Siege of Jerusalem

4 Key excerpts on "Siege of Jerusalem"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  Jerusalem

  Idea and Reality

  • Tamar Mayer, Suleiman A. Mourad(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Ironically, Jerusalem was destroyed precisely at the moment it had reached its zenith religiously and spiritually. Such a coincidence had all the makings of a Greek tragedy. According to the Greeks, only someone who had reached a high and exalted position could truly experience tragedy; the greater the fall, the greater the magnitude of the tragedy. First-century Jerusalem was at the height of its influence and prestige, and it was at this point that the city was enveloped in turmoil, gradually descending into anarchy. The internal crisis was compounded by a series of confrontations with the Roman authorities and the neighboring pagan population, which resulted in a direct armed conflict with the greatest military power of the time.

  In concluding the first edition of his Jewish War, to which a seventh book was later added, Josephus raises a profound issue in the face of the painful historical reality of Jerusalem in ruins. His rumination is laden, inter alia, with far-reaching theological and social implications:

  How is it that neither its antiquity, nor its ample wealth, nor its people spread over the whole habitable world, nor yet the great glory of its religious rites, could aught avail to avert its ruin? Thus ended the Siege of Jerusalem.

  (Josephus, Jewish War, 6.442)

  The post-70 era: the formation of traditions

  With the destruction of the city and its Temple in 70 CE, the Jews lost control of Jerusalem for close to 1,900 years. Their presence in the city throughout these several millennia was negligible, at best, as Jerusalem—beginning in 135—became a pagan, Christian, Muslim, Crusader, Mamluk, Turkish, and finally, in the early twentieth century, British city (Peters 1985). Whatever Jewish community was to be found there was at the mercy of the prevailing authorities; in a profound though ironic way, the Jews of Jerusalem also lived in galut (lit., exile). As for the overwhelming majority of Jews, their everyday focus as a people and religion was elsewhere, as the center of Jewish life relocated many times, at first to Galilee and then to different parts of the Diaspora—from Babylonia to Spain and northern Europe, to eastern Europe, and in modern times to western Europe and America. Despite these peregrinations and migrations and the absence of direct contact with Jerusalem, the Jews never lost touch with their memories of the city nor with the longing to return one day and restore their national and religious presence. Retaining this hope was facilitated by the creation of an extensive network of symbols and customs, reinforced through literature, song, prayer, and art. Not only did these “triggers” span the entire life cycle from birth to death, but they surfaced regularly in the annual cycle of Sabbaths, holidays, and days of commemoration.6

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Gateway to the Heavenly City

  Crusader Jerusalem and the Catholic West (1099–1187)

  • Sylvia Schein(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 1Jerusalem: Goal of the First Crusade

  On 15 July 1099, Jerusalem was conquered and restored to Christendom, the culmination of the four-year odyssey of the First Crusade (1096–1099). As early as the twelfth century, the deliverance of Jerusalem from the yoke of the infidels became the most common theme associated with the history of the crusades.1 Yet some historians are still hesitant as to whether the conquest of Jerusalem was merely a result or the original and ultimate goal of the First Crusade.2 The difficulty in establishing the original goal of the First Crusade stems mainly from the fact, ironic in itself, that Pope Urban II’s speech at the Council of Clermont (27 November 1095), proclaiming the crusade, has survived only in various chronicle versions, most of them written a decade after the conquest of Jerusalem and thus influenced by what became the climax of the First Crusade.3

  There are several indications that Jerusalem was the original goal of the First Crusade. First and foremost, it should be remembered that Urban II, while still only cardinal and papal legate, was close to Pope Gregory VII. Gregory, in 1074, attempted to organize an expedition of 50,000 men who, under his leadership, would both assist the Eastern Churches to withstand the Seljuk onslaught and liberate the Holy Sepulchre. True, what Gregory had in mind was not the same thing as the crusade preached by Urban II twenty-one years later. Yet it is clear that in the two decades preceding the First Crusade the idea of conquering Jerusalem was in the air.4 Second, sources other than the various versions of Pope Urban’s speech – namely, decrees of the Council of Clermont, the letters Pope Urban wrote during his preaching of the crusade, reports of sermons he preached in France, as well as charters issued by departing crusaders – all clearly pinpoint Jerusalem as the main goal of the expedition, with the deliverance of the Eastern Churches from Moslem oppression lagging behind.5 Thus, one of the decrees of the Council of Clermont issued, no doubt, with papal approval as it is repeated verbatim in Urban’s letter to Bologna (19 September 1096), refers explicitly to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: ‘Whoever goes from pure devotion and not desire for earthly profit to liberate the Church of God in Jerusalem, his journey will be considered a substitute for all penance.’6 Also, writing shortly after the Council of Clermont to the faithful in Flanders (December 1095), the pope refers directly to Jerusalem: ‘We believe that you, brethren, learned long ago from many reports the deplorable news that the barbarians in their frenzy have invaded and savaged the churches of God in the eastern regions. Worse still, they have seized the Holy City of Christ, embellished by his Passion and Resurrection.’7 According to a report regarding the pope’s visit to the abbey of Saint-Florent of Saumur (January 1096), ‘the pope urged people to go to Jerusalem’, both publicly and privately.8 A contemporary report of a sermon preached by the pope at Angers (February 1096) declares that he exhorted people ‘to go to Jerusalem’.9 The Holy City is also presented as the main goal of the crusade by a chronicle of the abbey of St Maixent in Poitou, where Urban II stayed in March 1096: ‘By the Pope’s order, many men, both noble and base, rich as well as poor, from all lands ... went on the journey to the Holy Sepulchre.’10 The ‘encyclical of Pope Sergius IV’, possibly a forgery emanating from the abbey of St Peter of Moissac and probably fabricated at the time Urban II was staying there in May 1096, also refers to the crusade as aimed at the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre.11 And writing several months later to the faithful of Bologna (19 September 1096) and to the congregation of Vallombrosa (7 October 1096), the pope himself explicitly cited Jerusalem as the goal of the crusade.12

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  The Siege of Jerusalem

  Crusade and Conquest in 1099

  • Conor Kostick(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Continuum

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 5 Siege Warfare

  Two days after the failed attack on Jerusalem on 13 June 1099, the over-optimistic assault in which Raimbold Crotton had momentarily laid a hand on top of the wall of the city, the senior figures of the crusade – north and south – met to discuss their strategy. Once it was clear to the army the city was not going to be given to them by the miraculous intervention of God, more sober and calculating voices could be heard. The time for wishful thinking was over and any honest assessment of the position of the Christian army had to admit that it was a difficult one. Already, in the week since they had arrived at Jerusalem, it was clear that the situation favoured the inhabitants and garrison of the Holy City.

  The issue of water supply, as the pessimists had foretold, was a nightmare. Those who died of thirst or who were ambushed while seeking water in the hills around the city could not be replaced. If the siege were to become a war of attrition then the crusaders would lose, their strength and morale eroded by the difficulties of obtaining enough fresh water each day to keep themselves and their beasts alive. At Antioch the Christians had suffered a great deal, but they had been able to sustain a nine-month siege thanks to the proximity of friendly or conquered towns and the possibility of reinforcement by sea. At Jerusalem, as the fate of the Genoese ships was to make clear, no further troops or equipment could be expected from the coast, while the land route was impassable to all but a major army. Left to their own resources, it was hard to imagine the siege lasting several months; especially given the blazing heat of the Palestinian summer.

  Moreover, the lack of nearby water supplies was not the only reason for thinking that the siege would have to be brought to a swift conclusion. Rumours were already reaching both the Christian camp and the garrison of Jerusalem that the vizier of Cairo, al-Afdal, was assembling a great army to come to the relief of the Holy City. The capital of the Fatimid Caliphate was 264 miles from Jerusalem. Supposing that al-Afdal’s preparations were nearly complete, that might give the crusaders as little time as a fortnight to take the city or else having to risk battle with an active enemy either side of them.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  In the Steps of Jesus

  Second Edition

  • Peter Walker(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Lion Scholar

    (Publisher)

  c. 1003 BC    David makes the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem his capital; ‘city of David’ established on southern spur (Ophel Ridge).

  ➡   c. 970 BC    Solomon’s dedication of the Temple to the north of David’s city (1 Kings 5–6).

  ➡   597 BC    Jerusalem first besieged by the Babylonians; prophetic ministry of Jeremiah (627–580 BC ).

  ➡   587/6 BC    Siege and destruction of Jerusalem, with its king and some of its population taken into exile to Babylon (2 Kings 24–25; Jeremiah 52).

  ➡   538 BC    First return of exiles to Jerusalem.

  ➡   515 BC    Rebuilding of the Temple on a smaller scale; ministries of Haggai and Zechariah.

  ➡   c. 450 BC    Further return of exiles and rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

  ➡   100s BC    Upper hill to the west brought within the city walls.

  ➡   63 BC    Roman conquest of Jerusalem under General Pompey.

  ➡   AD 41–44   Under Herod Agrippa, Jerusalem expands northwards (construction of the ‘third’ wall).

  ➡   AD 70   Romans under Titus destroy Temple (August); city of Jerusalem burnt and southern walls pulled down (September).

  ➡   AD 135   Emperor Hadrian destroys the city after the Second Jewish Revolt and refounds it as a Roman city called Aelia Capitolina. Much of the Upper City now left outside the walls of Hadrian’s military ‘camp’.

  ➡   c. AD 340  

  Construction of the ‘Upper Church of the Apostles’ (later known as ‘Sion, Mother of all the Churches’); upper hill now known as ‘Mount Sion’ (following confusion in Josephus about the original city of David).

  ➡   c. AD 450   Transfer of tradition concerning the site of David’s tomb (from ‘City of David’ to Byzantine ‘Mount Sion’).

  ➡   AD 614   Sion Church burnt down during Persian invasion.

  ➡   c. 1335  

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book