The battle of hattin (july 4,1187), battle in northern palestine that marked the e defeat and annihilation of the Christian Crusader armies of Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem reigned 1186–92, by the Muslim forces of Saladin. It paved the way for the Muslim reconquest of the city of Jerusalem (October 1187) and of the greater part of the three Crusader states—the county of Tripoli, the principality of Antioch, and the kingdom of Jerusalem—thus nullifying the achievements made in the Holy Land by the leaders of the first Crusades and alerting Europe to the need for a third Crusade.
