Battle of Montgisard The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Ayyubids and the Kingdom of Jerusalem on November 25 , 1177 . The 16 - year - old King Baldwin IV , seriously afflicted by leprosy , led an out - numbered Christian force against the army of Saladin . The Arab force was routed and their casualties were massive , and only a fraction managed to flee to safety . Background . In 1177 , King Baldwin IV , and Philip of Alsace who had recently arrived on pilgrimage , planned an alliance with the Byzantine Empire for a naval attack on Egypt ; but none of these plans came to fruition . Meanwhile , Saladin planned his own invasion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from Egypt . Learning of Saladin ' s plans , Baldwin IV left Jerusalem with , according to William of Tyre , only 375 knight s to attempt a defense at Ascalon , but Baldwin was stalled there by a detachment of troops sent by Saladin , who , again according to William of Tyre , had men . Accompanying Baldwin was Raynald of Châtillon , lord of Oultrejordain , who had just been released from captivity in Aleppo in 1176 . Raynald was a fierce enemy of Saladin , and was the effective commander of the army , with King Baldwin too ill with leprosy to command it personally . Also with the army were Odo de St Amand , master of the Knights Templar , Baldwin of Ibelin , his brother Balian , Reginald of Sidon , and Joscelin III of Edessa . Another Templar force attempted to meet Baldwin at Ascalon , but they were also besieged at Gaza . The Battle . Saladin continued his march towards Jerusalem , thinking that Baldwin would not dare to follow him with so few men . He attacked Ramla , Lydda and Arsuf , but because Baldwin was supposedly not a danger , he allowed his army to be spread out over a large area , pillaging and foraging . However , unknown to Saladin , the forces he had left to subdue the King had been insufficient and now both Baldwin and the Templars were marching to intercept him before he reached Jerusalem . The Christians , led by the King , pursued the Muslims along the coast , finally catching their enemies at " Mons Gisardi " , near Ramla . Saladin was taken totally by surprise . His army was in disarray , out of formation and tired from a long march . Saladin ' s army , in a state of panic , scrambled to make battle lines against the enemy . However , in the distance , the Christian army was completely quiet . King Baldwin ordered the relic of the True Cross to be raised in front of the troops . The King , whose teenage body was already ravaged by aggressive leprosy , was helped from his horse and dropped to his knees before the cross . He prayed to God for victory and rose to his feet to cheers from his army . As Saladin ' s army rushed to prepare , Baldwin began the charge across the sand . The Jerusalem army smashed into the hurriedly arranged Muslims , inflicting huge casualties . The King , fighting with bandaged hands to cover his terrible wounds and sores , was in the thick of the fighting and Saladin ' s men were quickly overwhelmed . They tried to flee but hardly any escaped . Saladin himself only avoided capture by escaping on a racing camel . King Baldwin ' s victory was total . He had utterly destroyed the invasion force , captured Saladin ' s baggage train and killed his nephew , ( Taqi ad - Din ' s son ) Ahmad . Baldwin pursued Saladin until nightfall , and then retired to Ascalon . Deluged by ten days of heavy rains and suffering the loss of roughly ninety percent of his army , including his personal bodyguard of Mamluk s , Saladin fled back to Egypt , harassed by Bedouins along the way . Only one tenth of his army made it back to Egypt with him . Aftermath . Baldwin memorialized his victory by erecting a Benedictine monastery on the battlefield , dedicated to St . Catherine of Alexandria , whose feast day fell on the day of the battle . However , it was a difficult victory ; Roger des Moulins , master of the Knights Hospitaller , reported that men had been killed and 750 returned home wounded . Saladin , fearing the tenuousness of both his hold on Egypt and the alliance with his Syrian vassals , spread propaganda that the Christians had in fact lost the battle . Meanwhile , Raymond III of Tripoli and Bohemund III of Antioch joined with Philip of Alsace in a separate expedition against Harim in Syria ; the siege of Harim lasted into 1178 , and Saladin ' s defeat at Montgisard prevented him from relieving his Syrian vassals . Despite an intervening year of relative peace , by 1179 Saladin was able to renew his attacks on the kingdom , including his victory at the Battle of Marj Ayyun that year . This led to almost another decade of warfare which culminated in Saladin ' s victory over the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 . After his withdrawal , Saladin reorganized his armies in Egypt with the assistance of his brother Turan - Shah and received the ambassador of the powerful Kilij Arslan . Fiction . The battle of Montgisard is alluded to in the 2005 movie " Kingdom of Heaven " , as a battle where King Baldwin IV defeated Saladin when he was sixteen . It was also described in novel book , written by Cecelia Holland . An account of the battle is also given in Swedish author Jan Guillou ' s novel " Tempelriddaren " ( The Knight Templar ) ( ISBN 91 - 1 - 300733 - 5 ) , in which the protagonist , Arn Magnusson ( de Gothia ) is portrayed as a high - ranking member of the Knights Templar , commanding a contingent of the army at the battle of Montgisard . The battle is shown in the movie Arn – The Knight Templar , which was based on Guillou ' s book .