The siege of Acre

I hope that my friends and readers who live in New Orleans and the Gulf area will be spared the worst of Hurricane Isaac. Same for my friends and readers in Florida.
August 28, 1189 saw the beginning of the siege of Acre by Guy de Lusignan, the highly unpopular King of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had fallen to the great Saracen commander, Salah al-Din, known to posterity as Saladin, after Guy had led the army of Jerusalem to a devastating defeat at Hattin. Guy had been captured, but while Saladin personally executed Raynald de Chatillon and had all of the captured Templars and Hospitallers put to death, he did not harm Guy, saying, “Kings do not kill other kings.” He gave Guy his freedom eventually, upon his promise not to raise arms against the Saracens. Guy promptly found a Christian cleric to absolve him of that promise on the grounds it was given under duress. Saladin would surely have known he’d do that; Guy was nothing if not predictable. My own belief is that Saladin shrewdly set Guy free because he was such a loose cannon. When Guy arrived at Tyre, the only city now not under Saracen control, he was turned away from Tyre by Conrad de Montferrat, who’d rallied the citizens in its successful defense. In desperation, Guy took his small force south and lay siege to the city of Acre, which had been captured by Saladin after his victory at Hattin. This quixotic assault was to have unexpected consequences. To the surprise of all, probably even Guy, his siege started to attract men and soon became a symbol of resistance to Saladin. Saladin made numerous attempts to break the siege, but a stand-off developed, which was not broken until 1191 with the arrival of the two kings leading the Third Crusade, Richard of England and Philippe of France. To find out what happened next, I recommend reading Lionheart!