The year was 1177.
Saladin invaded the Kingdom of Jerusalem with a vast army, believing nothing stood between him and the Holy City.
Jerusalem appeared defenceless.
Outnumbered 20 to 1 Baldwin the young leper King stood in defiance.
The Battle of Montgisard — a 🧵✝️
Baldwin had been crowned King of Jerusalem at only thirteen.
Years earlier, his tutor had noticed something strange:
While other children cried when their arms were pinched during games, Baldwin felt nothing.
It was one of the first signs of leprosy.
The disease gradually weakened his body, but it did not weaken his sense of duty.
Baldwin learned to ride and command despite losing feeling and strength in his right hand.
By sixteen, he was already facing the greatest military leader of his age.
In November 1177, Saladin invaded from Egypt.
Much of the Kingdom of Jerusalem’s fighting strength had travelled north with other Crusader leaders.
Saladin saw his opportunity.
If he moved quickly, the road to Jerusalem would be almost completely open.
Baldwin refused to remain behind the city walls.
According to William of Tyre, he left Jerusalem with only 375 knights and moved south toward Ascalon.
Saladin’s invading force was vastly larger.
Medieval Christian sources placed it as high as 26,000 men, though the precise number remains disputed.
When Baldwin reached Ascalon, Saladin trapped him there with part of his army.
Believing the young king was no longer a threat, Saladin continued north.
His soldiers spread across the countryside, plundering towns and villages as they advanced toward Jerusalem.
But Baldwin had not surrendered.
He ordered the Knights Templar stationed near Gaza to join him.
Then the king escaped from Ascalon, united his small force with approximately eighty Templar knights and began pursuing Saladin.
Saladin did not expect Baldwin to follow him.
His army had become scattered across the countryside, while many soldiers were carrying captured goods.
The force that had entered the kingdom in overwhelming strength was no longer prepared to meet a sudden concentrated attack.
On 25 November 1177, Baldwin caught Saladin’s army near Montgisard, close to Ramla.
The Crusaders were still heavily outnumbered.
Retreat would have been understandable.
Instead, Baldwin prepared to charge.
The relic of the True Cross was carried before the Christian army.
Christian accounts describe Baldwin and his men kneeling before it and asking God for help.
Then the sixteen-year-old king rose, mounted his horse and took his place among the warriors.
The Crusader cavalry attacked before Saladin could properly organise his scattered troops.
Baldwin rode at the front.
Beside him fought the Templars, Raynald of Châtillon and the remaining knights of Jerusalem.
Their charge struck Saladin’s centre with devastating force.
Saladin’s army broke.
What had begun as an invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem became a desperate retreat toward Egypt.
Saladin narrowly escaped the battlefield while his forces were pursued for miles.
The retreat proved almost as destructive as the battle.
Heavy rain, flooded ground and the difficult journey across the desert inflicted further losses.
Many soldiers abandoned their weapons and possessions simply to escape.
Only a fraction of the invading army reportedly returned safely to Egypt.
Baldwin returned to Jerusalem in triumph.
He had been sixteen years old, afflicted by an incurable disease and vastly outnumbered.
Yet he had prevented Saladin from reaching the Holy City and inflicted one of the most devastating defeats of Saladin’s career.
The victory did not permanently decide the struggle for the Holy Land.
But on that November day in 1177, a teenage leper king rode beneath the True Cross and defeated an army that appeared unstoppable.
The Battle of Montgisard remains one of the most extraordinary victories in Crusader history. ✝️
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