The Battle of Hattin and the Knights Templar
The Battle of Hattin (also called the Battle of the Horns of Hattin) on July 4, 1187, was one of the most important and most catastrophic battles of the Crusades. Fought on a volcanic plain near the Sea of Galilee in what is now northern Israel, the battle ended with the annihilation of the Crusader army and the capture of the True Cross, the holiest relic of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Knights Templar fought to the death in the battle; the Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort was captured and later ransomed by Saladin, dying at the siege of Acre in 1189. The battle led directly to the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in October 1187.
This article examines the battle and the role of the Templars. It is a companion to The Knights Templar in the Holy Land and to The Grand Masters of the Order.
The Background
The Battle of Hattin was the result of a long series of political and military miscalculations by the Latin Christian leadership of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By the late twelfth century, the Kingdom was a precarious entity, surrounded by the powerful Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub), the Muslim ruler of Egypt, Syria, and parts of Mesopotamia.
Saladin had unified much of the Muslim world under his rule, and he was determined to drive the Crusaders out of the Holy Land. The Latin Christian Kingdom, ruled by King Guy of Lusignan (r. 1186–1192), was a divided and unstable polity, with several powerful noble families contesting the king’s authority.
The most powerful of the noble families were the Ibelins, led by Balian of Ibelin, and the Courtenays, led by Joscelin III of Courtenay. The rivalry between the Ibelins and the Grand Master of the Templars, Gerard de Ridefort, was a major source of instability in the Kingdom.
The Templars and the Battle
The Knights Templar played a major role in the events leading up to the battle. The Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort, a Flemish nobleman who had been a member of the Order for decades, was a divisive figure in the Kingdom. He was closely allied with King Guy of Lusignan and was an enemy of the Ibelin faction.
The Templars’ role in the lead-up to the battle has been the subject of much historical debate. Some historians have argued that Gerard’s political maneuvering was a major cause of the disaster. The most important incident was the Battle of Cresson on May 1, 1187, in which Gerard led a small Templar force against a much larger Ayyubid raiding party. The battle was a disaster, and the Grand Master of the Hospitallers, Roger des Moulins, was killed.
The Battle of Cresson, in which the Templars suffered heavy losses, set the stage for the larger Battle of Hattin. The story of the Order’s decline. See The Knights Templar in the Holy Land.
The March to the Springs of Cresson
In early July 1187, Saladin invaded the Kingdom of Jerusalem with a large army. The Crusaders gathered at the Springs of Saffuriya (also called Sephoria), near the site of the earlier Battle of Cresson, to make a stand.
The Crusader army was approximately 20,000 strong, including:
- The army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the king’s household knights and the noble levies.
- The Knights Templar, with several hundred knights and sergeants.
- The Knights Hospitaller, with a similar number.
- A contingent of soldiers from the County of Tripoli, led by Raymond III of Tripoli.
The Crusaders debated their strategy. Raymond III of Tripoli and others argued that the army should remain at the Springs of Saffuriya, where there was plenty of water, and harass the Ayyubid army. King Guy and the Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort argued for a march to the relief of the besieged city of Tiberias, where Raymond’s wife Eschiva was trapped.
The decision to march was, in hindsight, a fatal mistake. The Crusader army was forced to march through arid terrain, with no water, in the heat of summer. The army was harassed by Saladin’s light cavalry, and the march was a slow and exhausting ordeal.
The Battle
On July 4, 1187, the Crusader army reached the Horns of Hattin, a volcanic ridge near the Sea of Galilee. Saladin’s army surrounded the Crusaders, and the battle was joined in the heat of the day.
The Crusader army was in a desperate situation. The men and horses were suffering from thirst, and the army was surrounded. The Crusaders attempted to break out of the encirclement, but they were repulsed by Saladin’s army.
In the heat of the battle, the True Cross — the most sacred relic of the Kingdom — was captured by Saladin’s forces. According to legend, the bishop who was carrying the True Cross was killed, and the relic was taken.
The Templars and Hospitallers fought to the death in the battle, making several desperate charges against Saladin’s army. The Grand Master of the Templars, Gerard de Ridefort, was captured in the fighting and later ransomed by Saladin; he died two years later at the siege of Acre in 1189. The bulk of the Templar force was annihilated.
The Aftermath
The Battle of Hattin was a catastrophic defeat for the Crusader Kingdom. The Latin Christian army was destroyed, and the True Cross was captured. Saladin went on to conquer the rest of the Kingdom, capturing Acre, Jaffa, Beirut, and Sidon in the months that followed.
On October 2, 1187, Jerusalem itself surrendered to Saladin, after a short siege. The fall of Jerusalem was a major shock to the Christian world, and it led to the calling of the Third Crusade by Pope Gregory VIII.
The story of the Third Crusade. See The Knights Templar in the Holy Land.
The Capture of King Guy and the Templars
After the battle, King Guy of Lusignan was captured by Saladin’s forces, along with most of the senior leadership of the Kingdom. According to legend, Saladin offered King Guy a cup of water as a sign of mercy, and the king drank it. Saladin then offered to fight the king in single combat, but the king declined.
The Templars who survived the battle were either killed on the battlefield or captured and executed by Saladin. The Master of the Templars, Gerard de Ridefort, was among the captured; ransomed by Saladin, he died two years later at the siege of Acre. The Order’s strength in the East was severely reduced by the disaster, and the Order would not recover its pre-Hattin strength for decades.
The True Cross
The capture of the True Cross was a major blow to the Latin Christian Kingdom. The True Cross was believed to be a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified, and it had been venerated by the Latin Christians since the early Crusader period. Saladin had the relic sent to the caliph of Baghdad, where it was eventually destroyed or lost.
The Legacy of the Battle
The Battle of Hattin was the defining disaster of the Crusader states. The Latin Christian Kingdom was never able to fully recover from the loss of its army and the capture of the True Cross. Although the Crusaders were able to recover some of their losses through the Third Crusade (1189–1192), led by Richard the Lionheart, the Kingdom never regained its pre-1187 power.
The battle was also a major disaster for the Knights Templar. The Order lost most of its senior leadership in the East, and the Order’s headquarters had to be moved from Jerusalem to Tyre and then to Acre. The story of the Order’s recovery. See The Knights Templar in the Holy Land.
Conclusion
The Battle of Hattin was the most important and most catastrophic battle of the Crusader states. The Knights Templar fought to the death in the battle; the Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort was captured and later ransomed by Saladin, dying at the siege of Acre in 1189. The battle led directly to the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in October 1187, and it was a major turning point in the history of the Crusades. The story of the battle and its aftermath. See The Knights Templar in the Holy Land.