Battle of Ramla

On May 17, 1102, Baldwin I led around two hundred knights and a few hundred infantrymen against the Fatimid army of Al-Afdhal. Deceived by scouts who announced a reduced column, he accepted the battle near Ramla. After an initial victorious shock, the Franks discovered the immensity of the Egyptian corps, were overwhelmed and retreated into the tower of Ramla. A core of knights held the tower all night while Baldwin, escorted by a handful of men, broke through the encirclement and reached Arsouf then Jaffa by sea.

The conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 placed the young crusader kingdom in the face of annual offensives by the Fatimids of Egypt, eager to retake the Palestinian coastal plain. After a first Frankish victory at Ramla in 1101, Al-Afdhal Shahanshah prepared a new expedition with a reinforced force of Sudanese, Bedouin cavalry and Armenian archers. Baldwin I had a sparse garrison: many French crusaders who had survived the disasters in Anatolia in 1101 had only just arrived and were scattered throughout the fortresses.

Baldwin divided his knights into small squadrons intended to strike the head of the Fatimid column. The surprise effect works initially, but the depth of the enemy army allows the Egyptian cavalry to outflank the wings. The Franks retreated towards Ramla, barricaded the tower and resisted all night by launching occasional sorties. Taking advantage of the darkness, Baldwin organized a cavalry breakthrough towards Arsouf; the rest of the force, surrounded at daybreak, succumbed under archer fire and the assault of Fatimid heavy infantrymen.

The loss of the majority of the royal knights was a major shock to Jerusalem. The tower of Ramla eventually fell the next morning and its garrison was massacred or taken captive. Baldwin, a refugee in Jaffa, called in the Pisan and Genoese fleets as well as Frank reinforcements from Overseas to prevent the capture of the capital. The defeat revealed the extreme vulnerability of the kingdom and led to a reorganization of coastal defense and the installation of regular garrisons in the lowland towns.