An enigma even in his own time, Saladin became a hero in the West long before his rediscovery in the Muslim world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

His famous truce with Richard the Lionheart is the most iconic moment in the entire history of the crusades. But why did Saladin negotiate a truce when he won nearly every battle?

This programme will tease out the hidden history of Saladin, Richard and the Third Crusade.

Saladin unexpectedly rose to power upon the death of Nur al-Din. Under him ‘jihad’, or Islamic counter-crusade, becomes a coherent rallying concept for the Muslim world.

Unifing Syria and Egypt, he defeated the crusaders at Hattin to reconquer Jerusalem in 1187.