Acre, July 1191

• Acre had been besieged by a Christian army since 1189, but they did not have the men or capture equipment to capture the city
• The Christians used catapults to break down the city walls
• Saladin tried to help by sending men to attack the Christians
• On 12th July 1191, the Muslims surrendered
• It was agreed that the Muslims would surrender their siege weapons and ships and pay 200000 gold coins
• It was also agreed that Christian prisoners were to be released from Saladin’s prisons
• And Saladin would hand over the True Cross
• But Saladin did not keep his part of the agreements, and Richard believed he was taking the opportunity to build up his army instead of fulfilling the agreement
• On 20th August, Richard took 2,700 Muslim prisoners from Acre to Saladin’s camp and beheaded them all just outside the camp