Three years later, Baldwin and Saladin agreed to stop fighting
for a while, but the peace was short. One of Baldwin’s knights,
Reynald of Chatillon, was a man who was hungry for gold and
for power. When he married, his wife gave him Kerak Castle
which looked down on the road that ran between Damascus
and Makkah. This castle made it easy for him to attack Muslim
pilgrims and to take their money from them.
‘Reynald, you are breaking the peace,’ King Baldwin told him
angrily. ‘We have promised the Muslims that the pilgrims’ road
will be safe.’
‘Your promise doesn’t worry me. Anyone crossing my land
must pay!’ said Reynald.
Saladin thought that Reynald was a man without honour,
and he decided to stop him. He marched to Kerak with his men.
But when Saladin was just going to attack the castle with siege
engines, he heard that Isabella of Jerusalem was marrying the
grandson of his old friend, Humphrey of Toron, there. ‘Find out
where the party will be,’ he said to his soldiers, ‘I don’t want to
hit that side of the building!’ To thank Saladin for this, Isabella
sent food to the men in his army.