Saad el-Dawleh Qawasi (Arabic: سعدالدوله قواسی) was governor of Beirut and then commender of Fatimid Caliphate in First Battle of Ramla in 1101, where he was killed during the battle. according to ibn al-Athir in Al-Kāmil fī al-tārīkh, He was a superstitious man.
Battle of Ramla
editFrom Ascalon the Fatimid vizier, Al-Afdal Shahanshah, launched almost annual attacks into the newly founded Crusader kingdom from 1099 to 1107. It was thrice the case that the two armies met each other at Ramla. The Egyptians were led by Saad el-Dawleh, while the Crusaders were under the command of King Baldwin I. Baldwin had only 260 cavalry and 900 foot soldiers under his command, leaving him severely outnumbered by the Egyptian army, which was estimated at 32,000 men by Fulcher of Chartres, and downgraded to 3,000–5,000 by modern historians.[1][2] Upon sighting the Fatimid army, Baldwin arrayed his force in six divisions, commanding the reserve force himself.[3] In the initial attack, the first two Crusader divisions were wiped out while the vanguard took heavy casualties too, with Geldemar Carpinel among the slain. The battle seemed to be lost, but when the third division was pursued after being routed by the Egyptians, Baldwin ordered a counter-attack and committed his reserve. In vicious close-quarter combat, the Crusaders repulsed the Egyptian forces, who retreated in panic as rank after rank buckled under the force of Baldwin's attack. After pursuing the fleeing Fatimids to Ascalon, Baldwin returned to Ramla to plunder the Egyptian camp. This success secured the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the Fatimid Caliphate's advances for the campaigning season. According to Fulcher of Chartres, who was present at the battle, the Fatimids lost around 5,000 men in the battle, including their general Saad al-Daulah. However, Crusader losses were heavy too, losing 80 knights and a large amount of infantry.[3]
Citations
edit- ^ Verbruggen 1997, p. 10.
- ^ Stevenson 1907, p. 39.
- ^ a b Thomas Asbridge (19 January 2012). The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-84983-688-3.
Bibliography
edit- Stevenson, W (1907). The Crusaders in the East: a brief history of the wars of Islam with the Latins in Syria during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Cambridge University Press.
- Verbruggen, J.F. (1997) [1954]. De Krijgskunst in West-Europa in de Middeleeuwen, IXe tot begin XIVe eeuw [The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340]. Translated by Willard, S. (2nd ed.). Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-630-4.