1242

End of Sept. Patriarch Aimery of Antioch writes to King Henry II of England. He reports Saladin’s invasion of the kingdom of Jerusalem, the disaster [at Hattin], the capture of the king, his brother the constable and the master of the Knights Templar, the murder of princeps Raimundus [Rainald] by Saladin himself, the deaths of bishops, Templars and Hospitallers, 1200 milites and 30000 foot soldiers, the fall of Tiberias, which Saladin has fortified, Acre, Haifa, Caesarea, Jaffa, Nazareth, Sebastea, Nablus, Lydda, Ramatha, Arsur, Hebron and Bethlehem. Jerusalem is now under siege and the Christians have suffered huge losses in residents, provisions and horses. He begs for help. Otherwise, the Holy Sepulchre and then Antioch itself will be lost. He is sending the episcopus Gabilonensis and the episcopus Valeniensis to Henry.