Saladin, properly Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi 1138-93
Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founder of a dynasty

Born in Takrit on the Tigris, he entered the service of Nureddin, Emir of Syria, and was made Grand Vizier of the Fatimid caliph (1169). In 1171 he made himself sovereign of Egypt, and on Nureddin's death he became Sultan of Egypt and Syria (1175), reduced Mesopotamia, and received the homage of the Seljuk princes of Asia Minor. He fought the Christians and consolidated his dominions. In 1187 he defeated King Guy of Jerusalem and a united Christian army at Hattin near Tiberias, and then captured Jerusalem and almost every fortified place on the Syrian coast. This provoked the Third Crusade. After a two-year siege (1189-91), Acre was captured, while in 1191, Richard I defeated Saladin at Arsuf (1191), took Caesarea and Jaffa, and obtained a three years' treaty. Saladin died in Damascus. His overriding belief in jihad (holy war) led him to patronize Muslim religious institutions, and his wise administration left a legacy of citadels, roads and canals.

Bibliography: Stanley Lane-Poole, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jersualem (new edn, 1926)