Sultan Saladin History In English

Sultan Saladin History In English um saladin was the muslim sultan of egypt and syria who shocked the western world by defeating an army of the christian crusader states at the battle of hatin and then capturing jerusalem in 1187 salad in all but destroying the states of the latin east in the levant and successfully repelled the third crusade

saladin achieved his success by unifying the muslim near east from egypt to arabia through a potent mix of warfare diplomacy and the promise of holy war saladin’s skills and warfare and politics as well as his personal qualities of generosity and chivalry resulted in him being eulogized by both christian and muslim writers so that he has become one of the most famous figures of the middle ages and the subject of countless literary works ever since his death in his favorite gardens of damascus in 1193

saladin whose full name was al-malik al-nasir sola al-dunya wild in abuel musa for yusuf ibn ayam ibn shadi al-kirti the son of iu a displaced kurdish mercenary was born in 1137 in the castle of takrit north of baghdad saladin would rise through the ranks of the military where he gained a reputation as a skilled horseman and a gifted polo player he followed his uncle shirkuan campaign who conquered egypt in 1169

saladin then took over from his relative as the governor of egypt for nur ad din sometimes also given as nur aldin independent governor of aleppo and odessa the historian j phillips gives the following succinct description of the young saladin a short man with a roundish face a trim black beard and keen alert black eyes he placed members of his family in positions of power and seemed to challenge his master’s authority when nur ad din died in may 1174

his coalition of muslim states broke up as his successors battled for supremacy saladin claimed that he was the true heir and took egypt for himself unifying the muslim world saladin now the sultan of egypt repeated the feat of nir ad-din in syria when he captured damascus in 1174.

saladin claimed to be the protector of sunni orthodoxy and his removal of the shiite caliph in cairo an organization of his state according to strict islamic law gave this claim serious weight saladin then set about unifying the muslim world or at least forming some form of a useful coalition no easy task given the many states independent city rulers and differences in religious beliefs of the sunni and shiite muslims saladin’s strategy was a potent mixture of warfare and diplomacy mixed with the idea that he and only he could wage a

holy war against the christian settlers in the middle east who had formed such latin states as the kingdom of jerusalem first though the military leader had no qualms either about waging war on his muslim enemies in 1175 for example an army from a rival at aleppo was defeated by him at hama saladin’s supremacy amongst the muslim leaders was cemented when the caliph of baghdad the head of the sunni faith formally recognized him as the governor of egypt syria and yemen

unfortunately aleppo remained independent and ruled by the son of nir ad-din a serious thorn in saladin’s diplomatic side there were more personal risks too as twice the sultan of egypt survived attempts on his life by the assassins a powerful shiite section saladin responded immediately by attacking the assassin held castle at masyaf in syria and pillaging the surrounding

area meanwhile the diplomatic route was also pursued chiefly in marrying nur ad din’s widow ismet also the daughter of the late damascan ruler on earth thus saladin handily associated himself with two ruling dynasties at one stroke along the way there were setbacks such as the defeat to the franks as the western settlers were known notably at mont chazzard in 1177 but victories in 1179

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at marjayan and the capture of a large fortress on the river jordan illustrated saladin’s intent to rid the middle east completely of the westerners also helpful to saladin was his growing reputation for justice and generosity and saladin’s own carefully cultivated image as the defender of islam against rival faiths especially christianity saladin’s position was further strengthened in may 1183 when he captured aleppo and by his prudent buildup of a very useful egyptian naval fleet by

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1185 saladin controlled mosul and a treaty was signed with the byzantine empire against their mutual enemy the seljuks he could now move on the latin states safe in the knowledge that his own borders were secure with the franks distracted over conflicts of succession and the issue of who ruled the kingdom of jerusalem the time for saladin to strike was now in april 1187 the frank’s castle of carrick was attacked a force commanded by saladin’s son al-aftel moved towards acre and saladin himself gathered together a huge army composed of troops from egypt syria aleppo and jazira northern iraq the franks gathered their forces in response and the two armies met at a teen the franks on their way to tiberius to relieve salad and siege there the battle of hattin began on july 3 1187

when saladin’s mounted archers continuously attacked and retreated providing a continuous harassment of the marching franks as one muslim historian put it the arrows plunged into them transforming their lions into hedgehogs quoted in philips 162 the next day a more substantial engagement ensued saladin was able to field some twenty thousand troops at ha team the franks were under the leadership of gaia business king of the kingdom of jerusalem and could field around 15 000 infantry in 1 300 nights the franks were outnumbered and seriously short of water while the muslim army with plentiful supplies

thanks to their camel trains set fire to the dry grass and brush to peek the enemy’s thirst even further the frank’s formation broke up with the infantry in disarray and no longer providing the usual protective ring for the heavy cavalry a cavalry force led by raymond of tripoli did break through the muslim lines but for the remainder of the army there was to be no escape and salad and won a resounding victory against the largest army the franks had ever assembled in a typical magnanimous gesture saladin offered the now captive guy an iced sherbet some

nobles were freed on the production of a ransom as was typical of medieval warfare including guy others were less fortunate reynold of chatillon the prince of antioch was hated for his earlier attack on a muslim caravan and so was executed saladin himself first taking a swing with his scimitar and chopping off one of reynold’s arms the knights of the two military orders the knights templar and

knights hospitaler were considered too fanatical and too dangerous besides offering zero chance of gaining any ransom and so were executed too the rest of the captives were sold into slavery in september 1187 jerusalem now almost totally undefended in a hugely symbolic prize for both sides was captured by saladin once again a mass slaughter of the city’s christians was resisted and most were either ransomed or made slaves eastern christians were permitted to remain in the city although all of the churches

except the holy sepulchre were converted into mosques other important cities had already fallen under saladin’s rule and these included acre tiberius caesarea nazareth and jaffa indeed the only significant city still in western hands in the middle east was tired with the victory at hattine the capture of the frank’s holiest relic the true cross and the fall of the holy city of jerusalem saladin’s heroic status was confirmed

the sultan was active in spreading his reputation even employing two official biographers to record his deeds so two religious and educational institutions were supported and their works extolled the virtues of their patron the sultan was known for his love of poetry hunting and gardens his generosity in particular to his kinsmen who governed the provinces of his empire was famed too this largesse and his lack of interest in accumulating personal wealth is here recorded by the modern historian eight malouf his treasurers baja aldin saladin’s personal secretary and biographer reveals always kept a certain sum hidden away

for emergencies for they knew that if the master learned of the existence of this reserve he would spend it immediately in spite of this precaution when the sultan died the state treasury contained no more than an ingot of tyre gold and 47 dirams of silver when some of high collaborators chided him for his profligacy saladin answered with a nonchalant smile there are people for whom money is no more important than sand saladin had long cultivated the idea of a holy war against the christian armies of the west and

he would have to wage it now that he had captured jerusalem pope gregory iii or 1187 called for a third crusade to recapture jerusalem and europe’s three most powerful kings responded frederick ibarbarosa king of germany and holy roman emperor philip ii of france and richard the first the lionhearted of england meanwhile guy of lousignan was back on the campaign trail he had left tyre with some seven thousand infantry four hundred nights and a small

peasant fleet to begin a siege of muslim-held acre in august 1189 it was the beginning of a long and arduous siege and with saladin’s land army besieging the frank’s positions only the eventual arrival of philip and richard’s army swung the balance in favor of the crusaders the city was finally captured on july 12 1191 and with it significantly 70 ships the bulk of saladin’s navy the crusader army then marched southwards towards jerusalem with saladin’s army harassing them as they moved along the coast then a full-scale battle broke out on the plain of arseph on

september 7th 1191 the crusaders won the day but the muslim losses were not substantial saladin having had no choice but to withdraw to the relative safety of the forest which bordered the plane although neither acre or arseph had done any serious damage to saladin’s army the two defeats in quick succession and then the loss of jaffa to richard the first in august 1192 did cumulatively damage saladin’s military reputation amongst his contemporaries saladin was frequently criticized by rival muslim leaders for being too cautious when direct attacks on tyre would have denied the crusaders a crucial

beachhead and similarly for not engaging guy’s army before he even reached acre or the crusader army on its arrival at the siege all of these moves might have proved decisive this was though to criticize with the benefit of hindsight and it ignores what were the commonly established rules of warfare of the period in the whole region armies of any kind very rarely directly engage the enemy in open battle rather the control of strategically

important castles and ports through siege warfare was the standard practice of the day the lack of determination to take tyre the last frankish stronghold is more difficult to defend except that saladin may have been wary of the arrival of frederick i’s huge army which in the event never arrived and preferred to keep faith with his tried and tested method of wearing down the enemy at their weakest points not their strongest he also knew that

the western kings could not remain in the east indefinitely and so neglect their own kingdoms time was always on the muslim side and as it turned out saladin’s approach was successful as the crusader army by the time it got to its primary objective of jerusalem was too depleted and saladin’s army was still such a threat that the whole crusade was abandoned in the autumn of 1192 a negotiated peace followed but richard the first gained

very little for all the effort put into the cause not even managing to meet his opposite number face to face saladin meanwhile still had jerusalem the mighty wave of the third crusade had passed and his empire was intact saladin was unable to profit from the crusaders departure because he died soon after in damascus on march 4th 1193.

he was only 55 or 56 years old and most likely died from the sheer physical toll of decades spent on campaign the fragile and often volatile muslim coalition quickly disintegrated once their great leader had died three of saladin’s sons each took control of egypt damascus and aleppo respectively while other relations in emir squabbled for the remainders saladin did leave a lasting legacy as he founded the ayubid dynasty which ruled until

1250 in egypt and 1260 in syria in both cases to be overthrown by the mamluks saladin also left a legacy in literature both muslim and christian indeed it is somewhat ironic that the muslim leader became one of the great exemplars of chivalry in 13th-century european literature much has been written about the sultan during

his own lifetime and since but the fact that an appreciation for his diplomacy and leadership skills can be found in both contemporary muslim and christian sources would suggest that saladin is indeed worthy of his position as one of the great medieval leaders foreign