Message #132604

[Rachel Dearth]

Defence of Jerusalem

Iftikhar ad-Daula had a strong garrison of Arab and Sudanese troops. Hearing of the advance of the Franks he poisoned the wells outside Jerusalem; moved livestock from the pastures inside the city walls and sent urgently to Egypt for reinforcements.[4] He then ordered all Christians, then the majority of the population, to evacuate the city, but allowed Jews to remain within.[4] Although the garrison was well-supplied it was insufficient to man all the walls and was overwhelmed after a siege lasting six weeks.[2]

According to Ali ibn al-Athir's The Complete History, written around 1232, the Franks killed 70,000 people in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and stripped the Dome of the Rock of great quantities of silver and gold.[5]