Richard I and the Third Crusade essay wins international prize

AFTER more than eight centuries, the Crusades remain politically-charged and historically controversial, with Richard the Lionheart’s execution of some 2,700 Muslim prisoners outside the walls of Acre in 1191 being one of the most troubling episodes in the brutal clash between Christendom and Islam.  What were his motives?

A University of Huddersfield student’s analysis takes issues with established interpretations and now his essay on the subject has won a prestigious prize in a contest that attracted entrants from around the world.

James McHale is completing the second year of his history degree at the University.  One of his assignments was to re-examine the massacre and how it has been viewed by historians.  In particular, he analysed the delaying tactics employed by Islamic commander Saladin and the role they played in King Richard’s order to slay the prisoners.

This is the most controversial event of the Third Crusade, writes James, and the debate surrounding it is “often centred upon whether the crusaders’ decision was strategically calculated or the bloodthirsty decision of an impulsive king”.  There is also argument over whether Saladin ever intended to agree to the terms offered by Richard, therefore leaving the prisoners to their fate.

After receiving high marks for his essay, James entered it for the Merriman Prize, named in honour of an eminent historian at the University of Lancaster who died in 2006.  Open to undergraduates from around the world, the 2019 contest had a strong field of entrants from the UK and the USA, state the organisers.

Saladin and Richard the Lionheart

The judging panel chose James’s essay, praising its “extensive and careful use of primary sources” and his “strong critical engagement with a broad range of secondary literature, as well as the conceptual sophistication of his approach and nuance of his analysis”.

“The essay demonstrated a remarkable rigour and quality both in its attention to detail and in its broader argument,” stated the judges in awarding the Merriman Prize to the University of Huddersfield student.

At the conclusion of an essay that draws on contemporary accounts of the Third Crusade and on recent historical analysis, James concludes that King Richard’s massacre of the prisoners was the outcome of a diplomatic struggle.

“Richard and Saladin were both equally determined to employ any means in order to secure military advantage amid a war charged by the clash of Christian holy war and Islamic jihad.

“The longer that Acre’s terms of surrender were unfulfilled, the longer that Richard’s Muslim prisoners pinned the crusaders at Acre, preventing their march to Jaffa,” states the essay.

“Richard’s final decision to execute the Crusaders’ burden of around 2,700 prisoners was made not in anger, but purely out of military expediency.”

James McHale is from Halifax and after Ryburn High School and BTEC studies at Calderdale College, his interest in history led him to the University of Huddersfield, where he has received a scholarship.  He is passionate about the medieval period – intending to study the subject at postgraduate level – and is grateful for the support and encouragement of his personal tutor, the medieval historian Dr Katherine Lewis.

James originally submitted the essay as part of the coursework for her module on the Crusades, acting on her feedback to revise it for submission to the prize competition.

“The essay presented a fluent, well-supported and nuanced analysis of a very contentious incident,” said Dr Lewis.  “James’s comprehensive knowledge and understanding both of events and of the differing interpretations, which medieval and modern commentators applied to Richard’s actions, enabled him to produce an outstanding piece of analysis.

“This is all the more impressive since James had never studied medieval history before coming to Huddersfield.”