Atlas of Battles

siege, major, medieval

Battle of Ascalon

Battle of Ascalon was a siege conducted on 12 August 1099 at Ashkelon, in what is now Israel. It was part of First Crusade, which ran from 1096 to 1099. The recorded result: Crusader victory; Fatimid army routed to Egypt; End of the First Crusade.

See it on the globe Read the article

An engraving of the Battle of Ascalon.
An engraving of the Battle of Ascalon.. Engraving by C.W. Sharpe, based on a painting of the same title by Gustav Dore. Copyright held by Frank Hunter Potter., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Record

Date12 August 1099
PlaceAshkelon, Israel
31.671N, 34.558E
Part ofFirst Crusade (1096 to 1099)
KindSiege, medieval
ResultCrusader victory; Fatimid army routed to Egypt; End of the First Crusade
BelligerentsCrusadersFatimid Caliphate
CommandersGodfrey of Bouillon; Raymond IV of Toulouse; Robert II of Normandy; Robert II of Flanders; Eustace III of Boulogne; Tancred of Hauteville; Gaston IV of BéarnAl-Afdal Shahanshah
Strength10,200 men; 9,000 infantry; 1,200 knights20,000 men; 10,000 regular infantry; 4,000 regular cavalry; Unknown number of auxiliaries (Armenian archers, Arab and Bedouin light cavalry)
Casualties and lossesLightHeavy; most of the army; 12,700 (contemporary Muslim sources)
Battle of AscalonBattle of AscalonSiege of AscalonSiege of AscalonSiege of AscalonBattle of ForbieBattle of NitzanimBattle of ForbieBattle of NitzanimTel AvivAmmanHaifaNablusEl ArishNazarethAl KarakAz Zarqa100 km31.671N, 34.558E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1099

Battle of Ascalon is one of 185 engagements of the 11th century in the atlas and one of 106 in present-day Israel.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q827472, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Ascalon, revision 1384922386, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.