1198
1 September 1198 – Jaffa, Kingdom of Jerusalem
Hugues was still wearing his blood-stained armour. His head and body were drenched in sweat. His sword arm was exhausted. His whole hand was numb, cramped and useless. His back hurt. The slaughter had been great, the city had been sacked and the whole population was assembled on the plains outside their shattered city walls.
King Hugues would have sworn that he had never felt better in his entire life as he gazed out at the field, filled with men women and children kneeling in submission. Excluding Catholics, who were excused from this exercise, the entire surviving population of Jaffa was baking in the midday Sun, the price of their continued existence. The subdued populous was a microcosm of The whole Kingdom, for 1198 had been a terrible and violent year. Muslims throughout the Kingdom had risen up against the King’s heavy handed policies. Ominously, they had been joined by the Jews and even, in some cases, by the Greeks, as Hugues referred to the Orthodox Christian community.
His reprisals had been brutal and he had marched and counter marched the length and breadth of the Kingdom annihilating these threats to his dominion. Similar scenes, following the obligatory sack of the city, executions and hostage-taking had played out as far north as Aleppo. The Jaffans were simply the last to be destroyed. Combined with the forced-conversions of many, the slaughter had transformed the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The heart of the nation was not just Christian, but now Catholic Christian.
As Hugues basked in the glow of the obsequious citizens, visibly ignoring the pleas for mercy from the notables – part of the show – he smiled. Some how, during this busy summer, he had even found time to conquer the independent sheik of Madaba. God clearly favored his most worthy king.
Hugues summoned the city elders and local notables to stand by him atop the hastily constructed platform. He winced in pain as he forced his fingers to close about the handle of the whip. He always did the first one himself, no matter how much his body ached. It was time for the flogging to begin.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1198 - The New Penguin Atlas of the Crusades
1 September 1198 – Jaffa, Kingdom of Jerusalem
Hugues was still wearing his blood-stained armour. His head and body were drenched in sweat. His sword arm was exhausted. His whole hand was numb, cramped and useless. His back hurt. The slaughter had been great, the city had been sacked and the whole population was assembled on the plains outside their shattered city walls.
King Hugues would have sworn that he had never felt better in his entire life as he gazed out at the field, filled with men women and children kneeling in submission. Excluding Catholics, who were excused from this exercise, the entire surviving population of Jaffa was baking in the midday Sun, the price of their continued existence. The subdued populous was a microcosm of The whole Kingdom, for 1198 had been a terrible and violent year. Muslims throughout the Kingdom had risen up against the King’s heavy handed policies. Ominously, they had been joined by the Jews and even, in some cases, by the Greeks, as Hugues referred to the Orthodox Christian community.
His reprisals had been brutal and he had marched and counter marched the length and breadth of the Kingdom annihilating these threats to his dominion. Similar scenes, following the obligatory sack of the city, executions and hostage-taking had played out as far north as Aleppo. The Jaffans were simply the last to be destroyed. Combined with the forced-conversions of many, the slaughter had transformed the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The heart of the nation was not just Christian, but now Catholic Christian.
As Hugues basked in the glow of the obsequious citizens, visibly ignoring the pleas for mercy from the notables – part of the show – he smiled. Some how, during this busy summer, he had even found time to conquer the independent sheik of Madaba. God clearly favored his most worthy king.
Hugues summoned the city elders and local notables to stand by him atop the hastily constructed platform. He winced in pain as he forced his fingers to close about the handle of the whip. He always did the first one himself, no matter how much his body ached. It was time for the flogging to begin.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1198 - The New Penguin Atlas of the Crusades
