Despite the purpose of the crusades in England being intended for religious gain, they are remembered today as trips guilty of violence, bloodshed, and, well, not particularly biblical. The Massacre of Ayyadieh is remembered as an act of little mercy. Particular warnings include mass religious executions.
During the Third Crusade of Richard I (commonly referred to as Richard the Lion heart) there became a stalemate between him (leader of the ‘Christian’ side) and Saladin, (leader of the ‘Muslim’ side.)
After the fall of Acre, Richard I wanted to exchange a large number of Muslim prisoners from the city, for the True Cross, 100,000 gold pieces and 1600 Christians held captive by Saladin (1).
Saladin immediately ran into problems meeting his part of the bargain and the deadline came without payment on his behalf. As a compromise, Saladin proposed that Richard release his prisoners in return for part of the ransom with the remainder to be paid at a later date. Saladin would provide hostages to Richard to assure payment. Alternatively, he proposed to give Richard what money he had and allow Richard to keep the prisoners in return for Christian hostages to be held until the remainder of the money was raised and the Muslim prisoners released. Richard countered that he would accept the partial payment but Saladin must accept his royal promise to release his prisoners when he received the remainder of the ransom. Neither ruler would accept his opponent’s terms (2).
On 20 August 1191 (3) Richard ordered that the 2700 Muslim hostages were to be beheaded, with some reports saying that their heads were then proceeded to be thrown over the wall to set an example to Saladin’s army.
Although all the victims were said to be men of war, many deem Richard’s act one of unnecessary ruthlessness. Be it an act of victory security or revenge- we may never be certain the true intent of the executions, but this siege in the desert is one that will go down as being horrifically bloodthirsty by the man considered one of England’s greatest Kings.
1,3- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Ayyadieh, 2-http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lionheart.htm . Image- Richard watches the massacre from a 15th century illustration, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lionheart.htm
Unleashing The Dark History Files 