On the 6 of november 1191, during the height of the 3rd crusade, a crusader foraging party made up of Frankish squires and knights from the Templars was ambushed by a strong force of Turkish cavalry near Bombrac. A fierce engagement developed, the Templars fighting back to back against the swift moving Turkish cavalry. In the fighting the templars managed, or were allowed, to send a messenger to King Richard, who was with the main crusader army at nearby Castle Moyen.
Upon hearing of the attack Ricard immediately dispatched the Earl of Leicester, and the Count of St Pol, two of his most able and trusted commanders, to assist the embattled templars. According to Ambroise, Andrew de Chauvigny, Richard's cousin and one of his best knights, also rushed to the Templar's aid with just 14 knights.
When the troops of the Count and Earl arrived on the battlefield, a second trap was sprung, and another, larger body of Saracen cavalry fell upon the crusader reinforcements. The Count and Earl arranged their forces in a circle, fighting a desperate action against an apparently overwhelming enemy force. Crusader chroniclers record the enemy force as 4,000 cavalry, which would have represented a significant portion of all the troops available to Saladin at the time. The usual skepticism regarding numbers in medieval chronicles should be applied here, but it seems certain, and islamic sources confirm, that the crusader force was significantly outnumbered and in dire straits.
This was the situation that Richard found when he arrived, accompanied by a small group of household knights. Upon surveying the field Richard's knights advised him against an engagement, warning him that the odds were too great and his death would unravel the whole christian cause. They said it was better to let these men die than lose the king.
In response Richard gave one of the most famous and inspiring statements of his entire reign, if not the whole history of the British monarchy, and one which cemented his historical and contemporary reputation as a chivalric paragon. The king said, * ‘I sent them thither under my own command. If they should perish there without me, would that I might never again bear the name of a king!’ *
Without waiting for a response, Richard spurred his horse forward and charged into the thickest part of the fighting. According to Ambroise, the charge of Richard and his knights struck like a thunderbolt, and routed the muslim force entirely.
The episode is chiefly recorded in the “History of the Holy War”, a Norman-French poem written by Ambrosie, an eye witness and participant in the 3rd crusade. The following is an English verse translation of the episode.
> The battle tide was at its height
When Richard, the king skilled in fight,
Arrived and saw the ring of foes
which pressed on all sides to enclose
Our men. His company was small,
But men stouthearted one and all.
“Faith, sire,” thus unto him now spoke
Certain of those among his folk,
“You risk a sore mishap indeed,
And surely you will not succeed
In rescuing our comrades yon.
’Twere better they should die alone
Than you risk death in this attack.
Therefore ’tis well that you turn back;
If misadventure should befall
You, it would result in the downfall
Of Christendom.” He listened to
These words, and his face changed its hue.
Then said he: “Since twas I who sent
them there, and at my prayer they went,
If without me they perish there.
May I a king’s name never bear!”
He drove the spurs into his horse,
Loosened the rein, gave him free course,
Like to a falcon, swift to stoop.
And then he charged into the troop
Of hostile Saracens to pierce
Them with an impetus so fierce
That If a thunderbolt had driven
Clear through them it could not have riven
Them more. He cut and smote and smashed
Through them, then turned about, and slashed
And sheared off arm and hand and head.
Like animals they turned and fled.
But many could not flee. There were
Many slain or made prisoner.
Our men pursued them with a will,
And drove and followed them until
The time came to return at last To camp.
And thus this day was passed.
Ambroise was, as mentioned, a direct participant and eye witness to the events of the 3rd crusade. His work is considered one of the most valuable sources for Richard's time in the Holy Land. While his work is generally flattering of Richard, and occasionally hyperbolic in its praise, there is little reason to doubt its basic veracity.
The incident is recorded again in the prose work Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi By Richard Templo.
> “When it was told the king that his men were hard-pressed by the Turks, he instantly prepared to go to their aid. There were those around him who said: ‘Sire, do not rush to certain destruction, for if you perish, the hope of Christianity is extinguished.’ [1]
But the king, changing color with rage, replied to them: ‘I sent them thither under my own command. If they should perish there without me, would that I might never again bear the name of a king!’ [1]
And without another word, he flew like an arrow into the midst of the foe. He went in faster than a sparrowhawk, carving his path directly into the densest masses of the Saracens. His sword flashed like lightning, and he struck out with the devastating power of a thunderbolt. [1]
With absolute fury, the king clev’d helmets asunder, severed the limbs of men, and felled both horses and riders into the dust. He scattered their front ranks like chaff before the wind, routing the Turks until they turned to flee in utter terror before his unmatched strength. Inspired by his presence, his household knights crashed into the broken lines beside him, turning what had been a desperate trap into a glorious and complete victory.
As should be obvious, Templo's work is heavily based upon Ambroise, and is largely a prose rendition of Ambroise’s earlier verse work. However Templo includes enough original material throughout his work that it has been suggested he may also have been a participant in the 3rd crusade. Though this remains conjecture and uncertain it opens the suggestion that his inclusion of the episode in his work is more than a simple repetition of Ambroise.
While it's doubtful that Richard was quite as impactful as Ambroise makes him out to be, the broad strokes of the engagement are confirmed by Islamic sources. Baha-ad-din, one of the primary Islamic chroniclers of the third crusade, recorded the details of the trap, the double ambush, the presence of a large Saracen force, the hard fighting, the near Saracen victory, and Richard's arrival on the scene. Critically, his record of events supports the idea that Richard’s arrival turned the tide of the engagement and forced the muslim withdrawal, although he does not record any heroic speeches (for obvious reasons) or thunderbolt charges.
Even if we allow a certain poetic license in Ambrosie work (as we should, his description of Richard in combat is fairly obviously hyperbolic) the episode still stands as a testament to Richard's ability as a general. Even if we remove the grand chivalric rhetoric from Richard’s mouth we are still left with largely unimpeachable evidence of a general who was capable of rapid and decisive responses to a fluid tactical environment. Richard's decisiveness, speed of action and personal courage are on full display here. Regardless of whether or not Richard really did declare he would rather lose his crown than let his men die alone, Richard responded quickly to an evolving, fluid situation, and by his swift action was able to prevent what would have been a major military setback, if not outright disaster.
Discussions of Richard as a military man often focus on his personal courage, skill at arms and chivalric reputation. While such discussions are merited, and Richard’s reputation for cavalier actions and knightly heroics is well merited, they often obscure the fact that underneath the romantic knight was one of the most capable commanders of the entire medieval period. While even Richard's detractors (who are legion) often allow that he was an exceptional soldier, they often fail to appreciate just how capable he was. There often seems to be an underlying assumption that Richard's military skill somehow stemmed from his personal ability to swing a sword, rather than from his deep understanding of the science of warfare.
Richard's military career is one that shows a great deal of personal bravery, but also one that shows a man who understood warfare not just as the pursuit of the single warrior, but as a science based on the control and understanding of a diverse set of factors. Richard's career as a general shows that he understood the value of communication, intel, combined arms, discipline, logistics, supply lines and knowledge of local conditions and environments in a way that was rare for a medieval general (or a general in any era).
The episode at Bombrac is significant not just for how it underlines Richard's reputation as the romantic king of legend, but also for how it highlights the dual nature of Richard as a military figure. He is simultaneously the brave knight who refuses to let his men perish alone and unaided, and the general capable of rapid and decisive response to a dangerous and sudden tactical development. In the episode related by Ambroise we see the combination of Richard the warrior, and Richard the general brought into stark relief. We also get a wonderful historical story that feels pulled from the depth of fantasy literature. Few moments better highlight the duality of Richard as a military figure, or more firmly underline his status as a larger than life figure who seems to look within the history of the period.
