Saladin did not come from wealth or royal blood. He rose from a modest Kurdish military family to unite the fractured Muslim world and recapture Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187 — a feat that had eluded every Islamic leader for nearly a century. Yet his reputation rests not just on conquest but on a chivalry so striking that even his Christian enemies admired him.

This episode traces Saladin's unlikely rise from minor officer to Sultan of Egypt and Syria, his patient unification of rival Muslim states, and the decisive Battle of Hattin that broke the Crusader kingdoms and sent shockwaves through medieval Christendom.

• Saladin's humble Kurdish origins and his rise through the ranks of Nur ad-Din's army
• The political maneuvering that unified Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia under one banner
• The Battle of Hattin and  ...