The battle of Hattin was fought between a Christian army led by the King of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, and a Muslim army led by the Sultan of Egypt and Syria
The battle of Hattin was fought between a Christian army led by the King of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, and a Muslim army led by the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin. It took place on 3-4 July AD 1187 near the village of Hittin or Hattīn, in present-day Israel. In late 1095 the First Crusade was launched by Pope Urban ll with the objective of recovering the Holy Land from Islamic rule. This resulted in the capture of Jerusalem and the formation of the Crusader States: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch. In 1147 the Second Crusade was launched to reclaim the County of Edessa, but it failed in its objective and the state ceased to exist. For decades the warring Christians (Franks) and Muslims (Saracens) fought each other. By the 1180s Saladin's domain stretched from Egypt to the Euphrates River and beyond and he was an ever-present threat to the three remaining Crusader States. In 1185 he si...