said Richard; "and I cannot depart before the middle of August." Philip,
after some discussion, set out alone, with his army, on the 30th of
March, and on the 14th of April arrived before St. Jean d'.Acre. This
important place, of which Saladin had made himself master nearly four
years before, was being besieged by the last King of Jerusalem, Guy de
Lusignan, at the head of the Christians of Palestine, and by a multitude
of crusaders, Genoese, Danish, Flemish, and German, who had flocked
freely to the enterprise. A strong and valiant Mussulman garrison was
defending St. Jean d'Acre. Saladin manoeuvred incessantly for its
relief, and several battles had already been fought beneath the walls.
When the King of France arrived, he was received by the Christians
besieging," say the chronicles of St. Denis, "with supreme joy, as if he
were an angel come down from heaven.". Philip set vigorously to work to
push on the siege; but at his departure he had promised Richard not to
deliver the grand assault until they had formed a junction before the
place with all their forces. Richard, who had set out from Messina at
the beginning of May, though he had said that he would not be ready till
August, lingered again on the way to reduce the island of Cyprus, and to
celebrate there his marriage with Berengaria of Navarre, in lieu of Alice
of France. At last he arrived, on the 7th of June, before St. Jean
d'Acre; and several assaults in succession were made on the place with
equal determination on the part of the besiegers and the besieged. "The
tumultuous waves of the Franks," says an Arab historian, "rolled towards
the walls of the city with the rapidity of a torrent; and they climbed
the half-ruined battlements as wild goats climb precipitous rocks, whilst
the Saracens threw themselves upon the besiegers like stones unloosed
from the top of a mountain." At length, on the 13th of July, 1191, in
spite of the energetic resistance offered by the garrison, which defended
itself "as a lion defends his blood-stained den," St. Jean d'Acre
surrendered. The terms of capitulation stated that two hundred thousand