At dawn on Thursday 29 August 1179, the great Muslim sultan Saladin launched a deadly assault on the Crusader castle of Jacob's Ford in the Holy Land. As his troops poured through a burning breach in the walls, the Christian garrison of elite Templar knights made a bloody, but ultimately futile, last stand.
In a final act of bravery the Templar commander mounted his warhorse and charged into the fray. One of Saladin's lieutenants later described how 'he threw himself into a hole full of fire without fear of the intense heat and, from this brazier, he was immediately thrown into another - that of Hell'.
On that day 800 of the garrison were butchered, and a further 700 taken captive. With the stronghold overrun, Saladin set about razing it to the ground, later claiming that he ripped the foundation stones out with his own hands. The site was then abandoned and for eight centuries it lay untouched, its story all but forgotten.
The true significance of Jacob's Ford, around 50 miles north-west of Jerusalem, is only now becoming apparent. With its location rediscovered and archaeological excavation underway, it now appears that the fall of this seemingly obscure fortress was actually a pivotal moment in the history of the Crusades as well as the wider struggle between Islam and the West.
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