Which relic was captured by Saladin's forces at Hattin?

The relic captured by Saladin’s forces at Hattin was the True Cross. The Crusader army carried this revered relic into the Battle of Hattin on 4 July 1187, but Saladin’s Ayyubid forces defeated and largely captured or destroyed the army near the Sea of Galilee.

The True Cross was believed by medieval Christians to be part of the wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified. It had been recovered in Jerusalem in the fourth century and became one of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem’s most important sacred symbols. Its presence on the battlefield reflected both religious confidence and the desperate importance of the campaign.

After the defeat, the relic was reportedly displayed upside down on a lance and sent to Damascus. Hattin opened the way for Saladin to seize much of the Crusader states, including Jerusalem in October 1187. The loss helped prompt the Third Crusade, led by rulers including Richard I of England and Philip II of France.

The True Cross is sometimes confused with other famous Christian relics, such as the Holy Grail, the Crown of Thorns, or the Holy Lance. Those objects were associated with different traditions and were not the relic captured at Hattin.