Augustus
…
That the crusaders sacked Jerusalem and committed atrocities isn't in doubt. All I said in that regard is that, even though it was still very bad, it wasn't actually as bad as is often claimed (i.e they killed everyone or close to it). Also, that the norm of medieval warfare was that if you don't surrender, then there will likely be a massacre.
This was the morality of the period.
My other point was that comparing a negotiated surrender to a sack to make a point about superior ethics is not valid. These were the norms of war at the time, for the reasons I explained. They were effective.
Re Saladin:
“We shall deal with you just as you dealt with the population of Jerusalem [in 1099] with murder and enslavement and other savageries,’ Saladin told Balian.‘Sultan,’ replied Balian, ‘there are very many of us in the city. If we see death is inevitable, we shall kill our children and our wives, and pull down the Sanctuary of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.’
At this, Saladin agreed on terms. He graciously freed Queen Sibylla and even the widow of Reynald, but the rest of the Jerusalemites had to be either ransomed or sold into slavery.”
Simon Sebag-Montefiore. “Jerusalem: The Biography”.
Wiki Seige Jerusalem 1187:
At the end of September, Balian rode out with an envoy to meet with the sultan, offering surrender. Saladin told Balian that he had sworn to take the city by force, and would only accept an unconditional surrender.[11] Saladin told Balian that Saladin's banner had been raised on the city wall, but his army was driven back. Balian threatened that the defenders would destroy the Muslim holy places, slaughter their own families and the 5000 Muslim slaves, and burn all the wealth and treasures of the Crusaders.[12] Saladin, who wanted to take the city with as little bloodshed of his fellow Muslims as possible, insisted that the Crusaders were to unconditionally surrender but could leave by paying a ransom of ten dinars for men, five for women and two for children; those who couldn't pay would be enslaved. Balian told him that there were 20,000 in the city who could never pay that amount. Saladin proposed a total of 100,000 dinars to free all the 20,000 Crusaders who were unable to pay. Balian complained that the Christian authorities could never raise such a sum. He proposed that 7,000 of them would be freed for a sum of 30,000 dinars, and Saladin agreed.[13]
Wiki Saladin:
When the siege had started, Saladin was unwilling[103] to promise terms of quarter to the Frankish inhabitants of Jerusalem. Balian of Ibelin threatened to kill every Muslim hostage, estimated at 5,000, and to destroy Islam's holy shrines of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque if such quarter were not provided. Saladin consulted his council and the terms were accepted. The agreement was read out through the streets of Jerusalem so that everyone might within forty days provide for himself and pay to Saladin the agreed tribute for his freedom.[104] An unusually low ransom for the times (around US$50 today[when?]) was to be paid for each Frank in the city, whether man, woman, or child, but Saladin, against the wishes of his treasurers, allowed many families who could not afford the ransom to leave.[105][106]Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem organised and contributed to a collection that paid the ransoms for about 18,000 of the poorer citizens, leaving another 15,000 to be enslaved. Saladin's brother al-Adil "asked Saladin for a thousand of them for his own use and then released them on the spot." Most of the foot soldiers were sold into slavery.[107] Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the city.[108] In particular, the residents of Ashkelon, a large Jewish settlement, responded to his request. The subject ordered the churches repurposed as horse stables and the church towers destroyed.[109]
