Nowadays, few people know the name of this figure of the Middle Ages, and those who know about him, in the majority (following the science fiction writer Kir Bulychev) consider this very controversial personality "the number 1 bastard in the Middle East." Renaud de Chatillon or in another reading of Reynalde de Chatillon (years 1124-1187, ruler of Transjordan in 1177-1187) is usually characterized as an adventurer, a robber knight and a moral degenerate, contrasting him with Saladin, who is usually described as a “noble hero of Islam ".
A unique lifetime portrait of Saladin, painted around 1185 A. D. and preserved in the work of Ismail Al-Jazari. (Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Portrait_of_Saladin_%28before_A. D._1185%3B_short%29.jpg/895px-Portrait_of_Saladin_%28before_A. D._1185%3B_sh 29.jpg).
However, the desire to denigrate Prince Reno dates back to his medieval opponents and upon closer examination turns out to be a set of propaganda clichés taken from Muslim chronicles. At the same time, his European Christian contemporaries did not find anything "demonic" or "vile" either in his actions or in his appearance. Moreover, European Christian eyewitnesses saw in him a very worthy, one might say, brilliant military leader, and one of the most principled and skillful opponents of Saladin.
Not a single lifetime image of Renaud de Chatillon has survived, but he could well have looked like this - it is known that he loved to combine European weapons with Bedouin attire, and his soldiers, like the Templars, fought in white surcoats with red crosses.
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Renaud de Chatillon was born in France to a middle-class knight; at the age of 23 he took part in the crusade of King Louis VII, remained in Syria and won favor with Raymund de Poitiers, the ruler of the principality of Antioch. After the death of the old prince, a tall, well-built, physically very strong knight and clearly very charismatic (his description has been preserved, for example, in the work of such an outstanding chronicler as William of Tire) began an affair with his young widow and soon married her, suddenly becoming, thus, prince-regent of Antioch (under the eldest son of the deceased ruler).
It would seem, well, what else is needed for happiness? However, the adventurous life of this man, as it turned out, was just beginning. The Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos (1118-1180, on the throne from 1143), who was the supreme overlord of the principality of Antioch, dragged him into a confrontation with Cilician Armenia, promising to generously pay military costs. As a result, the prince-regent, who seriously invested in military expenditures (including even taking out a loan from the usurers), the Byzantines simply "threw" them without paying anything. An angry Renaud de Chatillon decided to take revenge by force for the cunning of the Byzantines, and in an unusual way. And here, for the first time, his military leadership talent manifested itself - he very skillfully conducted not only land, but also amphibious operations, and Cyprus was the closest Byzantine possession to the principality of Reno. In deep secrecy, the count prepared several ships, loaded soldiers on them and, choosing a time when the Byzantine squadron was not nearby, carried out a daring operation, landing on this island. The booty received more than compensated for the entire debt, and the squadron of the Antiochian consort returned in triumph to the harbor of Lattakia (yes, the one that still functions and became famous in modern Russia thanks to the "Syrian Express").
Crusader states and their opponents in the Levant in the XII century.
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However, the Emperor Manuel Komnenos did not at all consider the "incident settled"; he gathered a large army and marched on Antioch. The war was extinguished only with the mediation of the Jerusalem king Baldwin III (on the throne in 1143-1163), but Reno was forced to return the booty and perform a ceremony of begging for forgiveness.
After that, instead of quietly sitting on the throne of Antioch, the prince-regent, even without the financial ability to assemble a large army, began to wage a "small war" against the neighboring "Saracen" lands. Here he successfully showed his talent for several years as a master of small forces in daring raid operations, bringing the local emirs to a state of "white heat". However, in 1161 (at the age of 37), he, with a detachment of 120 horsemen and 500 infantrymen, was nevertheless surrounded by numerous and mobile Muslim troops. In this battle, two more character traits of Renault de Chatillon were manifested - even seeing the hopelessness of the situation, he did not abandon his infantrymen and did not flee; and, participating in the battle, he fought to the end, not intending to surrender, although in the end he was captured alive.
Fight of a detachment of crusaders surrounded by "Saracens".
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Its winners, knowing that he was the prince-regent of one of the largest crusader states, and knowing about his courage and competence in the art of war, asked for a monstrous ransom for his freedom - which he himself and the aristocracy of the principality refused. During the time spent in captivity, Prince Reno learned the Arabic language, studied the Koran and Sunnah, and learned well the traditions and customs of Muslims. However, this did not at all lead to his conversion to Islam (which his jailers insisted on, even offering him a large fiefdom in this case), nor did it add sympathy to this religion. As a result, after a long 15 years of imprisonment, the Muslims gradually reduced the ransom amount - from 300,000 gold dinars to 120,000 - and the prince-regent was the last of the Christian captive knights to leave the Aleppo prison. This, still a gigantic amount for that era, was collected from various sources, but the main part was contributed by the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV.
There was no point in returning to Antioch for the prince - his unfaithful wife died, the rightful heir ascended the throne, and Reno entered the service of the ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1177, as part of the army of Baldwin IV, he participates in the famous Battle of Montjisar, and, apparently, is one of those military leaders who help the young king win a brilliant victory over a much larger Muslim army. And apparently, Baldwin IV never regretted the ransom paid for Renault.
Here the former consort of Antioch was again lucky - knowing about his talents and abilities for raiding operations, the young king makes him a lord of the strategically important principality of Transjordan through his marriage to Stephanie de Miglia (c. 1150-1197), who had already lost two husbands by that time. This principality (Oultrejordan) covered at that time a large, sparsely populated area from the Dead to the Red Sea, i.e. modern southern Israel, the land of the biblical tribes of Edom and Moab.
Ruins of the Crusader castle Krak-de-Moab, "Stronghold of the Moabites", among the Arabs - Al-Kerak; is currently located in Jordan, near the village of Kharakka (Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karak_Castle_2.jpg"/uploads/posts/2016-06/thumbs/1465121957_ruiny-zamka-monrolyal- shaubak-j.webp
The ruins of the Crusader Castle Krak-de-Mont-Real, "Stronghold on the King's Mountain", among the Arabs of Ash-Shawbak, are located 50 km away. southeast of the Dead Sea. Currently located in Jordan. (Image source:
Ruins of the Crusader fortress Le chateau de Val-Moise, "Castle in the Valley of Moses", among the Arabs - Al-Habis; located 100 km. north of the port of Aqaba, in Wadi Musa. Currently located in Jordan, not far from the famous necropolis of Petra. (Image source:
It can be assumed that Baldwin IV and Prince Reno jointly developed a daring plan to carry out a strategic operation against the state of Saladin. Of course, no documents about this have survived, but this confirms a simple fact: for 13 years, from 1174 to 1187, the king of Jerusalem and the lord of Transjordan together in every possible way strengthened the existing ones and built new castles and forts, spending 140,000 gold pieces on this. dinars. Agree, this activity, in its long-term nature and scope, is somewhat different from a banal feudal whim? But the assumption that in this way the Jerusalemites simultaneously created a serious defensive line, blocking communication between the three Muslim regions, and a network of resource bases that allowed operations both against Egypt and against the territory of modern Saudi Arabia, is quite realistic.
An important step against Muslim domination in the region was the operation of Renaud de Chatillon to seize the port city of Islay (modern Aqaba-Eilat). In December 1170, Saladin's forces landed on the Isle of Gray (Isle of the Pharaohs) near modern Aqaba and captured a small Crusader fort, which was called the Ile de Gray. The Muslims expanded the fortress, renaming it Ayla, placed a large garrison there and blocked the exit of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to the Red Sea. Thus, the only Christian port, where merchant ships from Oman, Iran and India with goods from the East could moor, was destroyed, and thus the trade monopoly of the Egyptian merchants on trade with the ports of the Indian Ocean was restored.
And so, in 1181, remembering his experience of a naval operation, the ruler of Transjordan decided to restore the power of the European crusaders over the port of Eilat. He gathered shipbuilders, bought wood and built 5 ships (while somehow keeping a secret from the mass of Saladin's agents!), Which passed "sea trials" on the Dead Sea. After that, the galleys were dismantled and on camels, together with a small army, were transported to the Gulf of Eilat. There the ships were reassembled, and the Muslim port fortress was besieged (in November 1181) also from the sea. Let me remind you that we are talking about the events of the XII century, it would seem, the dense Middle Ages, and supposedly stupid knights-crusaders.
“Saracens” immediately clearly understood the goal pursued by Renaud de Chatillon. This is how the Muslim chronicler Abu Sham writes about this in the “Book of Two Gardens in the News of Two Dynasties”: “… Prince Arnod planned to seize the fortress of Ailu, which rises by the bay and blocks the entrance to the sea; penetrate as far as possible into this sea, whose coastline borders on their countries. The detachment, which moved along the coast to Hejaz and Yemen, was supposed to block the road for the pilgrims performing the Hajj and block the entrance to the Mecca valley. The Franks were going to seize the merchants of Yemen and the merchants of Adan at sea, occupy the coast of the Hejaz and take possession of the entire Consecrated Land of the Prophet, inflicting the most cruel of blows on the Arab peninsula! …”. Thus began one of the most daring raiding operations of the Crusaders, the purpose of which was to march on the lands of modern Saudi Arabia. If the Muslims repeatedly set themselves the goal of capturing Jerusalem, then the Christians for the first time decided to make a trip to Mecca and Medina. According to Arab eyewitnesses, "the world of Middle Eastern Islam froze in horror."
