Saladin: victor of Hattin and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty

In the twelfth century CE, the Middle East was divided into many states, large and small. After the First Crusade, Crusaders from Europe had set up their own states in coastal Syria and Palestine, while the Muslim rulers of Egypt, Syria and Iraq were often at odds with one another. In this period, a military officer from a Kurdish family rose to prominence. He brought the lands from Egypt to Syria under one government, defeated the Crusader army at Hattin in 1187 and conquered Jerusalem (Bait al-Maqdis). History knows him as Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin).

Early life

Saladin was born in 1137 or 1138 in the fortress of Tikrit, in present-day Iraq. His family was of Kurdish descent. His father, Ayyub, and his uncle, Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, held senior posts in the army of Imad ad-Din Zangi, the powerful ruler of northern Syria. Saladin spent most of his childhood in Damascus. He became known as an expert horseman and rose steadily through the ranks of the army.

After Imad ad-Din Zangi, his son Nur ad-Din Zangi (Nur al-Din) took power. He sent Shirkuh to Egypt with an army, and the young Saladin took part in these campaigns with his uncle.

Power in Egypt

When Shirkuh died in 1169, Saladin took command of Nur ad-Din’s army in Egypt and was also appointed vizier of the Fatimid government of the time. According to History.com, the Fatimid government had become weak by then. In September 1171, the Friday sermon in Cairo’s main mosque was read in the name of the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, and the last Fatimid caliph, al-Adid, died the same year. The Fatimid era in Egypt thus ended, and Saladin became ruler of Egypt in the name of Nur ad-Din.

Nur ad-Din died in May 1174, and his successors fell into a struggle for power. Saladin declared his autonomy in Egypt and took Damascus the same year. In the following years he captured Hama and Homs, brought Aleppo under his influence in 1183 and Mosul in 1186. His forces also conquered Yemen, which strengthened his hold on the Red Sea. Diplomacy was also part of his strategy, and his marriage to Nur ad-Din’s widow, Ismat Khatun, tied him to the former ruling families.

Hattin and Jerusalem

In 1187, Saladin assembled a large army from Egypt, Syria, Aleppo and the Jazira (northern Iraq). When the army of the Crusader king, Guy of Lusignan, advanced towards Tiberias, the two forces met at Hattin. According to the World History Encyclopedia, Saladin had about 20,000 soldiers, while the Crusaders had roughly 15,000 foot soldiers and 1,300 knights. The thirsty Crusader army was attacked repeatedly by Saladin’s mounted archers. On 4 July 1187, the Crusader army suffered a decisive defeat and King Guy was taken prisoner. Some of the prisoners were released for ransom, while Reynald of Châtillon, the lord of Kerak, and knights of the military orders (the Templars and Hospitallers) were killed.

After Hattin, several cities, including Acre, Tiberias, Caesarea, Nazareth and Jaffa, fell to Saladin. Jerusalem was then besieged. According to the British historian Stanley Lane-Poole, the city was surrendered on terms on 2 October 1187. Each man had to pay ten gold coins as ransom for his freedom, two women or ten children counted as one man, and forty days were allowed for payment. Those who could not pay were enslaved. Lane-Poole writes that during the surrender the Sultan’s guards kept order in the streets. However, the coastal fortress of Tyre could not be taken, and it later became an important Crusader base.

The Third Crusade

After the fall of Jerusalem, the Third Crusade was proclaimed in Europe. Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, Philip II of France and Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart) took part. In August 1189 the Crusaders besieged Acre. The siege lasted nearly two years, and the city fell to them on 12 July 1191. Saladin also lost a large part of his fleet. On 7 September 1191, the Crusaders also won on the plain of Arsuf.

According to the World History Encyclopedia, some contemporary emirs called Saladin too cautious, but he reckoned that the European kings could not stay away from their countries for long. In the end, the Crusader army withdrew without attacking Jerusalem. In September 1192, the two sides made peace, known as the Treaty of Jaffa. Under it, the coast from Tyre to Jaffa remained with the Crusaders, Jerusalem stayed in Saladin’s hands, and Christian pilgrims were allowed to visit the city unarmed.

Administration, building and patronage

Saladin laid the foundation of a citadel on a spur of Mount Muqattam in Cairo. It remained the seat of government in Egypt for centuries. According to Lane-Poole, it was completed well after his death. He also founded madrasas and khanqahs in Egypt and Syria.

According to both History.com and the World History Encyclopedia, he was fond of poetry, hunting and gardens, and his generosity was well known. He also employed two official biographers to record his deeds, among them his personal confidant and biographer Baha ad-Din. According to Baha ad-Din’s account, at the time of his death the state treasury held nothing but one piece of gold and forty-seven silver dirhams.

Final days and legacy

A few months after the peace, Saladin died in Damascus on 4 March 1193. He was 55 or 56 years old, and historians say years of continuous campaigning had badly affected his health. He was buried near the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

After his death, the allied state he had built soon broke apart, and his three sons took over Egypt, Damascus and Aleppo separately. However, the Ayyubid dynasty he founded ruled Egypt until 1250 and Syria until 1260, after which the Mamluks took power. According to the World History Encyclopedia, Saladin was praised by both Muslim and Christian writers, and in thirteenth-century European literature he was presented as an example of nobility and chivalry.

The ruler who made use of both war and diplomacy is still counted among the best-known names in medieval history.