The Fall of Outremer
The City Falls
More of the walls came down on 16 May and the attackers began to enter through the outer walls. St Anthony's Gate came under heavy attack, but a combined attack by the Templars and Hospitallers saved it.
On 18 May came a general assault. Arrow and catapult fire was constant, and even the Muslims risked falling under their own missiles. Three hundred drummers on camels kept up a constant din as wave after wave, tens of thousands, attacked all along the entire length of the walls.
The Accursed Tower fell after fierce fighting. The Christians fought hard and there are many stories of heroism, but they were outnumbered beyond any chance. The Gate of St Nicholas fell, and Muslims were pouring into the city.
Street fighting now ensued and the entire city was in panic. John of Grailly was wounded, but Otto of Grandison took over. William of Beaujeu led an attack to retake the Accursed Tower and was mortally wounded. Matthew of Clermont, the Grand Marshal of the Templars, led a second attack and was himself killed. John of Villiers, Master of the Hospital, was wounded and was carried by his men and was put, protesting, onto a ship.
The docks were in terrible chaos as people tried to find any way to escape. The Patriarch, Nicholas of Hanape, allowed so many refugees aboard his boat that it sank and all were drowned. Some men commandeered boats and sold passage. Roger Flor, a Catalan, made his fortune when he took command of a Templar ship and sold passage to the noblewomen of Acre.
Meanwhile, the Muslims were pushing through the streets, enslaving whom they chose and killing the rest. Later travellers to the East told of seeing ragged Templars begging in the streets of Cairo, or living as cobblers on the edge of the Dead Sea. Some were taken prisoner, for we know of some who were freed ten years later.