The Sicilian assault on Alexandria (569 AH)

On the twenty-sixth of Dhu al-Hijja 569 AH the fleet of the lord of Sicily arrived at Alexandria. It was sent in response to letters from conspirators who were in league to restore the Fatimid dynasty, in the context of the plot to restore the Fatimids. ¹

Ibn al-Athir mentions two hundred galleys for the infantry, thirty-six flat boats for the horses, six large ships for the siege engines, and forty ships for provisions. It carried fifty thousand infantry and fifteen hundred horsemen. Its commander was a cousin of the lord of Sicily. ¹

They arrived when the people of the city were unprepared, landed by the sea and the lighthouse, and set up the rams and the catapults. The people of the city held firm, though they had only a small garrison. The fighting lasted three days. On the second day those who held nearby fiefs came with the Muslim forces. ¹

The Muslims opened the city's gate and came out on them from every side, and burned the rams. Salah al-Din sent a slave to call out near him, and the people returned to the fighting. The Muslims attacked the tents of the Franks and took them, and the killing among them grew. ¹

Three hundred of their horsemen took refuge on top of a hill until the morning, and became between killed and captured. ¹