Both armies prepared for war.
Under the weak King of Jerusalem was the very flower of the Christian chivalry.

He foolishly compelled them to undergo a long, exhausting march, in the scorching sun, and then, without water or other refreshment, ordered them to encamp in this open plain.

The splendidly mounted masses of Moslem soldiers swept round the north end of Genessaret, burning and destroying as they came, and pitched their camp in front of the opposing lines.

At dawn the terrific fight began.
Surrounded on all sides by the Sultan's swarming battalions, the Christian Knights fought on without a hope for their lives.

They fought with desperate valor, but to no purpose; the odds of heat and numbers, and consuming thirst, were too great against them.