Life & The Legend Of The Sultan Saladin

by Jonathan Phillips

An epic story of empire-building and bloody conflict, this ground-breaking biography of one of history’s most venerated military and religious heroes opens a window on the Islamic and Christian worlds’ complex relationship.

When Saladin recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, returning the Holy City to Islamic rule for the first time in almost ninety years, he sent shockwaves throughout Christian Europe and the Muslim Near East that reverberate today.

It was the culmination of a supremely exciting life, fraught with challenges and contradictions but blessed occasionally with marvellous good fortune. Born into a significant Kurdish family in northern Iraq, Saladin shot to power in faraway Egypt thanks to the tutelage of his uncle. Over two decades, this warrior and diplomat fought under the banner of jihad, but at the same time worked tirelessly to build an immense dynastic empire that stretched from North Africa to Western Iraq. Gathering together a turbulent and diverse coalition he was able to capture Jerusalem, only to trigger the Third Crusade and face his greatest adversary, King Richard the Lionheart.

Drawing on a rich blend of Arabic and European sources, this is a comprehensive account of both the man and the legend to which he gave birth, describing vividly the relentless action of his life and then tracing its aftermath through culture and politics all the way to the present day. It reveals the personal qualities that explain his enduring reputation as a man of faith, generosity, mercy and justice, even while showing him to be capable of mistakes, self-interest and cruelty. After Saladin’s death, it goes on to explain how in the West this Sunni Muslim became famed for his charm and chivalric virtue, while across much of the Islamic world he stands as one of history’s greatest heroes, an inspiration to be admired and emulated.

The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin shows how this one man’s life takes us beyond the crude stereotypes of the ‘Clash of Civilisations’ even while his legacy helps explain them: an intimate portrait of a towering figure of world history that is thrillingly relevant today.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Islam, Middle East, Medieval, Medieval History

496 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 2019

About the author

Dr. Jonathan Phillips is Professor of Crusading History in the Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. His scholarly contributions to the crusades include the books Defenders of the Holy Land: Relations Between the Latin East and West, 1119-1187, The Crusades, 1095-1197, and most recently, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople. His articles have appeared in a number of British publications including BBC History, History Today, and the Independent. Additionally, he is regularly consulted on radio and television programs as a leading expert on crusades history.

Reviews

[Sumit RK · Rating 4 out of 5]

The History of Crusades is incomplete without the mention of Saladin. It was Saladin who famously defeated the crusaders in the battle of Hattin and took back Jerusalem in 1187 (which the crusaders could never win back again) and he also played a key role in the 3rd crusade. The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin is an engaging biography that offers a new perspective on one of the most influential figures of the Crusades. A fierce warrior and a genius tactician, Saladin was respected by both his fellow Muslims and his Christian rivals alike.

A major part of the book deals with the rise and rule of Saladin. From Saladin's early life; his military career, especially that in Egypt; court life under both Zengi and Nur al-Din to his conquest of Egypt and later the crusader kingdoms in the Middle East including Jerusalem, everything is covered in great detail. Interestingly, this book is not solely focused on the Crusades.

The latter half of the book also explores Saladin’s complicated legacy, His portrayal in the West contrasted with how Saladin has been invoked by modern Muslim leaders ranging from Nasser in Egypt, Assad in Syria, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The book also discusses his huge appeal across popular culture in books, drama, and music in the Arab World.

This book has combined extensive research with brilliant storytelling, taking a look at both the triumphs and failures of one of the Crusades’ most unique figures. The book does feel like a hagiography in parts, but that now seems like a norm in most biographies. The book could have provided a brief background of the first crusade to enlighten the readers. But the book does a great job in explaining the political landscape that Saladin was born into and operated within.

Overall, the book is a well-researched and fascinating account of Saladin’s life and his legacy. If you enjoy reading about medieval historical figures, this book will help you learn about the man and the myth of Saladin.

Many thanks to the Yale University Press, the author Jonathan Phillips and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENTERTAINING AND ENLIGHTENING 🌟🌟

The Crusades are not something new for me to read about or work with - however, I am used to the European, Christian point of view. This was a very interesting and well written fresh take (for me at least) at the crusades and the counter-crusades.

"In the case of a man of such historical achievements as Saladin it can become an understandable compulsion to read too much into a particular narrative moment."

THE THINGS I LIKED 💛

Relevance: I understand how some people find it difficult to read historical narratives. Sometimes they can seem terribly irrelevant to the modern reader and world. However, Phillips, in this books, does a masterly job of making his subject relevant and important!

Writing: Another reason why historical non-fiction might sometimes be difficult for non-historians to read is the writing. Historians are super clever people (I should know, I have an MA in history) and we want to show off that cleverness. However, sometimes historians bury the interesting things about their subject in too much cleverness, so much so, that it actually becomes impossible to understand. That was not the case here - Phillips writes in a wonderfully down-to-earth and almost conversational language that is enlightening as well as entertaining.

"As with so many of these situations there is a lot of second-guessing as to the agenda of the writer."

Sources: Like I said, I am used to the Christian, Eurocentric sources when it comes to the Crusades. That of course also means that people like Pope Urban II, Bernard of Clairvaux and Richard Lionheart are some of the most prominent characters and William of Tyre is the main source. Here, I really enjoyed that I was introduced to a whole new catalogue of characters and sources that I was unfamiliar with, such as Nur al-Din, Saphadin and Baha al-Din.

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (1137-1193 CE), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Saladin was a Kurd, born in Tikrit in present-day Iraq (fun fact: Saddam Hussein also hailed from Tikrit). Saladin, along with Mehmed II (known as Mehmet the Conqueror), and Mohammed the Prophet are likely the three most famous Muslims in Western lands. But, by far, Saladin has the most positive reputation in the West and held it among even those who would be deemed his enemies.

Saladin, the son of a Kurdish mercenary, while born in Tikrit had to move to Mosul as an infant due to his father being banished. Luckily, his uncle, Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, was a prominent military commander under Nur ad-Din, the Zengid emir of Damascus and Aleppo . Saladin was able to begin his military career under his tutelage.

Saladin performed brilliantly and rapidly moved up the ranks to, in time, become Vizier of Egypt and then Sultan of Egypt. As Sultan he would be known as the Conqueror of Damascus, interestingly enough Saladin became a target of the Order of Assassins and survived two separate attempts on his life. Eventually, Saladin would move to attack the Order in their mountain fortress, but the Assassins and Saladin eventually reached an accord with mutual Crusaders enemies to deal with.

It is during his campaigns against the Crusaders that Saladin's (justly deserved IMHO) reputation was cemented. Phillips highlights the close kinship, though they never met personally, between King Richard the Lion Heart and Saladin. Phillips also points out how this reputation carried on through the ages in the West.

I enjoyed this excellent history of Saladin. Not only an excellent history, it also explores in the final chapters his influence in the Western world and the prominence of his name in Islamic society. This book is highly recommended for anyone wishing to more about this legend of the Crusading Era.

[Melisende · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be perfectly blunt, I could not have cared less whether the chapters on how Saladin's image has been used now were included or not. It is pretty obvious that it is used for the sole purpose of furthering the political agenda of the day of whatever political group has hijacked it. In short, his image is defined by the needs of the multitudes, and bears no resemblance to historical records.

I actually enjoyed the book more for being a detailed biography on the man himself. Medieval politics is a bit of a minefield to negotiate for the uninitiated - and Philips does a sound job in explaining the political landscape that Saladin was born into and operated within.

Philips' book is quite lengthy - it covers all the aspects of Saladin's personal life; his military career, especially that in Egypt; court life under both Zengi and Nur al-Din; political and religious histories of the then Muslim world. It is not solely focused on the Crusades, thought this period did indeed dominate his political and military career. Then, of course, are the chapters on his legacy, and the depictions of Saladin in both the West and the East.

A lot of research has gone into this book, with a plethora of sources worthy of exploring further. In fact, there were quite a few instances where little snippets of information piqued my interest which will result in my own further research.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A civilization in growth peers into the future to create institutions and framework suitable for that era, based on their present experience. Civilizations in decline, on the other hand, looks back to and derive inspiration from past glory in an effort to evade from the uncomfortable reality of the present. The Arab civilization has been in decline for about three centuries now, roughly coinciding with revival in the West. New and potent concepts in science, art, religion and liberalism made the West to surge head over all their rivals including India, China and the Arabs. The former two paused, took stock of the situation and emulated some of the Western techniques to catch up with them. The Arabs could not do this. The sad fact was that they could not even identify the wilting rot in their civilization. Mind you, this trend is reversible and it is quite within the scope and power of itsmembers to buck this trend and drive the Arab civilization back into growth again. But this requires calm analysis and patient evaluation of the alternatives. Blind allegiance and wild recourse to past military-cum-religious victories at Badar, Yarmuk, Hattin and Ain Jalutor irrational adoration of mediaeval rulers are not going to take them anywhere. Salah al-din Ayyubi was a mediaeval sultan in the Near East who has found a revival in the modern Middle East since the nineteenth century. Known as Saladin in the West, he unified the forces of Syria and Egypt and took back Jerusalem from the crusader kingdom which snatched it away from Muslims 88 years ago. Quiteuncharacteristically for mediaeval rulers, Saladin showed extraordinary kindness and accommodation towards his enemies. This is attested by Western sources as well and in that sense, he was much ahead of his time in enlightenment. This book examines the life and legend of the great sultan and analyses his relevance in the modern age to fulfil a specific Arab need - to position him as a source of hope for the disappointed Middle East since the First World War. Jonathan Phillips is Professor of Crusading History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of many books on crusades. He writes for the BBC and has made numerous radio and television appearances.

Jerusalem was lost to Islam in 1099 CE in the first crusade. The holy city was central to all three monotheistic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. For Christians, the presence, resurrection and the expected return of Christ provide a prominent link to it. For Jews, it is the location of the Old Temple and its centrality is made paramount in the Jewish literary tradition. Jerusalem is the third most important city for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. The Prophet's night journey to heaven took off from here and it is the site of resurrection on the Last Day. Recovering the city was a religious duty that was driven home by calls for jihad to retake the city. Saladin could liberate the city when he managed the combined resources of Syria and Egypt under his own throne and with active support from the caliph at Baghdad and Muslim kingdoms in Iraq and Persia. He trounced the Frankish crusaders in the Battle of Hattin in July 1187 and evicted them from Jerusalem two months later. However hard they tried, the Christians could not conquer it again till Saladin was alive. A few decades later, they managed to occupy it for the second time, only to be sent packing after a short spell. It remained in Muslim hands still 1967, when Israel occupied the city after the Six-Days War in which it inflicted a humiliatingly devastating defeat on the combined Arab forces. The frustration at the loss of the city sculpts Arab minds to prop upSaladin as a great hero even today and evokes nostalgic memories of his victory over the Western forces.

One thing that is abundantly clear in the text is the sense of tolerance and ethical behaviour of the two parties engaged in a holy war between them. It is far above the inhuman cruelty of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda today that provide no room for the enemy. Saladin himself was kept as a hostage by Franks in 1167, but was treated with all respects. His relationship with king Amalric, his captor, was very cordial as evidenced in Saladin’s fond reminiscence about the king in a letter to his son Baldwin IV after the monarch died in 1174. On the other hand, Saladin’s kindness and mercy to the captives was legendary, surprising even an early modern king. He was extremely generous to his relatives and supporters. He lavishly heaped patronage on poets and religious scholars.He didn't enrich himself and sidestepped accusations of greed. Saladin’s generosity had almost entirely emptied his personal treasury, leaving only one dinar of Tyre and 36 Naziri dirhams at his death. It is reported that money had to be borrowed to complete the burial arrangements because he possessed no houses, gardens or estates himself.

What probably elevates Saladin as the greatest Muslim sultan ever, anywhere in the world, is his kindness and tolerance. However, even he was not totally immune to the bloodlust that was the spirit of the times. After the Battle of Hattin, warriors of the orders of Templars and Hospitallers were massacred. These were specially designated monks who were the fiercest enemies of Islam. The sultan offered a reward of 50 dinars to Islamic scholars for killing each monk. In another instance that finds echo in the bigoted administration of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Saladin dismissed Jews and Coptic Christians from administrative positions andconfiscated their property. As can be expected and must have been desiredby the rulers, many of them turned Muslims to keep their livelihood. The name of Saladin elicits lukewarm praise among Shiites for his atrocities against their supposed heresy in the face of Sunni orthodoxy. He terminated the ShiiteFatimid caliphate of Egypt and unfurled the banner of the SunniAbbasid caliph of Baghdad in its place.Cairo’s Shiite qadi(religious judge) was replaced by a Sunni one. In 1170, Saladin rebuilt the police interrogation centre as a Shafi madrasa. Likewise, the Hall of Justice was also reconstructed as a Shafi madrasa. In a shocking episode of philistinism, he disbanded the grand library of the Fatimids, the greatest in the Middle East, with more than one million volumes. The books were sold for cash offered by anyone.

A major part of the book deals with the mediaeval period in which Saladin lived and ruled. This was marked by truces, alliances, agreements, betrayals, cooperation and dynastic ambition saturating the political atmosphere, delivering opportunities and flexibility to all. It also includes a section on re-emergence of Saladin in the Arab world in modern times. This occurred by the beginning of the nineteenth century, by which time the Ottoman Empire crumbled and Western powers began to nibble on Arab lands as part of their imperial aspirations. Military weakness compelled the Arab society to find an icon of resistance and overwhelming potential to oust the foreigners. After the Second World War, secular politicians like Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Gaddafi of Libya and Hafiz al-Asad of Syria have tried to donSaladin’smantle with varying degrees of failure. The predicament of Arab society is that it can never get out of its religious moorings in a changing world. It still longs and craves for mediaeval heroes who defeated the ancestors of their present enemies. If Saladin had not been born, they would have gone straight back to the legacy of the Prophet and his companions.

The book is very easy to read. A number of photographs are included to add interest. An extensive list of primary and secondary sources is also included. Philips follows a non-confrontational approach on all issues which give it the feel of a textbook. He has also expressed a distinctly anti-crusade stance so as to make the book appealing to Arab readers.

The book is highly recommended.

[Shahrazad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched biography that humanizes Salah al-Din, revealing both his strengths and flaws. The same depth is given to the Ayyubid and Mamluk eras. I especially appreciated the use of period accounts, which brought everyday life and thought into focus, free from modern bias.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few of these 'the wo/man and her/his legacy' type biographies, and none of them work all that well: if the biography is good, the 'here's how people have imagined her' is usually quite weak, and vice versa. Phillips' biography is good, and the image stuff is fine, at best. There's a lot of crusadery battles here, so if you like that, here it is. If you don't, now you know.

[Shozab Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Thorough critical history of life and times of the most venerated sultan after the rightly guided caliphs who stands shoulder to shoulder with Mehmet the Conqueror. Not only the author makes great effort in critically analysing medieval near east and how Saladin ruled over much of it but also oultines the impact of the sultan and his legacy even to this day, how truly relevant he is, even to our times, is mind boggling. A hero celebrated for centuries.

[Charles Haywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the classic 1970s Irish Republican Army anthem “My Little Armalite,” the lyrics include “Well the army came to visit me, ’twas in the early hours / With Saladins and Saracens and Ferret armored cars.” One wonders why would the British, back when there still was an England, name their military equipment after the Kurdish warlord Saladin, a famous enemy of England? He was, after all, the bitter rival of Richard I, the Lionheart, whom the English once revered. Moreover, Saladin seized the holy city of Jerusalem from the Christians a second time. The answer to this oddity is that Saladin is a man obscured by modern myth. And as is very often the case, recovering the real man under the myth is a worthwhile exercise.

The author of this detailed book, somewhere between an academic and a popular work, is Jonathan Phillips, an Englishman who has written numerous books on the Crusades. Modern fascination with Saladin in both West and East, dating back to the nineteenth century, far exceeds interest in any other non-Western figure of this period, something Phillips is at pains, excessive pains perhaps, to explain. Objectively, Saladin’s relevance to modernity is insignificant. His major accomplishment was founding the Ayyubid Sultanate, which for a century ruled Egypt and parts of Syria, as well as parts of the Holy Land (collectively generally referred to, in historical discussions of this period, as the Near East) and of the Arabian Peninsula. But many other men founded short-lived dynasties in this area during the first centuries of the second millennium. Nor did Saladin succeed in expelling the Crusaders from the other lands they had, several decades before, re-conquered from the Muslims.

To understand modern views, we have to understand the underlying actual history. The name Westerners use, Saladin, is a corruption of a typical lengthy Muslim ruler’s name, part of which is “Salah al-Din,” an honorific meaning “Righteousness of the Faith.” His given name (Christian name, if you will), was Yusuf, that is, Joseph, and he was born around 1136. His father was a Kurdish mercenary, Najm al-Din Ayyub, whose given name, Ayyub, means Job—the Biblical Job, also honored as a prophet in Islam. It was from Najm al-Din that the name of Saladin’s dynasty, the Ayubbids, came.

All of the Near East, other than Outremer, the Crusader lands conquered during and after the First Crusade in 1099, was Muslim at this time, taken from the Christians a few centuries earlier by the armies of Muhammad’s successors as the Eastern Romans contracted. That does not mean these lands were united in any meaningful way. Fracture lines were many, resulting in what Phillips accurately terms “flux and division.” One essential split was between the Sunni lands, nominally under the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, and the Shiite lands, at this time mainly Egypt, under the Fatimid Caliphate, headquartered in Cairo. Baghdad was far away from the Holy Land, and the caliph there had little influence on the events in this history, despite lip service being paid by the Ayyubids and others to his overlordship. The Crusader States held all the most important coastal cities in the Holy Land and their hinterlands—the principalities of Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa, ranged along the Mediterranean. Naval supremacy, to which we will return, gave the Crusaders an important edge when their cities were attacked.

The Ayubbids were Kurds from Armenia, where the Seljuk Turks (another of several key ethnic groups) held sway, and Najm al-Din initially served the Seljuks as governor of Tikrit (now in Iraq), as his father had before him. In a conflict among the Seljuks, Najm al-Din picked one contestant, Imad al-Din Zengi, to serve, and served him and Zengi’s son, Nur al-Din, his entire life. The Zengids rose, becoming rulers of Mosul and Aleppo, along with much of what is today Syria and northern Iraq. As a result, Saladin’s father ultimately became governor of Damascus, a high position. Saladin’s uncle Shirkuh was another of Najm al-Din’s top lieutenants, which meant that the Ayyubids had rapidly become one of the most important families under the Zengids, though they ruled nothing in their own name. Crucially, they headed a large and important Kurdish clan which, like the Turks, operated on the unbreakable principle of ethnic solidarity, providing a built-in base of powerful support. Damascus became Saladin’s home, even if he spent most of his life on campaign all across the Near East, although almost nothing is known about Saladin as a young man.

Intermittent conflict was endemic among Muslims and between the Christians and Muslims. At this point, however, the Muslims made little headway against the Franks, as they called the Christians, who for example in 1163 destroyed Nur al-Din’s army when it attempted to take Krak des Chevaliers, one of the most famous of the Crusader castles. (As a child, I had a picture book of the Crusades, which depicted this castle in loving detail. Crusader castles, to which there was no Muslim counterpart, are a fascinating topic all their own. Perhaps another day.) The Zengids had better luck in Egypt, after the Fatimid caliph died young and they took advantage of the inevitable succession crisis to invade that wealthy country, sending Shirkuh to do the work, in a confused set of battles that involved Christians also supporting the Fatimids. At some point Saladin, now around thirty years old, had become attached, or attached himself, to his uncle, and so he also participated actively in this accomplishment—at one point being briefly a guest of the Franks as a hostage, connected to a negotiated peace.

After his victory, Shirkuh promptly died (after unwisely gorging himself on “rich meats”), which left the chief office of government in Egypt, the vizierate (who technically ruled in the name of the caliph until the Ayyubids got rid of the caliph), open. Saladin was chosen as his successor, in 1169, and his father came south from Damascus to join him in 1170, at the command of the man who was still their overlord, Nur al-Din. Saladin and his father (who accepted a subordinate position, and died after a fall from a horse in 1173) consolidated their hold over Egypt, including by defeating the Nubians to the south and by dismissing Coptic Christians and Jews from all government positions and confiscating their property. Tensions inevitably arose with Nur al-Din, who like most men in his position was not stupid and could see perfectly well that the Ayyubids were becoming a competing power. But Nur al-Din died in 1174, delaying open conflict.

Still, soon Saladin had moved north with an army and began fighting with Nur al-Din’s son. He fought the Crusaders as well, since they dominated the land immediately north of Egypt and threatened all the travel routes in the Holy Land held by Muslims. But he was soundly thrashed by a Frankish army in 1177 at the Battle of Montgisard (a battle where, as Phillips notes, the first mobile field hospital in history was used, run by the Knights of Saint John, the Hospitallers). Saladin took nearly ten years to fully recover from this defeat, and it was after this battle that he adopted his policy of executing any captured knight of the military orders (the most important of which were the Templars and the Hospitallers), because he feared them so greatly.

Unfortunately for the Franks, their own unity fractured badly in the years after Montgisard. The details are complex, and involved various lords out for their own interests, and therefore happy to enter into limited tactical alliances with Muslims against their Christian enemies. Baldwin IV, the illustrious leper King of Jerusalem who had fought at Montgisard, died at age twenty-four in 1185, and several men vied to succeed him. Saladin, meanwhile, spent the next several years focusing on the north, consolidating his hold over Aleppo and Mosul, part of his now long-running conflict with the Zengids, which only ended with Saladin’s complete ascendancy over the area in 1186. He also acquired a degree of overlordship with respect to Arabia, including the cities of Mecca and Medina, and Yemen. When Reynald of Châtillon, lord of Antioch by marriage, a hugely competent and heroic if not-very-nice man and leader of the Franks at Montgisard, began raiding trading caravans in Muslim-held lands, around 1183, Saladin turned to confronting the Franks, with whom he had had an uneasy truce for some years. His aim was to advance both his religion and his personal interests. (Reynald had been imprisoned by the Zengids in an underground dungeon in Aleppo for sixteen years; no doubt this explains his implacable hostility to Islam.) Reynald compounded his offenses, in Saladin’s eyes, by building ships in kit form, shipping them overland to the Red Sea, and launching an expedition (though he did not go himself) to steal Muhammad’s body from Medina. Sadly, this quixotic effort did not succeed, and led to the deaths of all the Franks involved.

Most of all, Saladin wanted to retake Jerusalem from the Christians. This would solidify his position, both strategically and in the eyes of the wider Muslim world. He assembled a large army (very large for the time and place, around thirty thousand men) and provoked the Christians by attacking a monastery on Mount Tabor (the site of Christ’s Transfiguration) and the town of Nazareth, and then by besieging the wife of the sometime Regent (and sometime aspiring King) of Jerusalem, Raymond, in Tiberias, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. A large Christian force set out to relieve Tiberias, carrying their most sacred relic, the True Cross, but Saladin had cleverly either seized or poisoned all the water sources in the area. This eroded the effectiveness of the Christians, whose heavy cavalry charges were usually impossible for the lighter-armed Muslim forces to resist. The Crusaders could not make it to the sea to get water, and were trapped in the basin between two extinct volcanoes, the Horns of Hattin. They surrendered.

Saladin slaughtered most of the knights (though the actual killing was largely done by Muslim clerics, as was customary). When Reynald scornfully rejected Saladin’s demand that he convert to Islam or die, Saladin (allegedly) killed him himself. Having also captured Guy of Lusignan, now the King of Jerusalem (married to the dead Baldwin’s sister Sibylla, whose son had briefly reigned as Baldwin V), Saladin proceeded to besiege Jerusalem. Balian of Ibelin, the Outremer lord now in charge of the defense of Jerusalem, played a bad hand well. Saladin repeatedly tried and failed to take the city by storm, despite Christians having very few experienced soldiers in the city. Balian threatened Saladin that if he did not agree to an acceptable negotiated resolution, he would execute the five thousand Muslim prisoners he held and demolish the Dome of the Rock, one of the most important Muslim holy sites, along with the rock on which it stood, and the Crusaders would all die fighting. Saladin caved, and agreed to allow the Christian inhabitants to buy their way out. As a result, the actual transfer of the city was mostly bloodless, although the reason for that was not Saladin’s mercy, given that he was no stranger to slaughtering every Christian he could get his hands on, but purely practical motives.

This was the high point of Saladin’s career, even though he still had almost ten years left to live. He tried and failed to capture Tyre from the Franks. He was defeated in Tunisia, where he was trying to extend his lands at the expense of Almohads, the Muslim rulers of that area of North Africa. Then he spent two years trying and failing to prevent the Franks from capturing Acre, where he encircled a Frankish army that was besieging the city. It was during this siege, in 1191, that Richard I arrived as part of the Third Crusade. The siege dragged on longer than most, featuring the usual Western innovations in war technology, such as “the Crawler,” a “wheeled machine covered with sheets of iron”—in essence, an early armored personnel carrier, used to allow protected assaults on the city walls. The Crusaders also used ramps attached to the top of a ship and dropped to allow crossing directly to the top of the city wall, an invention supposedly of the Romans, but not used since their time.

Acre fell to the Christians, surrendering on terms largely dictated by the Franks, including the return of the True Cross, the relic captured at Hattin. Saladin delayed and prevaricated on both payment and identifying the prisoners to be ransomed, as well as delivery of the True Cross, which Richard saw as an attempt to re-arm and re-start the battle, so he executed around two thousand prisoners. This was not a particularly notable event; Saladin himself was in the habit of executing prisoners (and Phillips neglects to mention that Saladin’s response to Richard’s action was to kill all of his Christian prisoners, both those he had already and any he acquired later). It was somewhat out of normal practice, however, to kill prisoners after a negotiated peace, albeit a fragile peace, rather than after storming a city. This episode would be entirely forgotten today, except that Richard’s supposed cruelty along with Saladin’s supposed mercy after the fall of Jerusalem are both often used today by Muslims as justifications for their present-day actions.

The other major effect of the disintegration of the peace deal was the permanent loss of the True Cross, uncovered in the fourth century by the Empress Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great. Nobody knows what happened to it, though it was most likely last seen in Damascus. (Fragments of the Cross exist in many places, some real, some not, but those were split from the Cross earlier; what the Crusaders called the True Cross was the bulk of the Cross.) Presumably the Muslims destroyed it. But as with other important relics, notably the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps it lies hidden somewhere, to be revealed at some point in the future.

The rest of the Third Crusade was anticlimactic. Frederick Barbarossa, the most powerful of the Christian kings, had unexpectedly died of a heart attack, greatly reducing available manpower, because most of his troops went home. Richard and Saladin marched around, skirmished, and conducted minor sieges, while engaging in courteous negotiations (Saladin did not negotiate in person and he never met Richard; he sent his brother Saphadin). Richard wanted to reconquer Jerusalem, but he could not protect his supply lines that far from the coast, and so he had to abandon the effort, greatly disappointing his followers. Ultimately, in 1192, the kings signed an agreement, essentially involving everyone keeping what he had and Christians being allowed to go to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, and Richard went home. Nobody expected that to be the end of the fighting; Muslim agreements with the Franks were only ever temporary truces, for a set term of years, which were, however, usually strictly observed by both sides. Islam, we should note, forbids any permanently binding treaty with non-Muslims, because Muhammad’s unalterable command of jihad is eternal struggle until the entire world is under Muslim domination.

It is interesting to observe that the Frankish capture of Acre (which they held until the end of Outremer, when Acre was recaptured by the Muslims in 1291) was only possible because the Franks controlled the Mediterranean. A constant difficulty for the Muslims was that the Franks by ship could easily resupply their own coastal cities under siege, and often prevent resupply of enemy cities and armies on the march. The Muslims were aware of this weakness, but as Phillips notes, “seafaring was regarded [by Muslims] as the occupation of criminals.” Thus, despite occasional halfhearted efforts, Saladin and other Muslim rulers of the time never managed to put any kind of decent navy together. Much later the Ottoman Turks solved, or at least addressed, this problem by using Christians as galley slaves, but failure to build a navy inevitably hampered Saladin in his goals.

Saladin died, of intestinal disease, in 1193. He had (it appears) seventeen sons, which Phillips treats as “dynastic safeguarding,” superior to the Christians producing fewer sons. This is silly; succession problems have always been the bedeviling problem of Muslim regimes, because primogeniture was never adopted, unlike in Europe (not that the Europeans avoided succession problems entirely either). That many co-equal sons was a bug, not a feature. The result, unsurprisingly, was Ayyubid chaos. In the short term Saphadin, the brother, not a son, emerged on top, but the Ayyubids gradually lost the land and power Saladin had gained, and passed from history.

Phillips narrates all this competently. But the book suffers from several major problems. One is that it offers almost no background or explanation. If you do not already know the basics about the twelfth-century history of the Holy Land and the Near East, and something about Europe and England of the time, as well as about the Crusades, you will basically be at sea. Or, rather, you will learn all about Saladin, but disconnected from any larger picture. No doubt this was a deliberate choice by Phillips to reduce length, but given that he spends the last quarter of the book trying, and mostly failing, to make Saladin relevant to modernity, the reader would have been better served by adding background and cutting lecturing.

The author also makes occasional factual errors. Not many, but . . . [Review completes as first comment.]

[Michiel Van R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saladin is one of those figures I know of, but not much about, so this was most interesting. Kurdish warrior Yusuf Sah al-din rose to power as an underling to one of the powerful 12th century leaders of the Middle East (the complex interrelations of clan, faith, sect, ethnicity and personal self-interest on both sides of the Crusades are fascinating), then became vizier of Egypt. This power base led him to strike out on his own and eventually rally Islam for a jihad against the Crusaders.
Phillips goes into detail on Saladin's life and accomplishments (and failures), showing what an exceptional leader he was. He then looks at how his legend has been remembered. In the West he's seen as a magnificent chivalric knight, though fighting for The Other Side; in the Middle East he's the guy who reclaimed Jerusalem and drove back the crusaders, which makes him a suitable icon for pan-Arabists, nationalists, Islamic militants and others (plus just a cool hero).
Well worth reading.

[Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliantly researched and meticulously detailed book, hats off to the author.

The flip side though that it lacks the entertainment factor, the gripping story... almost a little too detailed.

I enjoyed the latter part of the book more, which contained the author’s thoughts and the legacy of Saladin post his death.

[Raza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this masterful telling of Saladin's life. One knows that he was the man who won Jerusalem back from the crusaders in 1187. But there was so much more to his life and the region(Near East) around him. He was a Nur Zengi's man in Egypt, before he overthrew the Fatimids there, captured Syrian after Zengi's death, and finally retook Jerusalem. Richard arrived to retake the city in the 3rd crusade but left empty handed.
he was many things at once: a Kurd trying to establish his clan's dynasty in the region, a sunni trying to win back the holy land, a Sultan trying to keep the turks, arabs, kurds together. He could be generous when he wanted (often giving away huge sums of money adn gifts to his nobles), and brutal when needed (often after a loss) like killing the men of the military orders (Hospitallers & Templars) - religious warrior monks.
Eventually his reign , after he was gone, was taken over by turks and mamluks but his legacy endures.
From isalmists like Bana & Qutb to nationalist leaders like Nasser & Assad & Saddam to organisations like PLO & alqaeda, he is still "used" by these disparate entities as their symbol of unity, strength, honor and victory. The west also views himself as this chivalrous hero who bested the crusaders but maintained dignity throughout. Novels appeared in christian west detailing anecdotes and stories about the sultan. In the near east, plays and novels and poems and theatre kept his memory alive (later on printed books and magazines). Atleast for muslims of the near east, there was always a need to remember him since the "crusaders" were always a presence and starting from the 19th century (Napoleon's attack on Egypt to present times) the europeans and westerns dominated the region through culture, money or military.

Hope saladin's memory endures and becomes a beacon of hope to peoples fighting for their freedoms.
the books is wonderfully written and is a page turner, with a nuanced look on history. Please read.

[Arshadul Haque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original rating: 3.75/5
This book could have been a through and through 4 stars for me. But the later part of the book was such a drag to read.
The book is divided in two parts, the first part of the book describes the life of Saladin with as much details as possible. The best part about this book is that every reference from where information is taken from. This offers the viewer to see the facts of history for themselves which is free from any kind of preconceived notion of the author. In other words, the words are unbiased, impartial and very easy to understand. Which are some of the most important factors of a historical non-fiction book which is catered towards the reader who are seeking pure knowledge.
Same can't be said for the second part of this book though. This part basically discusses the cultural, political and historical influence of Saladin. Staring from the very start of the final crusade to the current days. This part was filled with descriptions which gave this book a more textbook-ish feeling. I felt like I was studying for thesis research that I'm conducting on Saladin. Therefore, again, this part will help the readers who seek to know about the influence of Saladin as a heroic character on a deeper level, but my purpose was different. Thus, I was unable to keep my focus and I mostly just skimmed through this part.
But the conclusion of this book was very well rounded, and it depicted the spirit and purpose of the book which was to portray the most honest version of Saladin as an individual as possible. Which contributed to an additional half star. I definitely have to re-read this again, not in the near future, but someday. Hopefully, this book will be more enlightening for me then.

[Rithun Regi · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who follows world history and the Middle East, this book is a must read to understand the legendary character of Saladin and his part in the Holy War and the backdrop of the Crusades. The author has done painstaking research and delved into a wide array of resources ranging across the centuries trying to paint the lifestory of Saladin on a complex canvas.

The book talks about Nuraldin and how Saladin takes control over his overlords kingdoms. Saladins remarkable victories and the conquest of the different crusader castles and towns is described very well. The Battle of Hattin and the Siege of Jerusalem is also explained very well. The book has done justice in showing what was myth and history with regard to Saladin.

It helped me understand how over the last 800 years since Saladins passing he has been appropriated as a symbol by modern figures such as Yasser Arafat, Gamel Abdel Nasser,Saddam Hussein, Hafiz Al Asad, Gadaffi and even Osama Bin Laden.

There is a very interesting anecdote in the book where Saddam during a debriefing session in his vaptivity talks incorrectly about Saladin based on a movie created during Nasser s time. For me what stood out is that nationalism without vision and justice and misappropriation of the symbolism of a powerful historical figure like Saladin is a recipe for disaster as proven in the case of Nasser's Eygpt, Saddam's Iraq, Gadaffi's Libya and Asad's Syria to name a few.

[Jeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He has evolved to the point where there is no need for him always to be affixed to an individual or an ideology; in this instance he is acting for people looking to a leader whom they could admire without fear."

While best known for his conquests during the Crusades, Saladin has the singularly unique reputation as being admired by both his followers and his adversaries. In this historical biography of the man who united much of the Muslim world to take Jerusalem, we learn both about his upbringing, his rise to power, and his escapades in battle. The author also goes into detail about the legacy of Saladin, and how he is viewed as both a worthy adversary and an inspirational role model by friends and foes alike. The strength of this book is the review of Saladin's rise to power and exploits in war. At times, it feels almost like a fictional story because of how fast-paced and exciting it is when describing the Battle of Hattin and the Second Crusade. You also get an insightful view into who Saladin is as a person, as much as we can considering this is someone alive almost a millennium ago. It was at those portions where this book was at its most fascinating and enthralling to read. The final quarter of the book was a modern-day look at Saladin's influence on the world, in both Europe en masse and the Middle East. That portion of the book was less gripping as the historical recollection of his actions, as it was a continuous restatement of how influential Saladin was. But overall, this book was an exceptional biography of a fascinating man.

[Adrian]

Life of the great Arab military leader who defeated the crusaders at Hattin and again at Jerusalem taking back the city after nearly 100 years under Christian control. Renowned for his charity to his enemies which he was at Jerusalem he had a steely side too and wasn't shy of a massacre when it suited. He had talent as a politician too. Coming to power at an early age in Egypt he played off his rivals against one another and captured control of Syria and the near East. He has to be given credit for forming an Egyptian navy too. Born a Sunni Kurd his Abuyyid Empire controlled vast territory. Wright is very good describing the chess match between Saladin and Richard the Lion Heart. Two titans of military strategy matching wits on the battlefield. Shortly after this Saladin dies and his empire soon whittles away and is ended in the mid 13th century by the invading Mongols. The last 100 pages of the book deal with how east and west idolized Saladin up to the present day. Wright tries to draw parallels on how both sides saw him but there is really no comparison. He's a hero to Muslims and a range of leaders- Nasser, Arafat, Saddam and Bin Laden basically because the Arab world hasn't moved on from the Middle Ages while the West has.

[George1st · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a masterful biography that not only recounts the life of its subject but also describes the politically complex time that he lived in and then goes on to examine the enduring appeal of Saladin not only in the Arab and Muslim world but also in the West. If you are not familiar with Saladin or the history of the time do not worry for Jonathan Phillips who has written extensively about the Crusades will painlessly take you by the hand and explain how Saladin was able to rise to power and stay there using both military might and diplomatic astuteness.

With maps and photographs this is a detailed and minutely researched book that will give the reader a portal into the 12th century world of crusades, battles and its court life. By the end of the book you will gain not only a greater appreciation of the man and the times he lived in but also why his name continues to be appropriated for political reasons. It was well worth the time invested in order to read this lengthy but fascinating biography of a man who's name still has resonance in much of the today's world.

[Qaim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that not only tells about the personality of Saladin but also how he managed to establish AYOUBI DYNASTY. We all know him as the one who got Jerusalem . At what cost he was not supported by the Baghdad Caliph at all , whereas at 3rd crusade whole west was United .
Crusades and bounty was the motivation of both forces as we have mercenary forces in all ages . The writer has done justice to elaborate the war & diplomatic skills of great general firstly how he won the HATTIN and siege of JERUSALEM and later by defending acre (although lost it but got time to gather more troops )and Jerusalem and keeping the diplomatic channels open all the times. Saladin is a name which will remain for ages to come for generosity and war skills .
“His generosity emptied his perineal Treausry , leaving only one dinar of Tyre and 36 Nasiri dirhams; money had even to be borrowed to complete the buriarl arrangements”

[Ruth Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually, we see biographies of Richard 1st and finding this in the library was uplifting! I love to see both sides of an argument. And it did show me, among other things, why Richard slaughtered 2,600 Muslims at Acre, something I've grappled with and not really understood. Of course, there were many reasons, but here I saw the full reasoning and got it!
The writing is great, with plenty of information, yet also plenty of examination of motive and a definite understanding of Saladin. Rather than an impersonal examination of an unknowable quantity, as sometimes it feels an author feels toward their subject, here we feel the author relates to the character in all his guises, and with all the human complications that come with reality.
A fantastic book by an author who really immersed themselves in the subject, refreshing and fantastic. Recommended!

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent biography of Saladin. I have only a few minor quibbles, not worth mentioning in this review. It concludes with a survey of how Saladin has been used and presented in more modern times. Most of the problems in the modern Middle East really only go back to about WWI, but the rhetoric that has been trotted out by both East and West would make the problems the result of the crusades, and would make of Saladin the hero of a unified Arab nation. This isn't the place to delve into these myths and misconceptions, but it makes some things more understandable.

Saladin himself was a mixture of virtues and vices, abilities and disabilities, but it didn't take long for legends and stories to attach themselves to him, from both Christian and Islamic writers of the thirteenth century. So, beware of any portrayal of Saladin--there's probably some fiction thrown in there.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book on the BBC History Extra podcast in the summer of 2019.

This is such a fantastic read. I have previously read books about the Third Crusade and Crusaders who participated in it. I strongly recommend having some prior knowledge before reading this book. The writing style was more academic rather than a traditional nonfiction history book. I was impressed with all of the research the author put into this book.

The book is divided into two sections; the life of Saladin and reputation/legacy of Saladin. I enjoyed learning about the reputation/legacy also. I don’t think that it is overtly pro-Near Eastern or pro-Western. It was presented with research and facts.

[ethnicdreams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoybale read. Very detailed but also still gives room for the reader to do further research. This is a great book to understand the political and social issues in today's european named 'middle east'. It also gives an insight into the complex nature of ethnic identiy and the relationships between the different groups of people in the 'middle east'. An interesting humanistic portray of Salahudin. One that is forgotten by the very people he tried to unite. An aspect that i will do further research into is the fact that some Nubians along with some other 'Africans' were loyal to the Shi'te empire.

[Syed Faraz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, well documented historical facts with deep research . The author Phillips has brought to life the real life story of Sultan Ayubi as most people in the Sub continent call him. His conquests, his battles , his losses, his victory , his treatment of opponents after a war reflect the personality he was . Don’t think history has ever found another Sultan as him and time will tell whether we will be able to find a true Sultan again .

[Taufiq B Zain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book. For the most part, it tries to remain neutral and shows the good and bad of the Crusaders and the Ayubbids. The book gives an insight on the struggles faced by Saladin and showcases his capability in uniting forces that were fragmented by internal strifes.

Overall, it was an interesting read.

[Chandar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saladin- a great leader and conqueror of Jerusalem. An over-generous person who dies with nothing but his black clothing. The famous battle of Hattin. A leader who shows mercy to his enemies and applies diplomacy and, at times, can be ruthless. An equal leader in matching him - Richard the Lionheart. ( former King of England)

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting biography of Sultan Saladin, considering both his life and impact ever since. Very good to see a balanced account of how a charismatic and inspiring leader can be admired from people on both sides. Opened my eyes to the challenges he faced from many directions not only just the crusades with which western history is more familiar.

[Yj · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main body of the book regarding Saladin himself, his life and times including, but not limited to, his battles against the Christian crusaders earns a solid 5 ⭐️’s.
The last few chapters rehashing the ongoing use of Saladin’s legend after his death and into modern times was a slog to get through and earns 2⭐️’s.

[Arvind · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well researched, deep-dive into the period between the second and third crusades with a high focus, even if slightly hagiographic, on Saladin, showing his rise and key role in that period. Most importantly this shows the reasons why the Sultan is so revered and relevant even today.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and well written book, fascinating and engrossing.
I've always been fascinated by the Saladin and this book made me discover more about the man and the myth.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.