The Fall of Acre - 1291
With this attack came the death of the Grand Master de Beaujeu. As thousands of arrows were shot over the walls, one met the unprotected part of the Grand Master's armor as he raised his sword. As he was carried away, the crusaders begged him to stay and press on. His response was that he could do more, he was already dead. True to his own words de Beaujeu died within the day from his fatal arrow wound.
As the battle waged on the Hospitaller quarter was the first to be breached and as the Moslems stormed the wall, the St Anthony Gate was quickly opened allowing more soldiers through. Soon after the Hospitaller Grand Master received a wound but wished to fight on. He had to be forcibly removed by his men and was sent off to sea.
Seeing the writing on the wall many began to flee. Almaric left in his vessels and took many nobles with him. Otto de Grandson, the Swiss leader fighting for Edward I loaded his English army into Venetian vessels and set off to sea as well. The rank and file citizen fought over any thing that would float and also set off to water.
As was the case in Tripoli the men were killed and women and young boys shackled as slaves. The elderly and infants were put to Moslem blades and the army began to plunder the city. Those who could escape made way to the Templar fort at the southernmost tip of the city, where there were about 200 Templars. Rather than flee themselves they vowed to stay and protect the women and children who had sought refuge in the Temple. Of course not all Templars were so valiant. Roger de Flor commandeered a Templar galley and offered safe passage to anyone with the prerequisite financial remuneration for the voyage.
Some five days passed as the Templars held the women and children in the safety of their fort. Annoyed that this one remaining building was obstructing the defeat of the city, Khalil sent an envoy to make a deal with the Templars. If they relinquished the fort, the lives of the women and children would be spared and the Templars could take with them not only their weapons but all they could carry.
Peter de Severy, the commander of the last remaining Templar fortress in Acre, seeing no other possible solution to the stalemate, quickly agreed to the terms. The castle gates were opened and the Moslems entered and hoisted the sultan's banner, but contrary to the deal that had been made, quickly began molesting the women and young boys. This outraged the Templars who obviously felt duped by the negated arrangement.
The doors of the castle were quietly closed, barred and swords silently drew out of sheaths. In true Templar fashion they slaughtered the attackers to a man. The sultan's flag was hoisted down and the Beauseant replaced. The battle was back on and the garrison of Templars shouted that it would continue on until their very deaths.
That evening under the cover of darkness Tibauld de Gaudin, the Temple's treasurer was escorted in to the fort. He loaded the Templar treasure and as many women and children as he could back on his ship and set sail for the Templar castle at Sidon.
The following morning the sultan sent an envoy to the fort and they expressed their deepest regrets for the actions of a few guilty men. This was a similar situation that had once been offered to the sultan by the Christian's to save Acre before the battle ever began. The envoy said that the sultan wished to meet with the commander of the fort to offer his personal apologies and to ensure that the surrender terms would be upheld this time.
De Severy, it seemed, had not learned the lesson earlier taught and selected a few Templars to accompany him on the trip to the sultan's camp. Once the party was outside they were brought to their knees and beheaded as their slack jawed brother knights watched from the walls of the fort.
The sultan's miners continued to work on the foundations of the fort and when all was ready they set timbers ablaze. As the walls began to crack Khalil ordered a party of some 2000 soldiers to storm the fort. The added weight of the attacking forces on the crumbling structure was too great and the entire building collapsed killing all who were inside and those who were trying to get inside.
With the destruction of this last Templar stronghold Khalil's conquest of Acre was completed. Meanwhile de Gaudin, the treasurer received word that he had been elected the new Grand Master. He immediately loaded the treasury and set sail for the island of Cyprus, the main headquarters of the order and an island they had once purchased form Richard I. He vowed to send reinforcement troops, but these troops never surfaced.
As city after city fell to the Moslems, the Holy Land was slipping from the hands of Christendom. All that remained of the Templars in the Holy Land was their castles at Tortosa and Athlit. On August 4th, 1291 Tortosa was abandoned and less than two weeks later on August 14th, Castle Pilgrim at Athlit was left unoccupied. Thus ended Christendom's hold on Outremer and the Crusades were effectively brought to a close.
It is ironic that while the Templars were the last to give up the fight, they would be blamed for the ultimate loss of the Holy Land. Accusations that would feed a growing contempt for the order and see their ultimate demise at the hands of a king destined to capitalize on their growing unpopularity.