Saladin and the Recapture of Jerusalem, 1174–1193 | Calm Bedtime History

In the spring of 1193, in a modest stone chamber in the Citadel of Damascus, Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub lay dying. He was fifty-five or fifty-six years old. Around him stood physicians, family members, and the few possessions he still owned. Outside, the city he had made his capital prepared for mourning. The man who had recaptured Jerusalem, who had faced Richard the Lionheart across a battlefield, had spent his personal fortune on war and charity until almost nothing remained.