ABSTRACT
The crusaders’ crushing defeat at the battle of Hattin (1187) led to a series of conquests and victories by the Ayyubids and their leader Saladin. Most of the crusader cities and rural settlements fell into Ayyubid hands, including the Latin Kingdom’s most important cities, Acre and Jerusalem. It was not until the arrival of the first contingents of reinforcements from Europe and the release of King Guy of Lusignan from captivity in Syria that the campaign to liberate the occupied territories began. During the resulting campaign, the Crusaders laid siege to the city of Acre from 1189 until 1191, when it was finally conquered by a coalition of forces led by Richard I. This was followed by further conquests, which eventually led to the demarcation of the Kingdom’s borders in 1192 along the coastal strip between Tyre and Jaffa. 1
