Saladin (c. 1137-1193) was a Muslim sultan of Kurdish origin who united Egypt and Syria and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He is best known for defeating the Crusaders at Hattin in 1187 and retaking Jerusalem.

What happened at the Battle of Hattin?

On 4 July 1187 Saladin lured the Crusader army into dry country, cut it off from water, and surrounded it near the Horns of Hattin. The exhausted army was destroyed, opening the way to Jerusalem.

Did Saladin capture Jerusalem?

Yes. After Hattin, Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin in October 1187. Unlike the Crusader conquest of 1099, he let the inhabitants ransom themselves and leave safely, though thousands who could not pay were enslaved.

Did Saladin fight Richard the Lionheart?

Yes. The fall of Jerusalem triggered the Third Crusade (1189-1192), in which Saladin faced Richard I of England. Neither could decisively beat the other, and their mutual respect became famous.

Where was Saladin from?

He was born around 1137 into a Kurdish family in Tikrit, in what is now Iraq, and rose to rule Egypt and Syria.

What was the Ayyubid dynasty?

It was the dynasty Saladin founded, which ruled Egypt, Syria and neighbouring lands for several generations after him.

Why is Saladin admired even in the West?

For his generalship and, above all, his reputation for mercy and honour, including his relatively humane treatment of Jerusalem's inhabitants when he took the city in 1187.

When did Saladin die?

He died in 1193 in Damascus, only a year after making peace with Richard the Lionheart, reportedly leaving little personal wealth behind.

Saladin: the sultan who retook Jerusalem

Saladin is one of the few enemies of the Crusaders whom the Crusaders themselves came to admire. The Muslim sultan who united Egypt and Syria, he broke the Crusader kingdom at Hattin in 1187 and took back Jerusalem, and his reputation for mercy and honour outlived the wars he fought.

Rise to power

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known to the West as Saladin, was born around 1137 in Tikrit, into a family of Kurdish origin¹. He rose in the service of the ruler of Syria, took control of Egypt, and by patient campaigning united Egypt and Syria under his own rule², founding the Ayyubid dynasty. That unity gave him the strength to challenge the Crusader states that had held the Holy Land for nearly a century.

Engraved half-length portrait of a bearded man in a turban touching his beard — Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, in an imagined portrait engraved for André Thevet's Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres, Paris, 1584. Public domain

Hattin

His masterstroke came at Hattin on 4 July 1187. Saladin drew the main Crusader army out³ into waterless country under the July sun, cut it off from water, and surrounded it near the twin hills called the Horns of Hattin. Exhausted and parched, the Crusader army was killed or captured almost to a man, though Raymond of Tripoli and a few others broke out. Saladin captured the relic they carried into battle, the True Cross, and with the kingdom's army gone, the road to Jerusalem lay open.

Coloured historical map of the coast of Syria and Palestine with the crusader territories marked — Syria and Palestine in the time of the Crusades and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, a map from George Adam Smith's atlas of the historical geography of the Holy Land, 1915. Public domain

He took the city that had fallen in blood, and this time spared it.

Jerusalem surrendered to him in October 1187.⁴ Where the Crusaders had massacred the population when they took the city in 1099, Saladin allowed its inhabitants to ransom themselves and leave in safety⁴, a restraint that astonished his contemporaries on both sides, though thousands who could not pay were enslaved.

The Third Crusade and legacy

The fall of Jerusalem set off the Third Crusade, which brought Richard the Lionheart of England against him. The two fought hard but neither could destroy the other, and their guarded mutual respect became legendary. Saladin held Jerusalem, granting Christian pilgrims access to the city.

Saladin died in Damascus on 4 March 1193¹, reportedly leaving almost nothing to his name⁵, having given his wealth away. He is remembered across the Muslim world as a model ruler and warrior, and in the West as the chivalrous foe of the Crusades.

Old photograph of the rooftops and domes of Damascus with a mountain behind — Damascus, where Saladin died in 1193, in an albumen print by Félix Bonfils from about 1870, titled General view, Tomb of Saladin. Public domain

Meet the others in the greatest military commanders in history, or read his defining victory in full at the Battle of Hattin.

How Saladin prevailed

Saladin united a divided Muslim Middle East and then turned it against the Crusader states with patience and skill.

Unify first, fight second. Before facing the Crusaders he spent years uniting Egypt and Syria under one authority, giving him the resources to win.
Use the land and the heat. At Hattin he cut the Crusader army off from water and let the summer heat and thirst break it before the battle was even decided.
Patience and diplomacy. He knew when to fight and when to negotiate, and secured by treaty what further war might have cost him.
Win hearts, not just battles. His reputation for mercy, sparing the inhabitants of Jerusalem in 1187, strengthened his position and his legend alike.
Keep the strategic aim. He kept his eye on the prize, Jerusalem, and shaped his whole campaign around taking and then holding it.

From Egypt to Jerusalem

c. 1137Born into a Kurdish family at Tikrit, in modern Iraq.
1171Becomes ruler of Egypt and founds the Ayyubid dynasty.
From 1174Extends his authority over Syria¹, uniting the lands around the Crusader states.
1187Destroys the main Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin, then captures Jerusalem.
1189 to 1192Fights the Third Crusade against a coalition led by Richard the Lionheart of England.
1192Agrees the Treaty of Jaffa, keeping Jerusalem while allowing Christian pilgrims to visit.
1193Dies in Damascus.

Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem

In 1187 Saladin lured the main army of the Crusader kingdom onto the waterless plateau near the Horns of Hattin, cut it off from water and destroyed it in the summer heat. With the Crusader field army gone, the great prize followed: within months he entered Jerusalem, which had been in Christian hands since the First Crusade.

See the campaign among history's decisive battles in our guide to the greatest military commanders in history.

Saladin and Richard the Lionheart

The fall of Jerusalem triggered the Third Crusade, and Saladin's great opponent became Richard the Lionheart of England. The two fought hard, at Arsuf and elsewhere, but also came to respect each other, and their war ended in 1192 with a treaty that left Jerusalem⁶ in Saladin's hands but open to Christian pilgrims. Even in Europe, Saladin was remembered as a model of chivalry.

Painting of a large cavalry battle on a plain under a cloudy sky — The Battle of Arsuf, 1191, painted by Éloi Firmin Féron in 1843: the clash in which Richard the Lionheart's crusaders beat Saladin's army. Public domain

Which commander do you most resemble? Find out in our Which Commander Are You quiz.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Saladin summary” ↩ a b c
Malcolm Cameron Lyons and D. E. P. Jackson, Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War (Cambridge University Press, 1982). ↩
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Crusades: The Crusader states to 1187” ↩
World History Encyclopedia (Mark Cartwright), “Saladin” ↩ a b
Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, trans. D. S. Richards (Ashgate, Crusade Texts in Translation 7, 2001), eyewitness account of Saladin's last illness and death in Damascus and the meagre treasury he left. ↩
Anne-Marie Eddé (trans. Jane Marie Todd), Saladin (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011). ↩
Wikipedia, “Saladin, Wikipedia”

Saladin

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