The Battle of Arsuf (1191 AD) was, arguably, the pivotal battle of the Third Crusade, which was launched in an attempt to halt the Ayyubid sultan Saladin's attempt at conquering the Crusader states. The Crusaders, under the leadership of Angevin English king Richard, the Lionheart, managed to defeat a numerically superior Muslim force, after fierce fighting. Some rumors state that Richard and Saladin had an encounter during the battle.
So, i ask: what if Saladin had successfully defeated the Crusader army at Arsuf?
What would happen to the remaining Crusader states, after he conquers what has remained of the Kingdom of Jerusalem? Would he march on Antioch next? After that and Saladin's death, where to?
Also, assuming that Richard Lionheart is killed in the battle, who succeeds him?
 
Bump.
How does this affect the Fourth Crusade, and Crusader relations with the Byzantines?
If Constantinople ever decides to make an alliance with the Ayyubids to counter the Seljuks of Rum, i can see the Pope and his subjects getting furious.
 
I don't consider Arsuf to be that decisive of a battle during the Third Crusade. Acre had been recently reconquered after a long siege and Saladin would not have desired to attack it again. A Muslim victory at Arsuf would have ended the crusade in more or less of a stalemate.
 
I don't consider Arsuf to be that decisive of a battle during the Third Crusade. Acre had been recently reconquered after a long siege and Saladin would not have desired to attack it again. A Muslim victory at Arsuf would have ended the crusade in more or less of a stalemate.
Wouldn't a victory in such battle give Saladin the upper hand, though?
Frederick Barbarossa's crusading army had already dissolved a year before 1191 due to his death by drowning. That's a plus for the Ayyubids.
 
If the Lionheart dies in the Holy Land he obviously cannot be captured in Austria by Leopold V. The lack of this cash influx might at least delay Henry VI's pacification of his German enemies and the expedition against Sicily, which might even fail. Conversely, England might be more stable without the extraordinary taxation required to pay the ransom, maybe allowing Arthur to reign uncontensted?

In the Holy Land, I doubt a direct attempt at reconquering Acre in the short term, but certainly, without a victory and with many knights dead or prisoner, the situation of the Larin states is even more difficult than otl.
 
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