23. Saladin was a leader of the Kurds in Syria and Egypt
Born in what is today’s Iraq in a family of mixed Kurdish and Turkish descent, Saladin led the Muslim armies to defeat the Crusaders’ Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattim in 1187. He then fought England’s Richard the Lionheart in the Third Crusade, which ended with Jerusalem still in his hands. Saladin was generous to his enemies and his friends, granting amnesty to surrendering Christians and granting freedom of movement to Christians within the lands he controlled. At his death he was discovered to be nearly penniless, having given his vast wealth away to his poorer subjects, leaving not enough to bury him.