Crusades · 1191

Battle of Arsuf

Richard won on the march south but twice turned back short of Jerusalem. The Treaty of Jaffa in 1192 left the city with Salahuddin and let Christian pilgrims visit.

The site of the battle on the 1190 map. Shaded: Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Ayyubid Sultanate, 1192, Crusader territory left in 1192.

Key facts

When: 1191
Where: Near Jaffa, Palestine
Sides: Third Crusade vs Ayyubids
Commanders: Richard I vs Salahuddin
Result: Crusader victory
Type: Crusades
Chapter: 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols

Who led it

Salahuddin al-Ayyubi1137 to 1193
A Kurdish officer who ended the Fatimid caliphate in 1171 and united Egypt and Syria.

The wider picture: The Crusades and Salahuddin

The Seljuk win at Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to the Turks, and Byzantium asked Europe for help. The First Crusade took Jerusalem in 1099. Zengi, his son Nur al-Din and then Salahuddin rebuilt Muslim unity, and Salahuddin won back Jerusalem in October 1187, three months after Hattin.

See the 1190 map Read chapter 3

More crusades battles

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