Fall of Ma’arrat al-Nu’man, 1098

The most detailed Muslim account of the fall of Ma’arrat al¬Nu’man (Syria) is that of the chronicler of nearby Aleppo, Ibn al-‘Adim. He emphasizes the carnage and devastation caused in the town-

“They [the Franks] killed a great number under torture. They extorted people’s treasures. They prevented people from [getting] water, and sold it to them. Most of the people died of thirst. . . No treasure remained there that was not extorted by them. They destroyed the walls of the town, burned its mosques and houses and broke the minbars…”

Hillenbrand, Carole, The Crusades- Islamic Perspectives, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1999, p.63.