Piers Mason

Sir Piers Mason le Poer is an Anglo-Norman crusader from Picardy

Background
Piers was born in Rouen, Normandy to a Norwegian father and a French mother.

Battle of Silves
In June, 1189 he joined the Third Crusade in retaking the Moorish city of Silves, Portugal. He joined French and German crusaders in killing and driving out the Muslims, before helping the Portuguese King Sanchos I commit a counterattack against Almohad forces assaulting Santarém.

Seige of Acre
Later the same year, he joined Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem with King Phillip II's army to besiege the city of Acre, however they were routed by Ayyubid Commander Salah-ad-Din, Sultan of Syria. He was among few to survive the illness that plagued crusaders during the wait for reinforcements from King Phillip II of France and Richard I the Lionheart.

On June, 8th after the arrival of the French and English kings, began the construction of siege weapons. By 12, July the Crusader's declared victory when Acre was taken after thirty days of siege warfare and fighting, the Crusader's had been successful.

Battle of Arsuf
On September, 7th, 1191, he fought in the Battle of Arsuf under Richard the Lionheart against the forces of Salah-ad-Din. However in June, 1192, the Muslim Ayyubid army would return to retake the city and the coast of Jaffa, and as the battle turned into a massacre the occupying Christian forces were forced to take shelter in the citadel of Arsuf. Many crusaders changed their post following this event, and others even returned home following the events they had witnessed.

Battle of Darum
On May, 17th, 1192 was a combatant in the seige of Darum, a fortified Egyptian border town that was tactically significant to the crusaders, who planned to initiate an invasion of Egypt. After five days of fierce fighting, on May, 22nd, the city fell to the crusaders. Division between the French and English leaders over whether they should begin a direct assault on Jerusalem or commit to an invasion of Egypt lead to the either plan failing to come to fruition.

Second Battle of Arsuf
He joined Richard I's attempt to retake the city, and joined the naval assault on the coastal Arsuf. The Ayyubid army was completely unprepared for the attack, and was forced to retreat from the Jaffa Coast entirely. The army was successful in rescuing the imprisoned crusader garrison that had been stationed in the city and only remained to bury or burn the deceased.

By September, 2nd, 1192, he had departed the Holy Land for England from which he would return to Picardy as part of the truce between Richard I and Saladin to withdraw any Christian forces from their attempts to take Jerusalem.

Trivia

 * Piers was multilingual and fluent in Norman-French, Latin, Greek, and conversational Venetian-Italian.