The Libri GmbH Forgotten Battles-The Battle of Jaffa Paperback

In The Battle of Jaffa: Richard Lionheart's Last Triumph, Jack Whitaker tells the gripping story of the final great battlefield victory of Richard the Lionheart and the dramatic struggle that brought the Third Crusade to its close. In the summer of 1192, with Jerusalem still held by Saladin and the exhausted Crusader armies preparing for an uncertain peace, Muslim forces struck at the vital port of Jaffa. With the city collapsing and its remaining defenders trapped, Richard raced south by sea with a small force and launched an audacious rescue that turned near-certain defeat into one of the most remarkable reversals of the Crusades.

Drawing on contemporary Christian and Muslim chronicles, Whitaker reconstructs the siege, Richard's daring amphibious landing, the desperate defense of the shattered city, and the fierce counterattack that forced Saladin's larger army to withdraw. Against the backdrop of the Palestinian coast, he explores the leadership, battlefield discipline, naval power, and calculated risk that allowed Richard to overcome extraordinary odds while revealing the formidable challenges confronting Saladin and his commanders.

More than the story of a legendary warrior king, this book examines Jaffa as the culmination of the Third Crusade and a defining test of two of the medieval world's greatest commanders. Richard could not recapture Jerusalem, and Saladin could not destroy the surviving Crusader foothold. Their struggle at Jaffa instead opened the way to a negotiated peace, preserved the Christian presence along the coast, and marked the final triumph of Richard the Lionheart in the Holy Land.