Saladin Recaptures Jerusalem from the Crusaders
October 2, 1187 CE · Medieval
On October 2, 1187 CE, Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, accepted Jerusalem's surrender after a siege, recapturing the city 88 years after the First Crusade seized it. The victory followed Saladin's defeat of the largest Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin on July 4, 1187. Saladin permitted Christian residents to leave upon paying ransom, restored the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock to Islamic use, and allowed Eastern Christian pilgrims continued access. The reconquest prompted Pope Gregory VIII to call the Third Crusade, but Jerusalem remained under Muslim control.
Key Figures
Saladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub)
Locations
Jerusalem
Topics
CrusadersIslamThird CrusadeIslamic Rulejihad
Connected Events — 4 Connections
Reversed the Islamic defeat that began with the First Crusade 88 years earlier First Crusade
Jerusalem's fall prompted the Third Crusade which culminated at Arsuf Battle of Arsuf
Ottoman Empire continued and expanded the political tradition of Islamic sovereignty over Jerusalem Suleiman the Magnificent Ascends to the Ottoman Throne
Saladin's 1187 recapture of Jerusalem from the Crusaders cut off Ethiopian Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land, directly motivating King Lalibela to create a substitute Jerusalem in the Ethiopian Highlands Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela Completed in Ethiopia
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