Karak: Echoes of Past Conflict.
The recent terrorist attack in Jordan which killed ten people, including a Canadian tourist, took place at al-Karak, a city of much significance in past Christian-Muslim conflict. The principal tourist attraction is Karak (or Kerak) Castle, usually described as a Crusader fortress. In the twelfth century it was controlled by Reynald de Chatillon, a Christian warrior whose relentless attacks on Muslim lands would in 1187 lead to the capture of Christian-held Jerusalem by the great Muslim leader Saladin.
Reynald might be unknown to most people but for his portrayal by actor Brendan Gleeson in the 2005 movie Kingdom of Heaven. In the context of Christian-Muslim conflict in the Middle East in the medieval period he was a major figure. Originally from France, he came to the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Second Crusade. After marrying the heiress to the neighbouring Principality of Antioch in 1153, he became its ruler. However, in 1160 Reynald was captured by the Muslim emir of Aleppo and he was a prisoner until ransomed in 1176.
Reynald's wife had died during his captivity and he could not return to Antioch. Instead he married the heiress of Oultrejourdain, the Christian territory to the south of the Dead Sea. Its principal stronghold was Karak Castle, where Reynald took up residence. The fortress held an important strategic position at what might be called the hinge of Saladin's emerging Egyptian-Syrian state. From Karak Reynald could attack the caravan route from Egypt to Syria and the route from Damascus to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Reynald also gave support to the Kingdom of Jerusalem and in 1177 was one of the leaders of the Christian army that defeated Saladin at Montgisard.
Reynald later seized the port of Aqaba and in 1182 sent a raiding squadron into the Red Sea. He intended that the ships would prey on the pilgrim trade and then put men ashore to attack Mecca and Medina. Saladin sent forces to oppose the raiders, and their last remnant was captured and executed only a few miles from Medina. This was the closest the Christians ever came to attacking the two holiest cities of Islam, and their near success was a major embarrassment for Saladin.
Twice Saladin tried to capture Reynald's castle at Karak, but each time he failed. Finally, in 1187, during a time of Christian-Muslim truce, Reynald launched a treacherous attack on a caravan from Damascus that was passing his lands. Being now prepared for a final confrontation with the Christians, Saladin used this attack as an excuse to go to war. In July 1187 Saladin defeated the Christian army of King Guy of Jerusalem at the Horns of Hattin. Reynald was among those captured and Saladin had him executed. Jerusalem fell to Saladin in October, returning the city to Muslim control after nearly a century of Christian occupation. Karak Castle fell to the Muslims a year later.
Thus an apparently minor incident near Karak, the attack on a caravan, had culminated in momentous events for the Christians: defeat at Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem. No doubt the recent attackers at al-Karak hoped their actions would lead to larger consequences, but they are very unlikely to be as significant as those of 1187. No doubt Jordan's tourist industry will be damaged for a time, but it is unlikely that the pro-Western government of Jordan's King Abdullah will be undermined. There is no new Saladin waiting to attack Christian, or rather Western, interests in the Middle East.
