“In the end Hattin was won because Saladin got his enemies to fight where he wanted, when he wanted and how he wanted.” This is how David Nicolle summarizes the battle of Hattin fought on 3–4 July 1187. This view is opposed to previous studies in which the dramatic results of the encounter are explained by three principal reasons:

1. The climatic conditions that prevailed during the battle.

2. Difficulties within the Frankish leadership which might have influenced the king's decision-making process.

3. The numerical superiority of the Muslim army.

Apparently, these three factors played an important role in the events during the battle, but how is unclear. The first two reasons imply that events developed due to Frankish negligence and not because of the tactics of the Muslim's army leadership and imply that heat and the thirst affected the Franks, but did not have a significant influence on the Muslims. The decisions of the Franks were wrong, but the way the Muslims took advantage of them remains unclear. Even the gathering of a huge Muslim army is often described as a given deed and not as an outcome of a well-executed policy.

The working hypothesis of this study assumes that although each of the above reasons played an important role in the events that took place during the battle, none tipped the scales. All through the twelfth century the Franks either won or endured different battles in spite of problems of the sort that supposedly decided the battle of Hattin.