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In July 1192, Richard the Lionheart...
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King of England, valiant crusader knight...
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stood with his holy warriors, preparing for a strike on Jerusalem.
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Inside the Holy City, the mighty Saladin,
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Jihadi warrior, unifier of Islam,
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readied his troops for the infidels' inevitable attack.
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These two legendary leaders had fought each other to a standstill
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during a year-long campaign across Palestine.
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Thousands had perished.
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Appalling atrocities had been perpetrated by both sides.
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Now they faced each other in a battle for their final objective,
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the sacred city of Jerusalem.
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This promised to be the ultimate clash between two of history's
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greatest leaders,
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men who, even today, are regarded as the figureheads of the Crusades.
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We think we know these medieval titans. Saladin, the pious
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and just champion of Islam, Richard,
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the brutish hothead with a gift for battle.
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But we shouldn't settle for legend...
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because if we look at what Richard and Saladin actually did,
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what they said about themselves, and how
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they were described by the very people who lived alongside them,
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then we can go further.
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We can begin to glimpse them both as men each capable of dark deeds
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and stunning acts of genius.
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To understand these men and their epic struggle,
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we need first to understand the world that became their battlefield.
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At its heart was Jerusalem...
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the holy city prized
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by both Christianity and Islam.
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In 1099, a crusading army had seized it from Muslim hands,
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wresting it from Islam's control for the first time in four centuries.
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This bloody conquest eventually ignited two hundred years
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of violent Holy War between Christian West and the Muslim East.
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But, surprisingly,
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it did not provoke an immediate response from Islam.
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The Muslim world was fractured, riven by an ancient
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feud between Sunni and Shia Muslims, over the rightful line of succession
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to Mohammed, and paralyzed by the power struggles of rival warlords.
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Against this backdrop, the capture of Jerusalem barely registered.
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Near and Middle Eastern Muslims seem to have had little idea
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of who the Crusaders were and why they'd come to Syria and Palestine.
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Most probably thought that they were Byzantine mercenaries,
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engaged in a short-term military incursion,
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not driven warriors bent upon the conquest
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and settlement of the Holy Land.
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This dire misconception helps to blunt Islam's response to
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the First Crusade, a costly mistake.
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Had the Muslims recognized the true nature and scale of the Crusades,
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they might have put aside their differences to repel a common enemy.
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Instead, Islam's uncoordinated response allowed
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the Christians to strengthen their foothold here in the East.
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With Islam divided, the Christian invaders, or Franks,
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were left to expand and prosper in their new kingdom in the East.
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This realm was known in the Middle Ages as Outremer,
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the Land across the Sea.
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It was divided into
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four major territories
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known collectively
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as the Crusader States...
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Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli
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and the Kingdom
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of Jerusalem.
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As East collided with West,
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cities like Jerusalem became cultural melting pots,
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creating a medieval society unique to the crusader states.
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One settler, writing in the 1120s, noted,
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'We who were Occidentals have become Orientals.
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'He who was a Roman or a Frank has in this place become
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'a Palestinian or a Galilean.
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'He who was a citizen of Rheims or Chartres is now
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'a member of Antioch or Tyre.
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'We have forgotten the very places of our birth.'
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A minority Latin elite ruled over a mixture of Muslim, Jewish
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and Eastern Christian subjects.
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Growing familiarity forged a degree of mutual acceptance.
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And, inevitably,
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the Westerners developed a taste for local goods and delicacies.
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Sugar cane, olive oil, citrus fruits, pomegranates,
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rice and saffron...
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all became popular with the Western Europeans.
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Some began to frequent Turkish bath-houses, or hammams,
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others started to adapt their dress to suit the climate,
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especially the aristocracy, who could afford silks.
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Some 30 years after the First Crusade, this cultural fusion
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was epitomised by the marriage of Fulk V and Melisende,
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his half-Latin, half-Armenian bride.
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Melisende was heir to the throne of Jerusalem and Fulk,
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a wealthy count of Anjou, had been brought East to marry her.
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Together, they were to rule the kingdom.
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An extraordinary memento of their world survives
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today in the form of a small prayer book, thought to have been
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made in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 1130s...
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one of the greatest treasures held in the British Library.
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It's a thing of the most remarkable beauty and craftsmanship.
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And for someone who loves the Crusades, its every
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bit as important as the Doomsday Book or the Bayeux Tapestry.
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And that's because it speaks to us of the Medieval World,
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it offers us a direct connection to the crusading era.
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This Psalter is a beautifully ornate personal prayer book,
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probably given as a peace offering from King Fulk to Melisende,
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to repair the wounds of a bitter feud.
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Inside are full page images from the life of Christ,
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illustrated in a typically Byzantine,
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or Greek Christian, style.
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Magnificent as the book itself is, in many ways, the real treasures
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are the pair of covers that originally enclosed the Psalter.
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Two pieces of ivory, intricately and precisely carved,
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and decorated with semi-precious stones and turquoise.
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And what I love about these covers is that I think they show us
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the message that Fulk wanted to send to his wife.
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And that message was...
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from this point forward, I will rule as a good king.
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On the front cover are a series of images
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drawn from the life of King David...
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another ruler of Jerusalem, from the Old Testament.
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Here he is shown fighting against Goliath.
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And on the rear cover, we see a second king, this time, probably
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Fulk, and he's shown carrying out acts of Christian virtue.
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Here he is feeding the hungry, and here, clothing the naked.
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The message here is,
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from this point, I will rule as a monarch should.
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But the Psalter is not just a reflection of Fulk's Christian faith,
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it also allows us to glimpse the wider world that he
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and Melisende inhabited.
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Because it is a product of the mixture of cultures that
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shaped the Crusader States.
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We can see in the way in which it's constructed and designed evidence
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of different cultures, different artistic styles coming together.
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Within the book itself, we can see French, English
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and even Armenian styling.
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And these covers are very clearly Byzantine
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or Greek in their overall style and design.
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Here is Fulk dressed very much as a Byzantine emperor,
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as a man of great power,
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and if we look at the geometric patterning
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surrounding the whole design,
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this is very suggestive of Islamic influence.
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What this book says to me is that
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the Crusaders did not live in some hermetically sealed environment,
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instead, even in the context of the Holy War,
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these Christians were being influenced
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by the Near Eastern world around them.
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But even as Fulk was giving peace gifts to his queen,
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outside the boundaries of their kingdom, a new force was gaining momentum...
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prompting Islam to unite and fight back against the Christian invaders.
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Jihad.
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I've come to Cairo to meet
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Taef Al Azhari,
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Professor of Islamic Studies,
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to find out how Islam's recorded history sheds light on Jihad
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and the First Crusade, from the Muslim perspective.
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In the Middle Ages, the idea of Jihad is to spread
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the message of Islam into the non-Muslim territory -
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in central Asia, in North Africa,
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and most importantly,
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into Christian territory,
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Byzantine Empire.
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But Jihad gained huge momentum when the Crusaders came to
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the Middle East in the 11th and 12th century.
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You are not into the others' territory,
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you are defending your own territory against the others.
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So Jihad was a prime responsibility and duty.
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Jihad literally means struggle,
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but in the Middle Ages, this could represent
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a fight against internal impurity or a sacred physical struggle,
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a Holy War. And its message could be spread by poetry.
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The Arab poetry from pre-Islamic time through the Islamic history
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was one of the tools to galvanise society and,
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you have thousands of lines of poetry
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urging Muslim communities to defend and recapture Jerusalem.
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Let me read you just few lines.
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HE SPEAKS ARABIC
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Here, the poet is reminding the Muslim community about how important
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Jerusalem is, and he's calling for its recapture, and he says
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the only way to recapture it
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is through blood which would purify Jerusalem.
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In the 12th century, the torch of Jihad was taken up by a new,
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powerful Turkish dynasty...
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The Zangids.
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In the name of Islam, they conquered great
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swathes of territory in the East and brought the promise of a new era.
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One in which the Christians might be driven from the Holy Land.
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In 1146, the Sunni warlord Nur al Din Zangi came to power.
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In the course of his career, he united Aleppo and Damascus,
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consolidating the Zangid hold on Syria,
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and pushed their rule further, into Egypt.
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But rising up through the ranks of his armies was an ambitious
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Kurdish soldier.
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Born Yusuf son of Ayyub, he's known to history by the honorific title,
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Salah al Din, Goodness of the Faith.
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In the Western tongue, Saladin.
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In 1169, Saladin took command of the Syrian forces
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that had seized Shi'a-controlled Egypt.
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Although, officially, the answer to the Shi'ite caliph,
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or spiritual leader of Shi'a Islam,
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he began to act with increasing autonomy.
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But as a Sunni Muslim, Saladin was an isolated outsider,
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and his prospects seemed bleak.
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The qualities that would mark Saladin's career soon shone through.
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When threatened with open rebellion by a powerful Sudanese
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regiment based in Cairo, Saladin was ruthless, burning their garrison
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to the ground with men, women and children still locked within.
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But he also knew the value of caution,
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waiting a full two years before abolishing the ruling Shi-ite
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caliphate and uniting Egypt under his own rule.
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And as Egypt's new lord, he now possessed a base with huge
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economic reserves,
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riches provided by the arable lands of the Nile Delta.
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In 1174, Nur al Din died,
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leaving his 11-year-old son to rule in his stead.
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But Saladin seized this opportunity to expand into Syria.
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To lend his rule the aura of legitimacy, he moved to Damascus,
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Nur al Din's capital, and married his widow, Ismat.
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Saladin was quickly becoming the premier Muslim leader in the East.
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With the might of Egypt behind him, Saladin brought Arabia
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and Syria under his control.
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And before long, he united the disparate Muslim
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factions into a cohesive army and began styling himself as Sultan.
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The Sultan proclaimed his growing power and status
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with massive public building works, like this citadel here in Cairo.
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A towering fortification
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that served as his royal residence and military barracks.
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On the gate into the citadel is an ornate inscription,
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commissioned by Saladin and deliberately placed here,
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where ordinary residents of Cairo could see it.
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So what does this inscription tell us?
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Well, on the one hand,
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it proclaims Saladin as the builder of this great citadel,
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and it names him with honorific titles,
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Al-malik Al-nasir, the victorious king,
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Salah al-Dunya Wa al-Din, the goodness of the world
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and of the faith.
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But the inscription also sets out to demonstrate that Saladin's
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achievements weren't all about serving his own agenda.
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Because it states
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that this citadel was built to protect his people.
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And it affirms that he was the one who had restored orthodox
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Sunni faith to Egypt.
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This was the image that Saladin wanted to present to the world.
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As a great Sultan, but also a man of the people and a servant of Islam.
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As Saladin's status and kingdom grew, he presented his gains
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as a necessary step on the road to Jerusalem.
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By the mid 1180s,
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the Sultan's empire stretched from the Nile to the Euphrates.
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But his grip on this realm remained fragile and hung
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on the question, would he make good on his promises to wage holy war?
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As yet, he had not shown total dedication to all-out battle
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with the Franks.
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Did he really aim to annihilate them
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and recapture Jerusalem for Islam, or were they merely a convenient
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justification for his meteoric rise to power?
253
00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:36,000
In December 1185, Saladin fell ill and retired from the battlefield.
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00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,160
The exact nature of his malady is unknown, but it involved
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00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,400
severe bouts of fever that left Saladin racked with pain.
256
00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,400
And as the weeks turned to months, his condition became
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00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:47,240
increasingly grave.
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Emaciated and drifting in and out of consciousness,
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the Sultan was on the edge of death.
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Physicians were called and announced there was no hope.
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The Muslim world was gripped with confusion and fear.
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But after three months, he pulled through.
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00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:08,160
Saladin's friends and closest advisers saw this illness,
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this brush with mortality, as a moment of transformation...
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00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:16,960
sent by God to wake the Sultan from 'the sleep of forgetfulness'.
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00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,960
The experience does seem to have deepened Saladin's piety
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00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,240
and spiritual devotion.
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00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:28,560
Before his illness, Saladin had been a ruler who spoke about Jihad,
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he had spent most of his time fighting fellow Muslims
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and forging an empire.
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He now emerged with new drive
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and purpose as a man ready to wage the Holy War in earnest.
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00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,400
The Sultan mustered a huge force near Damascus,
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00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,120
and prepared for an invasion of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem.
275
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:52,840
His troops were drawn from across the Near Eastern world,
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some 12,000 professional cavalrymen
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00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,200
and 30,000 volunteers,
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described by a Muslim eyewitness
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00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,720
as a pack of 'old wolves and rending lions.'
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Surveying his own troops, Saladin observed that a huge dust
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00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,840
cloud darkened the eye of the sun
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once the swarming Muslim horde began to advance.
283
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:20,040
But victory here wouldn't depend simply upon military might.
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The real key would be water.
285
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,160
To lure the Crusaders into his trap,
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Saladin attacked
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00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,520
the Christian-held town of Tiberias.
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Sure enough,
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00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,280
on 3rd July 1187,
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00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:43,480
a massive Latin army set out from Saffuriya, led by Guy de Lusignan,
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00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,400
the recently-anointed King of Jerusalem.
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00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:49,560
In these hot, dry conditions,
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00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,200
dehydration could be a deadly weapon,
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something that Saladin understood only too well.
295
00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,040
The Sultan had carefully scouted his chosen terrain.
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00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,440
He knew where water could be found
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00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:05,720
and went to great lengths to ensure that the Christians were denied it.
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00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,080
The Sultan immediately dispatched a number of men to guard
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00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,400
the nearest ample spring in the village of Hattin,
300
00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,720
and then filled in all the remaining wells in the region.
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00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,480
His own soldiers and horses would be supplied with water
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00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,160
ferried in on camel-back from the Jordan valley below.
303
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,080
The Christian army, marching in the height of summer,
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00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:28,280
was being led into a waterless killing zone.
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00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,720
Around noon that day, parched and weakened, the Franks paused
306
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:40,720
briefly to quench their thirst, beside the settlement of Turan.
307
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:42,600
There was a small spring in the village,
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00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,760
a last precious lifeline of water,
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00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,480
but oblivious to their desperate situation,
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00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,000
the Christians left it behind,
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00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,480
pressing on with their march eastwards.
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00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:56,280
As soon as they had left, the Sultan sent flanking divisions
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00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:57,640
to capture the town.
314
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,080
There was no going back.
315
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,160
The Christian armies were forced to press on to the plateau
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00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,480
so carefully prepared by Saladin.
317
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,760
On 4th July, the Christian troops left their camp
318
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:14,600
and Saladin's cruel and brilliant strategy was revealed.
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00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,120
Instead of launching an immediate attack,
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00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:20,600
the Sultan allowed them to continue their pitifully slow progress
321
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:25,360
eastwards, and waited for the midday sun to take effect.
322
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:30,560
And then Saladin's archers began bombarding the Frankish troops.
323
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:31,920
In desperation,
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00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,960
they headed to higher ground on the Horns of Hattin,
325
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,160
to make their last stand.
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00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,760
I'm visiting the site with Rafael Lewis,
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00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,120
a specialist on the Battle of Hattin.
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00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:48,520
We know that, at a certain point,
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00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:54,400
the foot soldiers had left the main body of knights and escaped
330
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:56,320
and basically ran up towards the mountain.
331
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,680
Anyone who was seated on a horse was basically stuck
332
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,360
in the basin between the mountain
333
00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:05,800
and between Salah al Din himself, who was probably positioned
334
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:10,280
about 800 metres from here, on the other side of this valley.
335
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,760
Twice, the Christians launched driving counter-attacks,
336
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,360
pushing the Muslims back, but it was no use.
337
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,840
They were annihilated by Saladin's forces.
338
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,200
Salah ad-Din chose to lead his army into battle,
339
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,920
he didn't stay aside and let his emirs plays the role.
340
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:31,240
At the final moments of the battle, he was the one there,
341
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,520
he was the one standing with his people,
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00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,640
close enough to see that everything turns out
343
00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:38,760
the way that he wanted it to be.
344
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,680
From his vantage point, the Sultan saw the red tent
345
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,400
of Guy de Lusignan fall, and with it,
346
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,720
the last shreds of Christian resistance.
347
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,440
For Saladin, the battle of Hattin was a total victory.
348
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,480
It culminated in the capture of the Christian King of Jerusalem
349
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,600
and the sacred relic of the True Cross.
350
00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,800
And it left virtually the entire army of the crusader states
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00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,560
either slain or in captivity.
352
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,200
By day's end, this landscape was littered with the bodies of the dead.
353
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,840
And a Muslim eyewitness reported that the perfume of victory
354
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:12,760
was thick with the stench of them.
355
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,760
As the sun set, Saladin was said to have looked over
356
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,200
the field of battle like a lion in the desert.
357
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,720
This was his moment of triumph, a proclamation to all Islam
358
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,360
that he was a true jihadi warrior.
359
00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:33,160
With the Christian armies decimated at Hattin, Jerusalem,
360
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:34,480
Saladin's avowed objective,
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00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:38,320
stood virtually undefended.
362
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,560
And in September 1187,
363
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:45,720
he directed the full force of his army towards the Holy City.
364
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,240
Within ten days, he knocked through the outer walls.
365
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,560
Christian mothers shaved their children's heads in atonement
366
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:59,760
and the clergy led barefoot processions through the streets.
367
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,920
But in stark contrast to the Crusaders' sack of Jerusalem in 1099,
368
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,680
the Sultan took the city without a bloodbath.
369
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,080
And this episode has been instrumental in shaping
370
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,320
his reputation.
371
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,160
For centuries, it's been argued that Saladin,
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00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,360
the wise and just ruler,
373
00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:24,200
willingly agreed terms of surrender with Jerusalem's Christian citizens.
374
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,240
This notion has become a cornerstone of his legend.
375
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,680
But I think it's just a pretty fiction,
376
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,920
because it ignores the evidence drawn from those closest to the events
377
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,360
and to Saladin himself.
378
00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:37,720
Shockingly, this material suggests
379
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:42,240
that what Saladin wanted was not peaceful capitulation,
380
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,000
but a bloody massacre!
381
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,200
Saladin's secretary, Imad al Din al-Isfahani,
382
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,480
arrived in Jerusalem the day after its surrender.
383
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,240
An early copy of his written account is kept
384
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,480
in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
385
00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:04,360
This text is not just important contemporary testimony,
386
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:06,600
it offers us the fall of Jerusalem
387
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,960
as Saladin wanted it to be remembered.
388
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,880
What's so remarkable is that Imad al-Din
389
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,680
makes no attempt to present Saladin as the man of peace.
390
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,360
Instead, what we get is Saladin the holy warrior.
391
00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:24,800
He is described telling the Christians inside Jerusalem
392
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,720
in categorical terms,
393
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,600
"You will receive neither amnesty nor mercy!
394
00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:35,360
"Our sole desire is to inflict perpetual subjugation upon you.
395
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:40,080
"And worse still, we will kill and capture you wholesale,
396
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:44,480
"spill men's blood and reduce the poor and the women to slavery."
397
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,520
Saladin only relented and offered more generous terms
398
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,360
when the Christians responded that they would fight to the very last man,
399
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:56,520
destroy Jerusalem's Islamic holy places
400
00:23:56,520 --> 00:24:00,000
and execute thousands of Muslim prisoners still held in the city.
401
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:03,520
Imad al-Din's account is corroborated by
402
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:08,280
a series of official letters, written in the Sultan's own name.
403
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:09,400
Taken together,
404
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,280
this evidence offers us a startling insight
405
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,600
into Saladin's state of mind in the autumn of 1187.
406
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:20,400
He arrived at Jerusalem conscious of one overwhelming truth.
407
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,160
He had forged his empire
408
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:27,000
and bent Islam to his will on the promise of jihad, selling himself
409
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,360
as the man who would crush the Christians and re-conquer Jerusalem.
410
00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:32,960
Under these conditions,
411
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,160
anything short of a brutal sack would be positively embarrassing!
412
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:41,920
This revelatory text shows us that the Sultan felt the need to
413
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,880
explain why he had failed to butcher the Christians inside Jerusalem.
414
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:48,800
Saladin's primary concern
415
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,360
was not to present himself as a magnanimous victor.
416
00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:57,240
What he feared, above all, was an attack upon his image as a mujahid,
417
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,440
as Islam's perfect champion of Holy War.
418
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,680
Jerusalem was back in Muslim hands
419
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,280
and Saladin's string of achievements that year
420
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,760
turned him into an Islamic hero.
421
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,120
But they also sparked a new Crusade.
422
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,960
News of Saladin's attack on the Crusader States,
423
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,720
his conquest of Jerusalem and the catastrophe at Hattin,
424
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:34,200
sent a shockwave of horror and dismay coursing through the West.
425
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,440
When the first tidings reached the elderly Pope Urban III,
426
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,800
he promptly died of a heart attack on the spot.
427
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:46,000
He was replaced by Pope Gregory VIII, who immediately issued a new
428
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:51,880
papal proclamation, Audita Tremendi, declaring a new Crusade.
429
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,000
Audita Tremendi's call to crusade was lent particular force
430
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,840
by two compelling themes.
431
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,000
God's supposed decision to allow Islam victory in the East
432
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,160
was explained as a punishment for sin,
433
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,600
the guilt for which was shared by all Christians.
434
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:11,560
And for the very first time, the evil enemy was personified,
435
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,720
Saladin himself was named and likened to the Devil.
436
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,720
The messages contained within Audita Tremendi
437
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,680
were soon translated into popular songs and music,
438
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:29,000
composed and played by travelling court singers.
439
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:33,920
HE SINGS IN LATIN
440
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:40,760
These troubadours toured the courts of the European aristocracy
441
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,680
to sing about chivalry and love.
442
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,240
Now their words and music became infused with religious
443
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,240
passion, as they spread the word about the coming war.
444
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,120
As the crusading message swept across Europe,
445
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:04,960
it began to acquire a more distinct identity.
446
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,920
Previously, crusaders had been variously dubbed as travellers,
447
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,120
pilgrims, even soldiers of Christ.
448
00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:13,200
Now, for the very first time,
449
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,800
documents began to speak of them as Crucesignatus,
450
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,720
one signed by the cross,
451
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:23,320
the very term that would lead to the words "crusader" and "crusade".
452
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,880
Tens of thousands of Latin Christians enlisted,
453
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,080
including whole tranches of the European aristocracy,
454
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,640
princes and monarchs,
455
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,040
among them the King of France.
456
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,160
But even before this crusading fever had spread,
457
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,480
one leader made an immediate commitment to the cause,
458
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:56,240
the man who would emerge as the driving force behind this crusade.
459
00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:00,760
Richard I was crowned King of England,
460
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:05,960
here in Westminster Abbey on 3rd September 1189.
461
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,880
He was now ruler of the Angevin Empire,
462
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:13,440
a powerful realm that stretched from Ireland to the Pyrenees.
463
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,480
But by the time he took the throne,
464
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,720
Richard had already committed to joining the crusade.
465
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,840
The decision had shocked his family, a volatile dynasty.
466
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,640
Richard's youth was spent variously scheming against his brothers,
467
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,040
including Prince John,
468
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,320
and then uniting with them in opposition to their father,
469
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,080
Henry II.
470
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,240
The old King opposed Richard's decision to enlist in the crusade,
471
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,240
viewing it as an act of unsanctioned folly.
472
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:52,400
But for Richard,
473
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,160
the Holy War offered an opportunity to emerge from his father's shadow.
474
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,440
Henry died in July 1189,
475
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:07,600
and Richard was transformed from scheming prince to ruling monarch.
476
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:12,040
But this did nothing to stem his crusading enthusiasm.
477
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,320
This was his chance to prove his prowess, his valour and his
478
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:19,840
skills as a military commander, to make his mark on history.
479
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,920
But this was also the start of a troubling crisis of identity,
480
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:29,040
as the Lionheart struggled to reconcile his roles as a crusader and as a king.
481
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:31,880
Like all medieval monarchs,
482
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,720
Richard had a sacred obligation to protect his people.
483
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,840
But enthralled by the allure of Jerusalem,
484
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:44,080
he was about to turn his back on his realm, leaving his grasping brother,
485
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:46,600
John, behind, and his kingdom vulnerable.
486
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,400
For now, England would be entirely dedicated
487
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,240
to the preparations for Holy War
488
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:59,960
and to footing the bill for the King's colossal military campaign.
489
00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:03,000
Henry II had already begun to raise the necessary funds
490
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,240
by imposing a special crusading tax,
491
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,640
the Saladin Tithe, throughout England.
492
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:10,560
Enforced by threat of excommunication,
493
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,880
it proved deeply unpopular.
494
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,640
But the Lionheart pushed these fundraising efforts even further,
495
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,920
he was said to have put up for sale...
496
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,440
lordships, earldoms, sheriffdoms, lands, castles, towns, everything.
497
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:27,680
And then the Lionheart began spending on an unprecedented scale.
498
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:31,560
Thanks to fastidious record-keeping in medieval England,
499
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,360
details of this immense outlay can now be recovered from the pipe
500
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:37,080
rolls of the Exchequer,
501
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,720
kept at the National Archives.
502
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:40,760
These documents,
503
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,680
the earliest surviving public records in England,
504
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:47,640
contain accounts of the royal income, arranged by county,
505
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,760
for each financial year.
506
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,600
This is the pipe roll for the year 1189-90,
507
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,120
effectively a full financial account of Richard's reign.
508
00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,400
And what's fantastic about this piece of evidence
509
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,400
is that it shows us an incredibly precise and detailed record
510
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,760
of what was spent to prepare for the Third Crusade.
511
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,160
If we look at one example here... this is for Sudhantescr,
512
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,160
that's Hampshire,
513
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,400
and we can see incredibly precise details
514
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:19,480
of what was taken to the Holy Land and how much it cost.
515
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,040
Here's a listing for 800 baconibus,
516
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:27,880
that's sides of cured bacon, to be taken to Jerusalem with the King.
517
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,320
And the cost...
518
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:34,800
58 pounds 18 shillings and 11 pence.
519
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,920
And the record continues with 20 portions of beans,
520
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:44,720
an extraordinary 10,000 horse shoes with double nails,
521
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,240
and a hundred weight of cheese.
522
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,560
This pipe roll allows us to see what was spent in Hampshire,
523
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:54,360
just one area of England, in preparation for the Third Crusade.
524
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,960
It allows us to glimpse the furious activity that was going on
525
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,440
before Richard set out for the Holy Land.
526
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,920
In total, Richard spent around �14,000
527
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:07,720
preparing for his crusade.
528
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:12,320
This was more than half of England's entire annual crown revenue.
529
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,160
Not only would Richard be the best provisioned crusader king,
530
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,280
he also adopted an entirely new approach to
531
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,000
the problem of reaching the Holy Land.
532
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,200
His crusade would travel by sea.
533
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,920
This major logistical operation required detailed
534
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:33,960
and extensive planning, and it was not without its dangers
535
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,720
from the likes of shipwreck and disease.
536
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,360
But if Richard could pull it off, this new approach would be
537
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,640
quicker and safer than marching his troops through enemy territory
538
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:46,160
and would also allow him to transport the machinery of war to the East,
539
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,360
from weapons and armour to horses.
540
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:53,080
But success would depend upon a leader of exceptional strategic
541
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,040
and organisational ability.
542
00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,040
Most of Richard's men would have
543
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,160
little or no previous experience of sea travel,
544
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,800
so the King paid special attention to discipline on board.
545
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,360
The King drew up a precise set of regulations,
546
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,680
outlining harsh penalties for disorder.
547
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,280
If a soldier committed murder while at sea, then
548
00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,880
he would be tied to his victim's corpse and pushed overboard.
549
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,920
If guilty of the same crime on land, he'd be thrown into a grave
550
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,400
and buried alive alongside the body.
551
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,680
And thieves had their hair shaved
552
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,280
and boiling pitch poured over their heads to mark them as criminals.
553
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,040
Finally, his meticulous preparations complete,
554
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:39,560
Richard was ready to depart from the port of Marseille.
555
00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,080
Although familiar to pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land,
556
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:46,080
this was the first time it would be used for such a major
557
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:47,440
crusading expedition.
558
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,840
What would the conditions have actually been like
559
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,360
for the crusaders on board a ship?
560
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:54,520
The conditions
561
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,560
would've been appalling.
562
00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,880
They departed Marseille
563
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:00,360
on 7th August 1190,
564
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:05,040
so we can assume the temperatures hovered around 35 degrees Celsius.
565
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,080
You're talking about 150 men or more
566
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,680
crammed in with provisions and arms in a vessel
567
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:18,240
with a shallow keel,
568
00:34:18,240 --> 00:34:22,960
meaning it was susceptible to anything above mild sea states.
569
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,960
Sea sickness, with certainly the knights and their attendants,
570
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:30,560
who weren't used to sea travel, would have been a real concern,
571
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,360
as would dehydration.
572
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,480
Dysentery and any of the maladies
573
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:38,520
that you would expect among men in close quarters
574
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,480
for a prolonged period of time.
575
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:47,480
The fleet would take the long way round,
576
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:52,040
avoiding the more treacherous route straight through the middle of the Mediterranean.
577
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:57,520
You needed to go as close as possible
578
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,080
to the shoreline in order to navigate,
579
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:05,240
and this meant that you had to travel during the day.
580
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:10,800
Also, water was a severe limitation, rowing was arduous work,
581
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,320
your oarsmen needed approximately eight litres a day,
582
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:19,440
it'd take a metric tonne of water to keep a whole crew compliment
583
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:21,120
going for the day.
584
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:27,000
The horses would have taken as many as 28 to 35 litres a day,
585
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,320
so you had to put in almost daily for water
586
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,960
and food replenishment reasons alone.
587
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,720
In June 1191, Richard the Lionheart sailed down the coast of Palestine,
588
00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:52,680
at the head of his fearsome crusading army,
589
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,280
and caught his first glimpse of Acre.
590
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:58,240
One of the greatest ports of the Near East,
591
00:35:58,240 --> 00:36:01,240
Acre stood at the gateway to Palestine.
592
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:03,200
For the Muslims, it was a bastion
593
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:07,320
against Christian attack from the north, whether by land or sea.
594
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:09,360
Its looming defensive walls rising from the Mediterranean
595
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,360
would have been visible to Richard as he approached with his fleet.
596
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:17,160
And what the Lionheart found was a city deeply entrenched
597
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,800
in a siege that had already lasted one and a half years.
598
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,680
The Muslim garrison within the city
599
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,160
was besieged by tens of thousands of Crusaders.
600
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,320
Beyond those, spread out across the plains,
601
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:35,040
were the tents and trenches of the Muslim armies,
602
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,000
with Saladin in their midst.
603
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,920
Why was Saladin unable to crush the Crusaders' siege of Acre
604
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,400
before Richard the Lionheart arrived?
605
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:47,360
The answer was the sea.
606
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:49,160
Because this was a coastal port,
607
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:53,360
the Mediterranean acted as a pulsing, unstemmable artery,
608
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,920
allowing troops to flow from the west to the Holy Land.
609
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,080
No matter whether the Sultan would kill 1,000
610
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:03,240
Christians on one day, 2,000 more would appear on the next.
611
00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:07,080
For Saladin, Acre quickly became a military engagement
612
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,480
that was almost impossible to win.
613
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:15,200
Breaking this siege would take all of Richard's military genius.
614
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:20,120
To smash through Acre's mighty walls, the Christians deployed heavyweight
615
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:25,360
siege machines capable of unleashing a terrifying aerial barrage.
616
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:30,760
The Crusaders nicknamed their most powerful trebuchet "Bad Neighbour",
617
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,880
while at the foot of another machine christened "God's Own Catapult",
618
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:35,760
a priest stood,
619
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,800
preaching and collecting money to pay to repair damage
620
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,400
done by the incessant Muslim counterattacks.
621
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:46,200
But the Lionheart's machines continued to wreaked havoc.
622
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,720
And to make them even more destructive,
623
00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:51,480
they were loaded with huge stones
624
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,960
that Richard had brought from Western Europe.
625
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:56,480
The Crusaders' most powerful trebuchets could propel
626
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,040
a missile into the very heart of the city.
627
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,480
And a single catapult stone
628
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:05,520
might kill 12 of Acre's Muslim garrison.
629
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,720
By late July, the Christians' tactics had worked
630
00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:12,040
and the city's walls were on the verge of collapse.
631
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:17,880
The men inside were weak and exhausted by constant fighting.
632
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,080
One Crusader summarised the Muslims' predicament.
633
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,560
He wrote, "They were afraid of the miracle they now beheld,
634
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,000
"how the whole world had come to annihilate them.
635
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,800
"They saw their walls broken down, pierced and destroyed,
636
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:34,680
"they saw their people injured, killed and cut to pieces.
637
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:37,280
"Saladin's garrison could take no more."
638
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,160
The great victor at Hattin, conqueror of Jerusalem,
639
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:46,400
Saladin now had to watch in horror as Acre's shattered garrison
640
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:50,520
buckled and negotiated peace terms with King Richard.
641
00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,040
According to the deal struck,
642
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,000
the Muslims captured would only be released
643
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:56,880
when specific terms were met by Saladin.
644
00:38:56,880 --> 00:39:00,160
Including the payment of 200,000 gold dinars,
645
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,080
and the return of the True Cross.
646
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,800
The Third Crusade had achieved a categorical victory.
647
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,280
Richard wanted the terms of the surrender settled quickly
648
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:16,320
so that he could press on with his Palestinian campaign.
649
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:18,960
But Saladin played for time,
650
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:22,440
a dangerous strategy that prompted Richard to take shockingly
651
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:23,640
brutal action.
652
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:28,320
As Saladin's advance guard looked on, the bulk of Acre's Muslim garrison -
653
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:33,520
some 2,700 men - were led from the city, bound in ropes.
654
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:34,960
Herded onto the open plain,
655
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,440
they huddled together in fear and confusion.
656
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:40,600
Some perhaps imagining that they were about to be released.
657
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:43,480
A Muslim contemporary described what followed.
658
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:45,960
"As one man, the Crusaders charged them,
659
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:50,800
"and with stabbings and blows of swords, they slew them in cold blood."
660
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,880
This terrible massacre sent Saladin a stark message.
661
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,720
This would be the ruthless dedication that the Lionheart would bring to
662
00:39:58,720 --> 00:39:59,840
the Holy War.
663
00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:03,120
This atrocity,
664
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,240
one of the most controversial acts in Richard's career,
665
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:10,720
shocked Islam, fuelling the fires of Jihad,
666
00:40:10,720 --> 00:40:14,760
and left an indelible mark on the Lionheart's historical reputation.
667
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:21,560
Richard's task now was to try and march his army
668
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,240
down the coast of Palestine.
669
00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:26,600
Even for the Lionheart, actually persuading his troops
670
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:28,960
to leave Acre proved no simple matter.
671
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:33,400
The port had become a comfortable, even enticing,
672
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,200
refuge from the horrors of Holy War. A fleshpot,
673
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,640
offering all manner of illicit pleasures.
674
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:45,200
One Christian conceded that it was "delightful, with good wines
675
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,360
"and girls, some of them very beautiful,"
676
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,600
with whom the Crusaders were "taking their foolish pleasure."
677
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:53,840
Richard had to induce his men's obedience
678
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:58,400
through a mixture of flattery, prayer, bribery and force.
679
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,280
But his will would be done.
680
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,120
Four months after arriving in the Holy Land,
681
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,280
Richard the Lionheart's Christian army set off
682
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:09,280
on a long march down the coast.
683
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,000
His aim was to avoid a risky confrontation,
684
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:19,280
and reach the southern staging post of Jaffa with his armies intact.
685
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:22,640
His soldiers would be escorted by a fleet of ships,
686
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,480
sailing along the shoreline.
687
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:27,320
They would rendez-vous along the way...
688
00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,760
at Haifa, Destroit, Caesarea and Jaffa.
689
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:33,000
This meant that the soldiers
690
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:34,040
could travel light,
691
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:36,080
while the bulk of the resources
692
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,120
could be carried by the fleet.
693
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,360
Richard's coastline hugging route offered his troops
694
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,160
protection from Muslim encirclement.
695
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,920
Wherever possible, the Crusaders advanced at a measured pace,
696
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:51,440
the right wing of their tightly packed ranks practically wading in the sea.
697
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,480
By these measures, the Lionheart skilfully minimised the impact
698
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,000
of marching through enemy territory.
699
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:02,080
At every stage, they were shadowed by Saladin.
700
00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:06,040
He launched sporadic attacks and harassed them with skirmishers,
701
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,480
always looking to provoke an open battle
702
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,920
and stop Richard in his tracks.
703
00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:16,280
Richard's constant visible presence in the midst of the Crusaders,
704
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,600
signalled by his massive dragon banner,
705
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:22,560
was critical to the morale and continued discipline of his troops.
706
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:26,000
And it was the Lionheart's charisma and sheer force of personality
707
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:30,560
that drove the crusade forward through the storm of war.
708
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:34,080
Richard took great care to conserve his army's energy,
709
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,760
resting them for two days after every marching interval.
710
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:41,240
But by September, with food shortages starting to bite,
711
00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:42,280
arguments were breaking out.
712
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,360
Ordinary Crusaders apparently swarmed over the carcasses
713
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:49,760
of the fattest horses to fall during each day's march,
714
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:51,520
brawling over their flesh,
715
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:55,000
much to the disgust of the dead animals' knightly owners.
716
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,360
Richard stepped in, promising to replace any lost mounts
717
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:02,440
so long as the carrion was freely offered to "worthy men at arms."
718
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:05,800
His grateful troops were said to have eaten the horseflesh
719
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:06,960
"as if it were game.
720
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,120
"Flavoured by hunger rather than sauce,
721
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:11,120
"they thought it was delicious."
722
00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:14,960
On 6th September, Richard set up camp,
723
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,560
pausing to rest his starving, exhausted army.
724
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:22,320
At that same moment, his enemy's patience was faltering.
725
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,760
Eyewitness testimony from within Saladin's camp tells us
726
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:28,320
that he was deeply frustrated by Richard's
727
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:29,720
inexorable advance,
728
00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:33,760
and wrong-footed by the Lionheart's policy of resting his troops
729
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,360
every two to three days.
730
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,960
What the Sultan needed now was to engineer a confrontation,
731
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:40,560
a pitched battle.
732
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:43,640
In the morning, Richard and his men set out for Arsuf
733
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:48,240
and were almost immediately met with the full strength of Saladin's army.
734
00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:52,680
The Sultan had decided that this was where the Franks would be stopped.
735
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:57,040
The Christians marched on, pummeled by Saladin's incessant onslaught.
736
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,880
The air thick with Muslim howls and thundering battle drums.
737
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:05,280
One eyewitness described how the Crusaders were "now surrounded,
738
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:08,440
"like a flock of sheep in the jaws of wolves, so that they could
739
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,280
"see nothing but the sky and their wicked enemies on every side.
740
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,640
"The tumult was almost unbearable."
741
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,640
King Richard's soldiers begged him to let them retaliate,
742
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:20,640
but he refused.
743
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,200
They would keep marching in formation.
744
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,240
Richard's hand was suddenly forced.
745
00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:29,400
Two knights near the rearguard unexpectedly broke rank.
746
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,800
Fuelled by anger, humiliation and bloodlust,
747
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,800
they raced towards the Muslim lines, screaming the name of St George.
748
00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:36,840
Within moments,
749
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,840
thousands of Crusaders joined the headlong charge.
750
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:43,000
With no hope of recalling his men, the Lionheart immediately
751
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:46,640
spurred his horse to gallop and led his remaining forces into battle.
752
00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:52,000
The Muslim armies shattered under the charge.
753
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,760
Hotly pursued, they melted into the forests.
754
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:59,440
It was another damaging psychological blow for Saladin.
755
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:03,080
The Sultan had thrown the full force of his armies into the field,
756
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:07,240
hoping to stop the crusaders in their tracks, and yet he'd failed.
757
00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:09,760
Despondent, the Sultan's heart was said to have been
758
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,080
full of feelings only God could know.
759
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,800
Richard, by contrast, could look back on Arsuf with some satisfaction.
760
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:20,280
He may not have set out to confront Saladin in open battle,
761
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:22,320
but when the moment of decision came,
762
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:27,120
he reacted with swift resolution, scoring a morale-boosting victory.
763
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:29,400
With the Crusaders' momentum building,
764
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:32,760
it now seemed that Richard was primed to march on to Jerusalem.
765
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:36,920
His strategy now combined
766
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,440
a forceful military advance inland
767
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:42,080
with a subtle diplomatic offensive.
768
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:44,240
This approach
769
00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:46,840
involved a remarkable proposition.
770
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:50,200
The warrior-king offered his own sister in marriage to
771
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:51,680
the Sultan's brother,
772
00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:53,320
Al Adil.
773
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:57,000
The details of this offer are recorded in the biography
774
00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:00,800
of Saladin, written by his close adviser, Baha' al-Din.
775
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:04,320
A rarely seen,
776
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:08,120
800-year-old original manuscript of this account
777
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:12,080
is held in the library of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
778
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:17,080
It is an honour to be permitted
779
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:19,480
to view this crucial eyewitness testimony,
780
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:24,440
a piercing insight into the Muslim view of Richard the Lionheart.
781
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:26,920
So one of the most extraordinary moments in the Third Crusades
782
00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:30,160
is when Richard is actually negotiating with Saladin's bother...
783
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,120
Al Adil, and he makes a remarkable offer.
784
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:36,200
Could you tell us what this text reveals?
785
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:37,720
This text,
786
00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:42,480
actually, the folio 157, here,
787
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:45,920
and Al Adil sent a letter for his brother, Salah al Din,
788
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:50,880
and on the Monday 29th of Ramadan,
789
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,640
they are reaching this deal after a lot of negotiations have taken place,
790
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:59,240
a lot of letters between each other.
791
00:46:59,240 --> 00:47:04,000
But in the end, they're reaching a point that Al Malik Al Adil,
792
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:09,240
the brother of Salah al Din, will marry the sister of Richard.
793
00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:13,160
This wedding offer was a cunning move by the Lionheart,
794
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:16,840
designed to sow seeds of doubt about Al Adil.
795
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:20,600
After all, he was not just Saladin's trusted brother,
796
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:22,720
but also a potential threat to
797
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:23,960
his son and heir.
798
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:26,600
Someone who might just
799
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:28,840
be harbouring personal ambitions.
800
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,440
And Salah al Din agree about this agreement.
801
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:34,880
Why they agree? Because everybody want the coast,
802
00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:37,880
and the, or the city or that city,
803
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:40,800
but Richard agree to give all the coast
804
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,360
to his sister after they married.
805
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:49,160
It seems to me the sister of the King did not accept that,
806
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:54,320
because she became angry. She makes an oath.
807
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:57,640
She does not accept this thing, to do it.
808
00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:00,160
You see, it's not easy in the Middle Ages
809
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:02,320
for the Muslims to marry from the Christians,
810
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:04,080
or the Christians from the Muslims.
811
00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,040
Absolutely.
812
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:10,240
Reading Baha' al-Din's text, we get a real sense that Richard was an agile
813
00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:14,280
and cunning negotiator, and that Saladin was only too aware of this.
814
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:17,800
The two of them were engaged in a delicate game.
815
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:19,480
Saladin almost certainly only accepted
816
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:21,400
the idea of a marriage offer
817
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:25,120
because he thought it would later be withdrawn, and he was right.
818
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:27,800
Within a few days, Richard replied that his sister would be
819
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:30,960
unable to marry Al Adil because he was a Muslim.
820
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:36,600
By December, Richard was ready to march on his holy prize,
821
00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:37,920
Jerusalem.
822
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,520
He moved his troops to within 12 miles of the city
823
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:43,320
and prepared for a strike.
824
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:47,640
That winter, conditions were appalling.
825
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:51,480
One eyewitness described how it was, "cold and overcast,
826
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,800
"rain and hail battered us, bringing down our tents.
827
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,840
"Food became water-logged, armour rusty,
828
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,400
"and even the Crusaders' clothes began to rot."
829
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,600
And yet in spite of all of this, morale was high.
830
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,280
The Christians were almost within reach of their goal
831
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:07,840
and were said to be filled with,
832
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:12,320
"an indescribable yearning" to see Jerusalem, to complete their pilgrimage.
833
00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,000
This was why they had joined the crusade.
834
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:21,880
But did Richard share his men's single-minded devotion?
835
00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,760
He was finally within reach of the Holy City.
836
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:28,240
Now he faced an agonizing decision,
837
00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:31,080
between his crusader ambition
838
00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:33,720
and the stark reality of war.
839
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:37,400
The Lionheart announced that the crusade
840
00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:39,400
was to turn away from Jerusalem.
841
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:42,400
The fragile supply lines back to the coast were faltering amidst
842
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:43,960
the freezing winter rains.
843
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:46,600
And any attempt to actually besiege Jerusalem
844
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:48,640
would be unacceptably dangerous.
845
00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:51,720
In strict military terms, Richard's decision made sense,
846
00:49:51,720 --> 00:49:54,440
but his announcement had a catastrophic affect
847
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:55,960
upon the morale of his men.
848
00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:57,640
One Crusader later recalled,
849
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,560
"Not since God created time was there ever seen an army so dejected,
850
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:05,600
"and so depressed, everyone cursed the day he was born."
851
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:11,360
The King dragged his devastated men away from their holy goal.
852
00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:16,640
Disillusioned, great numbers left Palestine and returned home.
853
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:20,560
The Third Crusade was in disarray.
854
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:23,120
But Saladin's armies were also faltering.
855
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:27,400
And as the two forces circled each other at arm's length,
856
00:50:27,400 --> 00:50:30,040
rumours of insurrection among Saladin's troops presented
857
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:35,200
Richard with an opportunity to make a second advance on Jerusalem.
858
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:39,560
But his plans were disrupted by troubling news from Europe.
859
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:43,720
During Richard's long absence from home, his brother, John,
860
00:50:43,720 --> 00:50:46,360
had been plotting to take control of England.
861
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:49,320
This news deeply disturbed the Lionheart,
862
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:53,880
he was said to have become "saddened, downcast and melancholy...
863
00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:56,280
"his thinking confused."
864
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:58,360
This was also a stark reminder of the fact
865
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:01,760
that he was not simply Commander in Chief of the Third Crusade,
866
00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:04,400
he was also an Angevin king.
867
00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:05,880
He now now had to decide,
868
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:09,520
should he stay and fight for the Holy Land, or return home
869
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:11,440
to try to secure his kingdom?
870
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:15,800
Richard was paralysed by indecision,
871
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:20,080
but his men were determined to strike out for Jerusalem.
872
00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:22,680
The King eventually conceded.
873
00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:26,960
Against his better judgment, the Lionheart began a second advance,
874
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:31,320
having effectively lost control of his crusade.
875
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:35,320
Richard's lack of resolve had given Saladin time to regroup.
876
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:38,520
He was already positioned inside Jerusalem with his troops,
877
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:42,120
readying himself for the moment of decisive confrontation.
878
00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:44,680
But then, the Sultan wavered.
879
00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:48,560
His financial resources were profoundly overstretched,
880
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:52,720
and, after four years of campaigning, men were in short supply,
881
00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:55,160
and their loyalty was waning.
882
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,120
With an attack on Jerusalem imminent,
883
00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,520
his remaining troops threatened mutiny.
884
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:04,440
Many were fearful of being trapped in another disastrous siege
885
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:05,600
like that at Acre.
886
00:52:05,600 --> 00:52:07,040
With the pressure mounting,
887
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:11,480
long-submerged tensions between between Turks and Kurds in Saladin's forces began to
888
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:15,640
bubble to the surface, threatening to boil over into open conflict.
889
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:18,320
In this increasingly precarious position,
890
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:21,960
Saladin's closest advisers urged him to leave the Holy City
891
00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:23,320
while he still could.
892
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:29,800
It was the Sultan's turn to agonise.
893
00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:33,080
Should he stay to mount a hopeless defence of Jerusalem,
894
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:37,360
or do the unthinkable and turn his back on this most sacred city?
895
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:42,120
Baha' al-Din was beside Saladin through a long
896
00:52:42,120 --> 00:52:44,240
and tortuous night and he's left us
897
00:52:44,240 --> 00:52:48,000
an extraordinary record of the Sultan's state of mind.
898
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:50,840
He wrote that Saladin felt a concern for Jerusalem
899
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:52,960
that could "move mountains", and that it was
900
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:57,200
"a night entirely given over to the concerns of Holy War."
901
00:52:57,200 --> 00:53:00,440
By morning, the Sultan had made a shocking decision.
902
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:02,080
He would abandon Jerusalem.
903
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:09,960
With his fateful choice made, Saladin took a final chance
904
00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:13,240
to lead prayer in the heart of the Holy City.
905
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:20,120
Here, in the Aqsa mosque, on Friday 3rd July 1192, Baha' al-Din watched
906
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:24,320
the Sultan "prostrate himself and say some words,
907
00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:26,840
"while his tears fell on his prayer rug."
908
00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:31,160
On the verge of collapse, the Muslim Army prepared for exodus.
909
00:53:35,240 --> 00:53:38,200
Richard was on the brink of victory.
910
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,880
Once Saladin marched from Jerusalem, the city would be open to attack.
911
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:48,040
It seemed that the Lionheart was hours away from achieving
912
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:49,640
a startling triumph.
913
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:55,400
But entirely unaware of Saladin's astonishing decision,
914
00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:58,200
the King's own resolve was weakening.
915
00:53:58,200 --> 00:54:02,240
Richard was said to have looked upon Jerusalem with its massive,
916
00:54:02,240 --> 00:54:05,920
near impregnable defences and to have had a change of heart.
917
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:07,760
He called a meeting of leading Crusaders
918
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:09,160
to discuss what should be done.
919
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:11,440
But according to Christian eyewitnesses,
920
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:13,040
his mind was already made up.
921
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,280
Having once again led his men to within hours of the city,
922
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:18,600
the attack was called off.
923
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:24,120
For the Crusaders, this was an appalling reversal.
924
00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:27,280
After the vast sums raised and spent,
925
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:29,960
the months campaigning away from his empire,
926
00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:32,680
all the lives given up in the name of Jerusalem,
927
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:34,760
his retreat was utterly shocking.
928
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:38,760
Richard apparently said that he was unwilling to lead the crusade
929
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:42,960
on such a "rash venture" because it would end in "terrible disgrace"
930
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:46,880
for which he would be "forever blamed, shamed and less loved."
931
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:49,640
At this moment of crisis, as the fate of Jerusalem
932
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:51,040
hung in the balance,
933
00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:54,880
Richard refused to risk everything on a direct assault,
934
00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:58,240
at least in part out of fear for his reputation.
935
00:54:58,240 --> 00:55:01,440
Had he held his nerve, the King could have defeated
936
00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:04,960
Saladin's stricken armies and conquered Jerusalem.
937
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:08,360
Instead, his crusade was torn apart,
938
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:12,400
without either side scoring a victory.
939
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:22,880
Richard the Lionheart, the legendary crusader knight,
940
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:26,640
left the Holy Land without ever setting foot in Jerusalem.
941
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:30,560
When he returned to his Angevin realm,
942
00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,280
the kingdom was still his to rule
943
00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:35,280
and he spent the remainder of that decade
944
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:39,400
campaigning against his European enemies,
945
00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:42,640
until he was shot and killed by a crossbow bolt.
946
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:48,600
King Richard was buried at his father's feet
947
00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:51,680
here in Fontevraud Abbey in the heart of his realm.
948
00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:55,120
He's remembered as a peerless warrior and a great crusader,
949
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:57,880
the man who brought Saladin to his knees.
950
00:55:57,880 --> 00:56:02,360
But in reality, he never truly mastered the art of Holy War.
951
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:04,880
Torn between the need to defend his realm
952
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:07,760
and the desire to forge a legend in Palestine,
953
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:11,720
the Lionheart failed to lead the Third Crusade to victory.
954
00:56:17,600 --> 00:56:19,960
Islam held onto its Holy City,
955
00:56:19,960 --> 00:56:23,280
but despite his undoubted military genius,
956
00:56:23,280 --> 00:56:26,680
Saladin had been wholly unable to prevent the Franks
957
00:56:26,680 --> 00:56:28,640
from reconquering the coast.
958
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,720
Exhausted, after years of campaigning,
959
00:56:32,720 --> 00:56:36,440
Saladin died just six months later, at the age of 55.
960
00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:39,800
Born a Kurdish outsider, he had risen through the ranks
961
00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:41,360
to become an Islamic icon,
962
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,640
one of the most extraordinary and fascinating leaders
963
00:56:44,640 --> 00:56:45,880
of the Medieval age.
964
00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:47,560
But one question remains.
965
00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:50,720
Did he champion the cause of Jihad and wage the war
966
00:56:50,720 --> 00:56:53,440
for the Holy Land in pursuit of his own gain
967
00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:56,240
and glory, or in the interests of Islam?
968
00:56:56,240 --> 00:56:59,280
In the end, I think perhaps even Saladin himself
969
00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:01,280
remained unsure of the answer.
970
00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:14,600
The story of these two men has so often been simplified
971
00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:19,240
and manipulated, cast as emblematic of the great struggle
972
00:57:19,240 --> 00:57:23,080
between East and West, Christians and Muslims.
973
00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:30,960
Even today, their images are still appopriated and twisted.
974
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:35,480
Richard, the ultimate warrior, the cruel king, lionhearted,
975
00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:42,280
and Saladin, the clement hero of Islam, avowed enemy of the West.
976
00:57:42,280 --> 00:57:44,200
Their confrontation during the Third Crusade
977
00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:46,320
also revealed the complexity of their characters.
978
00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:49,680
Saladin was not simply the pious defender of Islam.
979
00:57:49,680 --> 00:57:52,000
He could also be ruthless and self-serving.
980
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:55,920
And Richard was not just the masterful warrior-king,
981
00:57:55,920 --> 00:57:58,680
but a wily and skillful negotiator.
982
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:00,480
Almost perfectly matched as adversaries,
983
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:03,800
these were the men who contested the Third Crusade
984
00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:07,040
and who ultimately fought one another to a standstill.
985
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:13,000
The bloody war for possession of Jerusalem
986
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:15,040
had raged for 100 years.
987
00:58:15,040 --> 00:58:17,000
In the century to come,
988
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:18,960
the final chapter of this epic struggle
989
00:58:18,960 --> 00:58:22,000
would be played out in Egypt, as a saintly French King,
990
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:24,080
afire with crusading zeal,
991
00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:28,600
and the most remarkable Muslim in the Middle Ages,
992
00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:30,960
fought for ultimate victory in the East.
993
00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:42,360
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
994
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:46,960
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