Page 60 - All About History - Issue 59-17

What if…

Richard I and

Saladin had

intermarried?

An unusual proposition during the Third Crusade could have
heralded peace in the Medieval Middle East

Written by Jonathan O’Callaghan
What was the cause of the Third Crusade What sort of ruler was Saladin and what
from 1189 to 1192? inTeRVieW WiTH… were his motivations?
The immediate cause was the pope’s call for Saladin’s quite difficult to get at because we
the crusade after Saladin [the first sultan of Helen nicHolson have [Islamic] histories of him written by
Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Yemen] captured Professor of people who were quite anxious to assure
Jerusalem. We have a papal accord to the Medieval History everyone who read them that he was very
Christians to go to the aid of their fellow at Cardiff spiritually minded, noble, heroic and a just
University, Helen
Christians in the East. It’s a family matter as Nicholson is a ruler. While we can’t deny any of these things,
well because King Henry II of England was a world-leading it would be nice to have an opposing view to
cousin of the rulers of Jerusalem and Richard I scholar on the give it a bit more balance.
Crusades and
[son of Henry II, king from 1189 to 1199] was a its military religious orders. Her There are people who regarded Saladin as
first cousin once removed — so it wasn’t just a research interests include women a usurper, a conqueror, not the valid ruler.
religious motivation. in the Crusades, the trials of the He spent most of his life fighting other
Knights Templar in Britain and
the use of Medieval literature as Muslims to try and establish his regime,
What did Richard I, or Richard the historical evidence. and throughout the Third Crusade he had
Lionheart, hope to achieve by leading the to negotiate with his own army — and
Crusade into the Middle East? the various groups that made up his army — to hold them
Well, nobody actually said ‘this is what our aims are’ and so together. There were points where he had to let people go back
we have to assume them from letters sent back to the West home to get in the harvest or carry out their own business. He
and from what people did. On the basis of the papal accord, was having problems and so he had to keep winning victories
we reckon that they wanted to recapture Jerusalem. We also to keep his army together.
suspect that they wished to set up a regime in the East that
would be agreeable to all concerned — that is to say the Latin What was the relationship like between Richard the
Christians in the West and the Franks settled in the East. It Lionheart and Saladin?
also would have preferably been [a regime] that was at least Contemporaries were interested in their continual sending of
acceptable to Saladin and his successors because they needed messages back and forth. The first thing Richard did [when
a peace treaty to hold the lands that they had recovered. he arrived] was to send a message to Saladin and open
They did set up a new regime and they also managed to negotiations for peace. Of course, according to both sides it
recapture some coastal towns — but they didn’t manage to was the other that started negotiations.
regain Jerusalem. The Western sources were concerned about Richard’s
apparent friendship with Saladin although the two never
“He had to keep actually met. But Saladin’s brother, al-Adil, did go to meet
Richard and this looked quite suspicious to Western writers.
On the other side, the picture was exactly the same if
winning victories to reversed. Sources around Saladin were very suspicious of The Third Crusade
Richard, thinking he was extremely clever, cunning and
keep his army together” untrustworthy. They wanted to know what he was up to and ultimately ended in a
three-year truce and the
Treaty of Jaffa
they thought Saladin ws being far too friendly.
60