ABSTRACT
The battle of Hattin, which brought about the fall of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, has called forth contradictory statements. Many of these are without historical value, and Mr Marshall Baldwin had to undertake a very careful criticism of them to be able to retrace the exact development of the operations. The discovery of an account of Hattin, in a manuscript of the Vatican library, has led us to reconsider some points of this criticism. Robert recalls the troubles following the death in 1186 of Baldwin V and the first clashes with the Moslems. Count Raymond of Tripolis counselled that they should make first of all for the hill of Hattin, where the Frankish army could entrench itself in an impregnable position. This account of Hattin leads us to consider the neglected problem of the Frankish mercenaries in the East. From the tenth century onwards were always such professional soldiers in Western armies.
