Books
Battle
Battle of Hattin
1187 CE
The Battle of Hattin was fought in July 1187 after Saladin drew the crusader army into a desperate march without sufficient water. The crusader army was surrounded and destroyed, and many leading nobles were captured. The defeat opened the way for Saladin to recover Jerusalem and much of the kingdom.
Hattin matters because it shattered crusader military power in the Holy Land. It exposed the dangers of poor leadership, internal rivalry, and fighting on unfavourable ground. The battle directly triggered the crisis that led to the Third Crusade.
Sharon Kay Penman’s The Land Beyond the Sea follows the political divisions that lead to the disaster; Jack Whyte’s Standard of Honor begins with the crusader army’s destruction; and Jan Guillou’s The Templar Knight places Arn Magnusson within the military and political struggle between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Saladin. Tariq Ali’s The Book of Saladin provides the opposing perspective through a fictionalised memoir of Saladin. These books make Hattin a setting for thirst, divided command, military defeat and the collapse of a kingdom.
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Non-Fiction
1 Best Non-Fiction Book About the Battle of Hattin
Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.