Emir Zanki (1127–40); and the second conquest of Edessa by his son Nûr al-Dîn (1146–74) gave rise to the Second Crusade (1147–49). It was in the reign of Nûr al-Dîn that there came to the fore the famous Salah al-Dîn, better known in the West as Saladin. Saladin, who was the grandson of a Kurd named Shadi ibn Merwan and nephew of Nûr al-Dîn's general Shirkuh, soon made himself master of Egypt; and, after Nûr al-Dîn's death, took advantage of the dissensions in Syria to conquer that country also, and thus to become the Franks' most formidable opponent. The breach of a truce concluded between himself and the Crusaders led to war, and on the 4th July, 1187, Saladin 'broke the Franks on the horns of Hattîn and slew a great multitude, and took their king prisoner.' This was the greatest disaster which had as yet overtaken the Crusaders. The True Cross was lost, and King Guy, together with his nobles, made captive. Saladin now marched south. Nablus, Caesarea, Jericho, Jaffa, opened their gates to him without resistance; and on the 2nd October, 1187, he took Jerusalem, granting to the besieged terms of almost unparalleled generosity.
The Third Crusade.—The fall of Jerusalem led to the Third Crusade (1189–92), and the Latin colonies in Palestine were saved from extinction for the moment by a great European intervention. The Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I. Barbarossa, who headed the expedition, was drowned in Cilicia before he reached the Holy Land. The hero of this Crusade was King Richard Coeur de Lion; but Richard, although he performed prodigies of valour, did not recover Jerusalem. The resources of the Third Crusade were impaired by the rivalry between Richard and the French King, Philip Augustus, and the only solid advantages secured from Saladin by the peace signed on the 2nd September, 1192, were the possession of a narrow strip of coast between Tyre and Jaffa, and the right of the Latins to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which city remained in the hands of the Moslems.
The Fourth and Fifth Crusades.—Saladin died in 1193,
