ABSTRACT
There was clearly much to be done. King Philip of France returned to the West at the beginning of August, almost as soon as Acre had surrendered, but Richard remained in the East until October 1192. Would Richard be able to win back Jerusalem? Could he achieve a situation in which the political disputes were settled and the Christians had a reasonable chance of retaining their territory once the crusaders had departed? The siege of Acre had weakened the Muslims' resolve, and Richard was able to continue grinding down their morale with the result that they agreed to a truce shortly before his departure. This truce was to hold until 1197. But winning back Jerusalem was not feasible. Thanks partly to the naval superiority the Christians enjoyed, Richard was able to occupy the coastal regions south of Acre. But he was less confident inland, largely because he could see that any major military action at Jerusalem would leave his supply-lines dangerously exposed. So although he made two military demonsttations in the direction of Jerusalem and actually came within sight of the holy city, he made no attempt to lay siege to it. As for the political situation, events conspired to make a workable solution possible. Conrad was assassinated in Aprill192; at about the same time Richard installed Guy in Cyprus, which he had conquered the previous year on his journey to the Holy Land, and he then arranged for his kinsman, Count Henry of Champagne, to rule over those parts of the kingdom of Jerusalem that the Christians had managed to salvage.
