Battle of Jacob ' s Ford Jerusalem has been and is considered by many to be one of the holiest cities in the world . For this reason , Christians and Muslims fought for control of the Holy City over several centuries . Around 1095 , Christians from Europe marched to the Holy Land to retake control of Jerusalem . By 1099 , the Crusaders achieved their goal and captured Jerusalem from the Muslims . Although unrest plagued the Holy City after the First Crusade , the Crusaders continually defeated any army that opposed them for many years . Saladin , one of the most well - known figures in Muslim history , was able to recapture Jerusalem in 1187 after almost a century of Christian rule . Many scholars believe that the Islamic takeover of the Holy City can be accredited to the Muslim victory over the Crusaders at Jacob ' s Ford in Syria , which occurred in 1179 between Muslim sultan Saladin and Christian king Baldwin IV . The site is also known by the Latin name of Vadum Iacob and in modern Hebrew as Ateret . Participants in the 1179 struggle for power and their early beginnings . Saladin , one of the most famous Islamic rulers , was Sultan of Egypt and , by 1174 , sultan of Syria after his takeover of Damascus . After seizing power in Syria , Saladin vowed to forge an Islamic empire around Jerusalem . Naturally , the end goal was to recapture the Holy City from the Crusaders , a significant stride towards an end to the Jihad . However , such a plan would take the Holy Land without major military conflict . Baldwin IV took control over the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the age of thirteen after the death of his father Amalric I in 1174 , the same year that Saladin came to power . Baldwin was a staunch believer in Christianity and , as a result , Saladin ’ s biggest problem to overcome . Although Baldwin was a rich and powerful leader , he was stricken with leprosy at a very young age . After approximately three years on the throne at Jerusalem , Baldwin was faced with his very first military challenge . Saladin invaded the Christian kingdom in approximately 1177 to rout the Crusaders . Although Saladin was almost twenty years older and more experienced than Baldwin , the youthful Christian monarch did not flounder in stressful situations . Baldwin and his Crusaders outwitted the Muslims at Mont Gisard on 25 November 1177 . As one Crusade scholar wrote with regards to Mont Gisard , “ [ t ] his was a striking achievement – the only defeat in pitched battle that Saladin suffered before the advent of Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade . ” By the end of the battle , Saladin was forced to flee back to Egypt after narrowly escaping death . Although the victory resulted in tremendous losses for Baldwin ’ s armies , his image throughout the kingdom gained in strength . In fact , some Christians in the Near East had even come to believe that “ ’ miracle ’ of his victory [ at Mont Gisard ] appear [ ed ] as a sign of divine mandate . ” Jacob ’ s Ford and the Castle of Chastellet . Jacob ’ s Ford is approximately one hundred miles north of Jerusalem at the Jordan River and was a key river crossing on one of the main roads between Acre , Israel and Damascus . Jacob ’ s Ford was also one of the safest crossings of the Jordan and , because of its location and importance , was utilized by Christian Palestine and Muslim Syria as a major intersection between the two civilizations . In the twelfth century , Baldwin and Saladin continually contested over the area on which Jacob ’ s Ford was situated . As a bold strategic move and as a result of his military victory at Mont Gisard , Baldwin decided to march to Jacob ’ s Ford and build a defensive fortress on its territory . The king and his Crusaders theorized that such a fortification could protect Jerusalem from a northern invasion and put pressure on Saladin ’ s stronghold at Damascus . Between October 1178 and April 1179 , Baldwin began the first stages of constructing his new line of defense , a fortification called Chastellet at Jacob ’ s Ford . While construction was in progress , Saladin became fully aware of the task he would have to overcome at Jacob ’ s Ford if he were to protect Syria and conquer Jerusalem . At the time , he was unable to stop the erection of Chastellet by military force because a large portion of his troops were stationed in northern Syria , putting down Muslim rebellions . As one author writes , “ Saladin was always at pains to portray himself as the champion of Islam against the European intruders , although in fact he spent much of , if not more , of his career involved in a war against … other Muslims . ” Consequently , the sultan turned to bribery and offered Baldwin 60 , 000 dinars to halt construction . Baldwin declined , but Saladin made a counter - offer of 100 , 000 dinars . The Christian king refused again and continued to build Chastellet . By the summer of 1179 , Baldwin ’ s forces had constructed a stone wall of massive proportions . “ The castle now had a formidable ten met [ er ] high wall – what one Arabic contemporary later described as ‘ an impregnable rampart of stone and iron ’ – and a single tower , but it was still a work in progress . ” Plans and tactics . After Baldwin refused both bribes , Saladin turned his attention away from the uprisings in northern Syria and focused on Jacob ’ s Ford and the Castle of Chastellet . He was fully aware that any further bargaining or negotiations would only be in vain and that the more time he wasted , the more time Baldwin would have to complete his massive fortification . In 1179 , only a few months after construction of Chastellet began , Saladin summoned a large Muslim army to march southeast towards Jacob ’ s Ford . The plan was simple : lay siege to the castle and its inhabitants before any reinforcements from Jerusalem or any of its neighboring territories could arrive . The Battle at Jacob ’ s Ford and Saladin ’ s victory . On 23 August 1179 , Saladin arrived at Jacob ’ s Ford and ordered his troops to shoot arrows at the castle , thus initiating the siege of the castle . While the archers distracted the men inside the fortification , miners were digging a tunnel to breach the stone and iron walls at the north - east corner of Chastellet . Once the tunnel was dug , Saladin ’ s forces placed large pieces of wood into the tunnel and set them alight . This process , called sapping , was a method in which the tunnel ' s supports were burnt away forcing the walls to eventually collapse under their own weight . Sapping initially failed for Saladin and his troops . So , the troops were forced to put out the fire with buckets of water and were paid one gold piece per bucket to do so . After the fire was extinguished , the miners were instructed to relight the fire . At the same time , Baldwin , having learned of this attack , called for reinforcements from Jerusalem . However , communications between Baldwin and Chastellet were slow and , by this time , the siege had been underway for several days . Baldwin ’ s forces inside the castle began to reinforce the main gates around the castle . Shortly after , the Muslims relit the fire in the tunnel under the castle , and the walls collapsed . As a result , the Crusaders ’ attempts to refortify the castle were in vain and , approximately six days after the siege began , Saladin and his troops entered Chastellet . By 30 August 1179 , the Muslim invaders had pillaged the castle at Jacob ’ s Ford and killed most of its residents . On the same day , less than one week after reinforcements were called , Baldwin and his supporting army set out from Tiberias , only to discover smoke permeating the horizon directly above Chastellet . Obviously , they were too late to save the 700 knights , architects , and construction workers who were killed and the other 800 who were taken captive . Baldwin and his reinforcements turned back towards Tiberias and Saladin ordered the remains of the fortification to be torn down . Aftermath . Although Saladin claimed a military victory at Chastellet , his troops fell victim to another enemy . Directly after the siege , the bodies of the 700 Crusaders killed at Jacob ’ s Ford were placed into a pit . The corpses in the pit began to decay in the August heat and , as a result , a plague ensued , killing approximately ten of Saladin ' s officers . However , this setback did not diminish Saladin ’ s military prowess . In 1180 , Saladin and Baldwin signed a truce . Seven years after this peace treaty between the Muslims and the Crusaders , Saladin captured Jerusalem from the Christians after the Battle of Hattin in 1187 . Some scholars suggest that , following Saladin ’ s victory at Jacob ’ s Ford in 1179 , Jerusalem was extremely vulnerable to capture because “ the entry into the kingdom by way of the Jordan Crossing immediately south of Lake Tiberias … used [ by ] Saladin in 1182 , 1184 , and 1187 was virtually undefended . ” After the capture of Jerusalem , Saladin remained militarily and politically successful in the Near East until a military encounter with Richard the Lionhearted , after which he was forced to make peace in 1192 . He died the next year . King Baldwin IV contracted leprosy and died in 1185 , at age twenty - three . . Archaeological importance . Today , most of the information scholars and historians know about the battle at Jacob ’ s Ford derives from archaeological evidence uncovered at the site .