First Battle of Ramla

Timeline

1. 1101Ramla · PalestineFatimid vizier al-Afdal had launched annual raids from Ascalon against the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1101 the Egyptian army marched north under Sa'd al-Dawla, former governor of Beirut; Baldwin I gathered all available forces at Ramla, which controlled the road from Jerusalem to the coast, and formed them into six columns with himself leading the reserve.
2. 1101Battlefield of Ramla · PalestineBaldwin sent the first two columns against the Egyptian army, which were nearly annihilated; the third column was also heavily hit, and knight Guerdmar Carpinel was killed. The Crusaders were vastly outnumbered—contemporary chronicler Fulcher claimed over 30,000 Egyptians, modern historians estimate several thousand to 10,000, against barely a thousand in the kingdom's army—and the battle nearly collapsed.
3. 1101Battlefield of Ramla · PalestineAs the Egyptians pursued the retreating third column, Baldwin ordered the reserve into a counterattack. The Crusaders broke the Egyptian lines in close-quarters combat, Sa'd al-Dawla was killed in battle, and the Fatimid army fled in panic. According to Fulcher, Egyptian losses were about 5,000, while the Crusaders lost some 80 knights and many infantry.
4. 1101Toward Ascalon · PalestineThe Crusaders pursued the routed enemy to the outskirts of Ascalon, then returned to Ramla to plunder the Egyptian camp. Baldwin strengthened Ramla's fortifications, and the battle checked the Fatimid offensive for the year. Jerusalem briefly received false reports of the king's death, and Tancred prepared a regency until news of the victory arrived.