THE WAR OF ST SABAS, 1256–1258

From 1256 to 1258, the kingdom of Jerusalem was torn apart by the War of St Sabas. What began as a dispute between Venetian and Genoese merchants in Acre over the possession of a building quickly escalated to encompass the whole kingdom. The streets of Acre became a battlefield, and by the end of the conflict, one chronicler remarked that the city had been devastated as though it had been at war with the Saracens and estimated the dead at over 20,000. Though this number is undoubtedly an exaggeration, it does emphasize the levels of destruction and violence that this brief but bloody war wrought.

The war began in 1256 when the Venetian and Genoese communities in Acre came into dispute over the possession of a building in the city belonging to the monastery of St Sabas. Both powers claimed it as rightfully theirs, and both had sought papal confirmation of their rights. What the building was is unknown, but what made it so valuable