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Second Crusade, 1147-1149 CE

It was to recapture the city of Edessa, and was organized by the Pope and other European nobles

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The Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE) was a military campaign organised by the Pope and European nobles to recapture the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia which had fallen in 1144 CE to the Muslim Seljuk Turks. Despite an army of 60,000 and the presence of two western kings, the crusade was not successful in the Levant and caused further tension between the Byzantine Empire and the west. The Second Crusade also included significant campaigns in the Iberian peninsula and the Baltic against the Muslim Moors and pagan Europeans respectively. Both secondary campaigns were largely successful but the main objective, to free the Latin East from the threat of Muslim occupation, would remain unfulfilled, and so further crusades over the next two centuries would be called, all with only marginal successes.

Goals

Edessa, located on the edge of the desert of Syria in Upper Mesopotamia, was an important commercial and cultural centre. The city had been in Christian hands since the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE) but it fell to Imad ad-Din Zangi (r. 1127-1146 CE), the Muslim independent ruler of Mosul (in Iraq) and Aleppo (in Syria), on 24 December 1144 CE. Following the capture, which Muslims described as "the victory of victories" (Asbridge, 226), western Christians were killed or sold into slavery while eastern Christians were permitted to remain. A response was called for. The Christians of Edessa had appealed for help, and a general defence of the Latin East, as the Crusader states in the Middle East were collectively known, was required.

The lack of a precise aim for the Second Crusade would have repercussions later in the western leaders' choice of military targets.

Pope Eugenius III (r. 1145-1153 CE) formally called for a crusade (what is now known as the Second Crusade) on 1 December 1145 CE. The goals of the campaign were put somewhat vaguely. Neither Edessa nor Zangi was specifically mentioned, rather it was a broad appeal for the achievements of the First Crusade and Christians and holy relics in the Levant to be protected. This lack of a precise aim would have repercussions later in the Crusaders' choice of military targets. To boost the Crusade's appeal, Christians who joined were promised a remission of their sins, even if they died on the journey to the Levant. In addition, their property and families would be protected while away and such trivial matters as interest on loans would be suspended or cancelled. The appeal, backed by recruitment tours across Europe - notably by Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux - and the widespread public reading of a letter from the Pope (called the Quantum praedecessores after its first two words), was hugely successful, and 60,000 Crusaders made ready for departure.

The Crusade was led by the German king Conrad III (r. 1138-1152 CE) and Louis VII, the king of France (r. 1137-1180 CE). It was the first time that kings had personally led a crusader force. In the early summer of 1147 CE the army marched across Europe to Constantinople, and from there to the Levant where the French and German troops were joined by Italians, northern Europeans, and more French crusaders who had sailed rather than travelled by land. The Crusaders were reminded of the urgency of a military response when Nur ad-Din (also spelt Nur al-Din, r. 1146-1174 CE), Zangi's successor after his death in September 1146 CE, defeated the Latin leader Joscelin II's attempt to retake Edessa. Once again the city was sacked to celebrate Nur ad-Din's new power. All the Christian male citizens of the city were slaughtered, and the women and children were sold into slavery, just as their western fellows had been two years before.

Iberia & Baltic Campaigns

The Second Crusade, besides Edessa, had additional objectives in Iberia and the Baltic, and both campaigns were backed by the Pope. The crusaders who were to sail to the east were perhaps used in Iberia because they had to delay their departure in order for the land armies to make their slow progress to the Levant. The sea route was much quicker and so it was advantageous to put them to good use in the meantime. A fleet of some 160-200 Genoese ships packed with crusaders sailed for Lisbon to assist King Alfonso Henriques of Portugal (r. 1139-1185 CE) capture that city from the Muslims. On arrival, a textbook siege began on 28 June 1147 CE and was ultimately successful, the city falling on 24 October 1147 CE. Some crusaders successfully continued the war against the Muslims in Iberia, the reconquista, as it was known, notably capturing Almeria in Spain (17 October 1147 CE) guided by King Alfonso VII of León and Castille (r. 1126-1157 CE) and Tortosa in eastern Spain (30 December 1148 CE). An attack on Jaén in southern Spain, though, was a failure.

Another arena for the Crusades was the Baltic and those areas bordering German territories which continued to be pagan. The Northern Crusades campaign, conducted by Saxons led by German and Danish nobles and directed against the pagan Wends, provided a new facet to the Crusader movement: active conversion of non-Christians as opposed to liberating territory held by infidels. Between June and September of 1147 CE, Dobin and Malchow (both in modern northeast Germany) were successfully attacked but the overall campaign fared little better than the usual annual raiding parties sent into the area. The Baltic would continue to be an arena for Crusades in the following centuries, especially with the arrival of the Teutonic Knights from the 13th century CE.

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The Byzantine emperor at the time of the Second Crusade was Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143 - 1180 CE). Unlike his predecessors, Manuel seemed greatly attracted to the west. He favoured Latins in Constantinople, dispensing civil awards and military titles in their direction. Ever since the First Crusade, though, there was a deep suspicion on both sides between the west and Byzantium. Manuel's primary concern was that the Crusaders were really only after the choice parts of the Byzantine Empire, especially now that Jerusalem was in Christian hands. It was for this reason that Manuel insisted the leaders of the Crusade, on arrival in September and October 1147 CE, swear allegiance to him. At the same time, the western powers considered the Byzantines rather too preoccupied with their own affairs and unhelpful in the noble opportunities they thought a crusade presented. The Byzantines had been attacking Crusader-held Antioch, and the old divisions between the eastern and western churches had not gone away. It was significant that Manuel, despite the diplomacy, strengthened the fortifications of Constantinople.

In more practical terms, the usual rabble of zealots and men of dubious background seeking absolution which crusader campaigns seemed to attract were soon pillaging, looting, and raping as they crossed Byzantine territory on their way to the Levant. This was despite Manuel's insistence to the leaders that all food and supplies be paid for. Manuel provided a military escort to see the Crusaders on their way as quickly as possible, but fighting between the two armed groups was not infrequent. Adrianople in Thrace suffered particularly badly.

When the French and German contingents arrived at the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 1147 CE, things worsened still. Always suspicious of the Eastern Church and now outraged to discover Manuel had signed a truce with the Turks (seen by him as less of a threat than the Crusaders in the short term), the French section of the army wanted to storm Constantinople itself. The German crusaders had their own problems, a large number of them being wiped out by a terrible flash flood. The Crusaders were, eventually, persuaded to hurry on their way east with reports of a large Muslim army preparing to block their path in Asia Minor. There they ignored Manuel's advice to stick to the safety of the coast and so met disaster.

The German army led by Conrad III was the first to suffer from a lack of planning & not heeding local advice.

Asia Minor & Disaster

The German army led by Conrad III was the first to suffer from a lack of planning and not heeding local advice. Unprepared for the harsh semi-arid steppe, the Crusaders lacked food supplies, and Conrad had underestimated the time needed to reach his objective. At Dorylaion a force of Muslim Seljuk Turks, primarily archers, caused havoc with the slow-moving westerners on 25 October 1147 CE, and, forced to retreat to Nicaea, Conrad himself was wounded but did eventually make it back to Constantinople. Louis VII was shocked to hear of the Germans' failure but pressed on and managed to defeat a Seljuk army in December 1147 CE using his superior cavalry. The success was short-lived, though, for on 7 January 1148 CE the French were beaten badly in battle as they crossed the Cadmus Mountains. The Crusader army had become too stretched out, some units losing contact with each other and the Seljuks took full advantage. What remained of the westerners was commanded by a group of Knights Templars. There were a few minor victories as the Crusaders made their way to the southern coast of Asia Minor but it was a disastrous opening to a campaign which had not even reached its target of northern Syria.

The Siege of Damascus

Louis VII and his ravaged army finally arrived at Antioch in March 1148 CE. From there, he ignored Raymond of Antioch's proposal to fight in northern Syria and marched on to the south. The lack of cooperation between the two rulers, if rumours were true, may have been due to Louis' discovery that his young wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and Raymond (Eleanor's uncle) had been carrying on an affair under his very nose. In any case, a council of western leaders was convened at Acre, and the target of the Crusade was now selected, not at the already destroyed Edessa, but Muslim-held Damascus, the closest threat to Jerusalem and a prestigious prize.

Although Damascus had once been in alliance with the Crusader-led Kingdom of Jerusalem, the shifting loyalties between the various Muslim states meant this fact held no guarantee for the future and, faced with the necessity to take at least one major city or go home as complete failures, Damascus was as good a choice as any for the Crusaders. The situation was made more urgent as there was now a very real prospect that the Muslims of Damascus would join up with those of Aleppo under command of Edessa's ambitious conqueror, Nur ad-Din.

The failures of the Second Crusade were now putting the already legendary successes of the First Crusade into some perspective.

The Crusader army arrived at Damascus on 24 July 1148 CE and immediately began a siege. After only four days, though, the difficulties presented by the defences and the serious lack of water for the attackers meant the siege had to be abandoned. Once again, bad planning and poor logistics were to prove the Crusaders' undoing. The fighting around the city had been ferocious with heavy casualties on both sides but no real advance had been made. The failures of the Second Crusade were now putting the already legendary successes of the First Crusade into some perspective.

The collapse of the siege after such a short time led some, notably Conrad III, to suspect the defenders had bribed the Christian residents into inaction. Others suspected Byzantine interference. Overlooked, perhaps, is the zeal of the defenders to keep their prized possession, a city with many links to Islamic tradition, and the arrival 150 kilometres away of a large Muslim relief army sent by Nur ad-Din. With limited numbers and supplies and facing a short time limit to capture the city before relief arrived and threatened their own poor defences, the Crusader leaders may have preferred the option of retreat to fight another day. There was to be no other fight, though, as Conrad III returned to Europe in September 1148 CE and Louis, after a sightseeing tour of the Holy Land, did the same six months later. The Second Crusade, despite so much early promise, had disappointingly fizzled out like a water-damaged firework.

Aftermath

The Second Crusade was a serious blow to Byzantium's carefully constructed diplomatic alliances, especially with Conrad III against the Normans. The Crusade and Conrad's absence from Europe provided a distraction which allowed the Norman king Roger II of Sicily (r. 1130-1154 CE) the freedom to attack and pillage Kerkyra ( Corfu), Euboea, Corinth, and Thebes in 1147 CE. Manuel's attempt to persuade Louis VII to side with him against Roger failed. In 1149 CE the embarrassment of a Serbian uprising and an attack on the area around Constantinople by George of Antioch's fleet was offset by the Byzantines recapturing Kerkyra. Once again, a crusade had damaged east-west relations.

Nur ad-Din, as the Crusaders no doubt had feared, continued to consolidate his empire, and he took Antioch on 29 June 1149 CE after the battle of Inab, beheading its ruler Raymond of Antioch. Raymond, the Count of Edessa, was captured and imprisoned, and the Latin state of Edessa was eliminated by 1150 CE. Next Nur ad-Din took over Damascus in 1154 CE, uniting Muslim Syria. Manuel would strike back with successful campaigns there from 1158 to 1176 CE, but the signs were ominous that the Muslims would pose a permanent threat to the Byzantines and Latin East. When Nur ad-Din's general Shirkuh conquered Egypt in 1168 CE, the way was paved for an even greater threat to Christendom, the great Muslim leader Saladin (r. 1169-1193 CE), Sultan of Egypt, whose victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 CE would spark off the Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE).

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The Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE) was a military campaign organised by the Pope and European nobles to recapture the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia which had fallen in 1144 CE to the Muslim Seljuk Turks.

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The first crusades' started 27th of November 1095 - 1099

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Who called for the First Crusade?

Pope Urban II first sparked the idea of crusading when he issued a landmark call at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, commanding the Christian warriors of western Europe to take up arms against perceived enemies in the east, in order to reclaim the Holy Land.

Urban hailed from a noble French family, before becoming a Cluniac monk and later pope. He understood the wants and needs of those he called upon in Clermont, appealing to a throng that included all kinds of religious leaders, from archbishops to clerics.

Pope Urban II first sparked the idea of crusading when he issued a landmark call at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095. (Image by Getty Images)

According to eyewitness contemporary chronicler Fulcher of Chartres, it was the mission, said the pope, of warriors "to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends". Urban also promised a reward: that all who should embark upon such a crusade and die would receive remission of their sins: in other words, guaranteed entry into heaven.

Pope Urban II's rallying cry soon became what is known today as the First Crusade, as men and women, young and old, set off to reclaim the Near East for Christendom. Within months, thousands had 'taken the cross'.

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By the summer of 1096, four crusading contingents - estimates vary between 30,000 and 100,000 crusaders - were on their way to Jerusalem.

Why did the First Crusade happen?

There is a complex web of reasons why the First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II.

Since the 1060s, Christian Byzantines had been engaged in conflict with the Sunni Muslim Seljuk empire - a rival power to the Fatimids that had conquered much of Anatolia (now part of modern-day Turkey, then a part of the Byzantine empire) and the near east - and by 1095 they had hoped to claim back what they had lost.

Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos had pleaded for western warriors to strengthen his own troops, sending envoys to Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza (March 1095) and, later, the Council of Clermont (November 1095).

Alexios' appeal offered a solution to two issues that had troubled Urban. It not only allowed him to establish himself as the true leader of Christendom at a time of wavering papal authority, but provided the aggressive knights of western Europe with an outlet for their martial energies - all while offering his flock the chance to achieve salvation.

It is uncertain to what extent Jerusalem was central to Pope Urban II's thinking when he issued his call to arms; it may have been tagged on by the Byzantines or the papacy as an additional incentive to entice western Christendom to action. Certainly, in later sources, it is attributed as a main aim of the campaign, but it could have been easy to reverse-engineer as justification for Jerusalem's conquest.

In terms of practicalities, after years of poor harvests, 1095 AD had proven a bountiful year, making supplying a large army on the move feasible.

Who fought in the First Crusade?

While the pope had intended to rally the elite troops of western Europe, his summons had a surprising result: an explosion of popular religious fervour that inspired tens of thousands across Europe to travel thousands of miles to fight an enemy in utterly alien territory.

Nobles, knights, engineers, clergy, peasants, women and children all set out. They were mostly from France, but also from the Iberian peninsula to England, and from the Italian peninsula to the German states, and were spurred on by religious zeal, or travelled either out of obligation to a lord, or even for honour, land or wealth.

This crusading army encompassed four contingents that, while not always cooperative, were held together by their common goal - to recapture Jerusalem.

What were the key sieges of the First Crusade?

While there were several other notable confrontations, there were four major sieges during the First Crusade.

1) The siege of Nicaea

The first target of the crusading army lay just under 100 miles into Asia Minor: the ancient Greek city of Nicaea, which had been captured by Seljuk Turks in 1081.

A battle scene during the First Crusade, led by Goffredo Count of Bouillon. Miniature from 'Roman de Godefroi de Bouillon', France c14th century. (Images by Getty Images)

This first encounter was relatively anticlimactic as, after at the end of the siege - which lasted from May and June 1097 - the Byzantine contingent of the crusading army negotiated a surrender with the defenders. This forced the crusaders to move on before they had a chance to loot the city.

As they travelled further through Asia Minor, some of the crusaders were ambushed at the battle of Dorylaeum in July 1097, before being rescued by a relief force.

2) The siege of Antioch

Arguably the most arduous moment of their journey was to be found shortly afterwards at Seljuk-held Antioch (modern-day Antakya in Turkey), which the crusaders besieged from October 1097 until June 1098.

For much of that time, starvation rocked the crusader camp, and it ended not with open battle, but guile and violence.

In the spring of 1098, one of their leaders - Bohemond of Taranto - made a deal with an Armenian guard, Firouz. He allowed Bohemond and a small party into Antioch, who subsequently opened the gate, allowing the rest of the crusading army to flood in and take the city by storm.

3) The second siege (and subsequent battle of Antioch)

Having conquered Antioch, within days the crusaders were in a desperate position, as they were then besieged themselves - trapped by a relief force of Seljuk Turk Kerbogha.

It was during this month-long siege that a priest called Peter Bartholomew claimed to have made a miraculous discovery - the Holy Lance that had pierced the side of Christ as he was tied to the cross.

In a last-ditch attempt, they marched out of the city, scattering Kerbogha's forces in battle on 28 June 1098.

4) The siege of Jerusalem

The crusaders final challenge was the holy city of Jerusalem, which they besieged in the simmering heat of July 1099.

Good fortune struck, and utilising timbers from allied supply ships trapped in a nearby harbour, the crusaders were able to build two siege towers and scramble over the city walls, where they sacked and massacred many of its inhabitants.

The crusaders' victory of 15 July 1099 AD at Jerusalem prompted widespread celebration in the Christian world. In the Muslim world, stories and rumours about the crusaders' conquests swirled and were weaponised over time, which had long repercussions in the following centuries.

What was the outcome of the First Crusade?

The First Crusade was interpreted in western Europe as a major success. The crusaders had captured the holy city of Jerusalem, and with it the supposed site of Jesus Christ's burial, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

The Church seized upon this achievement quickly, establishing crusading as a worthy military endeavour. In future years, it would hark back to the First Crusade as the blueprint for any subsequent campaigns.

There were geopolitical changes, too. In the wake of the campaign, the crusaders also established four crusader states: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa and the County of Tripoli.

Although Edessa was lost in 1150, the remaining three survived for almost 200 years, providing defence for Christian communities in the Middle East, as well as maintaining a western presence on the borderlands of Christian control.

However, in the long-term, the First Crusade created a series of problems.

Primarily, the success of the First Crusade led western Christians to believe they could seize and hold the Levant - a broad geographical term describing the eastern part of the Mediterranean, with its islands and the countries adjoining.

In reality, the crusader states were too far from Europe's heartlands, and were on the edge of a vast, militarily impressive Islamic empire.

Gradual resentment among the Muslim caliphates about these Christian landholdings escalated into a growing counter-crusade which, by the 1140s, had exploded into full-blown retaliation. Against such a threat, maintaining a western presence in the region became an unsustainable campaign.
Find out more about the First Crusade in our podcast series, The First Crusade: The War That Transformed The Medieval World. All episodes are available to members of HistoryExtra now

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What were the landmark sieges of the First Crusade? Who went on this long and arduous journey? And what caused Pope Urban II to spark the idea of crusading in the minds of western Europe? We answer your top questions surrounding the armed pilgrimage that kickstarted years of military campaigns to the Holy Land and beyond...

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Pope- Western region

Islamic- Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub

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The 1st crusades into countries it is regions of the world, the crusades comprised a lot of different areas, in today's map it was Germany, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Poland, Italy, England, and part of Spain. This is the European side of the Western world (Christianity)

The other region was the eastern world (the Islamic world) Isreal, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, part of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan all of the Middle East, the northern parts of Africa, and the southeast parts of Europe, Greece

The Islamic world and the Byzantine world were the Eastern and Christians whereas the west

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The Islamic world holds control of the Middle East region, the Islamic world has a main foothold in that part of the world and they are spreading their religion to everything near by. The pope tells the Christians they have to go and re-take Jerusalem which is their holy land

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it doesn't end until the 4th crucade

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Some woman went and fought in this battle while other woman stayed home to become local leaders

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- Third Cusade, 1189-1192 CE

- launched to retake Jerusalem after its fall to the Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 CE.

Three European monarchs wanted to take Jerusalem while it was still under no leader and no catholicism.

'The Kings' Crusade'. The three leaders were: Frederick I Barbarossa, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1152-1190 CE), Philip II of France (r. 1180-1223 CE), and Richard I 'the Lionhearted' of England (r. 1189-1199 CE).

- Crusade definition: each of a series of medieval military expeditions made by Europeans to the Holy Land in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.

- Fredric (king of Germany and Holy Roman) died, so some troops left and others died of dysentery.

He died of either drowning in an accident, falling from his horse, or suffering a heart attack while swimming in the River Salephand. They don't know which

- King Richard I took over one of the Byzantine islands, his excuse was that the locals were rude to them.

- He then taxed the locals 50% of their goods to raise money for the crusades.

- King Richard was a very good warsman and won all the battles in Sicily, Cyprus, Acre, and Arsuf. Until he was threatened with losing his home unless he went back home. (Philip II of France had already been threatened and he had gone home).

- So he made peace ready with Saladin and so Saladin remained on the throne of Jerusalem.

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The Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE) was launched to retake Jerusalem after its fall to the Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 CE. The Crusade was led by three European monarchs, hence its other name of 'the Kings' Crusade'. The three leaders were: Frederick I Barbarossa, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1152-1190 CE), Philip II of France (r. 1180-1223 CE) and Richard I 'the Lionhearted' of England (r. 1189-1199 CE). Despite this pedigree, the campaign was a failure, the Holy City never even being attacked. Along the way, there were some victories, notably the capture of Acre and the battle of Arsuf. Fizzling out with a whimper, the Crusade collapsed because, by the time they arrived at their objective, the western leaders found themselves without sufficient men or resources to resist the still intact armies of Saladin. Although a compromise was negotiated with access for pilgrims to Jerusalem permitted and a Christian foothold maintained in the Middle East, another attempt to take the Holy City would shortly be made the original objective of the Fourth Crusade of 1202-1204 CE.

The Fall of Jerusalem

The Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE) had effectively ended with the complete failure to take Damascus in Syria in 1148 CE. The various Muslim states in the Middle East then realised that the once-feared western knights could be defeated and the precarious existence of the Crusader-held territories, the Latin East, was starkly highlighted. All that was needed now was a unification of Muslim forces and this was provided by one of the greatest of all medieval rulers, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria (r. 1174-1193 CE).

Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt, took control of Damascus in 1174 CE and Aleppo in 1183 CE. Saladin then shocked the world by defeating the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its Latin allies at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 CE. Thus, Saladin was able to take control of such cities as Acre, Tiberias, Caesarea, Nazareth, Jaffa and even, the holiest of holies itself, Jerusalem. Remarkably lenient with his Christian captives compared to the butchery of the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE), after the recapture of Jerusalem almost a century earlier, Saladin accepted ransoms from those Latin Christians who could afford to buy their freedom and enslaved the rest. Eastern Christians were permitted to remain in Jerusalem as a protected minority group. The Latin East had all but collapsed, only Tyre remained in Christian hands, under the command of Conrad of Montferrat, but it would prove a useful foothold for the coming fightback.

In 1187 CE Pope Gregory VIII called for yet another Crusade to win back Jerusalem & such lost holy relics as the True Cross.

Pope Gregory VIII only reigned for a few months in 1187 CE but, in October of that year, he made a lasting impact on history by calling for yet another crusade to win back Jerusalem and such lost holy relics as the True Cross. Nothing less than a repeat of the remarkable feat of the First Crusade would do. No fewer than three monarchs took up the Pope's challenge: the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa, king of Germany, Philip II of France and Richard I of England. With these being the three most powerful men in western Europe, the campaign promised much.

Death of Frederick I Barbarossa

Frederick I Barbarossa was the first king to mobilise, and he travelled with his army by land through Thrace in the spring of 1190 CE. The Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185-1195 CE) was understandably wary of this western army passing through his territory while, from the other side, the westerners were deeply suspicious of Isaac's new alliance with Saladin, a feeling based on some reality as Isaac did try to impede the Crusaders' progress towards the Middle East. When Frederick occupied Adrianople in Thrace, the Byzantines became more helpful to their fellow Christians but the Emperor was no doubt relieved once the Germans had passed on into Anatolia.

Then disaster struck on 10 June 1190. The Holy Roman Emperor drowned in an accident, falling from his horse into (or suffering a heart attack while swimming in) the River Saleph in southern Cilicia still on his way to the Holy Land. Frederick's death, and then a calamitous outbreak of dysentery, resulted in most of his army being eliminated or deciding to trudge back home in grief. The Crusade would have to rely on the English and French armies, temporary allies who were not very fond of each other at the best of times. Although a few German troops made it to Acre in the Middle East, the loss of Frederick's authority and experience would prove to be significant for the Crusade as a whole.

Meanwhile, Richard I took the sea route to the Middle East. The experienced campaigner, as meticulous as ever, had swung his entire kingdom's resources towards the campaign, amassing a fleet of 100 ships and 60,000 horses. On his way, Richard captured Messina on Sicily in 1190 CE, and when the king's army grouped for the first time on the island in April 1191 CE, there were 17,000 soldiers ready for action. The English king knew full well that the make-or-break factor for any campaign was logistics and he set about ensuring he had a good line of supply by next capturing Cyprus. Officially still Byzantine, the island now had a rebel leader, Isaac Komnenos, who had proclaimed himself its independent ruler. Richard proved unstoppable and, with the rather tame excuse that the locals had not treated some shipwrecked Crusaders very kindly, Cyprus was taken in May 1191 CE. The island's inhabitants were forced to pay a 50% tax on all possessions to further boost the Crusader king's campaign coffers. The Crusaders would govern the island, subsequently used as a supply base for armies on their way to the Middle East, until the Venetians took over in 1571 CE.

Meanwhile in France, Philip II had amassed his army of 650 knights, 1,300 squires, and an even larger number of infantry. This army also sailed to the Levant, this time thanks to Genoese ships who would take it to Acre. The Third Crusade was certainly developing into a truly pan-European military escapade.

The Siege of Acre

The first major battle of the campaign was at Acre, on the coast of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Actually, the city had already been under siege for some time by an army led by the French nobleman Guy of Lusignan, king of what remained of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (r. 1186-1192 CE). However, Guy was struggling as he now faced an army sent by Saladin to relieve the city. Fortunately for the Latin ruler, several Crusader armies shortly arrived in support: the remains of Frederick's army, a German contingent led by Duke Leopold of Austria which had travelled by sea, a French force led by Henry of Champagne, and the armies of Richard I and Philip II. By early June 1191 CE, all the Crusaders were in place and ready to take the city.

A heavy and sustained bombardment using catapults was launched but the protracted siege was only finally successful when sappers, offered cash incentives by Richard, undermined the fortification walls of the city on the land side. The English king's siege engines and reputation, and divisions in Saladin's own army were additional factors in the victory. The 'Lionhearted', as Richard was now known thanks to his courage and audacity in warfare, had achieved in five weeks what Guy had failed to do in 20. The city was finally captured on 12 July 1191 CE, and with it, significantly, 70 ships, the bulk of Saladin's navy. According to legend, Richard had been ill at the time, perhaps struck down by scurvy, although he had retainers carry him on a stretcher so that he could fire at the enemy battlements with his crossbow. Richard then rather blemished his 'good king' reputation when he ordered 2,500 prisoners to be executed. The English king felt the delay in paying the agreed ransom for them needed a firm riposte, and to release them would only have meant they sooner or later rejoined the enemy army.

From the original three kings, the Crusader army now had only one, although Richard I was probably the greatest general of his generation.

Guy of Lusignan, meanwhile, was made the new king of Cyprus which had been sold by Richard to the Knights Templar (more cash for the cause). Back in the Levant, unfortunately, Philip was obliged to return home in August 1191 CE due to political problems in Flanders which threatened his throne. Thus, from the original three kings, the Crusader army now had only one. Still, Richard was probably the greatest general of his generation, and the campaign, despite its setbacks, was off to a fine start.

The Battle of Arsuf

The Crusader army next set its sights on Jaffa, the vital port which supplied Jerusalem, but on their way there Saladin, after a few days of ineffective harassing tactics on the marching army, decided that the best way to deal with the invaders was a full-on field engagement. On 7 September 1191 CE, on the plain of Arsuf, the two armies clashed in a running battle, the Crusaders being careful to follow the coast and so leave only one flank of their column exposed. The Muslim mounted and infantry archers, as well as infantry lance-bearers, attacked the marching Crusader infantry who, as usual, formed a protective block around the heavy cavalry units. After skirmishes for most of the day, the westerner's heavy cavalry was unleashed to devastating effect, although the initial charge was perhaps an unauthorised one by the Knights Hospitaller. The Crusaders won the battle but the Muslim losses were not substantial - Saladin having had no choice but to withdraw to the relative safety of the forest which bordered the plain.

The Crusaders then marched on to Jaffa to rest and regroup. Although Richard preferred to first secure Egypt and so isolate the enemy's logistical base, most of the Crusaders were intent on striking straight for Jerusalem, which was, after all, the original goal of the Crusade. The English king bowed to popular demand and moved for the Holy City but only after a cautious advance where strategically important castles protecting the army's supply lines were captured and fortified. Consequently, the Crusader army had still not reached its goal by January 1192 CE. The wet weather was not speeding up the advance either, and still 19 kilometres from their ultimate goal and with their supply lines precarious, a fateful decision was made.

Jerusalem & A Negotiated Peace

Richard had marched to within sight of Jerusalem, but he knew that even if he could storm the city's formidable fortifications, his army had been so reduced by the various battles over the past two years that he would most likely not be able to hold it against an inevitable counterattack. It was a decision supported by the commanders of both of the army's two most experienced fighting units: the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller. Now more than ever the loss of Frederick's army was most keenly felt. Another march was made on Jerusalem the following year, but, as before, it stopped short and the leaders once again decided they might, as at Acre, take the city after a long siege but they would almost certainly be unable to stave off a counterattack from Saladin.

Meanwhile, the Muslim leader decided to attack Jaffa, which was taken in July 1192 CE. Richard, by then at Acre, sailed and arrived at Jaffa on 1 August, determined to get the city back again. Leading from the front, the "Lionhearted" achieved his goal against improbable odds, but in terms of the bigger picture not much had changed. The Muslims still controlled Jerusalem and Saladin still had his army intact. It was something of a stalemate and, in any case, as with Philip, domestic affairs in England necessitated Richard's prompt return home to safeguard his throne in October 1192 CE. The whole Crusade project was effectively abandoned. No Crusader army would ever get as close to Jerusalem again.

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Richard salvaged something for all the effort and negotiated a peace deal with Saladin at Jaffa. The Crusader-held fortress of Ascalon had to be given up and dismantled while a small strip of land around Acre was to be kept by the Crusaders, and the future safe treatment of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land was also bargained for. It was not quite what was hoped for at the outset, but there could always be a Fourth Crusade at some time in the future. Indeed, Richard noted that in any future campaign against the Arabs it would be advantageous to attack from Egypt, the weak underbelly of their empire. It was precisely this plan which the Fourth Crusaders (1202-1204 CE) adopted, even if they again were distracted from their original objective, this time by the jewel of Byzantium: Constantinople.

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The Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE) was launched to retake Jerusalem after its fall to the Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 CE. The Crusade was led by three European monarchs, hence its other name of 'the...

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This is the map of where this all took place

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This is the map of where this all took place

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Illustration

by Mapmaster
published on 27 August 2018

A map of the Middle East showing the Crusader-held Latin East states at the time of the Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE).

License & Copyright

Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished. Original image by Mapmaster. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 27 August 2018. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon a work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

Cite This Work

APA Style

Mapmaster, . (2018, August 27). Map of The Latin East, 1190 CE. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/9121/map-of-the-latin-east-1190-ce/

Chicago Style

Mapmaster, . " Map of The Latin East, 1190 CE." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified August 27, 2018. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/9121/map-of-the-latin-east-1190-ce/.

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A map of the Middle East showing the Crusader-held Latin East states at the time of the Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE).

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-The Crusaders took over many of the cities on the Mediterranean coast as well as building a low of castles on the coast to protect their new territories.

The crusades lasted from (1095-1291) there was 8 crusades.

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The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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The First Crusade
Most historians consider the sermon preached by Pope Urban II at Clermont-Ferrand in November 1095 to have been the spark that fueled a wave of military campaigns to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control. Considered at the time to be divinely sanctioned, these campaigns, involving often ruthless battles, are known as the Crusades. At their core was a desire for access to shrines associated with the life and ministry of Jesus, above all the Holy Sepulcher, the church in Jerusalem said to contain the tomb of Christ ( 2005.100.373.100). Absolution from sin and eternal glory were promised to the Crusaders, who also hoped to gain land and wealth in the East. Nobles and peasants responded in great number to the call and marched across Europe to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire. With the support of the Byzantine emperor, the knights, guided by Armenian Christians ( 57.185.3), tenuously marched to Jerusalem through Seljuq-controlled territories in modern Turkey and Syria. In June 1099, the Crusaders began a five-week siege of Jerusalem, which fell on July 15, 1099 ( 92.1.15). Eyewitness accounts attest to the terror of battle. Ralph of Caen, watching the city from the Mount of Olives, saw "the scurrying people, the fortified towers, the roused garrison, the men rushing to arms, the women in tears, the priests turned to their prayers, the streets ringing with cries, crashing, clanging and neighing."

The Crusaders took over many of the cities on the Mediterranean coast and built a large number of fortified castles across the Holy Land to protect their newly established territories ( 28.99.1), while also establishing churches loyal to Rome. For the Crusaders, the Dome of the Rock was the Temple of Solomon; the Aqsa mosque was converted to use as a palace and stables.

The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem established by the Crusaders boasted fifteen cathedral churches. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, for example, became the seat of a Western Christian bishop in 1110 ( 1988.1174.9).

Artists from different traditions met in the city of Jerusalem, with, for example, Syrian goldworkers on the right of the market near the Holy Sepulcher, and Latin goldworkers on the left (Conder 1896). Indeed, metalwork from this period sometimes combines an Islamic aesthetic with Christian subject matter ( 1971.39a,b). Some pieces even bear an inscription indicating that they were made by an Islamic goldsmith for a Christian. Precious works of art fashioned for the churches of Europe celebrated their links to the Holy Land ( 2002.18; Toulouse Cathedral Limoges Reliquary).

Second and Third Crusade
In 1147-49, the Second Crusade, championed by the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux ( 1975.1.70b), attempted to take Damascus in Syria. The campaign was a dismal failure because the Muslims had regrouped. Led by Salah al-Din (Saladin), Muslim forces advanced across Syria and finally retook Jerusalem in October 1187. Saladin was credited by his personal secretary with allowing the Patriarch of Jerusalem to leave the city with the church's treasure, explaining: "If we make excuses [to confiscate this wealth] they [the Franks] will accuse us of treachery ... let us not make them accuse people of faith of breaking their oaths. Let them go. They will talk about our benevolence" (Mohamed el-Moctar, in Paul and Yaeger, 2012, p. 209).

Entering the city, a vizier of Saladin marveled at how the Crusaders had beautified Jerusalem: "the care of the unbelievers had transformed [it] into a Paradise garden ... those accursed ones defended with the lance and sword this city, which they had rebuilt with columns and slabs of marble [ 2005.100.373.86], where they had founded churches and the palaces of the Templars and the hospitallers ... One sees on every side houses as pleasant as their gardens and bright with white marble and columns decorated with leaves, which make them look like living trees" (quoting Kadi el-Fadel in Hamilton, 1979).

By the end of the Third Crusade (1189-92), Crusader forces had gained Cyprus and the coastal city of Acre. Saladin guaranteed access to Jerusalem to European pilgrims and welcomed Jews back to the city as well.

The chronicle of the Spanish-born Ibn Jubayr, who traveled to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, speaks of the ease of trade in the Holy Land, even in times of military hostilities: "the Muslims continuously journeyed from Damascus to Acre (through Frankish territory), and likewise not one of the Christian merchants was stopped and hindered (in Muslim territories) ... The soldiers engage themselves in their war, while the people are at peace" (as cited in Paul and Yaeger, 2012, p. 34).

The Fourth Crusade
With each crusade, relations between the Byzantines and the Western forces became more estranged. The Fourth Crusade set out in 1202 with Egypt as its goal. After choosing sides in a dynastic dispute in Byzantium, however, the Crusaders turned their siege upon Byzantium's capital, Constantinople, to collect an enormous sum of money that had been promised for their support. The city was sacked in 1204, its rich treasures divided between the Venetians (the lion's share of which remains in the Treasury of San Marco, Venice), the French, and other Crusaders. The Latin Empire of Constantinople was established with Baldwin of Flanders as emperor. In 1261, the Byzantines regained the city.

Later Crusades
Successive crusades were launched to the Holy Land. The knight Jean d'Alluye traveled to the Holy Land around 1240, but the circumstances of his voyage are not known ( 25.120.201).

The Seventh and Eighth Crusades, in 1248 ( 38.60) and 1270, were sponsored by Louis IX, who died in Tunisia ( 54.1.2; 37.173.3). In 1271, Sultan Baibars captured Montfort Castle ( 28.99.1), and in 1291, the Crusader city of Acre fell, ending the era of Latin Crusader kingdoms. Calls for new crusades over the next centuries were increasingly ignored, despite the renown in which Crusaders and the Holy Land were held in legend ( 1993.65.4; 23.21.4; 25.120.528; 25.120.529; 54.1.1; Belles Heures Heraclius leaf, folio 156).

Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "The Crusades (1095-1291)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/crus/hd_crus.htm (originally published October 2001, last revised February 2014)

Burgoyne, Michael Hamilton. Mamluk Jerusalem: An Architectural Study. London: World of Islam Festival Trust, 1987.

Conder, Claude R., trans. "The City of Jerusalem." Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society 6 (1896).

Dandridge, Pete and Mark Wypyski. "Sword and Dagger Pommels Associated with the Crusades, Part II: A Technical Study." Metropolitan Museum Journal 46 (2011), pp. 145-51.

Folda, Jaroslav. The Art of the Crusaders in the Holy Land, 1098-1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Folda, Jaroslav. Crusader Art in the Holy Land: From the Third Crusade to the Fall of Acre, 1187-1291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Goss, Vladimir P., ed. The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange Between East and West During the Period of the Crusades. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1986.

Grabar, Oleg, and Benjamin Z. Kedar eds. Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem's Sacred Esplanade. Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2009.

Hamilton, Bernard. Monastic Reform, Catharism, and the Crusades. London: Valorium Reprints, 1979.

Hillenbrandt, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

La Rocca, Donald J. "Sword and Dagger Pommels Associated with the Crusades, Part I," Metropolitan Museum Journal 46 (2012), pp. 133-44.

Paul, Nicholas, and Suzanne Yeager, eds. Remembering the Crusades: Myth, Image, and Identity. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.

Prawer, Joshua. The History of the Jews in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.

Rozenberg, Silvia, ed. Knights of the Holy Land: The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Exhibition catalogue. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1999.

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Authors: Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters

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The Crusades (1095-1291) | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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The Crusaders then took over many of the cities on the Mediterranean coast and built a large number of fortified castles all over the Holy Land to protect their new territories.

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Original goal of the 4th crusade was the liberation of Jerusalem

The point of the 4th crusade was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate.

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In the middle of the 11th century, the idea of the ​​ Crusades first appeared in Europe. The original goal was the liberation of Jerusalem. In the First Crusade, knights managed to capture Jerusalem in 1099. The city remained in Christian hands until Saladin's conquest in 1187, after which time the Third Crusade was organized. Unsuccessful attempts to restore rule over Jerusalem and the failure of the campaign led to the launch of the Fourth Crusade. This failed crusade would lead not to the reconquest of Jerusalem, but to the siege of Constantinople.

Preparation for the Fourth Crusade

Pope Innocent III, a dynamic, ambitious, and educated pope whose pontificate would mark the launch of the Fourth Crusade, ascended the throne of St. Peters in 1198. Unlike his predecessors, he did not have much help from other European rulers. After the death of Emperor Henry VI, the throne of the Holy Roman Empire remained vacant. Henry left behind his underage son Frederick II, who was soon embroiled in a conflict.

The situation was not much better in England, where after a period of captivity in Germany, King Richard the Lionheart returned home from the Third Crusade. Richard had problems with the French King Philip II, who had taken over his territories in Normandy, and consequently, he went to war with France.

From the moment he arrived as the head of the church, Innocent planned the Fourth Crusade to raise his profile. The Crusaders intended to attack Egypt, who controlled Jerusalem. Having no money or fleet, they turned to Venice for help.

The Situation in the Byzantine Empire

Until the 11th century, the Byzantine Empire was a powerful state, a bulwark of Christianity against Islam. The Byzantines bravely defended themselves until a new threat arrived from the east with the invasions of the Seljuk Turks. Under the rule of the Comnеnus dynasty, the empire managed to halt its decline for some time. The policy of family rule proved successful during the reign of Emperor Alexius I and his son John II Comnenus. With the death of Manuel I, however, the problems of the Byzantine Empire resurfaced. Manuel was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Alexius II, who was tragically assassinated by the last emperor of the Comnenus dynasty, Andronicus I. Andronicus in turn was killed by an angry street mob.

The new Angelus dynasty did nothing to prevent an unstoppable decline. The first ruler of this dynasty was Isaac II Angelus (1185-1195). The new ruler did not try to prevent abuses during the collection of taxes, nor did he prevent the sale of rank. Isaac's first reign ended in a coup in which he was captured and blinded, while his older brother Alexius III (1195-1203) took power. The situation in the Byzantine Empire on the eve of the Fourth Crusade was catastrophic.

No European monarchs responded to the invitation of Pope Innocent III, but he received a response from some Frankish, Flemish, and Italian nobles. Boniface of Montferrat was appointed as the head of the Fourth Crusade, because he was one of the party's most distinguished lords.

The Crusaders agreed to gather in Venice and the Venetians agreed they would transport the Crusaders to Egypt for 85,000 silver marks. The Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo agreed to transport 30,000 soldiers and 4,500 horses to Egypt. It wasn't long before the Crusaders began to realize that they didn't have enough money to pay because a much smaller number of people arrived in Venice than was stipulated in the contract.

As a result, the cunning Venetian doge managed to redirect the goal of the Fourth Crusade. The Venetian Republic, which had recently established trade relations with Egypt, and did not wish to go to war there, but they suggested that the Crusaders take Zara, a Catholic city on the Dalmatian coast, as compensation for the Venetians.

The Fall of Zara and the Creation of a New Plan

When the Crusaders appeared in front of Zara, the population and the garrison let down flags covered with crosses in an effort to save themselves. Nevertheless, the Crusaders occupied the city port and began the siege and Zara surrendered. The Venetians took over part of the city along the harbor, while the Crusaders took the rest.

In Zara, Alexius Angelus (later Alexius IV), the son of the overthrown Byzantine emperor Isaac II, addressed the soldiers and offered them money to help him regain his throne. Alexius promised to put the Byzantine church under Roman Catholic rule, to give the Crusaders 200,000 silver marks, and provide them with supplies for a year. He also promised 10,000 additional soldiers to conquer Egypt, and he agreed to finance 500 knights in the Holy Land.

Some of the Crusaders strongly opposed further deviations from the road and demanded that they move immediately towards Syria. The rest advocated for the conquest of Constantinople, which would provide them with funds and military support which would be of great help in the continuation of their campaign. Pope Innocent strongly opposed any action in Constantinople. He sent a letter, which arrived in Zara after the Crusaders had already accepted Alexius' offer and set out for the Golden Horn.

The Siege of Constantinople

On June 24, 1203, the Crusaders landed in Chalcedon, a small town on the Asian shores of the Bosporus. There, there was an imperial castle in which the crusading lords met. The siege of Constantinople was on its way. Emperor Alexius III sent a detachment to expel the Crusaders from but the Crusaders defeated them. A day later, the mission of Emperor Alexius III arrived at the crusading camp. It became clear to everyone that the king did not intend to hand over power to his nephew. The Crusaders decided to take a risk and start the siege of Constantinople. The Byzantines, led by Theodore Lascaris, tried to defeat the Crusaders, without success.

The Crusaders launched a final fatal attack on July 17. That night, Alexius III left Constantinople, carrying with him all the treasures he could take, leaving behind his people and his family. Isaac Angelus was released from the dungeon and returned to the throne. After that, Isaac, at the request of the Crusaders, confirmed the contract his son had concluded with them. On August 1, Prince Alexius was officially crowned co-ruler under the name of Alexius IV Angelus. He introduced new levies, emptied the state coffers, and confiscated property, but only managed to collect half of the sum he had promised to the Crusaders.

The Conflict Between Alexius IV and the Crusaders

The new levies and the fire in Constantinople during the siege created a great anti-crusade mood. Conflicts between the Byzantines and the Crusaders broke out more and more often throughout the city. These clashes culminated when the Crusaders set a fire around the Church of St. Sophia.

The Crusaders waiting on the other side of the bay were waiting for the payment of their debt. As small amounts of money arrived, the Crusaders saw through Alexius's intentions. Boniface of Montferrat went to Alexius IV demanding payment. But soon, on the recommendation of his advisors, Alexius stopped making any more payments. Angered by Alexius' behavior, the Crusaders and the Venetians convened a meeting. The embassy went to the court and demanded the payment. Otherwise, they would take what belonged to them.

After these events, the influence and authority of the Angelus dynasty collapsed like a tower of cards. The development of the situation and the cowardly behavior of the ruler led to a coup d'état on January 25, 1204. Alexius V Ducas was proclaimed the new emperor and Alexius IV was killed in the dungeons. A few days later, his father Isaac also died. The Crusaders turned to the outskirts of Constantinople, looting and destroying everything in their path.

The Fourth Crusade and the Fall of the Byzantine Empire

The capture of Constantinople on April 13, 1204, in the Fourth Crusade was one of the epochal events of medieval history. The siege of Constantinople and the looting and burning of the city only deepened the intolerance between the Eastern and Western Christians. It also influenced the creation of the states that emerged in the territory of the Byzantine Empire.

After the Fourth Crusade, the Western Christians formed several Latin states, the most important being the Latin Empire of Constantinople. Baldwin of Flanders had the honor of becoming the first emperor. Boniface of Montferrat decided to establish a state of his own, thus creating the Kingdom of Thessaloniki, a vassal state to the Latin emperor. The Principality of Achaea and the Duchy of Athens were also formed.

The Byzantines maintained control over parts of modern-day Albania and western Turkey, but parts of Albania and part of Greece also became the so-called Despotate of Epirus, while part of Asia Minor became the Empire of Nicaea. A small coastal area in the north of today's Turkey, became the so-called Empire of Trebizond. In 1261, the emperor of Nicaea, Michael VIII Palaeologus, managed to recapture Constantinople, overthrowing the Latin Empire, and restoring parts of the Byzantine Empire. However, the renewed Byzantine Empire was only a shadow of its former power and wealth. The wounds inflicted during the Fourth Crusade would never heal.

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The Impact of the Fourth Crusade: The First Fall of Byzantium

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In the middle of the 11th century, the idea of the ​​ Crusades first appeared in Europe. The original goal was the liberation of Jerusalem. In the First Crusade, knights managed to capture Jerusalem in 1099. The city remained in Christian hands until Saladin's conquest in 1187, after which time the Third Crusade was organized.

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-This was not an act of charity or war, it was purely an act of redemption

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It had long been apparent that Edessa was vulnerable, but its loss came as a shock to Eastern and Western Christians. Urgent pleas for aid soon reached Europe, and in 1145 Pope Eugenius III issued a formal Crusade bull, Quantum praedecessores ("How Much Our Predecessors"). It was the first of its kind, with precisely worded provisions designed to protect Crusaders' families and property and reflecting contemporary advances in canon law. The Crusade was preached by St. Bernard of Clairvaux in France and, with the aid of interpreters, even in Germany. Bernard revolutionized Crusade ideology, asserting that the Crusade was not merely an act of charity or a war to secure the holy places but a means of redemption. In his mercy, Christ offered the warriors of Europe a blessed avenue of salvation, a means by which they could give up all they had to follow him.

As in the First Crusade, many simple pilgrims responded. Unlike the First Crusade, however, the Second Crusade was led by two of Europe's greatest rulers, King Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III of Germany. Louis enthusiastically supported the Crusade, but Conrad was reluctant at first and was won over only by the eloquence of St. Bernard. The Second Crusade also differed from its predecessor in that there were three objectives instead of one. While the kings of Germany and France marched east to restore Edessa, other Crusaders went to Spain to fight Muslims or to the shores of the Baltic Sea to fight the pagan Wends.

Crusades Reproduced by permission of the British Library

The situation in the East was also different. Manuel Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor, was not pleased to discover another Crusade headed toward Constantinople. The Second Crusade wreaked havoc with his foreign policy, which included an alliance with Germany, Venice, and the pope against the Normans. It also complicated the emperor's peaceful relationship with the Turkish sultan of Rūm. Manuel made a truce with the sultan in 1146 to make certain that the Crusade would not cause the sultan to attack Byzantine lands in Asia. Although sound strategically, the emperor's move confirmed for many Western Christians the apostasy of the Greeks.

Conrad left in May 1147, accompanied by many German nobles, the kings of Poland and Bohemia, and Frederick of Swabia, his nephew and the future emperor Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa). Conrad's poorly disciplined troops created tension in Constantinople, where they arrived in September. Conrad and Manuel, however, remained on good terms, and both were apprehensive about the moves of King Roger II of Sicily, who during these same weeks seized Corfu and attacked the Greek mainland.

Conrad, rejecting Manuel's advice to follow the coastal route around Asia Minor, moved his main force past Nicaea directly into Anatolia. On October 25 at Dorylaeum, not far from where the First Crusaders won their victory, his army, weary and without adequate provisions, was set upon by the Turks and virtually destroyed. Conrad, with a few survivors, retreated to Nicaea.

Louis VII, accompanied by his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, followed the land route across Europe and arrived at Constantinople on October 4, about a month after the Germans. A few of his more hotheaded followers, on hearing that Manuel had made a truce with the Turks of Iconium and totally misunderstanding his motives, accused the emperor of treason and urged the French king to join Roger in attacking the Byzantines. Louis preferred the opinion of his less-volatile advisers and agreed to restore any imperial possessions he might capture.

In November the French reached Nicaea, where they learned of Conrad's defeat. Louis and Conrad then started along the coastal route, with the French now in the vanguard, and reached Ephesus. Conrad became seriously ill and returned to Constantinople to the medical ministrations of Manuel. After recuperating, he eventually reached Acre by ship in April 1148.

The French passage from Ephesus to Antioch in midwinter was extremely harrowing. Supplies ran short, and the Byzantines were unjustly blamed. Manuel defended his cities against the angry Crusaders, which meant that the French spent more energy fighting Christians than Muslims. Louis concluded that the Greeks were trying to weaken the Crusade. He also had lost the bulk of his troops to Turkish attacks by the time he reached Antioch, which was ruled by Eleanor's uncle, Prince Raymond. The Crusade's original goal of recapturing Edessa was no longer feasible, because Nūr al-Dīn, the son and successor of Zangī, had massacred the city's Christian inhabitants, making it difficult to take and hold Edessa with the forces available. Raymond urged an attack on Aleppo, Nūr al-Dīn's centre of power. But King Louis, who resented Eleanor's open espousal of Raymond's project, left abruptly for Jerusalem and forced the queen to join him.

In Jerusalem, where Conrad had already arrived, many French and German notables assembled with Queen Melisende, her son Baldwin III, and the barons of Jerusalem to discuss how best to proceed. Despite the absence of the northern princes and the losses already suffered by the Crusaders, it was possible to field an army of nearly 50,000 men, the largest Crusade army so far assembled. After considerable debate, which revealed the conflicting purposes of Crusaders and Jerusalem barons, it was decided to attack Damascus.

How the decision was reached is not known. Damascus was undoubtedly a tempting prize. Its ruler, Unur, fearful of the expanding power of Nūr al-Dīn, was the one Muslim ruler most disposed to cooperating with the Franks. However, Unur was now forced to seek the aid of his former enemy to thwart them. And Nūr al-Dīn was not slow to move toward Damascus. Not only was the Crusader campaign poorly conceived, but it was badly executed. On July 28, after a four-day siege, with Nūr al-Dīn's forces nearing the city, it became evident that the Crusader army was dangerously exposed, and a retreat was ordered. It was a humiliating failure, attributable largely to the conflicting interests of the participants.

Conrad decamped for Constantinople, where he agreed to join the emperor against Roger of Sicily. Louis's reaction was different. His resentment against Manuel, whom he blamed for the failure, was so great that he accepted Roger's offer of ships to take him home and agreed to a plan for a new Crusade against Byzantium. Lacking papal support, the plan came to nothing, but the perception that the Byzantines were part of the problem rather than the solution became widespread in Europe.

The Second Crusade had been promoted with great zeal and had aroused high hopes. Its collapse caused deep dismay. Searching for an explanation, St. Bernard turned to Scripture and preached that the Crusade failed because of the sinfulness of Europe. Only through the purification and prayers of Christian men and women would God relent and bestow victory on his knights once more. This belief became central to Crusading ideology and an important impetus for movements of lay piety during the Middle Ages. The Muslims, on the other hand, were enormously encouraged by the collapse of the Second Crusade because they had confronted the danger of another major Western expedition and had triumphed.

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Crusades - The era of the Second and Third Crusades

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It had long been apparent that Edessa was vulnerable, but its loss came as a shock to Eastern and Western Christians. Urgent pleas for aid soon reached Europe, and in 1145 Pope Eugenius III issued a formal Crusade bull, Quantum praedecessores ("How Much Our Predecessors").

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France and Germany lead the Second Crusade wanting to capture Jerusalem

The Second Crusade was a failure for the Crusaders and a wonderful victory for the Muslims

They decided to do it because Edessa was very weak and they were trying to take advantage of that, Edessa was founded during the First Crusade

The Crusades were a Catholic holy war against Islam

Was the first Crusade led by European kings

The French and German armies marched separately to Jerusalem but were meant in Anatolia by the Seljuq Turks

The rest of the armies arrived in Jerusalem in 1148 then stupidly attacked Damascus

This would ultimately lead to the fall of Jerusalem and the rise of the Third Crusade

"The only Christian success of the Second Crusade came to a combined force of 13,000 Flemish, Frisian, Norman, English, Scottish, and German Crusaders in 1147. Traveling by ship from England to the Holy Land, the army stopped and helped the smaller (7,000) Portuguese army capture Lisbon, expelling its Moorish occupants."

Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany lead this Crusade.

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Learning Objective

Explain the successes and failures of the Second Crusade

Key Points

The Second Crusade was started in 1147 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi; Edessa was founded during the First Crusade.

The Second Crusade was led by two European kings-Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany.

The German and French armies took separate routes to Anatolia, fighting skirmishes along the way, and both were defeated separately by the Seljuq Turks.

Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies eventually reached Jerusalem and participated in an ill-advised attack on Damascus in 1148.

The Second Crusade was a failure for the Crusaders and a great victory for the Muslims.

Terms

Louis VII

A Capetian king of the Franks from 1137 until his death who led troops in the Second Crusade.

Manuel I Komneno

A Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean, including the Second Crusade.

Conrad III

First German king of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who led troops in the Second Crusade.

Moors

The Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the Middle Ages, who initially were Berber and Arab peoples of North African descent.

The Second Crusade (1147-1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe as a Catholic holy war against Islam. The Second Crusade was started in 1147 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by King Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.

The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, who had help from a number of other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuq Turks. The main Western Christian source, Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the Crusaders' progress, particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in an ill-advised attack on Damascus in 1148. The Crusade in the east was a failure for the Crusaders and a great victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately have a key influence on the fall of Jerusalem and give rise to the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.

The only Christian success of the Second Crusade came to a combined force of 13,000 Flemish, Frisian, Norman, English, Scottish, and German Crusaders in 1147. Traveling by ship from England to the Holy Land, the army stopped and helped the smaller (7,000) Portuguese army capture Lisbon, expelling its Moorish occupants.

Crusade in the East

Joscelin II had tried to take back Edessa, but Nur ad-Din defeated him in November 1146. On February 16, 1147, the French Crusaders met to discuss their route. The Germans had already decided to travel overland through Hungary, as the sea route was politically impractical because Roger II, king of Sicily, was an enemy of Conrad. Many of the French nobles distrusted the land route, which would take them through the Byzantine Empire, the reputation of which still suffered from the accounts of the First Crusaders. Nevertheless, it was decided to follow Conrad, and to set out on June 15.

German Route

The German crusaders, accompanied by the papal legate and Cardinal Theodwin, intended to meet the French in Constantinople. Ottokar III of Styria joined Conrad at Vienna, and Conrad's enemy Géza II of Hungary allowed them to pass through unharmed. When the German army of 20,000 men arrived in Byzantine territory, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos feared they were going to attack him, and Byzantine troops were posted to ensure that there was no trouble. On September 10, the Germans arrived at Constantinople, where relations with Manuel were poor. There was a battle, after which the Germans were convinced that they should cross into Asia Minor as quickly as possible.

In Asia Minor, Conrad decided not to wait for the French, and marched towards Iconium, capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm. Conrad split his army into two divisions. The authority of the Byzantine Empire in the western provinces of Asia Minor was more nominal than real, with much of the provinces being a no-man's land controlled by Turkish nomads. Conrad underestimated the length of the march against Anatolia, and anyhow assumed that the authority of Emperor Manuel was greater in Anatolia than was in fact the case. Conrad took the knights and the best troops with him to march overland and sent the camp followers with Otto of Freising to follow the coastal road. The king's contingent was almost totally destroyed by the Seljuqs on October 25, 1147, at the second Battle of Dorylaeum.

French Route

The French crusaders departed from Metz in June 1147, led by Louis, Thierry of Alsace, Renaut I of Bar, Amadeus III, Count of Savoy and his half-brother William V of Montferrat, William VII of Auvergne, and others, along with armies from Lorraine, Brittany, Burgundy, and Aquitaine. A force from Provence, led by Alphonse of Toulouse, chose to wait until August and cross by sea. At Worms, Louis joined with crusaders from Normandy and England.

They followed Conrad's route fairly peacefully, although Louis came into conflict with King Geza of Hungary when Geza discovered Louis had allowed an attempted Hungarian usurper to join his army. Relations within Byzantine territory were grim, and the Lorrainers, who had marched ahead of the rest of the French, also came into conflict with the slower Germans whom they met on the way.

The French met the remnants of Conrad's army at Lopadion, and Conrad joined Louis's force. They followed Otto of Freising's route, moving closer to the Mediterranean coast, and they arrived at Ephesus in December, where they learned that the Turks were preparing to attack them. Manuel had sent ambassadors complaining about the pillaging and plundering that Louis had done along the way, and there was no guarantee that the Byzantines would assist them against the Turks. Meanwhile, Conrad fell sick and returned to Constantinople, where Manuel attended to him personally, and Louis, paying no attention to the warnings of a Turkish attack, marched out from Ephesus with the French and German survivors. The Turks were indeed waiting to attack, but in a small battle outside Ephesus, the French and Germans were victorious.

They reached Laodicea on the Lycus early in January 1148, around the same time Otto of Freising's army had been destroyed in the same area. After resuming the march, the vanguard under Amadeus of Savoy was separated from the rest of the army at Mount Cadmus, and Louis's troops suffered heavy losses from the Turks. After being delayed for a month by storms, most of the promised ships from Provence did not arrive at all. Louis and his associates claimed the ships that did make it for themselves, while the rest of the army had to resume the long march to Antioch. The army was almost entirely destroyed, either by the Turks or by sickness.

Siege of Damascus

The remains of the German and French armies eventually continued on to Jerusalem, where they planned an attack on the Muslim forces in Damascus. The Crusaders decided to attack Damascus from the west, where orchards would provide them with a constant food supply. They arrived at Daraiya on July 23. The following day, the well-prepared Muslims constantly attacked the army advancing through the orchards outside Damascus. The defenders had sought help from Saif ad-Din Ghazi I of Mosul and Nur ad-Din of Aleppo, who personally led an attack on the Crusader camp. The Crusaders were pushed back from the walls into the orchards, where they were prone to ambushes and guerrilla attacks.

According to William of Tyre, on July 27 the Crusaders decided to move to the plain on the eastern side of the city, which was less heavily fortified, but also had much less food and water. Some records indicate that Unur had bribed the leaders to move to a less defensible position, and that Unur had promised to break off his alliance with Nur ad-Din if the Crusaders went home. Meanwhile, Nur ad-Din and Saif ad-Din had by now arrived. With Nur ad-Din in the field it was impossible for the Crusaders to return to their better position. The local Crusader lords refused to carry on with the siege, and the three kings had no choice but to abandon the city. First Conrad, then the rest of the army, decided to retreat to Jerusalem on July 28, and they were followed the whole way by Turkish archers, who constantly harassed them.

Aftermath

Each of the Christian forces felt betrayed by the other. In Germany, the Crusade was seen as a huge debacle, with many monks writing that it could only have been the work of the Devil. Despite the distaste for the memory of the Second Crusade, the experience had notable impact on German literature, with many epic poems of the late 12th century featuring battle scenes clearly inspired by the fighting in the crusade. The cultural impact of the Second Crusade was even greater in France. Unlike Conrad, the Louis's image was improved by the crusade, with many of the French seeing him as a suffering pilgrim king who quietly bore God's punishments.

Relations between the Eastern Roman Empire and the French were badly damaged by the Second Crusade. Louis and other French leaders openly accused Emperor Manuel I of colluding with Turkish attackers during the march across Asia Minor. The memory of the Second Crusade was to color French views of the Byzantines for the rest of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Sources

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Explain the successes and failures of the Second Crusade The Second Crusade was started in 1147 in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi; Edessa was founded during the First Crusade. The Second Crusade was led by two European kings-Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany.

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On the way to Jerusalem, the French and German armies faced many attacks from the Turks

Set out in mid-June

Battle of Constantinople: September 1, 1147. German forces against The Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was victorious. Heavily defeated. After the defeat crusaders ferried across the Bosporus to Asia Minor.

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There were three crusader states established in the east: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa. A fourth, the County of Tripoli, was established in 1109. Edessa was the most northerly of these, and also the weakest and least populated; as such, it was subject to frequent attacks from the surrounding Muslim states ruled by the Ortoqids, Danishmends and Seljuq Turks. Edessa fell in 1144. The news of the fall of Edessa was brought back to Europe first by pilgrims early in 1145, and then by embassies from Antioch, Jerusalem and Armenia. Bishop Hugh of Jabala reported the news to Pope Eugene III, who issued the bull Quantum praedecessores on 1 December of that Year, calling for a second crusade.

The siege of Edessa in October-November 1146 marked the permanent end of the rule of the Frankish Counts of Edessa in the city on the eve of the Second Crusade. It was the second siege the city had suffered in as many years, the first siege of Edessa having ended in December 1144. In 1146, Joscelyn II of Edessa and Baldwin of Marash recaptured the city by stealth but could not take or even properly besiege the citadel. After a brief counter-siege, Zangid governor Nūr al-Dīn took the city. The population was massacred and the walls razed. This victory was pivotal in the rise of Nūr al-Dīn and the decline of the Christian city of Edessa.

On 16 February 1147, the French crusaders met at Étampes to discuss their route. The Germans had already decided to travel overland through Hungary; they regarded the sea route as politically impractical because Roger II of Sicily was an enemy of Conrad. Many of the French nobles distrusted the land route, which would take them through the Byzantine Empire, the reputation of which still suffered from the accounts of the First Crusaders. Nevertheless, the French decided to follow Conrad, and to set out on 15 June.

The German crusaders, accompanied by the papal legate and cardinal Theodwin, intended to meet the French in Constantinople. Conrad's enemy Géza II of Hungary allowed them to pass through unharmed. When the German army of 20,000 men arrived in Byzantine territory, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos feared they were going to attack him, and had Byzantine troops posted to ensure against trouble.

The siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords. The siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade. It is seen as a pivotal battle of the wider Reconquista. On October 1147, after a four month siege, the Moorish rulers agreed to surrender, primarily due to hunger within the city. Most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, but some of them set sail and continued to the Holy Land. Some of them, who had departed earlier, helped capture Santarém earlier in the same Year. Later they also helped to conquer Sintra, Almada, Palmela and Setúbal, and they were allowed to stay in the conquered lands, where they settled down and had offspring.

The French army Laodicea on the Lycus early in January 1148, just after Otto of Freising's army had been destroyed in the same area. Resuming the march, the vanguard under Amadeus of Savoy became separated from the rest of the army at Mount Cadmus, where Louis's troops suffered heavy losses from the Turks (6 January 1148). The Turks did not bother to attack further and the French marched on to Adalia, continually harassed from afar by the Turks, who had also burned the land to prevent the French from replenishing their food, both for themselves and their horses. Louis no longer wanted to continue by land, and it was decided to gather a fleet at Adalia and to sail for Antioch. After being delayed for a month by storms, most of the promised ships did not arrive at all. Louis and his associates claimed the ships for themselves, while the rest of the army had to resume the long march to Antioch. The army was almost entirely destroyed, either by the Turks or by sickness.

The crusaders decided to attack Damascus from the west, where orchards of Ghouta would provide them with a constant food supply. Having arrived outside the walls of the city, they immediately put it to siege, using wood from the orchards. On 27 July, the crusaders decided to move to the plain on the eastern side of the city, which was less heavily fortified but had much less food and water. Afterwards, the local crusader lords refused to carry on with the siege, and the three kings had no choice but to abandon the city. The entire crusader army retreated back to Jerusalem by 28 July.

In June 1149, Nur ad-Din invaded Antioch and besieged the fortress of Inab, with aid from Unur of Damascus and a force of Turcomans. Nur ad-Din had about 6,000 troops, mostly cavalry, at his disposal. Raymond and his Christian neighbor, Count Joscelin II of Edessa, had been enemies since Raymond had refused to send an army to relieve besieged Edessa in 1146. Joscelin even made a treaty of alliance with Nur ad-Din against Raymond. For their part, Raymond II of Tripoli and the regent Melisende of Jerusalem refused to aid the Prince of Antioch. Feeling confident because he had twice defeated Nur ad-Din previously, Prince Raymond struck out on his own with an army of 400 knights and 1,000 foot soldiers.

Prince Raymond allied himself with Ali ibn-Wafa, a leader of the Assassins and an enemy of Nur ad-Din. Before he had collected all his available forces, Raymond and his ally mounted a relief expedition. Amazed at the weakness of Prince Raymond's army, Nur ad-Din at first suspected that it was only an advance guard and that the main Frankish army must be lurking nearby. Upon the approach of the combined force, Nur ad-Din raised the siege of Inab and withdrew. Rather than staying close to the stronghold, Raymond and ibn-Wafa camped with their forces in open country. After Nur ad-Din's scouts noted that the allies camped in an exposed location and did not receive reinforcements, the atabeg swiftly surrounded the enemy camp during the night.

On 29 June, Nur ad-Din attacked and destroyed the army of Antioch. Presented with an opportunity to escape, the Prince of Antioch refused to abandon his soldiers. Raymond was a man of "immense stature" and fought back, "cutting down all who came near him". Nevertheless, both Raymond and ibn-Wafa were killed, along with Reynald of Marash. A few Franks escaped the disaster. Much of the territory of Antioch was now open to Nur ad-Din, the most important of which was a route to the Mediterranean. Nur ad-Din rode out to the coast and bathed in the sea as a symbol of his conquest.

After his victory, Nur ad-Din went on to capture the fortresses of Artah, Harim, and 'Imm, which defended the approach to Antioch itself. After the victory at Inab, Nur ad-Din became a hero throughout the Islamic world. His goal became the destruction of the Crusader states, and the strengthening of Islam through jihad.

Each of the Christian forces felt betrayed by the other. After quitting Ascalon, Conrad returned to Constantinople to further his alliance with Manuel. Louis remained behind in Jerusalem until 1149. Back in Europe, Bernard of Clairvaux was humiliated by the defeat. Bernard considered it his duty to send an apology to the Pope and it is inserted in the second part of his Book of Consideration. Relations between the Eastern Roman Empire and the French were badly damaged by the Crusade. Louis and other French leaders openly accused the Emperor Manuel I of colluding with Turkish attacks on them during the march across Asia Minor. Baldwin III finally seized Ascalon in 1153, which brought Egypt into the sphere of conflict. In 1187, Saladin captures Jerusalem. His forces then spread north to capture all but the capital cities of the Crusader States, precipitating the Third Crusade.

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The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/First-C

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Perspectives( world history big fat notebook)

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Perspectives( world history big fat notebook)

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Muslims- called the christens "Christians Barbarians"

Christans- Taking back Gods land and holy land

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Why Muslims See the Crusades So Differently from Christians

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They weren’t all battles and bloodshed. There was also coexistence, political compromise, trade, scientific exchange—even love.

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about 5 million people lost their lives in all 8 of the Crusades

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*See also- Modern Scholars on the Casualty Rates for Participants of the First Crusade

Provided below are various death estimates for the crusades to the east roughly covering the period from 1095 to 1291. The extreme range of figures, from one million to nine million, suggests the futility of trying to pin down such a figure with any precision. Modern historians of the crusades tend not to make or trust such estimates, as they are skeptical of the ability of anyone to count the deaths of participants over such long periods of time (nearly 200 years) with any precision and weary of the methodological problems this entails.[1] Nevertheless, such figures are often cited by the media or online and these are likely their sources (presented from lowest to highest).

John Shertzer Hittell - Estimates 1,000,000 total dead for the crusades to the East covering the period from 1095 to 1291.
"In the two centuries of this warfare one million persons had been slain, but it had not been without some compensations." John Shertzer Hittell, A Brief History of Culture (1874), p.137.
Fredric Wertham - Estimates 1,000,000 total dead for the crusades.
"Many extensive massacres and exterminations have occurred in the past: the Crusades (a million victims); ...." Fredric Wertham, A Sign for Cain: An Exploration of Human Violence (1966), p. 140.
Charles Mackay- Estimates 2,000,000 dead Europeans for the crusades to the East covering the period from 1095 to 1291.
"Now what was the grand result of all these struggles? Europe expended millions of her treasures, and the blood of two million of her children." Charles Mackay, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds Vol. 2 (1841), p. 100.
Matthew White - Estimates 3,000,000 total dead for the crusades to the East covering the period from 1095 to 1291.
"Estimates of the number of people killed in the Crusades begin at 1 million (Wertham...) and go as high as 9 million (Robertson...) passing through 3 million (Garrison...) and 5 million (Elson...) along the way. I took the low middle (Garrison's estimate) as my estimate. The geometric means of the extremes is 3 million." Matthew White, The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities (2012), p. 576 (see f.n. 1 under The Crusades).
Fielding Hudson Garrison - Estimates 3,000,000 total dead for the crusades to the East covering the period from 1095 to 1291.
"The crusades occasioned the destruction of three million (two million Europeans) in 194 years." Fielding Hudson Garrison, Notes on the History of Military Medicine (1922), p. 106.
Henry William Elson - Estimates 5,000,000 total dead for the crusades to the East covering the period from 1095 to 1291.
"It is estimated that five million people lost their lives in the crusades." Henry William Elson, Modern Times and the Living Past (1921), p. 261.
John M. Robertson - Estimates 9,000,000 total dead for the crusades to the East covering the period from 1095 to 1291.
"It is a reasonable calculation that in the two centuries from the first crusade to the fall of Acre (1291) there had perished, in the attempts to recover and hold the Holy Land, nine millions of human beings, at least half of them Christians. Misery and chronic pestilence had slain most; but the mere carnage had been stupendous." John M. Robertson, A Short History of Christianity (1902), p. 278.
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[1] Many modern scholarly historians have, however, provided death or casualty estimates for individual crusades or battles of the crusades.

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See also- Modern Scholars on the Casualty Rates for Participants of the First Crusade Provided below are various death estimates for the crusades to the east roughly covering the period from 1095 to 1291. The extreme range of figures, from one million to nine million, suggests the futility of trying to pin down such a figure...

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https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VII_of_France: picture for biography

born 1120

son of Louis VI

House of Capet

in 1131 became heir of the throne after his brothers unexpected death

ruled from 1137-1180 (his death)

Began construction of Notre-Dame de Paris

Founded University of Paris

One of two leaders of the Second Crusade

been raised to follow the ecclesiastical path

became heir to the throne after the unexpected death of this older brother

he was better suited to become a priest, not a monarch

Louis married his first wife, Eleanor, the Duchess of Aquitaine, and the heiress of William X of Aquitaine, on July 25, 1137 and had two daughters, Marie and Alix

their marriage was bound to fail as Eleanor thought she was marrying a King not a Monk at the time

In June of 1147 Louis and Eleanor set out for Metz, Lorraine on their way to Syria, they soon arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary, and they waited for the German army here

Since Louis and King Géza II had a good relationship Géza II asked Louis to baptize his son.

As his armies began to march east they were ambushed by the Turks

During the fighting, Louis lost his small and famous royal guard, but he continued to scale the side of the mountain by gripping the tree roots. "The enemy climbed after him, hoping to capture him, and the enemy in the distance continued to fire arrows at him. But God willed that his cuirass should protect him from the arrows, and to prevent himself from being captured he defended the crag with his bloody sword, cutting off many heads and hands."

Louis and his army reached the Holy Land in 1148

"But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, so he secretly slipped out of Antioch. He united with Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus; this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149."

For the first part of his time as king he was "vigorous and jealous of his prerogatives" but after the failure of his Crusade "his piety limited his ability to become an effective statesman."

He had conflicts with Pope Innocent II

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Louis VII OF FRANCE (1120-1180)

Individual Events and Attributes

Additional Information

Occupation

with Louis VI as senior king (25 October 1131 – 1 August 1137) and with Philip II as junior king (1 November 1179 – 18 September 1180)

Title (2)

22 July 1137 – 21 March 1152

Marriage

Individual Note

Louis VII, called the Younger or the Young, French: Louis le Jeune (1120 – 18 September 1180), was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI (hence his nickname). He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles (in particular with the Angevin family), and saw the beginning of the long feud between France and England. It also saw the beginning of construction on Notre-Dame de Paris, the founding of the University of Paris and the disastrous Second Crusade.

Louis VII was born in 1120, the second son of Louis VI of France and Adelaide of Maurienne. As a younger son, Louis VII had been raised to follow the ecclesiastical path. He unexpectedly became the heir to the throne of France after the accidental death of his older brother, Philip, in 1131. A well-learned and exceptionally devout man, Louis VII was better suited for life as a priest than as a monarch.

In his youth, he spent much time in Saint-Denis, where he built a friendship with the Abbot Suger which was to serve him well in his early years as king.

In the same year he was crowned King of France, Louis VII was married on 25 July 1137 to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, heiress of William X of Aquitaine. The pairing of the monkish Louis VII and the high-spirited Eleanor was doomed to failure; she once reportedly declared that she had thought to marry a King, only to find she'd married a monk. They had only two daughters, Marie and Alix.

In June 1147 Louis VII and his queen, Eleanor, set out from Metz, Lorraine, on the overland route to Syria. Soon they arrived to the Kingdom of Hungary were they were welcomed by the king Géza II of Hungary, who was already waiting with the German emperor. Due to his good relationships with Louis VII, Géza II asked the french king to be his son Stephen's baptism godfather. After receiving provisions from the Hungarian king, the armies continued the march to the East. Just beyond Laodicea the French army was ambushed by Turks. The French were bombarded by arrows and heavy stones, the Turks swarmed down from the mountains and the massacre began. The historian Odo of Deuil reported:

During the fighting the King [Louis] lost his small and famous royal guard, but he remained in good heart and nimbly and courageously scaled the side of the mountain by gripping the tree roots ... The enemy climbed after him, hoping to capture him, and the enemy in the distance continued to fire arrows at him. But God willed that his cuirass should protect him from the arrows, and to prevent himself from being captured he defended the crag with his bloody sword, cutting off many heads and hands.

Louis VII and his army finally reached the Holy Land in 1148. His queen Eleanor supported her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and prevailed upon Louis to help Antioch against Aleppo. But Louis VII's interest lay in Jerusalem, and so he slipped out of Antioch in secret. He united with Conrad III of Germany and King Baldwin III of Jerusalem to lay siege to Damascus; this ended in disaster and the project was abandoned. Louis VII decided to leave the Holy Land, despite the protests of Eleanor, who still wanted to help her doomed uncle Raymond of Antioch. Louis VII and the French army returned home in 1149.

Meanwhile in 1144, Geoffrey the Handsome, Count of Anjou, completed his conquest of Normandy. In exchange for being recognized as Duke of Normandy by Louis, Geoffrey surrendered half of the Vexin — a region considered vital to Norman security — to Louis. Considered a clever move by Louis at the time, it would later prove yet another step towards Angevin power.

In the first part of Louis VII's reign he was vigorous and jealous of his prerogatives, but after his Crusade his piety limited his ability to become an effective statesman. His accession was marked by no disturbances, save the uprisings of the burgesses of Orléans and of Poitiers, who wished to organize communes. But soon he came into violent conflict with Pope Innocent II. The archbishopric of Bourges became vacant, and the King supported as candidate the chancellor Cadurc, against the Pope's nominee Pierre de la Chatre, swearing upon relics that so long as he lived Pierre should never enter Bourges. This brought the interdict upon the King's lands.

Louis VII then became involved in a war with Theobald II of Champagne, by permitting Raoul I of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife, Theobald II's niece, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, sister of the queen of France. Champagne also sided with the Pope in the dispute over Bourges. The war lasted two years (1142–1144) and ended with the occupation of Champagne by the royal army. Louis VII was personally involved in the assault and burning of the town of Vitry-le-François. More than a thousand people who had sought refuge in the church died in the flames. Overcome with guilt, and humiliated by ecclesiastical contempt, Louis admitted defeat, removing his armies from Champagne and returning them to Theobald, accepting Pierre de la Chatre, and shunning Ralph and Petronilla. Desiring to atone for his sins, he then declared on Christmas Day 1145 at Bourges his intention of going on a crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux assured its popularity by his preaching at Vezelay (Easter 1146).

The expedition came to a great cost to the royal treasury and military. It also precipitated a conflict with Eleanor, leading to the annulment of their marriage at the council of Beaugency (March 1152). The pretext of kinship was the basis for annulment; in fact, it owed more to the state of hostility between the two, and the decreasing odds that their marriage would produce a male heir to the throne of France. Eleanor subsequently married Henry, Count of Anjou, the future Henry II of England, in the following May, giving him the duchy of Aquitaine, three daughters, and five sons. Louis VII led an ineffective war against Henry for having married without the authorization of his suzerain; the result was a humiliation for the enemies of Henry and Eleanor, who saw their troops routed, their lands ravaged, and their property stolen. Louis reacted by coming down with a fever, and returned to the Ile-de France.

In 1154 Louis VII married Constance of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII of Castile. She, too, failed to give him a son and heir, bearing only two daughters, Marguerite of France, and Alys.

Louis having produced no sons by 1157, Henry II of England began to believe that he might never do so, and that consequently the succession of France would be left in question. Determined to secure a claim for his family, he sent the Chancellor, Thomas Becket, to press for a marriage between Princess Marguerite and Henry's heir, also called Henry (later Henry the Young King). Louis, surprisingly, agreed to this proposal, and by the Treaty of Gisors (1158) betrothed the young pair, giving as a dowry the Norman Vexin and Gisors.

Constance died in childbirth on 4 October 1160, and five weeks later Louis VII married Adela of Champagne. Henry II, to counterbalance the advantage this would give the King of France, had the marriage of their children (Henry "the Young King" and Marguerite) celebrated at once. Louis understood the danger of the growing Angevin power; however, through indecision and lack of fiscal and military resources compared to Henry II's, he failed to oppose Angevin hegemony effectively. One of his few successes, in 1159, was his trip to Toulouse to aid Raymond V, Count of Toulouse who had been attacked by Henry II: after he entered into the city with a small escort, claiming to be visiting the Countess his sister, Henry declared that he could not attack the city whilst his liege lord was inside, and went home.

At the same time the emperor Frederick I (1152–1190) in the east was making good the imperial claims on Arles. When the schism broke out, Louis VII took the part of the Pope Alexander III, the enemy of Frederick I, and after two comical failures of Frederick I to meet Louis VII at Saint Jean de Losne (on 29 August and 22 September 1162), Louis VII definitely gave himself up to the cause of Alexander III, who lived at Sens from 1163 to 1165. Alexander III gave the King, in return for his loyal support, the golden rose.

More importantly for French — and English — history would be his support for Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, whom he tried to reconcile with Henry II. Louis sided with Becket as much to damage Henry as out of piousness — yet even he grew irritated with the stubbornness of the archbishop, asking when Becket refused Henry's conciliations, "Do you wish to be more than a Saint?"

He also supported Henry's rebellious sons, and encouraged Plantagenet disunity by making Henry's sons, rather than Henry himself, the feudal overlords of the Angevin territories in France; but the rivalry amongst Henry's sons and Louis's own indecisiveness broke up the coalition (1173–1174) between them. Finally, in 1177, the Pope intervened to bring the two Kings to terms at Vitry-le-François.

In 1165, Louis' third wife bore him a son and heir, Philip II Augustus. Louis had him crowned at Reims in 1179, in the Capetian tradition (Philip would in fact be the last King so crowned). Already stricken with paralysis, King Louis VII himself was not able to be present at the ceremony. He died on September 18, 1180 at the Abbey at Saint-Pont, Allier and is interred in Saint Denis Basilica.

The reign of Louis VII was, from the point of view of royal territory and military power a difficult and unfortunate one. Yet the royal authority made progress in the parts of France distant from the royal domains: more direct and more frequent connection was made with distant vassals, a result largely due to the alliance of the clergy with the crown. Louis VII thus reaped the reward for services rendered the church during the least successful portion of his reign. His greater accomplishments lie in the development of agriculture, population, commerce, the building of stone fortresses, as well as an intellectual renaissance. Considering the significant disparity of political leverage and financial resources between Louis VII and his Angevin rival, not to mention Henry II's superior military skills, Louis VII should be credited with preserving the Capetian dynasty.

Louis married three times. By Eleanor of Aquitaine, he had:

Marie, married Henry I of Champagne

Alix, married Theobald V of Blois

By Constance of Castile:

Marguerite of France (1158–1197), married (1) Henry the Young King; (2) King Béla III of Hungary (1172–1196)

Alys (4 October 1160 – ca. 1220), engaged to Richard I of England; she married William III Talvas, Count of Ponthieu

By Adele of Champagne:

Philip II Augustus (August 22, 1165 – 1223)

Agnes of France (1171–1240), who was betrothed to Alexius II Comnenus (1180–1183) but married (1) Andronicus I Comnenus (1183–1185); (2) Theodore Branas (1204)

SOURCE:

Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography. 1977.

Sources

Weis, Frederick Lewis & Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr, "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and other Historical Individuals". p 105, 101-25; 110, 109-28.

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Louis VII OF FRANCE (1120-1180) Individual Events and Attributes Additional Information Occupation with Louis VI as senior king (25 October 1131 - 1 August 1137) and with Philip II as junior king (1 November 1179 - 18 September 1180) Title (2) 22 July 1137 - 21 March 1152 Marriage Individual Note Louis VII, called the Younger or the Young, French: Louis le Jeune (1120 - 18 September 1180), was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI (hence his nickname).

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On 28 June 1098, the forces of the First Crusade marched out from the great north Syrian city of Antioch to do battle with Karbugha, the Muslim ruler of Mosul. The odds were not in their favour: not only was the Muslim army vastly superior in size, but the crusaders had endured a gruelling eight-month siege in capturing Antioch, suffering death, disease, famine, and thirst, and were almost at breaking point. Defeat here would almost certainly have brought the entire venture to a close. And yet the crusaders achieved a startling victory, one several contemporaries suggested had borne witness to divine intervention on earth through the appearance of a saintly army of warriors who charged forth against the Muslim enemy. Even for those a little less willing to weave tales of heavenly hosts, the fact that the battle had gone the crusaders’ way was enough to prove God’s favour for the expedition. As a reward for their penitent suffering, endurance, and faith, God granted them glory and opened the way south towards Jerusalem, which would be taken a little over a year later. Put simply, Antioch was the crusade’s proving ground...

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Andrew Buck, published 1st September 2023

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Crusade in Crisis: the Siege and Battle of Antioch, 1097–98

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On 28 June 1098, the forces of the First Crusade marched out from the great north Syrian city of Antioch to do battle with Karbugha, the Muslim ruler of Mosul. The odds were not in their favour: not only was the Muslim army vastly superior in size, but the crusaders had endured a gruelling eight-month siege in capturing Antioch, suffering death, disease, famine, and thirst, and were almost at breaking point. Defeat here would almost certainly have brought the entire venture to a close. And yet the crusaders achieved a startling victory, one several contemporaries suggested had borne witness to divine intervention on earth through the appearance of a saintly army of warriors who charged forth against the Muslim enemy. Even for those a little less willing to weave tales of heavenly hosts, the fact that the battle had gone the crusaders’ way was enough to prove God’s favour for the expedition. As a reward for their penitent suffering, endurance, and faith, God granted them glory and opened the way south towards Jerusalem, which would be taken a little over a year later. Put simply, Antioch was the crusade’s proving ground…

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Urban II (born c. 1035, Châtillon-sur-Marne, or Lagery, or Lagny, Champagne, France—died July 29, 1099, Rome [Italy]) was the head of the Roman Catholic Church (1088–99) who developed ecclesiastical reforms begun by Pope Gregory VII, launched the Crusade movement, and strengthened the papacy as a political entity.

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Urban II, head of the Roman Catholic Church (1088-99) who developed ecclesiastical reforms begun by Pope Gregory VII, launched the Crusade movement, and strengthened the papacy as a political entity. Learn more about his life, papacy, and legacy in this article.

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Andrew Buck, published 1st September 2023

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Crusade in Crisis: the Siege and Battle of Antioch, 1097–98

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On 28 June 1098, the forces of the First Crusade marched out from the great north Syrian city of Antioch to do battle with Karbugha, the Muslim ruler of Mosul. The odds were not in their favour: not only was the Muslim army vastly superior in size, but the crusaders had endured a gruelling eight-month siege in capturing Antioch, suffering death, disease, famine, and thirst, and were almost at breaking point. Defeat here would almost certainly have brought the entire venture to a close. And yet the crusaders achieved a startling victory, one several contemporaries suggested had borne witness to divine intervention on earth through the appearance of a saintly army of warriors who charged forth against the Muslim enemy. Even for those a little less willing to weave tales of heavenly hosts, the fact that the battle had gone the crusaders’ way was enough to prove God’s favour for the expedition. As a reward for their penitent suffering, endurance, and faith, God granted them glory and opened the way south towards Jerusalem, which would be taken a little over a year later. Put simply, Antioch was the crusade’s proving ground…

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Siege of Antioch. {Antakya, Turkey}

lake of Antioch. { Lake Amik, a river in Turkey}

Siege of Arqa. { Tell Arqa, Modern day Lebanon}

First siege of Arsuf. {Apollonia–Arsuf, The Crusaders Kindom of Jerusalem}

Battle of Ascalon. { Israel, After the capture of Jerusalem, know as the last action of the 1st crusade}

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BATTLE ONE

page 1-2 {battle 1} A fold out of details of the battle along with a map and key for it

pages 3-4 {battle 1} a calendar of the 1st 2 months of the battle

pages 5-6 {battle 1} a packing list and picture of the battlefield/ drawing

BATTLE TWO

page 7-8 {battle 2} a fold-out of 2 sides with a picture that meets in the middle of the 2 folded sides talking about the battle

pages 9-10 {battle 2} a drawing of the outfits they would wear to battle with a key stating what everything is and their purpose

page 11 {battle 2} a diary entry of what had happened that day detailing the events

page 12 {battle 2} bucket list

BATTLE THREE

pages 13-14 {battle 3} A map of the state with landforms on top showing what it looked like throughout the state with a key saying what everything is

pages 15-16 {battle 3} a food page full of recipes and food they would eat along with pictures.

pages 17-18 {battle 3} as watercolor pictures of the battlefield they were in and maybe the aftermath

,

BATTLE FOUR

page 19 {battle 4} a to-do list of things the person with the journal wants to do in this battle

pages 20-21 {battle 4} a picture of the horses and animals they would bring into battle and say their characteristics, pros, and cons

pages 22-23 {battle 4} diary entry with picture

BATTLE FIVE

page 24-25 {battle 5} a pull-out with details of the battle, inspiring bible verses, miles from the 1st battle to the last battle, a drawing of the battlefield, before and after

pages 26-27 {battle 5} conclusion

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Siege of Antioch, (20 October 1097–28 June 1098). This marked the arrival of the First Crusade in the Holy Land. Events set a pattern of betrayal, massacre, and heroism that was to mark future campaigns. By capturing Antioch, the crusaders secured lines of supply and reinforcement to the west.

Raymond of Toulouse, and Godfrey de Bouillon each commanded a section of the blockading lines.

The Turkish garrison was commanded by Yaghi Siyan, who summoned a relief army from Damascus and another from Aleppo, only for both to be defeated by the crusaders before they reached Antioch.

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PACKING LIST FOR THE 1ST BATTLE SIEGE OF ANTIOCH

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PACKING LIST FOR THE 1ST BATTLE SIEGE OF ANTIOCH

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Steal Swords

shields

armor

cross bows

horses

pigs

cows (beef)

mutton

hunting supplies

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Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

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July 15th is the anniversary of the conquest of Jerusalem by Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and the First Crusade (1099). We thus offer our readers this panforte (strong bread) recipe, which tradition says hails from Crusader days. Fruits, nuts and honey, all commonly available to Crusaders, are among panforte 's ingredients.

As you bake and enjoy panforte, think of the Crusades, and the forward defense they represented for medieval Christendom against the power of Islam. Think of the sacrifices and heroism these military expeditions represent. Think of the golden page which the Crusading ideal represents in Christian history and the military orders of chivalry they gave rise to. Think of Pope Blessed Urban II, who inspired by the Holy Ghost, launched the Crusading ideal in the outskirts of Clermont-Ferrand, France, and let your imagination hear the thundering reply rising to Heaven from the throats of thousands of Christian knights: Deus vult! Deus vult!

Ponder further. Think of the plaintive and stinging rebuke made by the Catholic Patriarch of the Chaldeans, Most Rev. Louis Raphael I Sako, just days ago, a bishop whose faithful are being persecuted and martyred at the hands of Muslims today. Ponder the incomprehension and consternation of this prelate at the widespread apathy of the Christian West, which goes wild over a soccer game, but has little to nothing to say regarding the persecution of Catholics in Muslim lands, and offers hardly any help to them.

Ponder all these things within your heart. Break away from the general consensus and say a prayer for these persecuted Catholics, and thank God that there was a time when millions of Crusaders sacrificed, suffered, fought, and rendered their souls to God, while fighting for the Catholic faith and Christendom against the power of Islam.

Makes one 20 x 10 cm (8 x 4 inch) cake, which can be cut into 32 squares or two 20 cm (4 inch) round cakes Adapted from " Ultimate Recipes - Italian "
½ Cup whole almonds, lightly toasted in the oven ½ Cup hazelnuts, lightly toasted in the oven, skins removed and roughly chopped ¼ Cup chopped mixed peel 4 dried unsulfured apricots, finely diced 1 ring crystallized pineapple, finely diced Grated zest (peel) of ½ large orange 3 ¼ Tablespoon plain flour 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ Cup dark muscuvado (brown) sugar ¼ Cup honey Icing (confectioners') sugar to dust (optional) or you can use a white chocolate frosting or any some other white icing that you wish to use. 1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F). Line one 20 x 10 cm (8 x 4 inch) loaf tin (pan) with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, mix almonds, hazelnuts, mixed peel, apricots, pineapple, orange zest, plain flour, cocoa and cinnamon. Set aside. 3. Gently heat dark muscuvado (brown) sugar and honey in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a gentle boil and boil for 5 minutes. The color will darken. 4. Reduce heat to low. Quickly stir in fruit and nut mix to fully incorporate. Immediately transfer to prepared tin (pan). Smooth off top surface with the back of a wet spoon. 5. Bake in middle of preheated oven for 20 minutes. 6. Let cool, turn out of tin (pan) leaving parchment paper intact. Once cold, wrap loosely with cling film (plastic wrap). Allow to age at room temperature for 7-10 days, before slicing, dusting with icing sugar and enjoying. Serve as a snack, with coffee or dessert wine.
Tagged as: Chivalry, Crusades, Elites, Food and History of Recipes linked to Nobility, Food Origins, History of Western Civilization, Honor, Leadership, Martyr, Military Saints, Monarchy, Nobility, Recipes, Recipes linked to Nobility, War

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food and history of recipes linked to nobility

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A Recipe From The Crusaders - Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites

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July 15th is the anniversary of the conquest of Jerusalem by Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and the First Crusade (1099). We thus offer our readers this panforte (strong bread) recipe, which tradition says hails from Crusader days. Fruits, nuts and honey, all commonly available to Crusaders, are among panforte's ingredients.

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group that turns Muslim and requests aid from the pope

the pope sends in 4different groups of people to help, France, Italy

all 4 converge (surrounds) they end up breaking through the fort causes the Muslims to to move out of Antioch

from there the Turks and Muslims forfeited the fort

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As the Bridge Gate of Antioch swung open on June 28, 1098, arrows rained down on the grimly determined Christian column advancing out of the city. These soldiers of the First Crusade had besieged Muslim-held Antioch for more than seven months before finally taking the city, only to be immediately besieged themselves by a massive Muslim army. Within a month, facing defeat through starvation, their leaders had decided to venture outside the walls and do battle. Conquer or die, the coming confrontation would mark the final act in the saga of the conquest of Antioch.

and 1095, the delegation to Following a series of disastrous reversals in Asia Minor (present-day eastern and central Turkey) between 1091 Byzantine empire faced an existential threat: The Seljuk Turks, recent converts to Islam, had advanced to within 50 miles of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent a to respond. On Nov. 27, 1095, Urban appeared at Cler Pope Urban II in Rome, begging for military support against the Turks. Fortunately for Alexius, Urban and the knights of Western Europe were able and willing mont in southern France and called on the gathered knights to liberate the Christians of the East and the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Seljuk scourge.

The great army that responded to Urban's call had coalesced in Constantinople by the spring of 1097. It was organized in four "national" contingents, each under the leadership of its respective lords. From northern and central France came Duke Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror; Count Stephen of Blois and Chartres, one of the Conqueror's sons-in-law; Count Hugh of Vermandois, younger brother of King Philip of France; and Count Robert of Flanders. From the northern border area between France and Germany came Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine.

Finally, from Sicily and southern Italy came Normans under Prince Bohemond of Taranto, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of southern Italy and Sicily. Bohemond's exceptional military ability and resourcefulness would prove invaluable to the Crusaders.

The Crusader army arrived outside the walls of Antioch on October 21. The city lay little more than a dozen miles inland east of the Mediterranean Sea in northern Syria (present-day south central Turkey). By the time of the First Crusade the city had been in existence some 1,400 years, having been founded in 300 bc by Seleucus I Nicator, among the Macedonian successors to rule Alexander the Great's fragmented empire. Antioch was especially vener ated by Christians, as the first church for gentiles was founded in the city, and it was there disciples of Jesus were first called Christians.

The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I had ordered construction of Antioch's immense walls in the sixth century, and they were repaired in the 10th century by Byzantine engineers. In the north the walls ran along marshy ground adjacent to the south bank of the Orontes River. To the east and west the walls ascended the slopes of Mount Silpius till converging on a citadel at its summit, some 1,440 feet above the city. The Turks had only been able to take Antioch in 1085 because a traitor had opened a gate to them.

The Crusaders held no illusions about taking the city by direct assault. They instead tried to blockade as much of it as possible without dispersing their forces too thinly, hoping the defenders would ultimately capitulate or be betrayed. For his part, Yaghi-Siyan, the governor of Antioch for the past decade, settled for ambushing enemy foraging parties while awaiting a Muslim relief army.

The situation looked grim in early February when the Crusaders learned a large Muslim relief army was advanc ing west from Aleppo. Against the 12,000 approaching horse archers the Christian army could muster only 700 mounted knights, some of whom had been reduced to riding pack animals or oxen due to the scarcity of horses.

On the morning of February 9 the Muslim relief army approached slowly from the east, two squadrons of cavalry in the lead. As the enemy horsemen neared the point of ambush, Bohemond's knights charged out with couched lances to strike the Turkish vanguard in the flank, throwing them back in disorder into the main force.

Adept at close-quarters combat, the Crusaders pressed their advantage, but the Turks' numbers soon stabilized their lines. At that point, with the battle hanging in the balance, Bohemond's reserve squadron joined the fray and shattered the Turkish formation. The defeated Turks lost upward of 2,000 men on the field and in the subsequent rout. Bohe mond's victory in the Battle of the Lake reinvigorated the Crusaders, thwarting Muslim hopes to catch and destroy the crusading army outside the walls of Antioch. That said, the victory did nothing tangible to hasten Antioch's fall, nor did it alleviate the food shortage plaguing the camp.

Early March brought an English fleet laden with food and building materials for the camp. The Crusaders immediately set to work build ing siege engines and fortifications to complete their encirclement of Antioch. With the city's major gates blocked, they were once again free to forage and receive supplies.

That effectively turned the tables. As the Muslim gar rison's food supplies began to dwindle, the defenders faced the real prospect of being starved into submission. To dispel any doubts about his own resolve, Yaghi-Siyan ordered the beheading of a captured Crusader who had refused to renounce his faith, then had the remaining Christian prisoners burned alive on a great pyre. In so doing, the governor also hoped to convince his own soldiers they could expect no mercy from the Christian army if it entered the city. Regardless, in late May news reached Antioch that seemed to put a Crusader victory beyond the realm of possibility.

Picking up reinforcements along the march, Kerbogha's army numbered upward of 40,000 men by the time it arrived outside Antioch. News of its approach dispirited the Crusaders. Were the larger Muslim force to catch them outside the city walls, death seemed a strong possi bility. Many fled for their lives. What they couldn't have known is that Bohemond had entered into negotiations with the commander of three of the city's defensive towers and a section of adjoining wall. Firuz, an Armenian who had converted to Islam, held a grudge against Yaghi-Siyan, who had punished him for hoarding. Bohemond's promises of riches in exchange for opening the city gates was icing on the cake.

Just before dawn on June 3 Bohemond's knights placed a ladder against one of Firuz's towers and began scaling the wall unopposed. The ladder broke soon after Bohemond himself had clambered over, but by then the first men into the city had opened a postern gate. As the Crusaders seized other towers, more ladders went up. Finally, besiegers flung open two main gates, and the rest of the Christian army poured into Antioch. By nightfall the only Muslims left alive were besieged in the citadel. As he rode into the surrounding hills in a panic, Yaghi-Siyan was thrown from his horse and promptly beheaded by Armenian peasants.

Antioch belonged to the Crusaders. They had entered just in time. Two days later the vanguard of the Muslim relief army arrived outside the walls.

As morale deteriorated, another batch of Crusaders deserted, among them Bohemond's brother-in-law. Others failed to perform their duties, instead languishing in the city's pillaged houses to await the end. Bohemond motivated such despondent souls by setting several homes ablaze and ordering the roused men back onto the walls. Exhibiting none of the lassitude paralyzing the rest of the army, Bohemond energetically organized the defense of the city. Yet it remains debatable whether even his power ful leadership could have led the embattled Crusaders to victory had it not been for the sudden appearance of the supernatural in their midst.

On June 10 a French peasant and reputed Christian seer named Peter Bartholomew came before the crusade's leaders and made an extraordinary announcement. He claimed St. Andrew had appeared to him in visions, revealing that the head of the lance that had pierced Jesus' side as he hung on the cross lay concealed beneath the floor of Antioch's Church of St. Peter. Bartholomew further asserted the saint had assured the Christian army victory if it carried the Holy Lance before it into battle. On June 14 Crusaders dug up the floor of the church but found nothing. At nightfall, however, Bartholomew himself climbed into the diggings with the searchers and soon pointed out the tip of a lance protruding from the side of the trench.

Bohemond's strategy was dictated by a logistical constraint: Most of the knights lacked horses. Reasonable estimates of the number of animals available to the Crusad ers for the final battle range between 200 and 600. Even accepting the higher number, such a small force of mounted knights couldn't possibly decide the outcome of the forthcoming battle. Thus it fell to the infantry to accomplish what foot soldiers on the battlefields of Western Europe rarely had-to attack and defeat the enemy.

While the number of warriors available to Bohemond is unknown, by that point in the campaign starvation and disease had probably reduced the army to no more than 20,000 men. Bohemond grouped them by "nationality" into four main divisions. The first, which would form the right wing of the Crusader battle line, com prised the northern French and Flemings and northern Normans under Hugh of Vermandois and the two Roberts. The second comprised Godfrey's troops and would occupy the center. The third, on the left wing, comprised the southern French, led solely by Bishop Adhemar, as Ray mond was too ill to fight and elected to remain behind with 200 men to guard the citadel. The fourth comprised the southern Normans under Bohemond, who would again hold his force in reserve, wielding it as a hammer against hard-pressed sections of the line and-when the time came, and with God's blessing-striking the decisive blow.

On the morning of June 28 the Crusaders gathered just inside the Bridge Gate to prepare for the battle that would either extend or end the First Crusade. Noting the move ment, besieged Turks in the citadel flew a black flag to signal Kerbogha of the coming storm.

As the first Crusader column got under way, some priests stood on the ramparts to pray for divine assistance, while others walked among the troops to issue blessings. Raymond of Aguilers, a French chaplain and the official campaign chronicler, had the honor of bearing the Holy Lance. In the vanguard, the northern French marched out with archers and crossbowmen supplied by the other divisions, ready to counter an expected barrage of enemy arrows. That expectation proved well founded, as a force of 2,000 Muslim horse archers promptly unleashed a rain of arrows on Hugh's troops. Shield-bearing Christian sol diers protected their own archers as the latter returned fire. The Crusaders' effective volleys of arrows and crossbow bolts found marks among the Turkish horsemen, who soon broke and fled the field.

With the enemy cavalry out of the fight, the first division of Crusader infantry swung to the right, anchored its flank on the river and attacked in line, targeting the Muslim light infantry. Godfrey's men then rushed out to the left of the first division to join the attack, while Adhemar's force advanced across the plain to secure the left flank. Muslim cavalry from the satellite camps around the city eagerly rushed to join the battle, but with no clear idea of where to go or what they were supposed to be doing. In the absence of any orders, they swarmed around Adhemar's troops, unleashing plenty of arrows but failing to engage in close combat and thus prevent the column from forming up on the left flank.

Kerbogha had still not moved out of camp, apparently content to allow the entire Christian army to emerge so he might destroy it all at once. But the battle had devel oped more quickly than he had anticipated, and the thought likely dawned on him that encamping his main army a scant few miles from the city walls had been a mistake. Taking matters into their own hands, Kerbogha's subordinates made the first tactically coherent maneuver on the Muslim side of the battle, sending a force of horse archers around Adhemar's column to threaten the rear of the Crusader battle line.

By the time Kerbogha finally roused himself and brought his main army to bear, the Muslim troops de ployed around the city had either fled or were being hacked to pieces. And while they likely outnumbered the Crusaders, the newly arrived troops did not immediately attack. Their hesitation was justified. Some in the Muslim army had distrusted Kerbogha from the out set, while others who had previously sup ported him had lost confidence due to his disorganized leadership that day. Psycho logical factors also played a role. Those in Kerbogha's main force had already watched the panicked Muslim horse archers flee and were witnessing mayhem among the light infantry. Any remaining shred of morale likely dissolved when they recognized the threat posed by Adhemar's column, sitting intact on the plain; were they to intercede on behalf of their embattled light infantry, his Crusaders would fall on their flank.

It was at that point the Muslim troops decided en masse to remove themselves from the disaster their commander had or chestrated. Kerbogha's ineptitude, com bined with the spectacle of the ongoing slaughter, had transformed his army into a frightened, disorganized mob in which each man thought only of saving his own life. With their flight, the entire Muslim army collapsed.

The Crusaders' pursuit was limited by their lack of horses. They virtually annihilated the Muslim light infan try and camp followers, but most of the Turkish cavalry got away. Kerbogha escaped with his life, but little else. His power and prestige lay in tatters. When the besieged Muslim garrison in the citadel saw the destruction of the relief army, they surrendered. After eight months of misery, fear and violence, the Crusaders had won Antioch.

Although often overlooked in the broader context of the Crusades, the victory at Antioch had enormous historical consequences. Had the crusading army been destroyed, the campaign to reclaim the Holy Land might have died in its infancy. But not even subsequent debacles (e.g., the Crusade of 1101 or the 1147-49 Second Crusade) could erase the glorious memory of the Crusader reconquest of Jerusalem in 1099. With the example of the First Crusade to inspire them, later Crusaders persisted, undoubtedly believing God was on their side.

New Jersey-based attorney Brian M. English is a longtime student of ancient and medieval warfare. For further read ing he recommends John France's Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade; Crusading Warfare, by R.C. Smail; and The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages, by J.F. Verbruggen.

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The Crucible of Antioch: The Pivotal Clash of the First Crusade

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Fortunes turned for the opposing Christian and Muslim armies in this pivotal clash of the 1095-99 First Crusade

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BEFORE THE BATTLE TO-DO LIST

Go and help the Muslims in the 4 groups

surround the Antioch

make sure the Turks and Muslims surrender the Antioch

stay there until this is done or we shall attack

DURING THE BATTLE TO-DO LIST

keep them out of Antioch

they are out of safe space, take this to our advantage

FIGHT

take down the Turks and Muslims

AFTER THE FIGHT TO-DO LIST

Take and clean up the land we claimed back

celebrate

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Table of Contents

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Third Crusade, military expedition (1189-92) that was mounted by western European Christians in an attempt to retake the Crusader states in the Levant (most notably the kingdom of Jerusalem) that had fallen to Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 as a result of his victory in the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn. The Third Crusade's leaders were Richard I of England, Philip II of France, and the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I. This mission was the third in a series of similar expeditions known collectively as the Crusades.

The successes of Saladin

Following the collapse of the Second Crusade (1174-93), Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, brought political and religious harmony to the Muslims of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine as their sultan and capitalized on the divided leadership and ambition of the Crusader states to accomplish the Muslim reconquest of the greater part of the kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Tripoli, and the principality of Antioch. When Reginald of Châtillon, prince of Antioch, broke a royal truce with Saladin by plundering a huge caravan en route from Egypt to Damascus, the sultan responded by launching the jihad that culminated in the expulsion of the Crusaders. The crowning blow in this effort was the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn on July 4, 1187, in which the Muslim forces of Saladin vanquished the armies of Guy, king of Jerusalem. Saladin then proceeded to take most of the cities and castles of the defenseless Crusader states. Jerusalem fell on October 2, 1187. After two years, only Tyre and the castle of Belfort were left in the kingdom, Tripoli and four castles in the county of Tripoli, and Antioch and a few small places in the north.

The papal call for the Third Crusade and King Guy's siege of Acre

After the fall of Jerusalem, Pope Gregory VIII and his successor, Clement III, called for a new Crusade, but, even before Gregory issued a Crusade bull, Conrad of Montferrat had struck back, landing at Tyre with a small Italian fleet and a number of followers barely two weeks after the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn. Almost immediately he was attacked by Saladin but withstood the challenge. At the same time, Conrad also refused to submit to King Guy, whom Saladin had released in 1188 but who quickly violated the parole that had required him not to re-engage in combat.

Guy surprised Saladin by leading some of his followers in a siege of Acre (now ʿAkko, Israel). A force under Henry of Champagne already had begun reinforcing the Crusaders deployed outside the city when Saladin finally reacted by moving his army toward Acre. As the resulting conflict dragged on, neither side made much progress. By the winter of 1190-91, Saladin was still unable to relieve the city, but the Crusaders had suffered significantly from famine and disease. When disease claimed the life of Guy's wife, Sibyl, who had been the source of his claim to the throne of Jerusalem, many of the kingdom's older barons who previously had supported Guy looked instead to Conrad to lead them. Although Conrad fortified his claim to the throne by marrying Sibyl's sister, Isabella (whose marriage to Humphrey of Toron was annulled), Guy refused to relinquish power. This, then, was the situation when ships arrived off Acre in May 1191 laden with much-needed supplies and bearing news of the imminent arrival of the armies of the Third Crusade.

Frederick I's ill-fated journey to the Levant

Although he himself would be dead in November 1189, William II, the king of Sicily, became the first ruler to respond to the papal appeal, abandoning a conflict with Byzantium to outfit a fleet that quickly left for the East. Crusader-bearing Danish, English, and Flemish ships also set sail. At the same time, Gregory VIII sent a legation to the nearly 70-year-old Holy Roman emperor Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa), who had participated in the Second Crusade. A supporter of antipopes in the 1160s and '70s, Frederick had been excommunicated by Pope Alexander III, but the emperor had a rapprochement with the church in 1177, and he had long desired to join another Crusade.

In May 1189 Frederick set out with the largest Crusader army theretofore assembled and crossed Hungary into Byzantine territory. Per a secret treaty with Saladin, Isaac II Angelus, the Byzantine emperor, did his best to impede Frederick's progress through Greece, prompting Frederick to capture the city of Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey), which he returned to Byzantine control only after Isaac transported the Germans across the Hellespont ( Dardanelles) into Turkey. After defeating a Seljuq army, Frederick's forces arrived at Iconium (now Konya, Turkey) in May 1190 and then entered Armenian territory. On June 10, having ridden ahead with his bodyguard, Frederick drowned while attempting to cross the Göksu River, near Silifke. His death crushed the morale of the German army, much of which returned home. Only a small remnant under Frederick of Swabia and Duke Leopold of Austria eventually made it to Tyre. Consequently, the German contribution to the Third Crusade was minimal. For Saladin and the Muslims, who had been wary of the emperor's looming arrival, Frederick's death seemed like an act of God.

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Richard I and Philip II join the Crusade

In the meantime, Archbishop Josius of Tyre persuaded Philip II (Philip Augustus) of France and Henry II of England to join the Third Crusade, though it was Henry's son Richard I (Richard the Lion-Heart) who took up the cause when he succeeded his father to the throne upon Henry's death in 1189. The vast fiefs held by the English Angevin kings in France and Philip's strong desire to regain possession of Normandy, however, were the cause of tension between the English and French rulers and posed problems for a common enterprise. Thus, it was not until July 4, 1190, three years after the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn, that the two kings, not trusting each other to go separately, met at Vézelay and prepared to depart with their armies.

Richard and Henry had notably divergent personalities. The English king had opposed his father and distrusted his brothers. While he was capable of great generosity, he also frequently turned violent toward those who stood in his way. A genius warrior with no talent for administration, Richard was the quintessential chivalrous Crusader, the personification of the era's romanticization of war, including its notion of aristocratic courtly love. On the one hand, he could ceremoniously honour his noble Muslim adversaries; on the other, he could treat lowborn captives with ruthless brutality.

In contrast to Richard, Philip II, who had ruled France for a decade, was an unscrupulous but adept politician. While he was not a warrior himself, Philip nevertheless was skilled at planning sieges and designing siege engines. He was, however, a reluctant Crusader whose real interests lay in expanding his own domains.

After a storm-tossed voyage, Richard landed at Cyprus. His sister Joan and his fiancée, Berengaria of Navarre, who had been shipwrecked on the island, were being held by its rebellious Byzantine ruler, Isaac Comnenus. Underestimating the strength of Richard's force, Isaac attacked the English king. Richard turned the tables on Isaac, defeating and capturing him. Moreover, in what would prove to be one of the most important events in the history of the Crusades, Richard went on to conquer Cyprus, which became a vital source of supplies throughout the Third Crusade and remained under direct Latin rule for the next four centuries. Even after the demise of the Crusader states, Cyprus stood as a Christian outpost in the East.

The Crusader victories at Acre and Arsūf

Having departed Cyprus, Richard made his way to Acre, arriving on June 8 and bringing new life to the siege. Roughly a month later, after the failure of Saladin's nephew to fight his way into the city to reinforce and rescue it, Acre's garrison succumbed to the constant battering at its walls by siege engines and, in violation of Saladin's orders, surrendered. Although Saladin was stunned by this development, he ratified the surrender. The Muslim leader agreed to pay the Crusaders the sum of 200,000 dinars, release all his Christian prisoners-more than 1,000 men-and return the True Cross in exchange for the lives of the Muslim garrison.

Disputes over the dispersal of portions of the city arose between the Crusaders as they took possession of Acre. Notably, Richard offended Leopold of Austria. Even more significant was Philip's decision to abandon the Crusade. Considering his Crusader's vow to have been fulfilled and his being in poor health, he departed for France in August, prepared to harass Richard's fiefs despite the French king's earlier pledge not to do so. Having gone to great expense to undertake the Crusade and because he thrived on the battlefield, Richard chose to remain, in control of English and French troops who resented Philip's absence. When Saladin was late in paying the first tranche of the ransom for the Muslim garrison, an enraged Richard ordered all 2,700 members of the garrison marched outside the city, where they were executed as Saladin and his army looked on. Saladin struck back by massacring most of his Christian hostages, and the agreement that had ended the siege evaporated.

The only full-fledged battle that would occur between Saladin's forces and those of the Third Crusade was joined at Arsūf on September 7, 1191. That day Richard's military skills were much in evidence as he dominated the encounter. Saladin was forced to retreat, having suffered heavy losses, whereas the casualties for Richard's army were very light. Thereafter Saladin chose not to engage again in open battle with the English king. Richard soon retook Jaffa, and, after establishing his base of operations there, he moved to reinstate Christian control of the coast. To the south he refortified Ascalon (now Ashqelon, Israel). Although Richard advanced on Jerusalem twice, both times he was forced to retreat after coming within sight of his objective, having realized that, lacking control of the hinterland, he would be unable to hold the holy city for long. Richard's decision not to lay siege to the city was tactically sound, but its unpopularity among his troops would have significant repercussions when most of the Crusaders bitterly rejected the king's suggestion that the Crusade attack Saladin's power base in Egypt.

Peace and aftermath of the Third Crusade

Back in France, Philip was preying upon the lands of the English king, who received urgent requests to return home. Richard, in the meantime, remained in constant communication with Saladin, with whom he seemed to share mutual respect. A variety of peace terms, including potential marriage alliances, were proposed. Ultimately, on September 2, 1192, Richard and Saladin entered into a three-year peace agreement. Under its terms, the coast from Jaffa northward remained in Christian hands; however, Ascalon returned to Saladin's control, though only after the fortifications that the Crusaders had so painstakingly built were demolished by them. Significantly, pilgrims were granted free access to the holy places.

On October 9 Richard left the Levant, but before going he consented to the baronial request that Guy be deposed as king of Jerusalem and Conrad be accepted as his successor. Soon after Conrad's ascent to the throne, he was killed by members of the Nizārī Ismāʿīliyyah, a movement within Shiʿi Islam. Isabella was then persuaded to marry Henry of Champagne, who became the king of Jerusalem. Guy was appointed the governor of Cyprus.

Although the Third Crusade had failed in its main objective, to retake Jerusalem, it had been very successful in a myriad of other ways, not least in expunging most of the gains Saladin had made in the aftermath of his victory at Ḥaṭṭīn. Moreover, in regaining the coast, Richard gave the truncated kingdom of Jerusalem a lease on life for another century.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Jeff Wallenfeldt.

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Third Crusade | Summary, Significance, Key Events, Location, & Leaders

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Third Crusade, military expedition (1189-92) that was mounted by western European Christians in an attempt to retake the Crusader states in the Levant (most notably the kingdom of Jerusalem) that had fallen to Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 as a result of his victory in the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn.