My particular favorite was Gerard de Ridefort, Grand Marshall of the Knights Templar in the, what I would consider to be, exciting build up to the Third Crusade. Far from the often times over simplified conflict of just "Christian vs. Muslim", there were deep, brewing factions, animosities, and internal fighting within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, torn on every side of the gradient by local loyalty, piety, devotion to oneself and the kingdom, pursuit of personal advancement, personal glory, and everything in between.

Gerard de Ridefort was the seneschal of the Knights Templar and was elected to Grand Master following the death of Arnold of Torroja. The timing of Ridefort's ascension was a fascinating one, not for any internal politics within the Knights Templar per se, but because the entire region was starting to come undone at the seams.

Powers within regional Europe itself were already proxying conflicts with Saladin, even before the massive build up that saw the arrival of King Richard and the march of Emperor Barbarossa. Richard's father, for instance, Henry II, had given a substantial amount of money to the Knights Templar.

That particular payment served a dual purpose of meeting requirements of papal penance for the murder of Thomas Beckett and because Henry II had future plans for crusades against Saladin. It was an efficient, economical way to achieve multiple goals.

Ridefort himself was a strange man. A cursory reading of his history suggests one who was fanatically zealous about his role as Grand Marshall and the duty the Knights Templar played in defense of Christendom. No matter the odds in battle he was prone to crying out that God wills it and plunging head first into the fray.

Yet he was also decidedly squirrely and seemed to have literally no qualms whatsever in saying whatever he had to to get ahead and invariably save his own skin.

Following the death of King Baldwin IV, his sickly young son technically ruled, with Raymond III of Tripoli serving as his regent. In time Baldwin V passed and a dispute arose that split the Kingdom of Jerusalem in competing camps. The prominent Ibelin family backed by Raymond of Tripoli had hoped to back the Princess Isabella, while Ridefort and the notorious Reynald de Chatillion opted to back Sybilla and her husband, Guy de Lusignon. Intriguingly, all of this was in stark violation of Baldwin IV's will, who would have seen his nephew inherit. But wills sometimes do find themselves sacrificed to the greater political whims of court.

Ridefort and Chatillion preferred a more militaristic approach to dealing with Saladin and the Saracens. They were not without their reasons for desiring belligerance. It was not a safe road to the Christian Holy Sites and some believed that the "bandits" and raiders were attacking pilgrims ostensibly at the behest of Saladin, or at least those loyal to Saladin as an attack on Christendom.

Rather than a measured response or a purely defensive one, Ridefort frequently led raids into Muslim territory, usually provocatively.

Raymond III of Tripoli had concluded a peace of sorts with Saladin, but this was brought into serious strain by the fact that Saladin wished to launch reprisal raids against Christian forces that had done so on his own land. Saladin would normally have allowed the raids to pass without force on his own part, but he was disgusted by the fact that Chatillion had not been chastised by King Guy de Lusignon for those very attacks.

Raymond was playing a dangerous game and some argue he had hoped to form an alliance for mutual gain with Saladin, leveraging the Muslim leader's disgust for Guy to supplant him, presumably to place Isabella on the throne.

Raymond agreed to allow a small force through his lands so that he could admonish Reynald, on the promise that there would be no damage to his lands or peoples. Witnessing this, Gerard de Ridefort rallied as many knights as he could and planned to meet the advancing ~10,000 strong Ayyubid force.

With roughly 90-130 Knights Templar. According to the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi:

So Saladin assembled armed forces and marched violently on Palestine. He sent the emir of Edessa, Manafaradin (al-Muzaffar- Gökböri), on ahead with 7,000 Turks to ravage the Holy Land. Now, when this Manafaradin advanced into the Tiberias region, he happened to encounter the master of the Temple, Gerard de Ridefort, and the master of the Hospital, Roger des Moulins. In the unexpected battle which followed, he put the former to flight and killed the latter.

By all accounts Ridefort made up in courage what he lacked in tactics and strategy. He passionately promised victory to the true believers in Christ and called on their courage then led them into battle where they fell easily for a variety of simple and at the time "typical" Ayyubid tactical tricks.

The Templars were slaughtered nearly to a man. Ridefort managed to survive, though he was wounded and his reports of the battle were later used by the Pope himself.

Following the battle, which was a political disaster for Raymond of Tripoli forcing him to reconcile with Guy de Lusignon, Ridefort returned to Jerusalem and continued to serve as a firebrand of anti-Saracen rhetoric.

Raids continued into Muslim territory, tensions continued to reach a fever pitch, and Saladin decided to retake Jerusalem once and for all, uniting the factions of Jerusalem just long enough for Ridefort to pressure King Guy into fighting to defend the city of Tiberias.

Most curiously, Raymond III was the ruler of Tiberias and his own wife was there facing the imminent capture by Saladin and his forces. All the same, Raymond III argued for a grander strategy of defending the kingdom as a whole, rather than allowing emotions to get in the way and spread their forces thin trying to defend every target.

Ridefort was as passionate as he ever was, equal parts belligerent and uncompromising. His insistence to defend Tiberias on the grounds that it was a Christian city and therefore their duty to defend, resulted in the cataclysmic Battle of Hattin.

The defeat, as you may well know, was unbelievably lopsided. King Guy was captured along with what was believed to be a piece of the very cross on which Christ was crucified. The army was utterly demolished and very little stood between Saladin and his march to Jerusalem.

I've read conflicting reports about what exactly Ridefort was willing to concede to Saladin after he was captured. I've heard some say he agreed to sell out a fortress and to never take up arms against Saladin again if his life was spared. I've read others that have said he agreed to convert to Islam as well.

In any case, Ridefort was freed from Saladin's captivity on his own honor. He retreated, compelled a Templar fortress to surrender, which I find curious considering his stance on Tiberias.

Returning to Jerusalem, he retook command of the Knights Templar from their interim leader, Brother Terricus. He then ransacked what money remained from King Henry II of England, a point of particular contention and anger that raised eyebrows all across Europe, reneged on his promise to keep from bearing arms against Saladin, and joined Guy once more.

Captured at the Siege of Acre, Saladin had had enough of seeing this man, Ridefort, continually appearing and proving to be a violent, unnameable and perhaps untrustworthy nuisance. So at long last, Ridefort was beheaded on Saladin's order.

Generally speaking, the complex politics and vast sweeping cast of characters that populated the Third Crusade and the interim years leading up to it can be better filled in by flaired historians who are experts in the field. Gerard de Ridefort, however, has always been such a peculiar fascination of mine because every time I read about him he seems pulled into so many extreme, seemingly contradictory, yet always consistently portrayed ideals.