Battle of Jaffa: Lionheart's Greatest Victory | HistoryNet

On September 2, 1192, Sultan Saladin and King Richard the Lionheart of England sign treaty over Jerusalem, at end of the Third Crusade. From the article:

"Saladin’s horsemen, though “swift as swallows” on their nimble Arabian horses, found the bristling wall of Crusader steel frustratingly difficult to penetrate. And while the Crusader infantry-men’s spears kept Saladin’s cavalry at bay, the Christian cross-bowmen’s rapid, accurate fire wreaked havoc on the Muslims’ lightly armored mounts. As the first wave galloped back to their lines, Richard laughed aloud. “There—what did I tell you?” he jeered to his men. “Now they have done their utmost. We have only to stand firm against every fresh attempt, till by God’s help the victory is ours.” Five times Saladin’s horsemen charged the Crusaders only to be repulsed at each attempt. Finally, sensing the enemy beginning to tire and lose spirit, Richard’s front ranks parted, and he and his knights burst forth in a furious charge.

The ferocity of this small force’s sudden attack caught Saladin’s troops by surprise, and they began to reel. “The king was a very giant in the battle and was everywhere in the field—now here, now there, wherever the attack of the Turks raged the hottest,” wrote one Christian chronicler. At one point Richard led his knights in a furious charge straight through Saladin’s right flank and into the rearguard. Twice he risked his life, first to cover an unhorsed Earl of Leicester, and then to rescue a knight named Ralph de Mauléon, whose lion standard the enemy had mistaken for the king’s. Watching from a distance, Saladin was so impressed by his rival’s prowess that when Richard himself was unhorsed, the sultan, in an unparalleled gesture of battlefield chivalry, sent him two fine Arabian stallions.

Richard graciously accepted Saladin’s generous gift, then threw himself once more into the fray. By midday both he and one of the stallions were splattered in blood, and it appeared as though an entire quiver of arrows was lodged in his armor and shield. As the battle wore on, fewer and fewer of Saladin’s men dared challenge the seemingly invincible Melech Ric. For one emir, however, the prospect of felling the English king proved too tempting, and he spurred his battle horse forward. With one mighty swing of his sword Richard sliced the foolish man in two, taking off not only his head but also his right shoulder and arm. At this horrific sight Saladin’s troops began to retreat, even as Richard rode up and down their lines, goading any man to face him. When Saladin’s son motioned to answer the challenge, his father abruptly ordered him to stay put, clearly not wishing to add a dead heir to the day’s woes. When no one else stepped forward, some sources claim Richard called for food and, in full view of the enemy, sat down to eat. Seeing that his men would not budge, a despondent Saladin once again withdrew to Yazur.

The epic week-long struggle for Jaffa fittingly proved to be the final battle of the Third Crusade, as both sides were now utterly exhausted. Saladin’s army had lost 700 men and 1,500 horses. Morale in the Muslim camp plummeted to such depths that for three days Saladin himself refused to leave his tent. While Richard had lost just 200 men, he and his army were wracked with disease. At one point, sick with fever, the English king wrote his rival asking for fresh fruit, and the chivalrous sultan generously obliged. On Sept. 2, 1192, left with no other recourse, the arch-rivals finally agreed to the Treaty of Jaffa, a three-year truce that left much of the coastline in Crusader hands but Jerusalem firmly in Saladin’s. One month later Richard the Lionheart left the Holy Land, never to return."