The Treaty of Jaffa, more seldom referred to as the Treaty of Ramla or the treaty of 1192, was a truce agreed to during the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. It was signed on 1 or 2 September 1192

A.D. The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

(20th of Sha'ban 588 AH) between the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

ruler

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt an ...

and

Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

, King of England, shortly after the July–August 1192 Battle of Jaffa. The treaty, negotiated with the help of

Balian of Ibelin Balian or Balyan may refer to: People * Balian of Ibelin (disambiguation), a name shared by several members of the Ibelin family from the crusader kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus * Balian Buschbaum (born 1980), German pole vaulter * Roger Balian, ...

, guaranteed a three-year truce between the two armies. This treaty ended the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity ( Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

Provisions

The treaty mainly addressed two main issues: the status of Jerusalem and pilgrimage rights for Christians, and the extent of sovereignty of the Crusader state in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. In the first regard, the treaty guaranteed safe passage of Christians and Muslims through Palestine, stating that

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

would remain under

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...

control, while it would be open to

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

pilgrimages. In the second issue, it stated that the Christians would hold the coast from Tyre to

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

, practically reducing the Latin kingdom, which had lost almost all of its territory in 1187, to a geopolitical coastal strip that extended between these two cities. Ascalon's fortifications were to be demolished and the town returned to Saladin. Neither Saladin nor King Richard were fond of the overall accord, but had little other choice. The Islamic ruler had been weakened by the trials and expense of war and both had to deal with threats to his kingdom at home. Richard left

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

on 9 October 1192.

Attempted treaties

After the Siege of Acre, King Richard and Saladin had a series of conversations about concluding the Third Crusade. These letters usually contained arguments about religious ownership and who had the right to ownership of Jerusalem. None of these attempts actually resulted in an actual truce. This, of course, was until the Treaty of Jaffa was created due to King Richard Lionheart's need to return to his country, which was inevitably falling apart with his absence.

Distinction from 1229 treaty

In 1229 a somewhat similar double treaty was signed, one in Tell el-Ajjul and one in Jaffa, which together brought to an end the

Sixth Crusade The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actu ...

. The treaties of Tell Ajjul and Jaffa settled the territorial disputes between the competing

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...

rulers of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and various smaller principalities, allowing to Sultan

Al-Kamil Al-Kamil ( ar, الكامل) (full name: al-Malik al-Kamil Naser ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammad) (c. 1177 – 6 March 1238) was a Muslim ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Cr ...

of Egypt to close a diplomatic deal with the leader of the Sixth Crusade, Emperor Frederick II.

References

Bibliography

* Richard, Jean. ''The Crusades'', p. 328. *

Tyerman, Christopher Christopher Tyerman (born 22 May 1953) is an academic historian focusing on the Crusades. In 2015, he was appointed Professor of History of the Crusades at the University of Oxford. Life and career He graduated from New College, Oxford, with a f ...

. ''The Crusades''. pp. 461, 471 * Riley-Smith, Jonathan. ''The Crusades'', p. 146 * Axelrod, Alan and Charles L. Phillips, editors. "Encyclopedia of Historical Treaties and Alliances, Vol. 1". Zenda Inc., New York, 2001. {{ISBN, 0-8160-3090-1. Third Crusade Treaties of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Richard I of England 12th-century treaties 1192 Jaffa Saladin

Provisions

Attempted treaties

Distinction from 1229 treaty

See also

References

Bibliography