The banner of Islam had flown over Jerusalem since the seventh century. Medieval Western Europe was not overly concerned that the Biblical historical sites had fallen into the hands of the Muslims, because both regarded these religious shrines as holy. Muslims protected and welcomed Christian pilgrims to this holy ground.
This peaceful situation existed until around 1070. At this stage of history, Islam attained a new champion, the Seljuk Turks. They were fierce desert men who considered the Christian pilgrims to be intruders. They captured and enslaved many of them.
All of Medieval Western Europe was appalled at this treatment of their brothers in Jerusalem, but they made no effort to mount a crusader campaign against the Turkish scourge. But as more and more atrocities against Christians became known, the Christian church felt compelled to act. After twenty-five years, a crusade was called.
On November 27, 1095 in Clermont, France, a holy figure in white robes stirred the western European nations to action. Pope Urban II issued this summons to all of Medieval Western Europe, "God wills it! Let it be your battle cry when you go against the enemy!" Pope Urban ignited a flame that would burn for three centuries. This call awoke in many Christians a burning desire to free this land where Jesus and his disciples once walked. People of all ages and classes took the Crusader Cross and pledged their swords and lives to this emotional war. Many medieval knights took the cross. Eventually the crusades became associated with noblemen and knights of the Medieval Europe. These military men took the cross for varying reasons, some purely emotional and noble, but others craved excitement and danger. What better cause could exist for an excuse to do battle other than the freedom of Jerusalem?
The First Crusade (1096-1099) was the most successful. This was due to the purely emotional and determined crusaders who took the cross after Pope Urban's stirring call to arms.
The first wave of this emotional crusade was called the People's Crusade. Peter the Hermit was an itinerant French monk whose charisma inspired many peasants and downtrodden of Europe to enlist in the crusading cause. Urban stirred the masses with the appeal that all sins would be forgiven if they would take the cross. Many poor and beaten down responded for one last chance in life or perhaps for a place in heaven. They valiantly wielded their swords, knives, tree branches, rocks and anything else they could find against a much stronger force of scimitar wielding Turks. They even won a few skirmishes with this powerful army and advanced beyond Nicaea, a strong Seljuk Turk city. But shortly after this advance, the Muslim army received reinforcements of mounted armored soldiers. The impressive enemy force was in no hurry to join the battle with the rag-tag Christian army; they waited for nature to take its toll. The crusaders went mad for lack of water and most of the force was put to death. A second wave of the People's Crusade was also soundly defeated.
After hearing of the sound defeat of the Christian army, a number of western Medieval princes committed themselves to serve. They included: Hugh of Vermandois, the brother of the French King, Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of lower Lorraine, Baldwin of Boulogne and Raymond IV of Saint Giles and Count of Toulouse, who was the most suited for leadership of the crusade. Also joining the crusade was the Norman warrior of southern Italiy, Bohemed of Tarranto. He was a remarkable warrior, with his enormous height, his uncanny ability with a sword and his military acumen. It was said that he struck fear in his opponents when he was in full armor. But not one of the illustrious, noble knights could establish leadership over the crusaders; therefore, their results were greatly hampered.
The force has been determined to have consisted of almost 100,000 men who were well equipped with armor, swords, mace, lances and strong steeds. They pushed through the desert to Nicaea to avenge the slaughter of the first wave of crusaders. They took the city and marched on to Antioch, one of the greatest cities of the Roman Empire. The siege was difficult but eventually the knights prevailed, and the Antioch was taken. Raymond IV of Toulouse marched with his force of knights on to Jerusalem. Arriving at the walls of the holy city, the task of capturing it appeared an insurmountable task, because the walls had been reinforced. On July 8 when the Christian force had given up hope, a priest, Peter Desiderius revealed a vision to the hopeless throng. He reported that in his dream the crusading Christian knights had fasted for a day, then marched around the walls of the city and after this action, the city fell. With no other options readily available, the Christian army did as he suggested amid the onslaught of rocks, sulfur like bomb, swords, knives and rocks. On July 14 the siege towers were raised to the walls and the crusaders entered the city. There was a wholesale slaughter of the city's inhabitants, an unfitting finish to a hard won battle.
Once Jerusalem was secured, 700 French knights were all that were committed at one time to hold the city. Today that seems a small number, but knights were very heavily armored with an array of weapons--including lance, sword, mace and strong horses. To this force, reinforcements were available from two religious military orders that developed after the first crusade.
In 1118 an organization was formed which was to play a major role in the Holy Land. This order was originally known as the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. Hugues de Payen, a nobleman from Champagne, France founded this organization. These Christian knights are now known as the Knights Templar. Once deployed to the Holy Land, their quarters were located on the site of King Solomon's Temple. Their lifestyles were reportedly lavish. Although they vowed poverty, they gained weatlh during their service in the Holy Land. Many questions have arisen regarding the source of this wealth. Did these mysterious holy knights find a valuable relic at the site of their headquarters? After the fall of Acre sometime after the Third Crusade, King Philip of France made the Templars his target. He coveted their lands and wealth. He accused them of being heretics and presssured the Pope to dissolve the order in 1312. Several of the Templars were burned as heretics in Paris in 1315.
Another religious military order that provided reinforcement knights to the Holy Land was the Hospitallers. Religious merchants from the town of Amalfi first founded the organization in Jerusalem in 1070. Their first duties were to offer medical care and shelter for the poor. By 1130 the organization had developed into a military order that protected pilgrims in the Holy Land. They were also employed as armored knights to fight Muslims whenever necessary. The Hospitallers also swore a vow of chastity, poverty and obedience, but like the Templars, their coffers were resplendent with cash and lands. They continued to battle the Muslims until 1522 when a sound defeat forced them to move their headquarters to Malta. They remained there until Napoleon came to power.
The Second Crusade (1147-1149) was mobilized, because on Christmas day in 1144 a brilliant and ruthless Muslim general, who had revived Jihad, captured Edessa. Edessa was the first cursader state to be established during the First Crusade. The fierce scimitar wielding Muslim general was called Zangi. The Medieval princes and kings initially did nothing to counteract this attack. When Zangi was killed one and half years later, they hoped that the threat had passed. But their desires were not to be realized. Zangi's son, Nur-al-Din would prove to be one of the most fierce opponents in Muslim history.
Fearing that more ports would fall, Pope Eugenius issued a call to arms, especially addressed to the French King, Louis VII, to lead an expedition to help the eastern Christians. Bernard of Clairvaus, a charismatic Cistercian monk, was sent by the Pope to arouse the French knights and nobles to accept the cross. He was so successful in his effort that King Louis VII was the first to accept the call to arms. His knights and noblemen immediately also rose to the occasion. His speech was so stirring that they ran out of material to construct the red crosses, so Bernard used his own garments. Bernard then proceeded to Germany where he inspired the German King Conrad III to take the cross and provide a large army of knights with a large supply of armor, swords, shields and steeds.
Conrad and his forces departed Germany in May, 1147. Louis VII, was accompanied by his young, beautiful and dynamic Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Louis who was a very mild person could not easily control the fiesty Eleanor, who later became the wife of Henry II of England and the mother of Richard the Lionheart. Nevertheless, she insisted on accompanying her husband. They departed in June.
Although large well supplied armies accompanied both rulers, their progress in the Holy Land was difficult. The terrrain and the lack of water took its toll on the knights whose armor alone weighed almost 100 pounds. The German forces early in the campaign were almost destroyed when they encountered the Seljuk Turks at Dorylacum, where the First Crusade had scored a mighty victory. The other body of German forces was attacked in Laodicea and then again in Pamphylia. When Conrad and Louis met in Laodicea ,there was very little remaining of the German knights and foot soldiers.
The combined French and German forces proceeded to Syria. On their journey they dealt with lack of food and water and continual harrassment by scimitar wielding Turkish knights. Finally they arrived at Antioch where they were warmly received by Raymond, the current ruler and also the Uncle of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Louis's Queen. The various rulers of the eastern Christian provinces each wanted the crusading army for himself. They all made proposals to Louis. Eleanor vehemently pressed Louis to accept her Uncle Raymond's proposal. Louis who was not a powerful ruler could not make up his mind. As well as an indecisive nature, he was jealous of his young wife. He accused her of having an affair with her Uncle Raymond. He abruptly left Antioch dragging Eleanor with him and headed toward Jerusalem.
Louis and Conrad met again and decided to attack Damascus, which was a Muslim state that feared the current Muslim ruler, Nur-al-Din, as much as did the Christian states. Nevertheless, they mounted the attack against the neutral city and on the initial assault things went well. The two European Kings in the attack sent the friendly state into the arms of Nur-al-Din and Muslim reinforcements began to arrive. In the face of the impending arrival of the fierce Muslim general, the crusaders retreated.
Nothing was accomplished militarily or diplomatically in the Holy Land during the Second Crusade. The most significant development was the emergence of Eleanor of Aquitaine as one of the most powerful women in Medieval Europe. Shortly after she and Louis returned from the crusade, they divorced on the premise that Eleanor did not conceive a male heir. Shortly after the divorce she married Henry II, the King of England and the most powerful man in Europe.
The Third Crusade (1189-1192) was prompted by the Muslims' recapture of Jerusalem in 1187. This crusade is the most renown because of the legendary characters of Richard the Lionheart of England and Salah al Din Yusuf, better known as Saladin, the most well known Muslim general of any age.
Richard the Lionheart was the son of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England. At the time he took the cross and began to raise an army for the relief of the Holy Land, he was in his early thirties and had just been crowned King of England. Richard was one of the most impressive men in Medieval Europe. He stood well over six feet tall, when other men of his age rarely attained the height of six feet. He had tawny hair and handsome features which he inherited from his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. He also was an excellent musician and poet which was inspired at his mother's court in Poictou.
From his father, Henry II, he acquired a military expertise which was unsurpassed in his time. As a boy he had been successful in subduing his rebellious vassals of the Duchy of Aquitaine. He was the first English King to deploy a large battle force with its heavy armor, swords, chainmail, maces, lances and horses over the seas. Also from his father, Richard inherited his black volcanic temper which could erupt with disastrous results as witness the violent massacre that he conducted after he sieged Acre in July, 1191.
Saladin, the great Muslim warrior, was twenty years older than Richard and much less physically imposing. However, he was a chivalric knight and a cunning military genius. Saladin became vizier of Egypt in 1169 and five years later he became sultanof Syria and Egypt. He was a devout Muslim who was renown for his generosity.
King Philip of France also took the crusader cross and aligned a contingent of nobles and knights to accompany him. The crusading bond between the Kings of England and France was unusual because they were continually at war with each other, but they agreed to a truce for the Third Crusade. Frederick Barbarossa, the German Emperor and the most distinguished and statesman in Europe also joined Richard and Philip. He assembled an army of 100,000 knights and foot soldiers, the largest crusading army to date.
The German army was the first to arrive in the Holy Land. Like so many crusading armies before them, the armor clad knights and foot soldiers suffered from the debilitating heat of Asia
On May 18, 1190 the Germans met a determined Turkish force and were successful in defeating them. Bolstered by their success they continued their journey eastward. Then disaster struck its blow. While swimming in a river near Selucia, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa drowned. The German forces were devastated and leaderless. Germany's contribution to the Third Crusade had ended.
Richard the Lionheart arrived in Muslim held Acre in June of 1191. The French forces had arrived earlier. The city had been under siege by King Guy of Lusignan, the homeless ruler of Jerusalem. The arrival of the French forces under King Philip bolstered the siege and then Richard's arrival with a fleet of 25 ships bearing armor, swords, maces, lances and steeds bolstered the morale of the beleaugered troops. But with all the equipment and manpower, it still was not an easy siege. To add to the crusaders woes, Richard, the natural leader fell ill. A legend developed that Saladin sent his physician to heal Richard with a magic potion. Sir Walter Scott's novel, "The Talisman" romanticizes this relationship between Saladin and Richard. However it occurred, Richard was healed and once again took charge of the siege. Acre surrendered.
Richard decided to press on to Jerusalem. He moved his army south by the coast road, flanked by his fleet. The site was magnificent with the armored knights atop their mighty horses and the stately ships flying the rampant lion in the distance.
Saladin had been tracking the crusaders and he decided to attack near Arsuf. Richard and his forces were outnumbered, but he was successful in winning the victory. With the edge that Richard the Lionheart had attained, he pressed for a truce to explore diplomatic channels. But in the end, they were unable to reach terms, so the fighting began once more.
Richard was anxious to return to England to take care of his kingdom. Philip had returned to his French kingdom months before and Richard feared the worst from his rival. His mother, Eleanor, encouraged him to set sail for England before Philip overhrew his holdings in France. Richard's brother, John Lackland, was acting in Richard's stead and he knew that he could not trust him to remain loyal in the face of Philip's enticements. The legend of Robin Hood, the good outlaw, developed while Richard was in the Holy Land. .According to this legend, Robin was busy protecting the King's interests at home against his disloyal brother John. Sir Walter Scott develops this well known story in his novel, "Ivanhoe."
Richard's last battle in the Holy Land was a fitting tribute to his efforts there. The final battle was fought at Jaffa. Again Saladin observed Richard's heroic efforts, and when the King's horse was slaughtered under him, the Sultan sent two of his own steeds to replace it. The Christians defeated Saladin on that day.
Finally Richard the Lionheart and Saladin were able to reach a peace agreement. The western Europeans retained a number of the seaports, and the Muslims agreed to allow Christian pilgrims to peacefully visit the holy shrines. But still Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands.
There were several crusades in the ensuing years but the players were not as interesting nor were the results very significant. The one dramatic event occured in tandem with the Fifth Crusade. The return of Jerusalem was brought about by negotiations by one of the most brilliant men of the Middle Ages, Roman Emperor Frederic II Hohenstaufen. Due to infighting in the Muslim ranks, Frederic was able to negotiate a pact for the return of Jerusalem for a period of 10 years.
