Crusaders take Acre

May 7, 1104

With Genoese galleys blockading the harbor and Baldwin's knights pressing from the land, the port surrendered on terms that were promptly broken as soon as the gates opened. The Latin kingdom gained its most valuable Mediterranean window, a window it would not relinquish easily. Acre would grow into the commercial capital of the Crusader states, its bazaars a polyglot tangle of Italian, Arabic, and French voices.