Saladin Retakes Jerusalem

On 20 September 1187, the Ayyubid sultan Saladin positioned his armies outside Jerusalem, having already broken the military strength of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin two months prior. The catastrophic defeat on 4 July had delivered King Guy and many leading nobles into captivity, allowing Saladin to quickly overrun coastal ports and inland garrisons including Acre, Beirut, and Ascalon. Jerusalem itself was crowded with displaced civilians fleeing across the countryside, but it possessed virtually no military garrison to withstand an assault. The nobleman Balian of Ibelin had originally arrived only under a safe-conduct from Saladin to collect his wife and family, but local residents and church authorities urged him to remain and organize the city's defenses.

Balian found only a handful of knights remaining in the holy city. To strengthen the defense, he knighted young men of noble birth and about sixty burgesses, stockpiled food supplies, and gathered the available treasury funds. Saladin first encamped opposite the Tower of David and the Damascus Gate, where his archers targeted the parapets and belfries were pushed forward. The garrison managed to repulse repeated attempts to take the fortifications by storm, inflicting substantial casualties on the besiegers over six days. On 26 September, Saladin adjusted his tactics by shifting his camp to the Mount of Olives, an area without major gates through which the defenders could mount counterattacks.