In the Battle of Yibneh (Yibna) in 1123, a Crusader force led by Eustace Grenier

Eustace Grenier

Eustace Grenier was an important crusader lord, and Constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem....

 crushed a Fatimid

Fatimid

The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...

 army from Egypt sent by Vizier Al-Ma'mum between Ascalon

Ashkelon

Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

 and Jaffa

Jaffa

Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...

.

Background

After the First Crusade

First Crusade

The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

 captured Jerusalem from the Fatimids, the capable vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah

Al-Afdal Shahanshah

al-Malik al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali Shahanshah was a vizier of the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt.- Ascent to power :He was born in Acre, the son of Badr al-Jamali, an Armenian who became Muslim. Badr was vizier for the Fatimids in Cairo from 1074 until his death in 1094, when al-Afdal succeeded him...

 mounted a series of invasions "almost annually" from 1099 to 1107 against the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem

Kingdom of Jerusalem

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....

. Egyptian armies fought three major battles at Ramla

Battle of Ramla

Battle Ramla may refer to three battles fought near Ramla:*Battle of Ramla *Battle of Ramla *Battle of Ramla...

 in 1101, 1102 and 1105, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. After this, the vizier contented himself to launching frequent raids on Frankish territory from his coastal fortress of Ascalon. In 1121, al-Afdal was assassinated. Meanwhile, Jerusalem was weakened by the capture of King Baldwin II

Baldwin II of Jerusalem

Baldwin II of Jerusalem , formerly Baldwin II of Edessa, also called Baldwin of Bourcq, born Baldwin of Rethel was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death.-Ancestry:Baldwin was the son of Hugh, count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende,...

 by the Artuqids in northern Syria; the kingdom was at this time governed by the regent Eustace Grenier

Eustace Grenier

Eustace Grenier was an important crusader lord, and Constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem....

.

Battle

In 1123, the new vizier organized a major invasion of Crusader lands. The Fatimids planned to capture the coastal city of Jaffa. In this era, the Egyptian armies usually deployed with Sudanese archers on foot, supported by dense formations of Arab and Berber light cavalry. Unfortunately for the Fatimids, this relatively immobile array provided the Frankish heavy cavalry with an ideal target.

At Yibna

Yibna

Yibna was a Palestinian village of 5,420 inhabitants, located 15 kilometers southwest of Ramla. Yibna was occupied by Israeli forces on June 4, 1948, and was depopulated during the military assault and expulsion.-History:...

, near the later site of the castle of Ibelin

Ibelin

Ibelin was a castle in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century , which gave its name to an important family of nobles.-The castle:...

 (built 1141), the Fatimid invasion force encountered the crusader army of knights and men-at-arms on horseback and spearmen and bowmen on foot. The fighting lasted only a short time as the Egyptian host was unable to withstand the shock of the Crusader cavalry charges. As Fulcher of Chartres

Fulcher of Chartres

Fulcher of Chartres was a chronicler of the First Crusade. He wrote in Latin.- Life :His appointment as chaplain of Baldwin of Boulogne in 1097 suggests that he had been trained as a priest, most likely at the school in Chartres...

 says,

"this battle did not last long because when our foes saw our armed men advance in excellent order against them their horsemen immediately took flight as if completely bewitched, going into a panic instead of using good sense. Their foot-soldiers were massacred."

The defeat was decisive. Except for continued raids from Ascalon until the Siege of Ascalon

Siege of Ascalon

The Siege of Ascalon took place in 1153, resulting in the capture of that Egyptian fortress by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Background:...

 in 1153, the Fatimids ceased to be a threat to the Crusader states until the rise of Saladin

Saladin

Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...

 in 1169. The next major action in the Crusader states would be the Battle of Azaz

Battle of Azaz

In the Battle of Azaz forces of the Crusader States commanded by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem defeated Aq-Sunqur il-Bursuqi's army of Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125 and raised the siege of the town....

 in 1125.