The Fall of Acre

Richard I, AKA the Lionheart, thought that his Third Crusade had failed because he’d been unable to recapture Jerusalem, but he did gain the kingdom another hundred years of life. It came to a bloody end, though, on June 17, 1291, when the city of Acre fell to the Mamlucks. The Mamluks showed no pity to the inhabitants, no more than the men of the First Crusade had done when they captured Jerusalem in 1099. Mercy always seems to be a scarce commodity in this part of the world, sadly. Michael Jecks is one of the writers who has written about this episode in his novel Templar’s Acre.