THE THIRD CRUSADE

The news of the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem reached Europe via the bishop of Tyre.  The pope heard the news and died.  The next pope issued a crusading bull, but only reigned two months before he himself died.

Yet there was enthusiasm for a crusade.  People had known for some time that Nur-ad-Din and then Saladin were increasingly threatening the Kingdom of Jerusalem.  Many had pledged to go on crusade. Some had visited the Kingdom of Jerusalem as pilgrims and participated in battles against Saladin’s forces.

For better or worse, a new crusade was going to feature kings.  Henry II of England (1154-1189) had pledged to go on a crusade as part of his penance for the murder of Thomas Becket back in 1170.  Henry had collected money for this expedition (the Templars had used some of it to hire mercenaries who fought in the Battle of Hattin wearing Henry's colors). Yet he himself had not yet personally fulfilled his crusading vow because he had been involved in lots of wars in France, mostly with his own sons, including Richard, duke of Aquitaine (later Richard Lionheart).

Another potential recruit was Frederick Barbarossa, who had participated in the Second Crusade as a nephew of Conrad III.  He knew the territory.  He had recently settled most of his conflicts in Europe (he was now about 70), and he was ready to go.

Participation by these royals meant that other kings either had to participate or be shamed for failing to help.  In fact, kings of England, France, and Germany would ultimately participate in the Third Crusade, along with many great nobles.

The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190)

Frederick Barbarossa was the ideal emperor.  He united the Guelf and Ghibelline factions that had divided Germany.  He had fought much in Italy to consolidate his power there. Although he ultimately failed in Italy, he made the best of it and managed to reestablish his power over his great noble vassals in Germany.

Because of his previous participation on the Second Crusade, Frederick knew what he was doing.  He raised a huge army. He marched it in good order to Constantinople.  There he resisted Byzantine stalling tactics and counter-hostaged the Byzantine emperor.

He overawed the Seljuks, marching past Myriocephalum, the 1176 battlefield where the Turks had definitively destroyed the power of the Eastern Roman Empire (there the bones of the dead Byzantines could still be seen), captured Conya, the Seljuk capital, and led his army down to the Syrian Plain.  It was the best march through Asia Minor since the First Crusade,   Muslims were terrified by his success and by his imperial title.

But as Frederick was marching into Syria, and was crossing a small river, something went dreadfully wrong.  His horse threw him? He had some sort of a collapse?  Somehow he drowned in waist deep water. His Germans could not believe it.  In legend, he is said to now sleep in a mountain cave, whence he will reemerge to lead Germany in her time of need (hence "Operation Barbarossa" in WWII).

For the Muslims Frederick's death was a judgement of God, a miracle.  Most of his troops lost their nerve and went home.  A few made it to Antioch, where some opened a hospital whose defenders would become the Teutonic knights.

The Crusade of Philip II Augustus (1180-1222). 

Philip was to be the king who would turn France into a real kingdom with a powerful king and grand royal domain, three times larger at his death than when he took office.  He would vindicate 200 years of weak rule by the Capetian dynasty.  But Philip II Augustus was never loved.  He was more famed as a weasel, an opportunistic plotter who managed to survive against Henry II of England and his sons, Richard Lionheart and John Lackland.

On the Third Crusade he would be overshadowed by Richard Lionheart, who was technically his vassal. Philip got sick and left early.   But he brought and left a number of French knights who distinguished themselves in battle.

The Crusade of Richard Lionheart (King 1189-99). 

Richard is the legendary chivalrous king of England, portrayed in Hollywood by Sean Connery or Jean Luc-Picard.  He is the great crusader who comes home and backs Robin Hood.

Contrary to the Robin Hood tales, where Richard is able to show up unrecognized in Sherwood Forest, it is not likely that he could ever have passed for an Englishman..  He was from a line of Angevin rulers, and raised in southern France.  His powerbase was in the Aquitaine.   He probably spent only about six months of his life in England. He probably did even speak English

When Richard heard about the fall of Jerusalem, he immediately vowed to go on crusade.  But he was still fighting with his Dad, Henry II, who had long pledged to go.  Matters became simpler when Henry II died in 1189. Then Richard became King of England and chief vassal of the king of France in several French regions.

          For the crusade he sold everything he could ("I would sell London if I could find a buyer"), and he set off with a great army.  He sailed from Marseilles, where he had his southern French possessions. He had 150 ships.  He went first to Sicily where he vindicated he rights of one of his sisters, who was owed the return of her dowry and a legacy.  He treated Philip somewhat cavalierly when he landed there.

          Then Richard sailed to Cyprus, a logical stop.  Except it was in rebellion under a last member of the Comneni (the dynasty that had recently lost the Byzantine Empire). Richard had an odd sense of humor:  when Isaac Comnenus surrendered with the stipulation that he not be put in irons, Richard arranged for a great set of silver fetters. Richard did not give Cyprus back to the Byzantines, vbut he gave it to the Knights Templar, recognizing that it could be a great supply base for crusades. The he sailed on to Acre

THE SIEGE OF ACRE (1189-91)

King Guy and a few knights were besieging the great walled city of Acre.  Initially the siege was a joke.  He could not invest the city.  But his people had made some earthworks so that it was hard for the local Muslims to dislodge him.  The garrison in Acre, with twice as many men and open supply lines, was not really inconvenienced.  The Muslims in Acre were waiting around for Saladin to return with overwhelming force and swat this gnat.

          But Conrad in Tyre, embarrassed by Guy’s initiative, did help him get some supplies.  And when early crusaders sailed to the Holy Land, they all went down to join Guy at Acre because that was where the fighting was.

          By October of 1189, Saladin realized that Acre could be a real problem. He marched in an army, which "won" in getting back some positions, neutralizing Guy's force, and stopping an attempt at encirclement, but he did not succeed in getting Guy out of all of his entrenchments.

          Saladin called up his naval forces to keep Acre well supplied. And he set up a siege line around the besiegers.  This stalemate lasted for more than a year.  There were some chivalrous actions:   little Saracens had mock battles with little crusaders.  But each side wanted victory.  Conrad broke through Saladin's lines, and resupplied the Guy's force with some siege equipment, but Acre successfully burned most of it.

          There was hunger and illness both in Saladin's camp and in the Christian camp.

Guy and Conrad began to feud again because, during the trench illnesses that were part of sieges, Sybilla had died, along with her and Guy’s daughters. This clouded Guy's claim to be king.  The surviving princess of the line, Isabella, did have a claim.  If her marriage could be annulled and she could be married to Conrad of Montferrat, then Conrad would have a better claim to the crown than Guy.  After these intrigues it would take the arrival of the crusade armies to sort things out.

          Richard's people arrived in June of 1191.  He immediately got malaria, but he had himself carried around in a litter to direct the siege.

Saladin had lost a few men from the garrison, when a changing of the guard by sea had been interrupted by the Latin fleet.  He had a drum signal so that whenever the Franks tried to attack the walls of Acre, his army besieging the besiegers would attack the Franks in the rear.

But the Franks now had superior forces, and great ditches and earthworks that could stop Turkish cavalry attacks.

On 12 July 1191, Acre fell.  The agreed upon price for ransoming the garrison was 200,000 dinars.

King Philip Augustus, who had gotten sick and lost his hair and fingernails, went home, allegedly to clear up the succession of the county of Flanders, whose count had died in the siege of Acre.  Richard could have more fun without his weaselly king, but he needed the ransom from Saladin to pay for Philip’s  troops.

Saladin produced only half the ransom, and he did not have some prisoners he also owed Richard.  Richard massacred 2000-3000 Muslins in front of the Saladin's lines.  This cruelty never forgiven by Muslims.  But it was militarily advantageous because Richard could not deal with that many prisoners either in Acre or on his next step, a march down the coast.  A march where Saladin was waiting to pounce.

          The result was the battle of Arsuf, one of the greatest set-piece battles of the Crusader States.   Saladin's skirmishers were harassing Richard's army at every step.  The goal was to shoot at the horses and get knights to charge.  But Richard kept everyone in formation, marching infantry on the tide line, cavalry on the beach, and infantry on the inland side.  The infantries switched out and had to keep the Muslim archers back far enough away so they could not disrupt the march.

          Arsuf was Saladin's last attempt to defeat Richard in the field.  Where the beach line narrowed, he had set an ambush in the woods: the intent was to break the marching column and force the knights to charge.

          Richard saw this coming and prepared for it. He had the Hospitallers in the rear, forbidden to charge. Looking for total victory, he wanted to set up a heavy charge that could hit the whole Muslim army, The charge launched slightly prematurely, but the knights did sudden charge through their infantry screen and pinned Muslims in crowds and against the woods.  Western knights were not be tricked by Saladin into chasing after units staging feigned retreats.

Saladin was clearly defeated, and three days after Arsuf Richard reached Jaffa and fortified it. 

Now there is a game of chess.  Richard takes some cities on the coast.  Saladin can counterattack where Richard is not present.  But Richard, although he twice marches twice close enough to Jerusalem to actually see it, never re-takes it.  His fear is that it cannot be held militarily once the crusade leaves—the fortifications there had been demolished and the supply lines to the sea were too long and vulnerable.

          Meanwhile, Richard had to create a government for the new Kingdom of Jerusalem. At first he backed King Guy, originally a southern Frenchman who had once been Richard’s vassal.   But the Holy Land nobles did not like him.  Richard g\ave him a "golden parachute":  he can become king of Cyprus, which is taken back from the Templars.  His dynasty, the Lusignans, will rule Cyprus for the next hundred fifty years.  So the reprobate Guy actually landed on his feet.

          Conrad would then have become king, except in 1192, while waiting for his wife outside a bathhouse, he was assassinated by two agents of the Old Man of the Mountain:  a personal grudge because Conrad had seized an assassins' ship?  A mission from Saladin?  Or, some thought , a mission from Richard, who now chose to make his cousin Henry of Champagne king of Jerusalem (he too was married off to Isabella, now Conrad's widow).

          Richard and Saladin continued to play chess.  Ascalon was re-taken and refortified.  Jaffa attacked and retaken in the battle famously described by the troubadour Ambroise. 

But Richard was sick again.  And weaselly Philip II Augustus is attacking his lands in France. A truce was negotiated:  Christians own the coast from Tyre to Jaffa (Ascalon is demolished again).  Christians and Muslims will have free passage through all of Palestine.  Richard's crusaders can visit Jerusalem.

BUT RICHARD DID NOT COMPLETE HIS PILGRIMAGE.  He intended to return and complete the job.  He might have—Saladin died in 1193, and had no successor of similar statured.  But Richard was held for ransom by the duke of Austria and needs to return home to fight Philp.  In his French wars, he gets an arrow in the neck in 1199.

Ambroise and other medieval chroniclers love Richard.  A contradictory figure. He displayed reckless personal bravery; yet he was extraordinarily careful not to lose his men,…no wasted attempts at Jerusalem.

People in Western Europe considered the Third Crusade a failure because it did not re-take Jerusalem.  Yet it would give the fallen crusader states one more century of existence.