A defeat of the Franks of northern Outremer and their allies by Nur al-Din, Muslim ruler of Aleppo. After Nur al-Din sent part of his forces to Egypt under his general Shikuh in order to counter the invasion mounted by King Amalric of Jerusalem, he opened up a second front by besieging the town of Harenc, which had been retaken by the Franks in 1158. A large Christian relieving army was assembled from the troops of Bohemund III of Antioch, Raymond III of Tripoli, Joscelin III of Courtenay, and the military orders, together with Armenian and Byzantine contingents, amounting to some 600 knights plus infantry. Nur al-Din’s numerically superior forces retreated and then gave battle in the plain of Artah on 11 August 1164, his troops employing a feigned flight to split the Christian forces, most of whom were killed or captured. The captives included Bohemund, who was ransomed shortly after, and Raymond and Joscelin, who were to remain prisoners for a decade. Harenc capitulated the day after the battle, and the frontier of Antioch was once more pushed back to the line of the river Orontes.
-Alan V. Murray
Bibliography
Cahen, Claude, La Syrie du Nord a l’epoque des croisades et la principaute franque d’Antioche (Paris: Geuthner, 1940).
Nicholson, Robert L., “The Growth of the Latin States, 1118-1144,” in A History of the Crusades, ed. Kenneth M. Setton, 6 vols. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969-1989), 1:410-447.
World History
