captured. The women and children of Tripoli were sold into slavery, and Gyalavin ordered the city to be razed to the ground. It is a war of extinction without mercy.
Beaujean and the spies he had placed in The Garaven's ranks were well aware that Acker was not ready for battle. Sudan was bound by another peace treaty and could not attack Ak, while Bejean was trying to ensure that the Sudan did not violate the treaty. But this was nothing more than a delaying tactic, with Berjean trying to warn the kings of Europe and summoning new recruits to defend Acre against future attacks. But Beaujean's efforts to postpone the offensive were undermined by some reinforcements. A group of newly arrived Lombards, listening to a rumor by Muslims seducing Christian women, prepared to riot in the city and attack Muslims.
The Knights and tycoons tried to stop the riots, but Galavin was informed of the death of the Muslims. Now the Sultan has a pretext for violating the treaty. He sent an envoy to Acre and demanded that the Order hand over the Lombards to him for execution. Beaujean was still circling, and he summoned Parliament to discuss Galavin's ultimatum. Unable to hand over fellow Christians to the Sultan, Berjean proposed the release of all convicted criminals in the city, most of whom were Muslims, in order to quell The anger of Gyalawan. However, the parliament sent an emissary to explain to the Sultan that the so-called rioters were newcomers who did not know the local laws – but in fact, the riots were started by local Muslims.
This became a pretext for Galawin's violation of the treaty. He began to prepare for the attack on Ark. Spy Emile Fahri truthfully reports to Berjean about Jarawin's plans. Berjean tried to draw the attention of the public, but no one believed him. Seeing that the fighting was near, Berjean tried to negotiate with the Sultan himself, sending emissaries to Gyalavin to inquire about his conditions. The Mamluk sultan demanded that everyone in acre city hand over 1 gold coin. But when Berjean tried to persuade parliament to accept the deal, he was stopped.
Ruins of the Crusader Castle of Ruad, the last outpost of the Crusader Kingdom
On 6 April 1291, Beurjan looked out from the walls of Acre and saw that the vanguard of the Mamluk army had arrived and began to reconnoiter the city. At this point, he was happy with his foresight and at the same time worried—a few months earlier, things seemed to have taken a turn. On 4 November 1290, Gyalavin left Cairo and led an expedition against Acre. But he fell ill and died less than a week after his departure. The Mamluks did not fall into factional strife, and Garavin's son, Ashraf Khalil, succeeded in succeeding to the throne.
With the army already on the march, Ashraf ordered his troops to move on to consolidate his rule. Acre's defenders had plenty of time to call europe for help, but few responded to their desperate cries. For its defense, the city gathered 1,000 knights and 14,000 Masonics. The defenders of the city issued weapons to everyone in the city, expecting them to join them in the Defense of Acre. But even so, as they looked at the slowly assembling Mamluk army, the defenders realized that the enemy was too numerous—each defender had to fight against more than 10 Mamluk soldiers. Each defender was sent to guard a section of the city wall. The Knights Templar guarded the eastern end of the city wall by the sea, while the Knights Hospitaller guarded the wall next to it. At the same time, the Templar Order also had a fortress on the promontory of the city.
The canteen inside the Knights Hospitaller fortress in Acre
The Mamluks attacked with arrows. A large number of archers shot arrows into the city, and the rain of arrows hissed. This would force the defenders to stand still on the one hand, and their own sappers would reach the walls and dig trenches leading to the city, thus destroying the fortifications. The defenders kept Acker's gates open, but defended them tightly as they hoped to break the siege by attacking. Beaujean set out on the night of 15 April to destroy Mamluk cannons, stone crossbows and trebuchets that kept throwing stones into the city. The raid was a success, but it only slowed down the Mamluks' attack. Soon, Mamluk sappers reached around the city walls and began to destroy them.
Reinforcements arrived, and when King Henry II of Cyprus arrived with 700 men, the defenders saw hope. But on 8 May, Mamluk sappers succeeded in destroying the city's first defensive tower. Over the next week, more garrison towers along the city walls collapsed. The Mamluk army approached further. All the guards knew the final attack was coming, but they didn't know when it would come.
The ongoing fighting exhausted Beaujan, and he was lost in the Templar House, the knights' command post. Eventually, he was awakened by the sound of drums coming from the gates of St. Anthony's gate from the end of the wall where the Knights Hospitaller was stationed. The sound of war drums and the clamor of battle told him that the gate had been breached. On 18 May 1291, the Mamluks invaded the city. Beaujan quickly put on his armor and ran from the Templar House to his horse, then summoned all available Templars to fight with him. If the Muslims had taken control of the breakthrough, the strength of the Mamluk army, and their enormous numerical superiority, would have caused the defenders to slowly retreat and eventually collapse. The Knights' only chance was to strike back, repelling the Mamluks before they were in full control of the gates. Beaujean gathered about 20 people and then rushed to the gate to push the panicked civilians away. Civilians are flocking to the harbor, hoping to find a boat that will take them from the beach to the boat moored in the harbor.
The 350-metre-long tunnel was only rediscovered in 1994. It connects the Templar Fortress with the port
On the way to the gate, Beaujean meets Jean de Villiers, commander-in-chief of the Knights Hospitaller. At that time, Jean was rushing to the gap with all the Hospitallers he could gather. The commanders of the two orders were long-time rivals, sometimes even enemies, but at this time they rode side by side to the gate. If they don't close the gap first and drive the Mamluks back, the city will be finished.
When they reached the city gate, they saw that the Mamluks had demolished a section of the city wall and were entering through the gap. The Templars and Hospitallers charged shoulder to shoulder, wielding spears and plunging into a fierce storm of bows and arrows. But they faced more than arrows: the Mamluk army had incendiary bombs, the so-called Greek fires, which, once ignited, could not be extinguished.
(Source: Legends of the Templars)