[541] “Mem. West Pal. Survey,” Jerusalem vol., pp. 297–301; Pal. Expl. Fund Quarterly, April 1902, p. 120.
[542] “Mem. West Pal. Survey,” Jerusalem vol., p. 385; Pal. Expl. Fund Quarterly, April 1897, p. 105, Oct. 1902, p. 404.
[543] Pal. Expl. Fund Quarterly, July 1901, p. 233; “Regesta,” No. 391.
[544] Pal. Expl. Fund Quarterly, 1890, pp. 158, 306.
[545] “Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem,” pp. 194, 195, 404.
[546] “Mem. West Pal. Survey,” Jerusalem vol., pp. 398, 399; Pal. Expl. Fund Quarterly, Oct. 1896, p. 311.
[547] “Regesta,” No. 215.
CHAPTER XIV
FRANKS AND MOSLEMS
There is no more charming character in Moslem history than Saladin, the brave and generous sulṭân who settled the Eastern question with Richard Lion-heart of England, and whose life was lovingly written by his faithful follower Beha-ed-Dîn, the ḳâḍdî of Jerusalem.[548] Ṣalâḥ-ed-Dîn Yûsef el Aiyûbi, “the benefactor of the Faith, Joseph, son of Job,” was born in 1137, and was therefore about fifty years old when he took the Holy City. His father, Aiyûb, son of Shâdi, was a Kurd in the service of the Atabek dynasty, being first governor of Tekrît and afterwards of Ba’albek. Nûr-ed-Dîn of Damascus sent Shirkoh, Saladin’s uncle, to assist Egypt in 1163, and Saladin accompanied him. A series of remarkable events placed him at the head of Islâm in 1174 A. D.; for his uncle died in 1169, and was followed by the Fâṭemite khalîfah El ’Adid, and by Nûr-ed-Dîn himself,[549] whose widow Saladin married. Thus, at a time when Europe was torn by the great quarrel between the emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III., Islâm was at length united under Saladin as the protector of the ’Abbaside khalîfah.
THE BATTLE OF ḤAṬṬÎN