In 1187 a four years' truce was broken by the brilliant brigand Raynald of Chatillon, and thus began Saladin's third period of conquest. In May he cut to pieces a small body of Templars and Hospitallers at Tiberias, and, on July 4, inflicted a crushing defeat upon the united Christian army at Hittin. He then overran Palestine, on Sept. 20 besieged Jerusalem and on Oct. 2, after chivalrous clemency to the Christian inhabitants, crowned his victories by entering and purifying the Holy City. In the king dom only Tyre was left to the Christians. Probably Saladin made his worst strategical error in neglecting to conquer it before winter. The Christians had thus a stronghold whence their rem nant marched to attack Acre in June 1189. Saladin immediately surrounded the Christian army and began the famous siege.
Saladin's lack of a fleet enabled the Christians to receive rein forcements and thus recover from their defeats by land. On June 8, 1191, Richard of England arrived, and on July 12 Acre capitu lated without Saladin's permission. Richard followed up his vic tory by an admirably ordered march down the coast to Jaffa and a great victory at Arsuf. During 1191 and 1192 there were four small campaigns in southern Palestine when Richard circled round Beitnuba and Ascalon with Jerusalem as objective. In January 1192 he acknowledged his impotence by renouncing Jerusalem to fortify Ascalon. Negotiations for peace accompanied these dem onstrations, which showed that Saladin was master of the situa tion. Though in July Richard secured two brilliant victories at Jaffa, the treaty made on the 2nd of September was a triumph for Saladin. Only the coast line was left to the Latin kingdom, with a free passage to Jerusalem ; and Ascalon was demolished. The union of the Mohammedan East had beyond question dealt the death-blow to the Latin kingdom. Richard returned to Europe, and Saladin returned to Damascus, where on March 4, 1193, after a few days' illness, he died. He was buried in Damascus and mourned by the whole East.
The character of Saladin and of his work is singularly vivid. In many ways he was a typical Mohammedan, fiercely hostile to wards unbelievers—"Let us purge the air of the air they breathe" was his aim for the demons of the Cross,—intensely devout and regular in prayers and fasting. He showed the pride of race in the declaration that "God reserved this triumph for the Ayyubites before all others." His generosity and hospitality were proved in
his gifts to Richard and his treatment of captives. He had the Oriental's power of endurance, alternating with violent and emo tional courage. Other virtues were all his own, his extreme gentle ness, his love for children, his flawless honesty, his invariable kind liness, his chivalry to women and the weak. Above all he typifies the Mohammedan's utter self-surrender to a sacred cause. His achievements were the inevitable expression of his character. He was not a statesman, for he left no constitution or code to the East ; his empire was divided among his relatives on his death. As a strategist, though of great ability, he cannot be compared to Richard. As a general, he never organized an army. "My troops will do nothing," he confessed, "save when I ride at their head and review them." His fame lives in Eastern history as the con queror who stemmed the tide of Western conquest on the East, and turned it definitely from East to West, as the hero who momentarily united the unruly East, and as the saint who realized in his personality the highest virtues and ideals of Mohammedanism.
' AurHoRmEs,--The contemporary Arabian authorities are to be found in Michaud's Recueil des historiens des Croisades (Paris, 1876). This contains the work of Baha-ud-din (1145-1234), diplomatist, and secretary of Saladin, the general history of Ibn-Athir (116o-1233), the eulogist of the atabegs of Mosul but the unwilling admirer of Saladin, and parts of the general history of Abulfeda. The biography of the poet Osema ibn Murkidh (1095-1188), edited by Derenbourg (Paris, 1886), gives an invaluable picture of Eastern life. Later Arabian authorities are Ibn Khallikan (1211-1282) and Abu-Shama (born 1267). Of Christian authorities the following are important, the history of William of Tyre (1137-1185), the Itinerarium peregri norum, probably the Latin version of the Carmen Ambrosii (ed. by Stubbs, "Rolls" series, London, 1864), and the Chronique d'outremer, or the French translation of William of Tyre's history and its con tinuation by Ernoul, the squire of Balian, seigneur of Ibelin, 5228. The best modern authority is Stanley Lane-Poole's Saladin ("Heroes of the Nations" series, London, 1903). See also the bibliography to