Bahā' ad-Dīn Yusuf ibn Rafi ibn Shaddād (1145–1234)

A must read book about one great man of the Crusading period. Ever since Walter Scott, we Westerners have been fond of Salah-ed-Din, and I think rightly. Though I've been told, he's not the hero in the Islamic world, that role being taken by Baibars, the man revealed here would have been hard not to respect. Even William the bishop of Tyre has good words to say about him, as has Usamah ibn Munqid. The book is not organized the way a Frank would have done it, and you have to work a bit to show more establish the chronology, it is worth the time of every student of Outremer.
The translation I read was plucked from some very dusty library stacks, and was published in 1943, so the edition cited here might not be the one I read. the original was extant by 1185. show less

Brilliant. Glad I finally had the space to finish this gem I found in an Islamic bookstore in Singapore.