Acre

Also known as 'Akka

Acre was the Crusaders' greatest port. Like Jerusalem, it fell to Saladin in 1187; but the Third Crusade recovered it in 1191, and from then until 1291 it served as the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem — exactly a hundred years. The siege that restored it, begun by Guy of Lusignan in August 1189 and completed by Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France in July 1191, was the longest of the Crusades. A quarrel over banners nearly broke the crusade in half at its end: Leopold V of Austria had raised his standard on the captured walls alongside Richard's and Philip's, and Richard, judging him too low in rank to share the spoils on equal footing, ordered the Austrian banner torn down and thrown into the city ditch. Eighteen months later, as Richard was making his way home overland through Austrian territory, Leopold had him arrested and delivered to the Holy Roman Emperor; the ransom was set at 150,000 marks, roughly three times the annual royal revenue of England. The city kept the kingdom alive until the Mamluks captured it in 1291, ending the Crusader presence on the Levantine mainland. Beneath the Ottoman old town, the vaulted halls of the Hospitaller quarter — knights' refectory, hospital, and underground vaults — still survive and can be visited.

Coordinates: 32.9208°, 35.0694°

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