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Pic: Guillaume de Clermont défend Ptolémaïs, 1291, by Dominique-Louis Papety (French 1815-1849)
Siege of Acre (1291)
15,700 Christian Crusaders vs 200,000 Muslim Mamluks. The Christians were outnumbered almost 150:1
>The brothers of the military orders refused to surrender, fighting like lions, cutting down many of their opponents, before they themselves fell in battle
>Only the templar fortress still stood by the end of the siege, where the brother Knights sheltered the many remaining women and children
>Above all, the Templars were determined to save these innocent lives
>Due to the number of his best warriors being slain by the Christian Knights, the Muslim Sultan, frustrated, entered into negotiations
>The Muslims swore that they would allow the Christian women and children to leave unmolested if the Templars would surrender.
>Under these terms the Templars agreed to give up their fortress
>When the first Mamluk detachment arrived they immediately began to accost the women and children
>The Muslims even began arguing over who would have which Christian women and children as slaves
>The Templars seeing this were furious, immediately drawing their swords and attacking the Mamluks slaying them all
>The remaining 30 Knights sealed themselves in their stronghold and refused to negotiate any longer with the treacherous Muslims
>They were committed to fight to the very last man
>The Knights saved as many women and children as they could, who they lowered into the sea in the remaining boats (these refugees escaped to Cyprus).
>The Christian brothers continued to fight against the Mamluks until mines collapsed the fortress
>The Templars perished, but took down with them hundreds of Muslims in this last stand. Many women and children had been saved by the Templars.
The Muslim Sultan suffered such losses and was so enraged that he ordered the whole of Acre to be destroyed,
fearing that one day the Christian knights might return.