27 Iyar 4862 – May 17 1102
Some thirty years after Jerusalem was captured in the First Crusade, skirmishing broke out between Crusader and Muslim forces near the city of Ramle. The second major battle pitting a Muslim army from Egypt against the knights of Baldwin I took place on this date in May. So many Crusaders were captured or killed that by some estimates, the Crusader kingdom lost literally half its striking capability in this one battle. Baldwin himself escaped with a few dozen knights to Jaffa.
Legend has it that a Saracen warrior came to the gates of the king’s castle in Ramle to warn him of the Egyptian army’s approach, and offered to help him escape via a secret passage. The Muslim noble was returning Baldwin’s favor of a year earlier, when a group of knights under the king’s command had attacked a caravan making its way through Transjordan. Though most of the travelers and their guards were killed, and the women and children sold into slavery, Baldwin spared an Arabian princess who was in the last month of pregnancy. She was sent on her way with her attendants, equipped with food and water and a camel to carry them to safety. The princess duly gave birth at the wayside, and her grateful husband vowed to the king that one day he’d repay him for his kindness.
The Crusaders reconquered Ramle in 1105.
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