Saladin retakes Jerusalem
A Kurdish sultan defeats the crusader states and is remembered by both sides as chivalrous.
- When
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Post-Classical, Holocene
Saladin destroys the crusader field army at Hattin in 1187 and takes Jerusalem shortly after, permitting the inhabitants to ransom themselves rather than putting them to the sword — a contrast with 1099 that European chroniclers themselves recorded. He unifies Egypt and Syria under the Ayyubid dynasty. His reputation in the West as a model of honourable conduct is unusual for an enemy commander and long outlived him.