The Crusader Raid in the Red Sea in 578/1182-83

Abstract

Throughout the period of the Crusades, many events occurred which can only be described as unusual if not bizarre. The discovery of the Holy Lance and later the Children's Crusade are examples that come easily to mind. In the realm of military exploits, the Wars of the Cross witnessed the full range of human endeavor from the ignominious to the brilliant. One military adventure that must at least be considered fantastic and almost a stroke of genius was the Crusader raid in the Red Sea in 578/1182-83. It was conceived and executed by the notorious Reginald of Chatillon from his strongholds of Karak (le Crac des Moabites), just east of the southern end of the Dead Sea, and Shawbak (le Crac de Montreal), due south of the Dead Sea. This was the first European penetration of the Red Sea in force since 24 B.C. when Aelius Gallus led an expedition of Romans as far as southern Arabia.1 After Reginald's raid, no European force would appear there again until 1513 when Portuguese warships rounded Africa and entered this insulated sea from the south.2 Thus, except for this incident during the Crusades, the Red Sea remained beyond the touch of the European world for fifteen centuries. The raid in 578/1182-83 has not been overlooked by modern historians of the Crusades. Indeed, when taking account of Reginald's career, it could hardly be ignored.3 But on the whole, their discussion of it has been very limited. In fact, unique as this event was, only one medieval European chronicler of the Crusades, Ernoul (fl. 1187),4 mentions it. Furthermore, his reference is so brief and misguided he considered it to be a kind of journey of exploration that it is almost useless. Medieval Muslim historians, on the other hand, have considerably more to say. Consequently, modern works on the Crusades have had to rely on the material that they have preserved. Nevertheless, these modern descriptions of our raid suffer from two drawbacks. First, no attempt has ever been made to assemble all the available material on this event and subject it to analysis. Second, most of the modern writers who have taken note of this raid did not know Arabic. Instead, they used, above all, the French translations of the various works collected in the well-known Recueil des historiens des croisades: Historians orientaux (1872-1906). This allowed them to take advantage of the important information on this event found in Abu Shama and Ibn al-Athir, but meant that untranslated material, such as that in al-Dhahabi, remained unknown. Moreover, Ibn Jubayr, whose travelog has existed in several European languages for many years, has not been properly or fully utilized in this matter. He was an eyewitness to the dramatic act which brought this episode to a close. It will be the objective of this paper, then, to examine all of the data on this raid that has come to light and to reach some conclusions regarding its significance. As we shall see, it deserves more attention than it has heretofore received. In 577/1182, the position of the Crusader states was precarious. The Second Crusade had run its course. The County of Edessa would remain lost forever. The Principality of Antioch had been reduced in size. The County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem were barely able to maintain themselves. To make matters worse, these three remaining states were far from united. Their