Libellus de expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum

[1][2] The core of the text was written shortly after the events it describes and then supplemented by the addition of an account of the Third Crusade early in the thirteenth century.

It has been retained by the work's most recent editors, who argue that libellus, which in the Middle Ages usually referred to a polemical or exegetical treatise, is a better descriptor than chronicon.

The same manuscript also contains the more conventional title Cronica de Terra Sancta ("Chronicle of the Holy Land") added by a modern hand.

[4] In the 16th or 17th century, somebody added the title Chronicon Terrae Sanctae expugnatae a Saladino ("Chronicle of the Holy Land Captured by Saladin") to manuscript V, which was copied also in V2.

[7] In the 17th or 18th century, the title Cronicon Terrę Sanctę ("Chronicle of the Holy Land") was added to manuscript A, probably by Bishop Thomas Tanner.

The first part consists of the first 26 chapters, which contain an original account of events in Outremer between the death of King Baldwin V on 13 September 1186 to the Ayyubid occupation of Jerusalem on 2 October 1187.

The first part begins with the closure of the gates of Jerusalem following Baldwin V's death and before the coronation of Queen Sibylla and her husband, Guy of Lusignan.

Saladin ritually cleanses the Temple Mount, the golden cross atop the Dome of the Rock is removed, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is plundered and the gates of Jerusalem are closed to Christians.