October 2nd in medieval history

I would like to wish a Happy Rosh Hashanah to my Jewish friends and readers, as their New Year began at sundown today. And I have a link to a heartening story about three bears rescued from lives of misery in Albania. http://www.care2.com/causes/3-of-euro...

On October 2nd, 1187, Jerusalem yielded to Saladin, an event that would trigger the Third Crusade. Balian d’Ibelin was the savior of the city—the only thing that Kingdom of Heaven got right—persuading Saladin to accept its surrender rather than taking it by storm, thus sparing it the bloodbath that occurred when the men of the First Crusade captured it in 1099.

On October 2nd, 1452, the future Richard III was born at Fotheringhay Castle, the youngest son of the Duke of York and Cecily Neville. For centuries, Richard’s lost grave seemed certain to be the sad epilogue to his turbulent, often tragic life, and too-brief reign. Even now, it still seems almost miraculous to me that he should be entombed at Leicester Cathedral, given the funeral and honorable burial that was denied him after his death at Bosworth Field.

And on October 2nd, 1470, Edward IV and Richard were forced to flee England when John Neville switched sides, declaring his loyalty to his brother, the Earl of Warwick. It had to be a great shock for Edward, going from King of England to fugitive in one dizzying turn of Fortune’s Wheel. And for his young brother Richard, it must have added insult to injury that this day of such desperation was his eighteenth birthday. As they sought refuge in Burgundy, few in England expected them to return. But it was always dangerous to underestimate Edward of York, who was at his best in adversity. He would defy all odds by coming back to reclaim his crown, and Richard would be at his side through it all, sharing betrayal, exile, and then the battles that would restore the House of York to power.