Outremer
The Pools of Goliath
Saladin marched out from Damascus on September 17, 1183 with a large army. The Franks raised the force of the Kingdom to meet him. They were reinforced by two Crusader armies from the West, one led by the Duke of Brabant, Godfrey III, and the other by a knight of Aquitaine, Ralph of Mauléon. Saladin chose to march through the plain of Jezreel, north of Jerusalem and south of the Sea of Galilee. The Christians camped at the Pools of Goliath; Saladin's army was so numerous that it was able nearly to surround them.
Raymond of Tripoli advised the King to stay put. Saladin could not keep such a large army stationary for very long, he argued. The Christians had water and enough food to get by, though it was tight. Wait, and Saladin would have to retire. Many of the local barons agreed with him. Reynald of Châtillon, of course, argued for an attack. He was supported by the Hospitallers and by most of the knights from the West.
Guy hesitated, undecided. Worse, his indecision was evident to everyone. He looked like either a weakling or a coward. Raymond was right, however; Saladin tried several times to lure the Franks out, but when he was unsuccessful, he retreated. The Christian army returned to Jerusalem.
Guy had lost face from this incident at the Pools of Goliath, so much so that when the King quarreled with him soon after, he withdrew from court entirely. He made matters worse by openly defying the king, and soon King Baldwin had rallied himself from his sickbed to take over the government directly again. He took possession of Jaffa and tried to pry Guy out of Ascalon, but the city was too strong. When the Patriarch, along with the Masters of the Temple and the Hospital tried to intercede, Baldwin banished them from court as well.
There was now an odd pause in the drama. Baldwin sent the Patriarch and the two Masters to the West, to try to raise a Crusading army to rescue the Kingdom, for he knew that Saladin's strength was such that Jerusalem could not stand unaided against him. Guy was still defiant in Ascalon. Saladin tried in 1183 and again in 1184 to take the great castle of Kerak in the Moab, but both times the castle held out and a relieving army from Jerusalem forced Saladin back again. Kerak was commanded by Reynald.