Back to History and Evolution
Archives.
History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 43, Second and Third Crusades:
January 19, 2004:
Following the first crusade a Christian feudal state was established in Jerusalem. Following that four other Christian states were established around the coastline. This situation held until 1144 when the northernmost Latin crusader state Edessa was recaptured by the Muslims. That prompted pleas from the East to Pope Eugenius III. Of course, Eugene put forth the call in 1145. Lo and behold, his call netted two major European Monarchs. Both Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany answer the call. This seemed to be a real step up from the first crusade.
Conrad set forth in 1147 and made it as far as Dorylaeum where his force was destroyed by the Turks. He had to run for it and take refuge in Nicaea with a handful of survivors. It was a complete disaster.
Louis came through a few months later with his force and picked up Conrad at Nicaea. He continued on and finally arrived at Jerusalem in 1148 to join forces with a host of other crusaders. All told, they were in command of an army of 50,000 men. For some unknown reason they decide to attack Damascus. That did not go well at all. After a five day siege of Damascus the attack was called off and the crusaders had to retreat. It was a humiliating defeat for those noble Christian crusaders. They had not even had a chance to murder any women and children yet.
Following the humiliation, there were various intrigues, feints, threats of holy war and truces between the Muslims and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Finally, in 1187 after some Christian treachery Saladin of Egypt caught and destroyed the entire army of Jerusalem in the field. Following that, he moved up the coast and laid siege to Jerusalem. The occupants surrendered and he occupied the city. He continued his conquests and by1189 most of the Latin Kingdom was in Muslim hands.
When the news of Saladin's conquests came to Rome, it is alleged that Urbane III died of shock. Whatever, his successor, Gregory VIII, issued a crusader bull. William II of Sicily sent a fleet as did the English, Danish, and Flemish. The German King and Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I, not to be outdone, set out in 1189 with a huge army. He was accidentally drowned en-route and his army disintegrated on the news. So much for Fred.
In the meantime, in 1188 Saladin made the error of releasing a guy named King Guy. In a surprise move, Guy gathered some followers and laid siege to the recently conquered city of Acre. That siege became a standoff as the city held out, but Saladin could not get in to relived it. That was the situation as the new crusader armies approached.
At this time, England and France had some squabbles of their own over Normandy and other English held territories. They finally got together in 1190 and prepared for the third crusade. This was lead by Philip II Augustus of France and the notorious Richard the Lion Hearted of England. Phillip arrived at Acre with his fleet in 1191 and the siege went forth. Richard was delayed by some bad weather and put in at Cyprus which he took the time to conquer. Then he went on to Acre, just a little late.
Finally, the troops at Acre surrendered and the Crusaders moved into the city. Phillip, who was ill and tired, got piqued with Richard and went home leaving Richard in control. After some prisoner negotiations and double dealing with Saladin, Richard did the expected crusader thing. He had his prisoners with all of their wives and kids killed.
He then moved toward Jerusalem, but he never got there. He got as far as Daron in 2292. Meantime, he had problems at home which required his attention. He finally signed a truce with Saladin wherein the coast from Jaffa north was to remain in Christian hands and Christians were to have access to the holy places. Then Richard set out for home. He had an adventure along the way, but it was just an aside in English history. It need not concern us here. For those interested, look up Richard the Lion Hearted in English history.
The third crusade failed to recapture Jerusalem, but it did
allow the continued existence of a Christian kingdom along the
coast. More importantly, the accidental conquest of Cyprus became
a significant accomplishment. It became an outpost and staging
area for following crusades and finally a kingdom in its own right.
Back to History and Evolution
Archives.
|
|
|
|