Saladin captured Jerusalem from the Crusaders
On this day · 2 October 1187
After crushing the Crusader army at Hattin, Saladin took the holy city by negotiated surrender on October 2, 1187.
On October 2, 1187, the city of Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin, ending 88 years of Frankish rule that had begun with the bloody First Crusade. The collapse was swift: that July, at the Battle of Hattin, Saladin had trapped and destroyed the kingdom’s main army, leaving its cities almost defenseless.
Jerusalem’s last defense fell to Balian of Ibelin, who reportedly found barely a handful of knights inside the walls and hastily dubbed dozens more from the townsfolk. Faced with siege engines and a breached wall, Balian negotiated rather than fight to the death. He threatened to raze the city’s holy sites unless its people could be ransomed.
The terms were strikingly mild for the age: ten dinars per man, five per woman, one per child, with Balian paying 30,000 dinars to free roughly 7,000 who could not. Saladin spared the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and let Christians stay or leave in peace.
The conquest’s restraint stood in pointed contrast to the slaughter of 1099.
The loss stunned Europe and triggered the Third Crusade.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
