Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Continuation on "The Kingdom that turned the world upside down"....

One needs to read the post from last week, on this new book, and one will understand what this post is about...
   So the wicked leader and his soldiers lost little sleep over the Crusders. they knew they had plenty of water, and abundance of food, better arms, and the seemningly impregnable city walls to protect them. And they had 60,000 armed soldiers to defend those walls!  Whats more, a relief source of Egyptian Soldiers was on its way to life the siege. And against all of this, what did the Crusaders have?  About 1200 knights  was all---supported by poorly equipped, ragged band of 11,000 soldiers, sailors, and workmen. Altogether, the Crusaders had less than 13,000 men against 60,000 armed enemies. Plus, the Crusaders were fighting in an unknown land and wre unaccustomed to the dersert heat, so different from their homeland of France. Yes, they were something to laugh at.
   But the laughter stopped 5 days later when, to the surprise of the enemy, the Crusaders wheeled several HUGE wooden siege towers towards the walls of Jerusalem. the Crusaders had been constructing these monstrous structures in secret from the wood they had salvaged. Each tower was equipped with virtually everything a medieval army needed: a catapult, battering ram, drawbridge, and lofty turret from which the Crusaders could rain arrows down on the citys defenders. Whats more, inside each seige tower was a small army of Frankish Crusaders, eager to pour out the city once the walls had been breached.
   Seeing the dreaded towers, the enemy defences began building up their defences on those parts of the wall opposite the towers. However, on the night before the Crusaders attacked, they silently dismantled some of the towers and moved them nearly a mile away to parts of Jerusalems walls that were less fortified. It was an unbelieveable undertaking under any conditions. but in their weakened condition, it was an almost superhuman accomplishment. When the morning light gently bathed the Jerusalem landscape on the morning of Thursday, July 14, thee nemy defenders were stunned in disbelief. they couldn't believe that some of the towers had been moved during the night.

More next week....

Love to all who read....


***~~!TERRI!~~~***