Baldwin I takes Arsuf

January 29, 1104

The King of Jerusalem captured the small coastal fortress of Arsuf from its Fatimid garrison and stationed a Latin lord there. Such small successes, patiently accumulated, gave the Crusader kingdom control of the Mediterranean shoreline within a decade of its founding. Each captured port added another link to the maritime supply chain connecting the Latin East to Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, without which the kingdom could not survive.