Saladin vis-à-vis Richard Coeur de Lion: a Marriage Proposal

Photo credit: Marwan Mussulmani

Saladin's exploits are too many to enumerate in few sentences. Having unified Egypt and Syria, the illustrious founder of the Ayyubid Dynasty proceeded to defeat the Crusaders at Ḥaṭṭin and crowned his achievements by conquering Jerusalem.

Europe promptly reacted with a Third Crusade led by Richard Coeur de Lion. What ensued was a duel that issued in a stalemate: neither could Saladin expel the Franks form the Syrian coast nor was Richard able to muster resources adequate for the task of recoving Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher. What would the English monarch do? He came forward with a creative -though rather unusual- proposal: he offered the hand of his sister Joanna to Saladin's brother, al-Malik al-ʿĀdil. The proposed union would revive the Kingdom of Jerusalem under a couple of mixed faith thus allowing Muslims as well as Christians open access to the city.

As it turned out, the would be bride was not at all thrilled at the prospect of wedding an infidel (i.e. Muslim) prince or joining his harem's quarters. She bitterly scolded King Richard who, trying to reason with her, came-up with an equally bizarre compromise: entreating al-Adil to convert to Christianity! 

Needless to say, the proposal came to naught. How seriously did Saladin take the offer of his erstwhile opponent is not at all clear as there existed not the remotest possibility of al-ʿĀdil renouncing Islam. Coeur de Lion was to abandon his innovative compromise along with his Jerusalem ambitions as he returned to Europe to face more immediate challenges.