Salahuddin al-Ayyubi
A Kurdish officer who ended the Fatimid caliphate in 1171 and united Egypt and Syria. He destroyed the crusader army at Hattin and retook Jerusalem in 1187 without a massacre. Even his enemies wrote of his generosity.
At a glance
- Lived
- 1137 to 1193
- Role
- Ruler
- Era
- The Crusades and Salahuddin
- Chapter
- 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols
Battles
- 1187Battle of Hattin
Decisive Muslim victory. Salahuddin cut the crusaders off from water on a hot July day.
- 1187Siege of Jerusalem
City surrendered. On 2 October 1187, after a short siege, the city surrendered.
- 1189 to 1191Siege of Acre
Crusader victory. After a two-year siege the port fell.
- 1191Battle of Arsuf
Crusader victory. Richard won on the march south but twice turned back short of Jerusalem.
Salahuddin al-Ayyubi's world
1190: 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.
People of the same era
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