Outremer
Conrad and Guy
The forces of defense gradually began to assemble. Queen Sibylla wrote repeatedly to Saladin begging that her husband be returned to her. He relented in July 1188, releasing at the same time the aged Marquis William of Montferrat. Guy was released on condition that he immediately leave the Holy Land and never return. Instead, he went directly to Tripoli, where a local priest absolved him of his oath made under duress to a Muslim.
Tensions arose immediately between Conrad and Guy. Conrad was the leader of the moment, and he was supported by the Balians and the Garniers, the leading families of Palestine. Guy, along with the other Lusignans and their friends the Courtenays, quite naturally regarded Conrad as an interloper. When Guy arrived at Tyre, demanding to be recognized as king, Conrad shut the gates to him, arguing that the question of kingship was unresolved and that everyone should wait until the Western monarchs should arrive. By this time, it was known that the kings of England, France and Germany had all agreed to go on Crusade to rescue the Kingdom. Since the house of Montferrat was related to the Hohenstaufen and an ally of the Capetian, this argument was very convenient to Conrad.
The remarkable story continues. In April 1189, a Pisan fleet of fifty-two ships arrived at Tyre. They quarreled with Conrad during the summer and were glad to throw in with Guy. Saladin was still resting at Damascus and posed no immediate threat. In August, against all sense and reason, Guy took his tiny army, supported by ships from Pisa and from Sicily, and marched down the coast to attack Acre.
Now, this was clearly a dumb enterprise. The garrison of the city alone was more than twice the size of Guy's entire army. Saladin could stir at any moment and swat Guy out of existence, nor was Conrad likely to march to his rescue. Acre was a great city with a double curtain of walls and an easily-defended port from which the city could be supplied indefinitely. Besides, Guy's army could not begin to cut off supplies from the landward side. What can he have been thinking? Simply this: Tyre was denied to him, and there was no other city within the Kingdom close at hand to attack. It was Acre or nothing.
It was very brave, it was very stupid. What's especially remarkable is that anyone should have followed him, but they did. His followers had no place for them at Tyre, and they could always hope for God to intervene on the side of the just.