King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
AKA: The Leper King
After supposedly falling into one of Saladin's clever traps, being surrounded at Ascalon while Saladin's Main force marched on a now unprotected city of Jerusalem. At this point things were looking kind of bleak for our hero. He was outmanned, outsmarted, surrounded, and was now trapped inside a stupid, useless fortress while his nemesis was out there capturing undefended cities and blitzing towards the seat of European power in the Middle East. He didn't just call it quits he cracked his knuckles, and with a force of just 500 Knights Templar, he rode out to save the holy land from Saladin's seemingly invincible force.
Saladin had pretty much figured he had the Crusaders by the balls at this point, and in his haste to send the Europeans crying back home to their mamas he fucked up and forgot to keep an eye out for insane lepers hauling ass at Mach3.5 across the countryside. Baldwin caught Saladin by surprise and before his men could find their swords a massive Calvary charge was flying up their rear.
Think about this for a minute. On most days, Baldwin IV was barely able to stand – let alone take on the most powerful army in the world – but on the battlefield at Mont Gisard, he got so ripshit pumped up out of his mind about doing one completely fucking aweseome thing with his life that he did what seemed impossible and served as an inspiration to every man around him. The once-feeble King was out there in front of the host of warriors, his hands and arms wrapped in bandages in an unsuccessful attempt to lessen the searing pain shooting through his body as he gripped his blade, as he spurred his horse on, leading a charge of 500 knights (and a few thousand local infantry) against an army of 26,000 battle-hardened veteran soldiers.
The crusaders suffered heavy losses – over 2,000 casualties were reported in the aftermath – but in the process Baldwin IV and his knights somehow managed to snatch victory from the asshole of defeat and inflict the most devastating defeat the Invincible Saladin would ever suffer. Saladin's army was annihilated, many of his personal bodyguards were killed, and the great commander was lucky to escape the carnage with his life. He returned home to Egypt with fewer than a thousand survivors still under his command.
Baldwin died at 24 from his leprosy, but would always be remembered for his awe-inspiring victory.
== Credits to Badass of the Week for this information
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