Richard the Lionheart

For almost a year the mighty city of Acre held firm. Despite wave after wave of Christian knights pouring all their religious fervour and military might against its ancient walls, it had held back the tide and halted the progress of the foreign hordes that now threatened to overrun the entire Near East.

More and more men came, though – the attacks were relentless. When the first army had been held at bay, the city’s inhabitants thought they were safe, that the invasion was defeated. However, then yet another army landed and the city’s main artery, its port, which provided passage in and out of its walls, was taken. The city’s defences were tested once more, with an even more ferocious attack battering at the doors and calling for blood. Luckily for those within, once more the city held off the mass of warriors, its infidel leaders repelled.

Then, with the new year’s sailing season, another invader arrived by sea with a fresh bloodthirsty army. He was followed in May by yet another, with tens of thousands of soldiers joining the infidels’ camp outside the walls, swelling their numbers to terrifying proportions. They attacked again and the losses on both sides were huge. The lack of food and supplies in the city, and the spread of disease within the invaders’ camp, drove the warriors to extremes, stoking the fires of faith that lay within their hearts to pursue bolder acts of violence.

In his whole reign as king of England, Richard actually only spent about six months in England

Today is the eighth day of June 1191 and, as Acre slowly suffocates in the oppressive heat of the Levant’s summer months, yet another fleet is landing in the city’s once-prosperous port, this time with one of the biggest forces that the city has ever