Robert of St. Albans

[Good brother]

Robert of St. Albans

The heroic life and character of Saladin seems to have exercised an especial fascination on the minds of the Christians of his time ; some even of the Christian knights were so strongly attracted towards him that they abandoned the Christian faith and their own people and joined themselves to the Musalmans ; such was the case, for example, with a certain English Templar, named Robert of St. Alban's, who in 1185 a.d. gave up Christianity for Islam and afterwards married a grand-daughter of Saladin. 2
Two years later, Saladin invaded Palestine and utterly defeated the Christian army in the battle of Hittin, Guy, king of Jeru- salem, being among the prisoners. On the eve of the battle, six of his knights, " possessed with a devilish spirit," deserted the king and escaped into the camp of Saladin, where of their own accord they became Saracens. 3
At the same time Saladin seems to have had an understanding with Raymund TIL, Count of Tripoli, according to which he was to induce his followers to abandon the Christian faith and go over to the Musalmans ; but the sudden death of the Count effectually put a stop to the execution of this scheme. 4 (2-J Roger Hoveden, vol. ii. p. 307., 3-a Benedict of Peterborough, vol. ii. pp. 1 1-12. 4 Benedict of Peterborough, vol. ii. pp. 20-21.Roger Hoveden, vol. ii. pp. 316, 322."The preaching of Islam : a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith"

From Wikipedia;

Robert of St. Albans (died 1187)[1] was an English templar knight who converted to Islam from Christianity[2] in 1185 and led an army for Saladin[3] against the Crusaders in Jerusalem[4] which was at the time under the control of the Franks.[5] Robert eventually married the niece of Saladin.[6] Robert's conversion to Islam caused significant dismay among the Christians and sparked ill-will toward the Knights Templar in general.[7]