The Battle of Harim was fought on August 12, 1164 between the forces of Nur ad-Din and a combined army from the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Byzantine Empire and Armenia. Nur ad-Din won a crushing victory, capturing most of the leaders of the opposing army.

Background

In 1163 King Amalric I of Jerusalem led an invasion of Egypt, leaving the crusader states open to attack from the east. Nur ad-Din took advantage of this to invade Tripoli, but he was taken by surprise by the Knights Templar at al-Buqaia and was almost killed himself. He then moved north to Antioch, with assistance from his brother Qutb ad-Din in Mosul, his other vassals from Aleppo and Damascus, and the Ortoqids of the Jazira, and besieged the fortress of Harim in 1164. As William of Tyre says, "he stationed his engines around it in the customary manner and began to assault the place with a fury which permitted the inhabitants no rest."

Battle

Reginald of St. Valery, lord of Harim, called for help, and Raymond III of Tripoli, Bohemund III of Antioch, and Joscelin III of Edessa arrived to relieve the siege. They were joined by Konstantinos Kalamanos, the Byzantine governor of Cilicia, and Thoros and Mleh of Armenia, as well as Godfrey Martel, brother of William IV of Angoulême, and Hugh VIII of Lusignan, both of whom had recently arrived on pilgrimage.

Nur ad-Din prepared to give up the siege when they arrived, but the crusaders, inspired by the victory at al-Buqaia, and, "regardless of the rules of military discipline ... recklessly dispersed and roved hither and yon in pursuit of the foe." Nur ad-Din's troops defended against their charge and led a counterattack, pushing the crusaders into a swamp, and they were massacred "like victims before the altar." It is possible that Nur ad-Din was only feigning a retreat in order to draw the crusaders into an ambush, but abandoning a siege when a relief army arrived was a standard tactic and Nur ad-Din presumably had no way of knowing the crusaders would follow him; William's assertion that this was a reckless move is further evidence of this. Thoros and Mleh, who had advised against an attack, fled the field, but Konstantinos Kalamanos, Hugh, Raymond, Bohemund, and Joscelin were captured and imprisoned in Aleppo. According to Ibn al-Athir, 10 000 crusaders were killed.

Aftermath

Nur ad-Din resumed the siege and captured Harim a few days later. With Amalric absent in Egypt, all three crusader states were now without their rulers, but Nur ad-Din did not want to attack Antioch itself for fear of provoking a Byzantine response, as the Principality was technically an Imperial fief. Nur ad-Din went on to besiege and capture Banias, and Amalric returned home in 1165 to relieve Nur ad-Din's pressure on Antioch. Bohemund was released from captivity in 1165 but Raymond remained in prison until 1173.

Sources

• Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press, 1952.
• William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, trans. E.A. Babcock and A.C. Krey. Columbia University Press, 1943.
• Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, trans. Jon Rothschild. Al-Saqi, 1984.
• R.C. Smail, Crusading Warfare, 1097-1193. Cambridge University Press, 1956 (2nd ed., 1995).

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