Saladin

The brilliant Muslim warrior Saladin and his army stayed in the city of Hesban for a few days in 1184 after aborting an attack on the city of Kerak.

 

Saladin, a Muslim warrior from Kurdistan, conquered much of the Middle East in the 12th century C.E. He invaded territories ruled by other Muslim countries, but is famous for his war with the crusader states of Europe and for uniting the countries of Syria and Egypt under his leadership. For hundreds of years he was legendary in Europe for being the noble leader who Richard the Lionhearted respected and, at times, befriended.

            In August 1184, after two European Crusades had wrested control of many cities in the Transjordan and Palestine from the Muslims, Saladin and his army besieged the Transjordanian crusader city of Kerak. The siege was intense and, it seems, could have been effective had the crusaders not been reinforced. The battlements around the city of Kerak were such that Qadi al Fadil, a secretary of state for Saladin said, “No Frank can put his head out without receiving an arrow in the eye.”

            It seemed that the city would be taken easily, when a detachment of Frankish troops crossed the Jordan to provide relief for the beleaguered forces at Kerak. Saladin pulled back from Kerak and moved to a position directly opposite the Frankish reinforcements which were positioned at el-Waleh. This position, which was two miles from el-Waleh, was the city of Hesban. Accounts do not specifically say how long Saladin and his troops stayed at Hesban, but based on when he left Kerak and when he left Hesban for M’ain we may guess that the forces stayed around Hesban for a few days. His placement there may have been in preparation for a battle that never happened. In other words, there could have been a major battle between the forces of Saladin and the forces of the Franks, but there was not. He moved on, and so did they.

            Later in 1184, Saladin took the city of Amman in the Transjordan. This began a series of major victories over the Franks and Latins which culminated on July 4, 1187 with his destruction of the Latin army in the Battle of Hattin and his subsequent capture of the city of Jerusalem.

            Richard the Lionhearted launched the Third Crusade in 1189 as an effort to take back the Holy Land and specifically Jerusalem . He won some battles against Saladin’s forces, including the battle for the city of Acre, but was ultimately forced to sign a treaty with Saladin in 1192. Richard wrote to Saladin that he would take back Jerusalem very soon. Saladin replied that “if he were to lose his lands, there was no one to whom he would rather lose them.”

            Saladin died of fever on March 4, 1193.

 

 

 

 -A.G.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

John Fines, ed, Who’s Who in the Middle Ages: From the Collapse of the Roman Empireto the Renaissance, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, Original printing 1970, Barnes and Noble printing 1995)

 

H.A.R. Gibb, “The Arab Sources for the Life of Saladin,”Speculum 25, No. 1 (1950): 58-72

 

David Hilliam, Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade,(New York: Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2004)

 

Malcom C. Lyons and D.E. Jackson, Saladin: The Politics of Holy War,(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982)

 

Charles J. Rosebault, Saladin Prince of Chivalry,(Kessinger Publishing, Original printing 1930; Kessinger printing 2004)

 

Yūsuf ibn RāfiʻIbn Shaddād, The Life of Saladin, (Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1897)

 

Edited 1/27/06 tlc