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Battle of Harim 1164
Location of Harim
The Battle of Harim/Harenc was fought on 12 August 1164 between the forces of Nureddin Zengi and a combined army from the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Byzantine Empire and Armenia. Nureddin won a crushing victory, capturing most of the leaders of the opposing army.
The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkish origin, which ruled parts of Syria and northern Iraq on behalf of the Seljuk Empire.
Nureddin Zengi besieged the fortress of Harim/Harenc in 1164. As William of Tyre says, "he stationed his engines around it in the customary manner and began to assault the place with a fury which permitted the inhabitants no rest."
Reginald of Saint Valery, lord of Harim, called for help, and Raymond III of Tripoli, Bohemund III of Antioch, and Joscelin III of Edessa arrived to relieve the siege. They were joined by Konstantinos Kalamanos, the Byzantine governor of Cilicia, and Thoros, and Mleh of Armenia, as well as Hugh VIII of Lusignan and Geoffrey Martel, brother of William IV of Angoulême, both of whom had recently arrived on pilgrimage.
Nureddin prepared to give up the siege when they arrived, but the crusaders, inspired by the victory at al-Buqaia, and, "regardless of the rules of military discipline ... recklessly dispersed and roved hither and yon in pursuit of the foe." Nureddin's troops defended against their charge and led a counterattack, pushing the crusaders into a swamp, and they were massacred "like victims before the altar."
It is possible that Nureddin was only feigning a retreat in order to draw the crusaders into an ambush, but abandoning a siege when a relief army arrived was a standard tactic and Nureddin presumably had no way of knowing the crusaders would follow him. William's assertion that this was a reckless move is further evidence of this. "Only the Armenian Thoros, who had forseen the Turkish maneuver and had not set off in pursuit, escaped from the disaster". Mleh also avoided capture. Konstantinos Kalamanos, Hugh, Raymond, Bohemund, and Joscelin were captured and imprisoned in Aleppo. According to Ibn al-Athir, 10,000 crusaders were killed.
Zengid dynasty largest borders:
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