After the Byzantine empire
suffered a major defeat in 1071,
fear of continuing Seljuk conquests
stimulated Byzantine
emperors to write to the West for military
help.
Pope Gregory VII considered leading a crusade himself
but
his reforms brought him into
serious conflict with Germany's
Heinrich IV, whom he had wanted to protect
the Church while he
was gone.
Normans led by
Robert Guiscard had tried to overcome
the Byzantine
empire militarily and had failed.
After defeating the Norman
threat,
Emperor Alexius Comnenus
again asked the West for assistance.
At the Council of Clermont in November 1095 Pope Urban II
met
with about 300 clerics and described the plight of the
Byzantines
facing the Seljuk Turks
and the suffering of pilgrims going to
Jerusalem.
He proposed that the rich and poor go to save the East,
and he promised remission of the penance for sins, absolution,
and protection of their property
by the Church while they are
gone.
Shouts of "God wills it!" erupted, and the Bishop
of Le Puy
was the first to kneel down and volunteer.
Each crusader
should wear the sign of the cross
and vow to go to Jerusalem.
Any taking the vow who failed to set out
or turned back were to
be excommunicated.
Clerics and monks must get permission of their
bishop or abbot.
The elderly and weak were discouraged
from attempting
the challenging adventure.
This crusade was not intended to be
a war of conquest,
as all Eastern churches recovered
were to have
their rights restored.
The plan was to leave following the harvest
the next summer and to assemble at Constantinople.
The crusade
was intended to supplement the Truce of God,
which the Clermont
council endorsed,
by removing warriors from Europe.
Floods and
pestilence had ravaged Europe in 1094,
followed by drought and
famine in 1095.
Urban had argued at Clermont that they were fighting
among themselves, because they could not feed people.
Prophets
argued that the Christ would not come again
until the Holy Land
had been recovered.
Adhémar de Monteil, Bishop of Le Puy,
was elected the
leader,
and Count Raymond of Toulouse soon joined.
In his travels
Pope Urban preached the crusade
at Limoges, Tours, Toulouse, and
Nimes.
Urban wrote to Flanders, and Genoa
offered twelve galleys
for transport.
Adhémar and Raymond were joined by Hugh
of Vermandois,
Robert II of Flanders, Duke Robert of Normandy,
Count Stephen of Blois, Duke Godfrey of Lower Lorraine,
Count
Eustace III of Boulogne, and his brother Baldwin.
Normans from
Italy were led by Guiscard's son Bohemond.
Pope Urban commissioned
Robert Arbrissel to preach the
crusade in the Loire valley; but
the greatest inspirer was
a monk called Peter the Hermit,
who
wandered around barefoot and on a donkey.
Peter already had a
following of those devoted to helping the
poor as he had traveled
around the Ile de France, Normandy,
Champagne, and Picardy for
years.
Peter also converted nobles and the wealthy,
who contributed
some or even all of their possessions
so that his ascetic community
had its own resources
for its charitable work.
Peter had provided
many dowries to prostitutes
so that they could reform their lives.
Peter began preaching the crusade, and his following quickly
grew
as he moved through the French provinces.
He obtained a letter
from the chief rabbi at Rouen
to the Jews of Mainz, urging them
to contribute.
Byzantines had expected a few mercenary soldiers to cross
the
Adriatic Sea and travel through Thessalonica when suddenly
they
learned that massive armies had come by way of Hungary
and had
arrived in their empire at Belgrade.
The Byzantine empire had
just suffered a plague of locusts,
which ate the vines but left
the grain.
Some interpreted this to mean the crusaders would kill
the Saracens and protect the Christians;
but the Byzantines were
not so sure.
According to the history of his daughter Anna Comnena,
Emperor Alexius believed that the Franks' greed
for money caused
them to break their agreements.
Proud Franks composed the first group
led by Walter Sans-Avoir.
They were ridiculed by Germans at first but had money
to buy food
as they passed through Hungary.
Sixteen stragglers crossing a
river at Semlin had been robbed
of their weapons and clothes,
which were displayed
on the wall as a warning to other crusaders.
Unable to buy food, Walter's crusaders foraged,
and sixty were
burned to death in a church.
Walter quickly moved his band on
to Nish,
where they could buy provisions.
Byzantine officials
came there to escort them to
Constantinople, where they arrived
in mid-July 1096.
Peter's preaching in Germany increased this largest group
of
crusaders to at least 20,000 and maybe 40,000.
He promised Hungary
king Coloman his people
would not pillage or fight in the markets.
At Semlin a quarrel over a sale of shoes escalated into a
riot
and a battle, as Geoffrey Burel led an attack
on the town that
killed 4,000 Hungarians.
Belgrade was not expecting them, and
the Byzantine governor
of the Bulgarian province, Nicetas, evacuated
the city.
Pechenegs keeping imperial order tried to restrict crossing
the Save River to one place
and were attacked by Peter's crusaders,
who captured and put some Pechenegs to death.
Crusaders pillaged
Belgrade and set it on fire.
At Nish Peter asked Nicetas for food;
but he required
Peter to give him Walter of Breteuil and Geoffrey
Burel
as hostages for their good behavior.
Some incidents did
occur, and the baggage train in the rear
was attacked, capturing
some crusaders and pilgrims,
who may have spent the rest of their
lives as slaves.
When Peter gathered his band,
one witness estimated
a quarter had been lost.
At Sofia Byzantine officials promised
them free markets
the rest of the way through Philippopolis and
Adrianople,
and Peter's band arrived safely at Constantinople
on August 1, 1096.
Some of the popular armies that formed in Germany
were not
as well led.
The need for money exacerbated the resentment that
had built up against Jewish money-lenders,
who were not inhibited
by the
Christian condemnation of usury.
Jews in Mainz and Cologne
offered five hundred silver coins
to Godfrey, Duke of Lower Lorraine,
and King Heinrich IV urged the protection of Jews.
However, an
ambitious robber baron named Emich
of Leisingen led a gang that
murdered twelve Jews
in Spier before the bishop stopped them by
cutting off the hands of several murderers.
At Worms Emich's men
overcame the bishop and
slaughtered about 500 Jews in his palace.
Mainz closed its gates; but Emich took seven pounds of gold
from
a Jew and then attacked the archbishop's palace.
Only a few Jews,
who renounced their faith, were saved
from the massacre of about
a thousand,
and some of the apostates later committed suicide.
Anti-Jewish riots had already occurred in Cologne,
and the Jews
hid except two who died
when the synagogue was burned.
Most Jews
in Trier were protected in the palace
of the archbishop, but in
Metz and other cities
the persecutors killed more in June 1096.
Volkmar's soldiers attacked and massacred the Jewish
community
in Prague, as religious hatred
became an excuse for plundering.
A small group with German priest Gottschalk killed Jews
at Ratisbon;
after foraging and robbing Christians in Hungary,
they were eventually
surrounded
by Hungarian troops and massacred.
Hungary's king Coloman
refused to let Emich
and his men cross the river to Wiesselburg.
After six weeks of skirmishing by the bridge, the Germans
built another bridge; but in a battle the crusaders were
defeated, though
Emich and other knights escaped on horses.
A group led by Godfrey
of Bouillon also took the northern
route, and he had to give his
brother Baldwin and his family
as hostages to pass safely through
Coloman's Hungary.
Godfrey announced that any violence
would be
punished with death.
Peter's crusaders were conveyed across the Bosphorus
to Asia, where the Germans and Italians quarreled with the
French and elected
Rainald as their leader.
Both groups stayed near the coast as
they traveled and raided
the countryside, where Christians lived.
From Civetot the Franks led by Geoffrey Burel headed
south and
approached Nicomedia, the capital of
Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan,
son of Suleiman.
Anna Comnena reported that they sacked villages
and massacred Christians, even their babies.
A Turkish force was
driven off,
and they returned to Civetot with their booty.
This
aroused 6,000 Germans, and Rainulf led them
to capture the castle
Xerigordon though
they avoided killing Christians.
A Turkish army
survived an ambush and withheld their water
supply for eight days
until Rainulf surrendered.
Only those who renounced Christianity
were spared,
while the others were enslaved.
Peter had gone back
to Constantinople
to get aid from the Emperor.
In October 1096
the entire army of 20,000 crusaders
marched toward Nicaea and
was ambushed by the Turks.
Most of the crusaders' leaders were
killed
or seriously wounded, as the army panicked and fled.
About
3,000 managed to take refuge in an old castle
and held out; but
all the rest were slaughtered by the Turks.
Emperor Alexius sent
warships,
and the Turks lifted the siege of the castle.
Hugh of Vermandois was the brother of Frank king Philip,
and
his band was so small after sailing across the Adriatic
that they
were escorted by imperial officials to Constantinople.
When Godfrey
heard that Hugh of Vermandois was being held
by Emperor Alexius,
he allowed his men
to forage in Byzantine territory.
Normans led
by Bohemond knew the route from Dyrrhachium,
and in January 1097
they destroyed a village
because it was inhabited by heretic Paulicians.
Bohemond won the gratitude of local citizens after
he restrained
young Tancred from looting,
though after Bohemond went ahead,
Tancred's men resumed foraging.
Alexius feared most the ambition
of the Norman Bohemond,
whom he had previously defeated, and he
refused
to appoint him the crusaders' commander.
Count Raymond
of Toulouse and Bishop Adhémar of Le Pu
led the largest
real army and marched
by land through northern Italy.
Adhémar
was wounded by Pecheneg mercenaries.
After an ambush these crusaders
attacked Byzantine troops;
but a letter from Emperor Alexius calmed
things down.
The refined Raymond was the crusader most admired
by Alexius and his daughter Anna, and he was allowed
to make a
modified oath that he would serve under the
Emperor if he chose
to lead the Christian forces.
Hugh of Vermandois swore allegiance to Emperor Alexius
and
persuaded most other crusaders to do so;
but Godfrey held back.
When Alexius shut off his supplies, Baldwin raided
the suburbs
until Alexius ended the blockade.
Alexius wanted these crusaders
to move on,
because more were coming; so in March 1097 he began
reducing supplies of horse fodder, fish, and then bread.
Crusaders
raided the villages and fought
with the Pecheneg police.
Baldwin's
men captured and put to death sixty Pechenegs.
During holy week
Godfrey attacked Constantinople,
and according to Anna, Emperor
Alexius ordered his forces
to shoot arrows but not kill their
fellow Christians.
Finally he sent in his imperial guards, and
the crusaders fled.
Godfrey acknowledged the Emperor as overlord
of any
Byzantine territory they might reconquer,
and his army
was transported across to Asia.
The fourth great crusading army
was led by
Duke Robert of Normandy and did not arrive in
Constantinople
until May 1097.
The total number of crusaders was estimated by
the
chroniclers at 600,000 by Fulcher of Chartres,
300,000 by
Ekkehard, and 100,000 by Raymond of Aguilers;
but modern scholars
believe there were probably about
7,000 knights and about 60,000
infantry.
Greek engineers led by Manuel Butumites joined the crusaders,
who made decisions by a council of their leaders.
The armies of
the crusaders surrounded the walls of Nicaea
before a relieving
Turkish force arrived.
The Sultan's army attacked Raymond's forces
on the south side and after a day's battle retreated,
wounding
almost all the crusaders they encountered.
Nicaea still gained
supplies by the lake until
Emperor Alexius sent Byzantine ships
that enabled
Manuel Butumites to win their surrender
before the
crusaders attacked.
Alexius ordered a gift of food to every crusader,
and shared the ample treasure taken with the leaders,
though Tancred
demanded a larger portion and delayed
giving the homage all the
other crusading leaders pledged.
The crusaders were surprised
that the Emperor allowed
the Turkish captives to buy their freedom,
and Alexius even returned the Sultan's daughter without ransom.
A small detachment of Byzantine troops led by Taticius
joined
the crusaders as they marched to Dorylaeum.
The crusaders marched
in two armies a day apart,
and the first army led by the Normans
was attacked by Turks
and surrounded; but the second army arrived
at mid-day,
causing the Turks to flee to the east and leave their
camp
and treasure behind as they ravaged the country
to make it
hard for the crusaders.
A Turkish army led by two governors (emirs) in Cappadocia
also fled when they were attacked at Heraclea.
The crusaders found
Caesarea deserted,
but they kept their agreement by establishing
Byzantine
governors there and in Placentia,
Marash, Artah, and
other places.
Meanwhile Emperor Alexius sent a force led by his
brother-in-law Caesar John Ducas to fortify Nicaea
and to reconquer
Ionia and Phrygia.
The emir of Smyrna surrendered
and was
allowed to withdraw to the east.
After taking Ephesus the army
of John Ducas captured
the Lydian cities of Sardis, Philadelphia,
and Laodicea in the fall of 1097.
Both Godfrey's younger brother Baldwin and Bohemond's
nephew
Tancred were younger sons without property
and wanted to find
a place to rule.
Tancred led about 300 soldiers and besieged Tarsus,
the chief city of Cilicia.
Tancred sent for help, but Christians
opened the gates
before Baldwin's army arrived.
Tancred reluctantly
transferred authority
to Baldwin and departed.
When 300 Normans
arrived to relieve Tancred,
Baldwin would not let them in the
gates,
and they were massacred at night
by the former Turkish
garrison.
Other crusaders blamed Baldwin for this.
Turks fled
as Tancred took Adana and Mamistra.
When Baldwin's forces arrived,
Norman prince Richard
persuaded Tancred to punish Baldwin with
a surprise attack;
but they had to retreat,
and Baldwin and Tancred
were reconciled.
Baldwin learned that his wife and children had died of illness.
Advised by Bagrat, Baldwin gained the support of the
Armenian
Christians as Turkish garrisons
either fled or were massacred.
Baldwin conquered as far as the Euphrates
by taking Ravendel and
Turbessel.
The Armenian Bagrat was suspected,
tortured, and escaped
to the hills.
At Edessa Baldwin was adopted as the son of Thoros.
Edessene militia helped Baldwin's forces
discourage Turkish raids
in the area.
The Orthodox Christian Thoros was so unpopular
with
the Armenians for his high taxes and poor protection
that a mob
broke in and murdered him.
Baldwin became Count of Edessa and
used its treasure
to buy the emirate of Samosata for 10,000 bezants.
Other crusaders joined Baldwin, were given fiefs,
and were encouraged
to marry Armenian heiresses as he had.
Baldwin allowed the Muslims
freedom of worship,
but he did not trust their leaders
and beheaded
Balduk for not cooperating.
Others plotting against him were blinded
or mutilated,
and complicit Armenians had to buy their freedom
for as much as 60,000 bezants apiece.
The main army of crusaders arrived at the important city
of
Antioch in October 1097; but Bohemond, who wanted
the city for
himself, persuaded the leaders
to reject Raymond's proposal to
attack immediately.
In November Bohemond's forces destroyed the
garrison
of Harenc, and thirteen Genoese ships arrived at St.
Symeon.
Turkish sorties made foraging dangerous,
and by Christmas
food was scarce.
Bohemond and Robert of Flanders led 20,000 men
into the Orontes valley.
After they left, Antioch governor Yaghi-Siyan
attacked
Raymond's Franks, and losses were heavy on both sides.
Dukak of Damascus and Yaghi-Siyan's son Shams
led forces that
attacked Robert's army.
Bohemond's troops helped defeat them;
but they returned to the camp by Antioch with little.
The winter
was cold and wet,
and one out of seven crusaders died of hunger.
Most of the horses died.
Bishop Adhémar got a message to
Jerusalem patriarch
Symeon on Cyprus, and he sent some food.
Many
deserted and were brought back by Tancred,
including Peter the
Hermit.
The Byzantine Taticius left and told Emperor Alexius
that
Bohemond had told him he was in danger,
though Bohemond called
Taticius a coward,
hoping that Antioch would not be restored to
the empire.
In February 1098 the Frank cavalry attacked the
approaching army of Aleppo's Ridvan, forcing them to flee.
In March a fleet
sailed into St. Symeon with the English
prince Edgar Atheling
and siege equipment sent by Alexius.
Raymond and Bohemond went
to get the equipment
and were attacked; but Godfrey came to their
aid,
and together their armies defeated the raiders,
who had 1500
men killed and drowned, including nine emirs.
Now the crusaders
could blockade Antioch,
and castles were built and ruled by Raymond
and Tancred.
Fatimids from Egypt brought a proposal to recognize
the
crusaders in northern Syria if the Fatimids
could have Palestine; but this was rejected.
Alexius was campaigning in Asia Minor;
but Bohemond got the leaders to agree to let him
have Antioch
if the Byzantine emperor did not arrive.
The army of Mosul atabeg
(regent) Kerbogha was delayed
for three weeks trying and failing
to take Edessa from Baldwin.
Stephen of Blois deserted, but the
next day on June 3, 1098
Antioch was secretly betrayed by a Christian
named Firouz to Bohemond,
and all the Turks in the city were massacred.
The Patriarch John was released,
and the cathedral of St. Peter
was restored.
Shams ad-Daula remained in the citadel, and within four days
Kerbogha's army was camped around Antioch in a blockade.
The crusaders
hoped that Emperor Alexius would relieve them,
but he was told
by Stephen of Blois that the crusaders
at Antioch were probably
destroyed.
So the Byzantine army retreated to the north,
devastating
the land to protect their recently
increased empire from the Turks.
A peasant named Peter Bartholomew claimed that he had
a series
of visions in which Saint Andrew revealed to him
that the lance
which wounded Jesus could be found
beneath the floor of the cathedral.
Bishop Adhémar was skeptical; but Raymond ordered
a search
that dug up an iron weapon.
A priest named Stephen said he had
a vision in which
the Christ warned the Bishop
about the fornication
of the crusaders.
Then Peter Bartholomew had another vision in which the
crusaders
were advised not to
pillage the enemy's tents in a coming battle.
Many Turks were deserting, and Peter the Hermit
was sent to negotiate
their withdrawal;
but Kerbogha demanded surrender.
On June 28,
1098 six armies of crusaders
marched out of Antioch to fight the
Turks.
Dukak of Damascus was the first to retreat,
and gradually
more Turks left until the rest fled in panic.
The crusaders did
not stop to plunder the camp
but instead slaughtered the Turks.
Raymond was ill and commanded those left in Antioch;
but by pre-arrangement
the Turks surrendered the citadel
only to Bohemond, who welcomed
the converted Turks into his army.
While Bohemond and Raymond argued over
who should govern Antioch,
Bishop Adhémar sent
Hugh of Vermandois to explain the
situation
to Emperor Alexius.
While Raymond and Adhémar were ill,
Bohemond gave the Genoese a charter
for a market and a church.
When Bishop Adhémar died during an epidemic,
the crusaders
lost their top spiritual leader.
Peter Bartholomew's next vision
included a message from
Adhémar and Andrew that Bohemond
should be given Antioch
and the crusaders should repent and march
to Jerusalem;
but Raymond still believed that Antioch
should be
given to the Emperor.
Meanwhile Bohemond took in Cilicia by getting
Tancred's homage, while Godfrey was given
Turbessel and Ravendel
by his younger brother Baldwin.
Robert of Normandy took over Latakia
(Laodicea)
from Edgar Atheling; but he governed so badly that
he was forced out after a few weeks and was replaced
by a Byzantine
governor from Cyprus.
The crusaders sent a letter to Pope Urban.
While gathering supplies in the Orontes valley,
Raymond captured
Albara; even though they had capitulated,
all the Muslims were
either killed or sold as slaves.
Peter of Narbonne was made the
first Latin bishop in the East.
Raymond's and Bohemond's forces
besieged Maarat an-Numan.
Bohemond
promised the defenders refuge; but the men
were slaughtered, and
the women and children were enslaved.
Bohemond tried to spread
terror by
killing prisoners and roasting their heads.
Raymond
tried to buy the other leaders with offers of money.
Meanwhile
the troops of crusaders resented the bickering
of their leaders
and demanded that they march on Jerusalem,
or they would destroy
the coveted walls and towns.
Finally on January 13, 1099 the army
of crusaders
was led out of Maarat an-Numan by the barefoot
Count
Raymond as the town was burned behind them.
Godfrey and Robert
of Flanders followed them a month later,
while Baldwin governed
his county of Edessa,
and Bohemond ruled at Antioch.
After learning the Turks had been defeated at Antioch,
the
Cairo vizier al-Afdal for the Fatimids in Egypt invaded
Palestine
and took Jerusalem from Emir Sokman,
who surrendered after a 40-day
siege
and was allowed to leave.
By autumn 1098 the Egyptians had
occupied
all of Palestine as far north as Beirut.
Raymond's crusaders
were guided through the Sarout valley,
where herds had been driven.
The local commander paid for immunity,
and knights used that to
buy a thousand horses.
Wanting to extort money from wealthy Tripoli,
Raymond
attacked Arqa, while he sent Raymond Pilet and
Raymond
of Turenne to capture the port of Tortosa.
Toulouse count Raymond
of Saint-Gilles summoned
Godfrey and Robert of Flanders to help
with the siege.
Emperor Alexius wrote to the crusaders, whose numbers
had greatly
dwindled, that he would bring an army
if they would wait until
the end of June.
Yet the Emperor secretly told the Egyptians
he
was not supporting the crusaders.
The Fatimids offered the crusaders
free access of pilgrims
to holy places; but they rejected that
offer too.
When Peter Bartholomew urged an assault on Arqa,
Arnulf
Malecorne of Rohes challenged him to undergo
a fire ordeal while
carrying the holy lance
which resulted in Peter dying twelve days
later.
In May Raymond abandoned the siege of Arqa,
and the Emir
of Tripoli got immunity by releasing
300 Christian captives with
15,000 bezants and 15 horses.
The crusaders found Ramleh
abandoned and left the priest
Robert of Rouen in charge of the
new see with a garrison.
On June 7, 1099 the crusaders camped
by the walls of Jerusalem.
The Fatimid governor Iftikar ad-Daula had rebuilt the walls.
Before
the Franks arrived, he filled in or poisoned the wells
outside
the city, expelled all the Christians,
and sent to Egypt for military
help.
An old hermit urged the crusaders to attack immediately;
but lacking ladders and siege engines, they were repulsed.
Six
ships brought supplies to Jaffa,
which had been abandoned by the
Muslims.
After learning that a large army was coming from Egypt,
the priest Peter Desiderius claimed that the spirit of Adhémar
had told him that if they proceeded barefoot around the walls
of Jerusalem in repentance they would
capture Jerusalem within
nine days.
As they did so, the Muslims on the walls
offended them
by desecrating crosses.
Preaching by Peter the Hermit
and Arnulf
of Rohes excited the crusaders.
On July 14, 1099 about 1300 knights
and 12,000 soldiers attacked
Jerusalem.
Tancred pillaged the Dome of the Rock,
and some surrendered
to him, promising ransoms.
Iftikhar surrendered to Raymond in
the Tower of David,
and his men were escorted out of the city.
However, other crusaders were slaughtering everyone,
including
those in the al-Aqsa mosque under Tancred's banner.
Jews gathered
in the chief synagogue, which was then burned.
Nearly 40,000 people
in Jerusalem were massacred,
including all the unarmed women and
children.
Accounts of this barbaric fanaticism by the crusading
Christians awakened the zeal of Muslim fanatics.
The exiled Jerusalem patriarch Symeon had died
a few days earlier
at Cyprus, and Pope Urban II
would die in Rome before news arrived
that Jerusalem had been taken.
Knowing that his leadership was
no longer generally accepted,
Raymond of Toulouse declined the
crown.
Since Robert of Flanders and Robert of Normandy were
planning
to return to their homes,
Godfrey of Lorraine was elected to rule
Jerusalem.
He declined to be king in the city where Jesus had
worn
a crown of thorns and was called
Defender of the Holy Sepulchre.
Raymond balked at turning over the Tower of David
to Godfrey but
was persuaded to relinquish it
to the Bishop of Albara.
Arnulf
of Rohes was elected patriarch,
and he banished the eastern priests.
All the main leaders of the crusaders mounted a surprise attack
on the Egyptian army led by vizier al-Afdal near Ascalon.
Their
victory assured the security of Jerusalem as af-Afdal
escaped
to Cairo, and much booty was captured.
Muslims in Ascalon would
only surrender to Raymond
because of what happened at Jerusalem;
but Godfrey resented this, causing the Roberts of Normandy
and
Flanders to depart in disgust with the result
that Ascalon was
not taken,
and the same thing happened at Arsuf.
Before he died, Pope Urban had appointed Pisa archbishop
Daimbert
as his legate to replace Adhémar.
Daimbert had been legate
to King Alfonso VI of Castile
and had been accused of enriching
himself
with the treasure sent to the Pope.
On his way to the
East the Pisa fleet raided the islands
of Heptannese, Corfu, Leucas,
Cephalonia, and Zante.
Emperor Alexius sent a fleet led by Taticius
that
could not catch up with them.
Bohemond left Antioch to besiege
the port of Latakia
and there gained the assistance of the Pisan
fleet.
Raymond and the two Roberts persuaded Daimbert
to withdraw
the Pisan fleets' blockade,
causing Bohemond to abandon his siege.
The Cyprus governor provided transport for
Robert of Normandy
and Robert of Flanders
to Constantinople, where they refused to
stay on
and serve Alexius but headed home.
While Raymond was at Latakia, Daimbert joined Bohemond
in Antioch,
and they planned a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem for Christmas.
Baldwin
joined them, and Fulcher of Chartres reported that
their numbers
amounted to 25,000.
Godfrey welcomed them and distributed estates
in Palestine to the knights.
Tancred with only 24 knights had
conquered
Galilee and fortified Tiberias.
Arnulf was deposed,
and Bohemond got Daimbert
elected patriarch of Jerusalem.
Daimbert
then showed his feudal authority by investing Godfrey
with Jerusalem
and Bohemond with Antioch.
Tancred was called the Prince of Galilee.
Baldwin of Edessa did not pay homage to the Patriarch.
Bohemond
and Baldwin marched north together
and drove off an attack by
Dukak of Damascus.
The Pisan ships helped Godfrey blockade the
Palestinian coast,
and Italian shipping began trading.
Envoys
from Ascalon, Caesarea, and Acre brought gifts
to Godfrey and
agreed to pay 5,000 bezants
per month tribute for peace.
Tancred with Godfrey's help attacked an emir east of
Galilee
called the Fat Peasant.
While they were returning with
booty,
Tancred in the rear was attacked by Dukak.
In revenge Tancred
raided the territory of Damascus
and sent six knights, who demanded
that Dukak
become a Christian or leave Damascus.
Dukak replied
that they must become Muslims or die;
one renounced his faith,
and the other five envoys were murdered.
Godfrey reluctantly turned
over two cities
to the demanding Daimbert.
When Godfrey became
ill,
he let his cousin Warner of Gray act for him.
Venetians were
given trading rights and a church and market
in every town they
helped capture, plus Tripoli
for which they would pay tribute
to Godfrey.
While the Venetians were there to help, Warner of
Gray
led Godfrey's troops with Tancred in a campaign against Acre;
Daimbert chose to join them.
One year after Jerusalem was taken,
Godfrey died.
Warner of Gray was also dying,
and he sent word
to Godfrey's brother Baldwin.
Jews in Haifa held out; some Jews
and Muslims escaped,
but most were massacred.
Tancred agreed with
Daimbert's plan
to offer the government of Jerusalem to Bohemond.
Byzantine emperor Alexius sent his admiral Eustathius
to recapture
the Cilician ports of Seleucia and Corycus,
and Cilicia was soon
brought back into the Byzantine empire.
Raymond accepted an invitation
to visit Constantinople.
At Latakia Raymond's men captured Daimbert's
letter
to Bohemond and arrested Daimbert's secretary Morellus.
Before going on a campaign against the Danishmend emir,
Bohemond increased the schism in the Christian church
by replacing
Antioch's eastern patriarch John IV
with the Latin Bernard of
Valence.
Bohemond's forces were ambushed,
and his army was annihilated.
Armenian bishops were killed; Bohemond and
Richard of Salerno
were captured by Malik-Ghazi
and taken to the mountains of Pontus.
Baldwin aided Gabriel of Melitene
and received news of his brother
Godfrey's death.
Baldwin marched south and was welcomed in Jerusalem.
Tancred returned the fief of Galilee and was given Antioch,
and
Baldwin of Le Bourg gained the fief of Edessa.
On Christmas day
1100 Baldwin paid homage to Daimbert
and was crowned king of Jerusalem.
The brothers of Seljuk sultan Berkyaruk, son of Malik Shah,
had revolted against him.
The youngest brother Sanjar was given
Khurasan,
and in 1099 Berkyaruk went to war with his brother
Muhammad,
who gained rule of Iraq in 1104.
In Anatolia Kilij Arslan had
already lost his capital at Nicaea
to the crusaders; but his rival emir Malik-Ghazi Gumushtekin
of Danishmend held the captured
Bohemond.
In 1102 Mosul atabeg Kerbogha
provoked a civil
war in the Jazira.
The crusaders had enabled the Byzantine empire
to regain much of Asia Minor.
Pope Paschal II (1099-1118) encouraged more crusaders
to launch
new campaigns to the East.
In autumn 1100 a Lombard army led by
Milan archbishop
Anselm of Buis and Count Albert of Biandrate
traveled through Hungary.
After pillaging some villages in the
western Byzantine empire
they arrived at Constantinople in March
1101.
Once again Emperor Alexius did not want them to be joined
by the next group of crusaders and cut off their supplies.
Raymond
of Toulouse made peace though,
and they crossed over to Asia.
Stephen of Blois, urged by his wife to redeem himself from
the
disgrace of deserting Antioch, led a group of Frank knights
that
crossed the Adriatic and then were joined
by Germans under Conrad,
Constable of Henrich IV.
All these crusaders with some Byzantines
led by General Tsitas
accepted the command of Raymond;
but many
pilgrims had come, and Raymond had to yield
to the pressure to
go rescue Bohemond.
Their army took Ankara, as Seljuk sultan Kilij
Arslan retreated;
but the crusaders could not take the fortress
at Gangra.
The crusaders had a large army of perhaps 100,000;
but the Danishmends joined forces with Kilij Arslan's Seljuks.
Suffering from hunger and thirst,
the crusaders were badly beaten
at Mersivan, losing about
four-fifths of the army; Raymond by
ship
and the remainder on land returned to Constantinople.
More crusaders led by Count William II of Nevers
had crossed
the Adriatic but failed
to catch up with the others at Ankara.
They attacked Konya (Iconium) but failed.
As they approached Heraclea
they were ambushed by a large
Turkish army, and only William and
a few knights escaped.
A third army of crusaders led by the Frank
troubadour,
Duke William IX of Aquitane, was joined by
Duke Welf
of Bavaria as they passed through Germany and Hungary;
after some
unruly behavior they were escorted
by Pechenegs to Constantinople.
They too were surrounded by a Turkish army and slaughtered,
and
only Welf and a few knights made it to Antioch.
Hugh of Vermandois
had returned and died of his wounds.
Tancred welcomed the straggling
knights at Antioch,
but he had Raymond arrested for fleeing the
battle of Mersivan.
Tancred's forces once again invaded Cilicia
and recaptured
Mamistra, Adana, and Tarsus from the Byzantines.
Antioch's Latin patriarch Bernard persuaded Tancred
to release
Raymond, who had to promise
not to interfere in northern Syria.
After Raymond withdrew his troops from Latakia,
Tancred besieged
the port for nearly a year until it capitulated.
Edessa count
Baldwin of Le Bourg married an Armenian
princess and got 30,000 bezants from her father by
threatening to shave off his
beard,
an important symbol of masculinity to Armenians.
Byzantine emperor Alexius offered 260,000 bezants
for
Bohemond; but Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan demanded
half of it from
the Danishmend emir
holding the renowned prisoner.
Instead
Edessa count Baldwin II and Patriarch Bernard
got Bohemond released
for 100,000 bezants.
Bohemond returned to Antioch and with
Joscelin of Courtenay
raided the region around Aleppo.
In 1104
Sokman of Mardin and Chokurmish of Mosul
put aside their quarrel
to join in an attack on Edessa.
Baldwin II appealed to Bohemond
and Joscelin;
but a dispute whether Baldwin's flag or Bohemond's
should
be raised first resulted in the crusaders failing to take
Harran when a Turkish army arrived.
In the ensuing battle on the
banks of the Balikh,
the army of Antioch escaped while
most Edessa
troops were killed or captured.
Baldwin and Joscelin tried to
flee
but were captured by Sokman's men.
Once again Tancred took
over for a captive and ruled Edessa.
When the Turks quarreled
over the booty, the troops of
Chokurmish stole Baldwin from Sokman's
tent.
Bohemond's forces helped Tancred's Armenians
turn back Chokurmish's
attack on Edessa.
Tancred captured a Seljuk princess; but instead
of trading
her for Baldwin, he ransomed her for 15,000 bezants.
King Baldwin of Jerusalem gained 50,000 bezants ransoming
captives to Dukak of Damascus.
An alliance with the Genoese enabled
Baldwin
to take Arsuf and Caesarea, where another massacre occurred.
Baldwin banished Patriarch Daimbert.
An Egyptian army led by emir
Sa'ad ed-Daula al-Qawasi was
defeated by Baldwin's 260 knights
and 900 infantry at Ramleh
in September 1101, though nearly half
the knights were killed.
The next year his 200 knights took on
an army of 20,000
led by the Egyptian vizier's son Sharaf al-Ma'ali,
and in the defeat among the dead was Stephen of Blois.
Baldwin
himself escaped alone; but two weeks later new
crusaders reinforced
his army,
and they defeated Fatimid forces from Egypt.
In asking
help from Tancred,
Baldwin had to reinstate Daimbert;
but a synod
of bishops condemned Daimbert's crimes of
taking money, attacking
Christians, and provoking a civil war
between Bohemond and Baldwin;
so he was exiled again.
Daimbert went to Rome with Bohemond and
got
Pope Paschal to cancel his deposition;
but Daimbert died at
Messina in 1107.
Emperor Alexius pleased King Baldwin by paying
the ransom
to release Frank knights from Egypt.
The Byzantine
army in 1104 took back the Cilician cities
of Tarsus, Adana, and
Mamistra, while their navy
pursuing Genoese raiders regained Latakia.
Bohemond sailed west to get reinforcements,
as Tancred governed
Antioch, leaving Richard of Salerno
as his deputy in Edessa.
Tancred
expanded his territory around Antioch
by defeating Aleppo's Ridvan
in 1105.
Cilicians must have tired of war's changing fortunes
as Tancred
yet again recaptured Adana and Tarsus and got Latakia
by promising the Pisan fleets trading privileges.
Bohemond recruited
Normans in Apulia, and at Rome
he persuaded Pope Paschal II to
send his legate Bruno
into France to preach a holy war against
the Byzantines.
In France Bohemond married
King Philip's daughter
Constance in 1106.
Revisiting the Normans' pre-crusade war with
the Byzantines,
Bohemond's 34,000 crusaders besieged Dyrrhachium
in 1107;
but they were blockaded by the Byzantine navy
and had
to surrender a year later.
In the treaty Bohemond was allowed
to be Prince of Antioch
but only as a vassal of the Byzantine
emperor,
and the Latin patriarch was to be replaced by a Greek.
Instead Bohemond chose to retire
on his land in Apulia, where
he died in 1111.
In 1107 Joscelin was released by Il-Ghazi for 20,000 dinars
and his military help in taking Mardin.
Joscelin then got Baldwin
of Le Bourg ransomed for
60,000 dinars, getting half the
money from those in Edessa
who disliked the rule of the Norman
prince Richard.
Tancred joined with Ridvan's Turks of Aleppo to
attack
Count Baldwin of Edessa, who was supported by his former
captor Jawali and got 300 Pecheneg mercenaries from the
Armenian
Oshin, the Byzantine governor of Cilicia.
In the battle 2,000
Christians were killed.
Tancred besieged Baldwin and Joscelin
in the Dulak castle
while the Armenians revolted against Richard
of Salerno.
Jawali's army helped Baldwin escape,
and at Edessa
Baldwin arrested
many Armenians and had some blinded.
According to Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, Count Raymond with
an army of only 300 knights killed about 7,000 Muslims in a
battle
near Tripoli but could not gain the important port.
Raymond died
in 1105, and a struggle over
his wealthy estates ensued.
In Toulouse
his eldest son Bertram was considered illegitimate
and so was
challenged by the infant son Alfonso-Jordan,
whose cousin William
Jordan was in Lebanon.
Dukak of Damascus died in 1104 and was
succeeded
by Tughtigin, who battled the forces of William Jordan.
Tripoli's governor Abu'l Manaqib Ibn Ammar traveled to
Baghdad
to ask Seljuk sultan Muhammad for help but got none.
So besieged
Tripoli asked Egypt's al-Afdal to send a governor,
and he sent
Sharaf ad-Daulah with a fleet of supplies in 1108.
That summer
Bertram departed with an army on forty galleys
aided by a Genoese
squadron,
and they were well received by Emperor Alexius.
Bertram
wanted Tancred's help
but refused to fight the Byzantines in Cilicia.
William Jordan would not relinquish his authority to Bertram
and
agreed to be the vassal of Tancred for his help.
Bertram then
appealed to King Baldwin.
In 1109 the crusading princes assembled
near Tripoli.
Tancred was reconciled with Baldwin II of Edessa,
and the Toulouse inheritance was divided as Bertram
pledged fealty
to King Baldwin.
William Jordan kept Tortosa and Arqa,
which he
had conquered.
When Tripoli surrendered after a five-year siege,
Genoese sacked the city,
burning the finest library in the Muslim
world.
Bertram became count of Tripoli.
When William Jordan was
mysteriously
shot by an arrow, Bertram inherited his lands.
King Baldwin captured Acre in 1104 and the next year
again
defeated an Egyptian army at Ramleh.
The governor of Sidon bought
peace from Baldwin in 1106;
but two years later marched against
the city.
Sidon's governor hired Turks from Damascus for
30,000 bezants but refused to let the victorious Turks enter
the
city and paid them only 9,000 to leave.
A Venetian squadron commanded
by Doge Ordelafo Falieri
rescued Norwegian ships led by King Sigurd
from an attack by a Fatimid flotilla.
The Venetians also helped
Baldwin take Sidon
and were given property at Acre.
Baldwin then
immediately taxed Sidon 20,000 gold bezants.
After Baldwin
helped Bertram gain Tripoli,
Bertram's forces helped Baldwin take
Beirut in 1110.
Baldwin made a ten-year truce with Tughtigin of
Damascus
in 1108 though it lasted only five years.
Muhammad succeeded his older brother Berkyaruk
as Sultan of
Persia in 1110.
He organized a holy war against the crusaders
with an army
led by Mosul atabeg Sharaf ad-Din Maudud that
included
troops of Khilat emir Sokman and the Artukid emir
Il-Ghazi.
When they besieged Edessa, King Baldwin and Bertram
of Tripoli supported Count Baldwin; but after Tancred's
Normans
withdrew from the effort, King Baldwin also left
to fight the
Egyptians attacking Palestine.
The Frank forces attempted to evacuate
Edessa but crossed
the Euphrates River first and watched as the
Turks massacred
the civilians, sparing only the
young women and
children for slavery.
Edessa had been depopulated and would never
fully recover.
Maudud's forces attacked Antioch in 1111;
but it
was defended by Baldwin of Le Bourg and
King Baldwin's army as
well as by Tancred,
who died the next year.
Richard of Salerno
acted as regent of Antioch until the arrival
of Tancred's nephew
Roger,
who accepted the sovereignty of King Baldwin.
Bertram died
a few months later; his son Pons married
Tancred's widow and also
accepted King Baldwin's
guardianship, unifying the crusader domains.
Also in 1111 Emperor Alexius made a treaty with the Pisans,
giving
them trading privileges in Constantinople.
Jerusalem king Baldwin broke his truce with Damascus
when he
invaded that territory in 1113; but he was defeated
when Tughtigin
got help from Maudad and the Artukid Ayaz.
Maudad was murdered
in a mosque, and Tughtigin was
suspected even though he immediately
killed the assassin.
Ridvan of Aleppo also died that year and
was succeeded
by his son Alp Arslan, though the eunuch Lulu governed
Alp Arslan issued a warrant for Abu Tahir and other leader
of
the Shi'i Assassins, whom Ridvan had protected,
and many were
killed.
Malik Shah captured and pillaged Pergamum;
but Byzantine
forces led by Emperor Alexius during a
campaign against the Turks
caught up with them at Cotyaeum
and after a victory recovered
the loot and prisoners.
After two plots to turn over Edessa to
the Turks,
Count Baldwin Le Bourg expelled the Armenians to
Samosata
in 1113, though he allowed
them to return the next year.
Count
Baldwin conquered the Armenian princes
in eastern Cilicia by 1115.
That year Seljuk sultan Muhammad sent a large army
led by Hamadan
governor Bursuk; but they were defeated
at Danith by the Frank
forces led by Roger of Antioch.
Count Baldwin had helped, and
in the next few years
he annexed territories and replaced several
Armenian leaders in the Euphrates valley.
King Baldwin had no children by his Armenian queen.
Although
he did not divorce her, in 1113 he wed the wealthy
Adelaide, who
wanted her son Roger in Sicily
to inherit Baldwin's kingdom.
Baldwin
spent her money fighting wars for Jerusalem,
but after being ill
he sent her back to Sicily in 1117,
causing resentment in the
Sicilian court.
She died the next year just before Jerusalem patriarch
Arnulf,
who had presided over the bigamous wedding.
A comet in
1118 was believed to portend the death of kings.
King Baldwin
died in April while invading Egypt,
and Seljuk sultan Muhammad
died the same month.
Byzantine emperor Alexius and Caliph Mustazhir
at Baghdad both died in August.
Jerusalem patriarch Arnulf and
Pope Paschal II
also died in 1118.
Barons in Jerusalem elected
Baldwin's cousin Baldwin of
Le Bourg to succeed him as king, as
he had as
count of Edessa; Joscelin of Courtenay had nominated
Baldwin II and became count of Edessa.
In his last year Emperor
Alexius had persecuted the
Manichaean Bogomils by imprisoning
many of them
and burning to death in the Hippodrome their leader
Basil.
Alexius had also adopted feudal ways by granting military
vassals estates called pronoia that allowed them to tax
the peasants living on those lands,
and he had greatly debased
the imperial coins.
A military order to protect and help pilgrims in the holy land
known as the Hospitallers of St. John had started at Jerusalem
in 1070, and in 1119 they were recognized by Pope Calixtus II.
Baldwin I always needed dedicated soldiers and in his last year
had urged Hugh of Payens to recruit knights for a new order
of
the Temple that was authorized as the Templars
by Pope Honorius
II in 1128.
These orders combined the monastic vows of poverty,
chastity,
and obedience with the chivalry of knights and
rapidly
gained wealth as their numbers increased.
Though the Hospitallers
also helped the poor,
the Templars had only military duties.
Muhammad's son Mahmud chose to pursue hunting
and allowed his
uncle, Khurasan king Sanjar (r. 1097-1156),
to take over as sultan
in 1119.
That year bold Count Roger of Antioch did not wait for
the
forces of King Baldwin II and Pons of Tripoli, and his army
was trapped by Il Ghazi's Turks and massacred
on what was remembered
as the Field of Blood.
Roger was killed, and many captured Normans
and
their allies were tortured to death in the streets of Aleppo.
Numerous battles were fought
over this city and others in the
region.
In the north Christian Georgians
almost destroyed the
army of Il Ghazi.
King Baldwin II took this opportunity to challenge
Aleppo
and made a treaty with Il Ghazi's son Sulaiman.
In 1122
Edessa count Joscelin and sixty men were
captured by Belek, one
of the successors
to the realms of the dying Il Ghazi.
Belek also
massacred an army of Baldwin
and captured the king.
Georgia king
David (r. 1089-1125) defeated the
armies of Azerbaijan and the
Artukids,
making the reconquered Tiflis his capital in 1122.
John Comnenus (r. 1118-1143) had succeeded his father
Alexius
as Emperor in Constantinople; he continued his father's
war against
the Turks in Asia Minor, and he alienated the
Venetians by reducing
their trading privileges.
In 1122 a Venetian fleet of more than
a hundred ships attacked
Byzantine Corfu before defeating the
Egyptian navy off
Ascalon and capturing ten loaded merchant vessels.
Jerusalem patriarch Gormond gave the Venetians trading
privileges
in exchange for their help in taking Tyre,
which was starved into
submission by July 1124.
Emperor John Comnenus made a treaty with
the Pisans
in 1125 and ended the war with Venice by restoring
their trading privileges the next year.
Hungarian king Stephen
(r. 1114-1131) sent his troops
to take Branicevo and invade the
Greek empire in 1128;
but they were defeated by the Byzantine
army,
which the next year subdued the Serbians.
After Belek died, Il Ghazi's son Timurtash ransomed
Baldwin
II for a payment of 20,000 dinars and promises
for more
while he retained a few hostages.
However, Baldwin broke the agreement
by helping the
Bedouin leader Dubais he was supposed to suppress,
and Antioch patriarch Bernard would not let him
give away territory
he had promised.
The Franks won a bloody battle at Azaz in 1125
and gained
enough booty to pay the remaining 60,000 dinars
Baldwin
owed for his ransom so that his daughter was released.
In 1126 eighteen-year-old Bohemond II arrived from Sicily
to inherit
his father's Antioch, and the next year
he married Baldwin's second
daughter Alice.
A quarrel developed between Bohemond II and Joscelin
of Edessa; but King Baldwin came north to reconcile them.
King
Baldwin sent to France's Louis VI to choose a wife
for his oldest
daughter Melisend, and Count Fulk of Anjou
was sent with newly
recruited Templars.
Zengi became ruler of Mosul in 1127 and quickly defeated
his
rivals and occupied Aleppo the next year.
After Tughtigin of Damascus
died, Zengi allied himself with his
succeeding son Taj-al-Muluk
Bori in a holy war against the
Franks but betrayed him by imprisoning
his son in Aleppo.
Bori tried to suppress the Assassins.
Their
protector, vizier al-Mazdaghani, had plotted with the
Franks to
surrender Damascus for Tyre; but he was discovered
and executed
along with all the Assassins found at Damascus.
To save himself
from this, Isma'il surrendered Banyas to the
Franks, who were
nevertheless
defeated near Damascus in 1129.
The next year Bohemond
II invaded Cilicia and was killed
when his army was massacred.
Ambitious Alice tried to gain rule of Antioch
by plotting with
Zengi; but her father Baldwin came with his
son-in-law Fulk, intercepted
her messenger to Zengi,
and forced her to accept Latakia and Jabala,
which she had gained as dowry.
Zengi, who controlled Syria as
far south as Homs,
defeated the Franks at al-Atharib, and they
concluded a treaty
that would last several years while Zengi was
busy fighting
caliphate rivals and the Kurds.
Joscelin was entrusted
with Antioch,
but he died soon after Baldwin II died in August
1131.
Three weeks later Patriarch William of Messines crowned Fulk
and Melisend king and queen of Jerusalem.
Despite the continuing
ambition of Melisend's sister Alice,
Fulk retained the regency
of Antioch
by appearing there with his army.
Melisend was not
attracted to Fulk, and her intrigues
with Hugh of Le Puiset led
to his being tried for treason
and resulted in Hugh's banishment
and murder.
The Queen became so angry that Hugh's enemies
were
afraid to walk the streets unarmed.
A succession struggle followed the death of Sultan Mahmud
in
1131 in which Tughrul was supported by Sanjar at Baghdad;
but
they withdrew from the contest.
Mas'ud, Seljuk sultan of Rum (r.
1116-1155), and his ally
Zengi were defeated by forces of
Seljuk-Shah
and Caliph al-Mustarshid.
Then Sanjar and the Arab Dubais supported
Zengi;
but for a while al-Mustarshid re-asserted Abbasid rule.
Eventually attacks by Zengi forced the Caliph to retire from
political
power, and Mas'ud became the next sultan of Iraq.
In 1135 his
army defeated and captured Caliph al-Mustarshid,
who was banished
to Azerbaijan and murdered by Assassins
The Caliph's son and
successor ar-Rashid failed to gain
support and was deposed by qadis (judges) in Baghdad.
In Egypt the Fatimid caliph
al-Hafiz appointed his son Hasan
vizier in 1135; but Hasan beheaded
forty emirs
and after a revolt was poisoned by his father.
The next vizier was an Armenian named Vahram
who appointed so
many Armenians that
violent riots broke out in Cairo.
To the west
in the Maghrib of North Africa the Berber
preacher 'Abd Allah
Ibn Tumart was accepted as the
prophetic Mahdi but died
shortly after an attack
on Almoravid rule at Marrakesh in 1130.
However, his successor 'Abd al-Mu'min led a long war
that established
Almohad rule in the central Maghrib
by 1152 and in Ifriqiya by
1160.
The Byzantines campaigned annually against the Danishmends
for five years, reconquering all their lost territory by 1135.
Mistrusting the Normans, Emperor John Comnenus sent an
envoy to
get Germany's emperor Lothair to attack Roger
in Sicily, which
he did in 1137.
That year Emperor John led his army into Cilicia,
reconquering Mersin, Tarsus, Adana, Mamistra,
Anazarbus and threatening
Antioch.
Raymond rushed back from Montferrand and promised
to
give Antioch back to the empire if together they conquered
Aleppo,
Shaizar, Hamah, and Homs, which he would rule.
In 1138 the Christian
alliance failed to take Aleppo
and besieged Shaizar.
Zengi lifted
his siege of Damascene Hamah and sent
for help from Baghdad, where
riots persuaded
Sultan Mas'ud to dispatch forces.
Meanwhile Raymond
of Antioch and Joscelin of Edessa
were doing little to aid John's
military efforts.
When John demanded the citadel of Antioch, Joscelin
started a rumor that caused a riot against the Greeks;
John decided
to take his army back to Constantinople.
In 1139 John's army drove
the Danishmends
out of Bithynia and Paphlagonia.
When Antioch patriarch Bernard died in 1135, the people
made
the Latin Ralph of Domfront his successor
without a canonical
election.
To forestall the regency of Alice, Raymond came secretly
from Poitiers and took power in Antioch by marrying Alice's
nine-year-old
daughter Constance while Ralph led
Alice to believe she would
marry Raymond.
Atabeg Mahmud of Damascus accepted as his
chief minister
Beza-uch, the murderer of his mother's lover,
and
they invaded Tripoli in 1137.
The army of Count Pons was ambushed,
and Pons was killed
by the Muslims after he was betrayed by a
Christian peasant.
Mahmud did not attack Tripoli itself
but returned
to Damascus with much booty.
Raymond II, the son of Pons, had
married Melisend's sister
Hodierna, and he took revenge by massacring
men and
enslaving women and children from the villages of Lebanon.
Mosul's Zengi was besieging Homs when he noticed the Tripoli
army
of Raymond II and besieged them at Montferrand in 1137.
Raymond
sent word to Fulk; but his army from Jerusalem
was so weary that
they were slaughtered,
and Raymond was captured.
King Fulk escaped
and appealed to Edessa and Antioch.
In a treaty Zengi was satisfied
with the castle
at Montferrand and let the Franks go.
In 1139
the cantankerous Patriarch Ralph was deposed,
imprisoned, and
escaped to Rome; but he died in 1142.
Zengi besieged Homs in 1137 but gained it as dowry
when he
married the mother of the atabeg
of Damascus the next year.
She complained that Baalbek's former governor Muhammad
replaced
the murdered Mahmud, and so in 1139 Zengi
captured Baalbek and
crucified the garrison
after swearing to spare them; the women
were sold as slaves.
Zengi offered Baalbek or Homs for Damascus;
but Unur would not agree.
After Muhammad died, Unur offered King
Fulk
20,000 bezants a month and Banyas if the Franks
would
help him protect Damascus from Zengi.
When the Jerusalem army
arrived, Zengi withdrew;
then Fulk installed Rainier of Brus as
governor of Banyas.
Meanwhile Fulk had strengthened his southern
defenses
by building three major castles.
In 1141 the Kara-Kitai
Mongols, who traded with China
and adopted their culture, defeated
Seljuk
sultan Sanjar and conquered the Oxus basin.
The Kara-Kitai
chief Gur-Khan was believed by some
in the West to be the legendary
Christian Prester John.
In 1143 Queen Melisend bought the village
of Bethany
and founded a convent that elected her sister Joveta
abbess.
Byzantine emperor John attacked the Seljuks as far as Attalia
in 1142; but the next year while preparing to attack
Antioch he
died after a hunting accident.
He chose as heir his youngest son
Manuel (r. 1143-1180),
who led the imperial army back to Constantinople.
In November 1143 King Fulk also died after
falling from his horse
while hunting near Acre.
Queen Melisend acted as regent for her
13-year-old son Baldwin III (r. 1143-1163).
Manuel refused to
give back Cilicia, and so
Raymond of Antioch invaded the province.
However, in 1144 the Byzantine army drove him
out of Cilicia and
once again threatened Antioch.
In autumn 1144 Zengi attacked Joscelin II's
Artukid ally Kara
Arslan.
When Joscelin marched his forces to help,
Zengi sent a
force to besiege Edessa.
Raymond of Antioch refused to assist
his rival Joscelin.
Joined by Kurds and Turkomans, Zengi's army
stormed Edessa.
Zengi tried to stop the massacre of native Christians;
but all the Frankish men were slaughtered,
and their women were
sold as slaves.
Zengi then took Saruj, the other strong fortress
the Franks had east of the Euphrates.
Raymond went to Constantinople
for aid
but was rebuffed by Manuel.
In 1146 Zengi had an Armenian
revolt at Edessa suppressed
and replaced those banished with 300
Jewish families.
On September 15, 1146 Zengi was murdered in his
sleep
by a servant he had threatened to punish.
Zengi's oldest
son Saif-ad-Din Ghazi inherited Mosul
while his second son Nur-ad-Din
ruled Aleppo.
Unur's Damascus army took control of
Baalbek, Homs,
and Hamah.
While Raymond of Antioch threatened Aleppo,
Joscelin
regained Edessa; but after a siege
by Nur-ad-Din's army, the Frankish
army fled,
leaving the native Christian men to be
massacred while
the women and children were enslaved.
Michael the Syrian estimated
that in both sieges of Edessa
30,000 were killed, and 16,000 were
sold into slavery.
After learning that Edessa had fallen, Jerusalem queen
Melisend and Antioch barons sent Jabala bishop Hugh
to Pope Eugenius III
to ask for another crusade.
On December 1, 1145 Eugenius sent
a papal bull
to King Louis VII of France urging his kingdom
to
rescue the Christians in the East.
Louis decided to take up the
cross but was not able
to persuade many people to join him until
Clairvaux abbot
Bernard spoke to a mass meeting during Easter
at Vézélay.
Bernard then preached the crusade
in
Burgundy, Lorraine, and Flanders.
Cluny abbot Peter the Venerable
complained that Jews
were not contributing enough, and the Cistercian
monk
Radulf aroused anti-Semitic feelings in northern France
until
Bernard arrived to stop the persecution.
Then Radulf incited massacres
of Jews at Cologne, Mainz,
Worms, Speyer, and Strasburg. Bernard
ordered this
fanatical monk back into his monastery and went to
Germany to preach the crusade himself.
Germany's Conrad III had
been crowned Emperor
by the Pope and had promised to protect him
from
Roger's Normans; yet Bernard persuaded the reluctant
German
king in his Christmas sermon of 1146.
The following March at Frankfurt
Bernard also
encouraged a crusade to convert Slavs east of Oldenburg.
Conrad's vassals, King Vladislav of Bohemia and
King Boleslav
IV of Poland, also made the expedition
with an impressive array
of nobility that included
Duke Friedrich of Swabia (later known
as Barbarossa).
Poor soldiers and pilgrims joined in great numbers
that swelled the army to 20,000 or more.
In June 1147 the German
crusaders traveled through
Hungary as Emperor Conrad promised
the Byzantine
emperor they would do them no harm.
Fights over
food began at Sofia
and were worse at Philippopolis,
where Archbishop
Michael Italicus persuaded
Conrad to punish the leaders of the
riots.
Manuel sent his imperial troops to keep the crusaders
on
the roads; but at Adrianople Friedrich burned down
a monastery
and slaughtered its residents in revenge
for the murder of a sick
German noble.
A slightly smaller army of French led by Louis followed
about a month later, and he assured Manuel he was coming
as a
friend; but already conflicts were erupting between the
Germans
and the French as well as between the Westerners
and the Byzantines,
who were resented because Emperor
Manuel made a treaty in spring
1147 to stop the
expanding hegemony of the Seljuk sultan Mas'ud.
Conflicts might have become worse had not Conrad's
sister, who
was married to Manuel,
made peace between the two emperors.
Manuel advised Conrad to send home the pilgrims and march
along
the coast; but Conrad disregarded his advice and went
east into
Anatolia, although he divided his forces at Nicaea
by sending
many of the pilgrims with Otto of Freisingen.
Near Dorylaeum on
October 25, 1147 Conrad's forces
were attacked by a large Seljuk
army and massacred,
losing nine-tenths of their soldiers and their
entire camp.
The rich booty rapidly lowered the value
of precious
metals in the Muslim world.
Meanwhile King Louis VII promised
Emperor Manuel that
he would restore the parts of his empire they
would recapture;
his barons paid homage and received imperial
gifts.
At Nicaea Louis consulted with the fleeing Conrad,
and
together they headed south to the coast.
At Ephesus Conrad was
too ill to go on and returned
to Constantinople, where he was
nursed back to health by Manuel.
After much suffering and many
losses the crusaders
were welcomed at Antioch by Raymond,
uncle
of Queen Eleanor of Aquitane.
That fall Roger's Normans captured
Corfu from the Byzantine
empire and plundered the Greek cities
of Thebes and Corinth,
removing expert silk weavers to Palermo.
Raymond wanted the crusaders to attack Aleppo;
but Louis had his
heart set on Jerusalem
and became jealous of Eleanor pleading
for her uncle.
Conrad joined the large crusader army at Jerusalem.
Without
the barons from Antioch, Edessa, and Tripoli,
they decided to
attack Damascus even though that city
had been the Franks' ally
against other Turks; this stimulated
Unur to appeal to his enemies
Saif-ad-Din of Mosul and his
brother Nur-ad-Din. After a five-day
siege in late July 1148
Conrad persuaded the crusaders to withdraw
so that the armies of the Turkish brothers would not take
Damascus,
and the crusaders retreated in a humiliating defeat.
Conrad returned
to Constantinople, where his alliance
with the empire was confirmed
by the wedding of his
brother Heinrich of Austria to Manuel's
niece Theodora.
Louis returned to Europe with a Sicilian squadron
that was attacked by the Byzantine navy.
Louis blamed Manuel for
their disastrous crusade
and persuaded Bernard and other prelates
to preach
a crusade against the Byzantines; but this scheme
faded
after Conrad refused to help.
Young Bertram of Toulouse suspected
that Raymond II
of Tripoli had murdered his father Alfonso of
Toulouse
and tried to win his inheritance at Tripoli; but Raymond
got aid from Unur and Nur-ad-Din, whose forces
destroyed the castle
of Araima; Bertram and his sister
remained the prisoners of Nur-ad-Din
at Aleppo for twelve years.
After Nur-ad-Din's forces invaded, Raymond of Antioch
went to meet them; but his army was massacred in 1149,
the courageous
Raymond fighting until he was killed.
The next year Joscelin II
was captured; when he refused
to abjure his religion, Nur-ad-Din
had him blinded
and imprisoned at Aleppo, where Joscelin died
nine years later.
Baldwin III with Templar knights rode north
to protect Antioch.
He approved of Joscelin's widow Beatrice selling
the
remaining towns of the Edessa county to Manuel
and escorted
her and the refugees back to Antioch.
The Byzantines lost this
territory to the alliance of
Nur-ad-Din and the Seljuk Mas'ad
in 1151.
Further east in 1153 Oghuz tribes captured Seljuk
sultan
Sanjar, destroyed his army, and looted Khurasan.
After Count Raymond of Tripoli was killed by Assassins,
his
widow Hodierna assumed the regency
for their twelve-year-old Raymond
III.
She allowed Baldwin to give Tortosa to the Knights Templar.
In Jerusalem Queen Melisend did not want to relinquish
the power
of her regency, but Baldwin III
had himself crowned alone.
They
divided the territory and quarreled until
the citizens turned
against her, and she yielded.
In 1149 Baldwin made a two-year
truce
with Unur of Damascus.
Unur soon died, but in 1151 Baldwin
helped defend
Damascus from Nur-ad-Din's army.
Baldwin tried to
find a husband for Antioch regent Constance;
but she rejected
his choices and one of Manuel's,
marrying instead an undistinguished
but bold
young knight named Reginald in 1153.
Baldwin agreed to
recognize Reginald as prince of Antioch
if he would help fight
against the Armenian Toros II.
Reginald did so and turned conquered
land over
to the Templars, who got him to take Toros as an ally.
Reginald tortured Patriarch Aimery to get money
to invade wealthy
Cyprus.
Baldwin got the Patriarch released,
and the prelate took
refuge in Jerusalem.
Reginald and Toros led a brutal attack on
Cyprus
of murder, pillaging, and rape that lasted three weeks.
In Fatamid Egypt al-Hafiz died in 1149 and was succeeded
by
his son al-Zafir during a civil war that made vizier the
winning
general Amir Ibn Sallah, who was murdered
three years later; but
Caliph al-Zafir was assassinated in 1154.
In 1153 King Baldwin
III besieged the Fatimid fortress
at Ascalon; but an Egyptian
fleet of seventy ships
relieved the blockade.
Forty Templars decided
to penetrate a breach
in the wall alone, and all were killed.
After eight months Ascalon capitulated, and Baldwin
allowed the
residents to depart.
Baldwin's brother Amalric became governor
of Ascalon.
Mujir of Damascus agreed to pay the revitalized Franks
an annual tribute; but the following year Mujir had to
surrender Damascus to Nur-ad-Din, who continued
the truce with Jerusalem
and even paid the tribute.
The religious Nur-ad-Din promoted orthodox
Sunni Islam
by founding colleges, convents, and an impressive
hospital.
Nur-ad-Din was also known for dispensing justice
by
hearing complaints twice a week concerning his army
and administration
whenever he was at Aleppo or Damascus.
After Sultan Mas'ad died
in 1155, a succession struggle
enabled Nur-ad-Din to gain more
Euphrates territory.
In 1157 Baldwin broke his treaty with Nur-ad-Din
when the king was tempted to steal large herds of
sheep and horses which Turkomans had brought near Banyas.
Also in 1155 Emperor Manuel sent the Byzantine navy
to Ancona
to invade Italy; but Venice turned against them,
and the next
year Norman king William II led forces that
defeated the Greeks
at Brindisi, driving them out of Italy.
In 1158 Patriarch Aimery
married King Baldwin III to
Theodora, niece of Emperor Manuel,
who marched his army into Cilicia.
The infamous Reginald had to
humiliate himself in penance
in front of Manuel, who forgave his
Cyprus war crimes
in order to place a Greek patriarch
in Antioch
and control its citadel.
At Antioch Manuel treated Baldwin's broken
arm,
and their alliance forced Nur-ad-Din to release 6,000 captives,
including many Germans who went home
after a decade in prison.
Reginald was captured while raiding in 1160
and was left in prison
for 16 years.
Baldwin declared young Bohemond III the prince of
Antioch
and appointed Patriarch Aimery as regent.
The Byzantine
army led by John Contostephanus defeated
the Seljuk sultan Kilij
Arslan II (r. 1155-1192),
who did homage to Manuel at Constantinople
in 1161.
Raymond II of Tripoli offered his daughter Melisend
in
marriage to Manuel, and both were crushed
when the Emperor rejected
her
to marry Princess Maria of Antioch.
King Baldwin became ill at Tripoli
and died at Beirut in February
1163.
Since Baldwin III had no children, his younger brother
Amalric
became king of Jerusalem.
When Constance appealed to the Byzantine
general Coloman
against her 18-year-old son Bohemond III,
a riot
resulted in her being banished.
Egypt continued to be unstable
as vizier Tala'i ibn Ruzzik
was murdered in 1161 as was his son
and successor Ruzzik two years later.
King Amalric invaded Egypt
in September 1163
and besieged Bilbais but had to withdraw.
Shavar
went to Nur-ad-Din, who opened the Qur'an
at random for
advice and sent his army led by Shirkuh.
Dirgam was defeated and
killed
as Shavar was restored to power.
When Shirkuh refused to
leave and seized Bilbais,
Shavar appealed to Amalric by offering
gold and gifts
to the Knights of the Hospital.
While Amalric traveled
from Antioch to Egypt,
Nur-ad-Din besieged Harim.
Forces from
Tripoli and Antioch with Armenians and
Greeks from Cilicia marched
against Nur-ad-Din's army
but were defeated on the plain of Artah
in 1164.
Bohemond III, Raymond III of Tripoli, Coloman,
Hugh of
Lusignan, and Joscelin III were captured.
Bohemond was soon ransomed,
because Nur-ad-Din did not want the
Byzantines taking over Antioch.
Nur-ad-Din raided Lebanon, and in 1167 Shirkuh invaded
Egypt
again with his nephew Saladin (Salah-ad-Din).
Shavar offered King
Amalric 400,000 bezants
if the Franks would drive Shirkuh
out of Egypt.
After an inconclusive battle with losses on both
sides,
the Franks joined the Cairo garrison
while the Syrian Turks
blockaded Alexandria.
Shirkuh proposed that they and the Franks
could both leave
if Shavar would not punish those supporting the
invaders.
Amalric agreed and entered Alexandria as Saladin's army
left;
but Shavar's officials began arresting collaborators.
Saladin
complained, and Amalric got the prisoners released.
Shirkuh and
Saladin led their army back to Damascus,
and Amalric made Shavar
promise to pay
an annual tribute of 100,000 gold coins.
Also in 1167 King Amalric married Emperor Manuel's
grand-niece
Maria Comnena.
Amalric gave Andronicus Comnenus the fief of Beirut;
but the adventurer fell in love with the widow
Theodora living
on her dowry at Acre.
They could not marry because they were related;
yet they ran off to the East and were excommunicated.
Historian
William of Tyre negotiated a treaty with
Emperor Manuel to divide
conquests in Egypt;
but before he returned, Amalric with avaricious
knights
left to invade Egypt again.
Bilbais was plundered, and
Copts as well as Muslims
were slaughtered, uniting the Egyptians
in hatred against the Franks.
Shavar's son Kamil sent a message
offering Nur-ad-Din a third of Egypt.
Shirkuh and Saladin with
8,000 cavalry from Damascus
marched past the Franks,
who departed
at the beginning of 1169.
When Shirkuh died in March, Saladin
became the master
of Egypt by arresting his opponents and burning
antagonistic
Nubian guards in their barracks.
Saladin was much
influenced by his friendship
with Nur-ad-Din and later married
his widow.
He followed Nur-ad-Din's policies by abolishing in
Egypt
all taxes not in accord with Islamic law,
and he also founded
colleges.
Saladin made lucrative trade agreements with
Pisans,
Genoese, and Venetians.
Genoa made an alliance with the Byzantines
in 1169,
and Pisa also did so the next year.
King Amalric sent church leaders to Europe asking for
another
crusade, but conflicts in Italy, Germany, France,
and England
had their leaders occupied.
Amalric and Manuel agreed on a joint
campaign.
Saladin appealed to the Muslim champion of holy war,
Nur-ad-Din, so that Egypt could defeat
the crusaders and become
Sunni.
Delays resulted in the Byzantine navy running out of food,
and the Frank army withdrew from Egypt
before the end of 1169.
Amalric visited Constantinople
and signed a treaty with Manuel.
In June 1170 earthquakes in Syria devastated
castles and churches,
killing many.
Saladin's army massacred people at Gaza
but could
not take the citadel.
On March 12, 1171 Manuel had every Venetian
in the
Byzantine empire arrested, and their wares were confiscated.
Venice reacted by sacking the islands of Chios and Lesbos,
and
the Byzantines and the Venetians
did not have relations for a
decade.
In 1173 Amalric's army campaigned
for the Byzantines in Cilicia.
The new Assassin leader Sinan, whom the Franks called the
Old
Man of the Mountains, promised the Assassins would
become Christians
if the knights stopped taxing their villages.
Amalric agreed,
but Templar knight Walter of Mesnil
ambushed and murdered the
returning Assassin envoys,
and Grand Master Odo refused Amalric's
order to turn over
the murderer; so Amalric used troops to arrest
Walter at Sidon.
The powerful and pious Nur-ad-Din had united
and expanded
Muslim Syria and become a sultan before he died in
1174.
During the succession struggle Amalric marched on Banyas
and accepted a payment from the Damascus emir;
but Amalric
became ill and died in July 1174.
Two weeks after King Amalric died, a Sicilian fleet of
284
ships threatened Alexandria
but fled when Saladin's army approached.
Amalric's successor as king of Jerusalem was his
13-year-old son
Baldwin IV,
who had already been diagnosed as a leper.
Seneschal
Miles of Plancy took control of the government;
but he was resented,
replaced as regent by Count Raymond
of Tripoli, and was murdered
a few weeks later.
Raymond was supported by the Hospitallers and
Syrians
but was opposed by the militant Templars
and crusaders
from Europe.
At the end of 1174 Saladin besieged Homs and Aleppo,
whose atabeg Gumushtigin asked for help
from the Assassins
and the Franks.
A band of Assassins was killed in Saladin's camp.
Raymond led the Frank army to Homs,
causing Saladin to raise the
siege of Aleppo and head south.
In gratitude Gumushtigin released
Reginald, Joscelin III,
and other Christians from Aleppo's dungeons.
Saladin's army defeated an alliance of Aleppo and Mosul,
and they
declared a truce.
Saladin proclaimed himself sultan of Egypt and
Syria
and was honored by the Baghdad Caliph.
After finding threatening
signs, Saladin asked for
forgiveness from the Assassins, and he
and their leader
Sinan agreed not to attack each other.
In 1176 Manuel led his imperial army against the Turks
at Konya;
but when he panicked and fled,
the result was disastrous for the
army.
The Byzantines no longer governed Anatolia except the coasts.
Under Manuel the military had become the ruling class,
living
off heavy taxes on the people; many had to barter their
freedom
to become serfs in order to survive.
William Longsword came from France and married
King Baldwin's
sister Sibyl; but he died of malaria in 1177,
the year the determined
Baldwin canceled the regency.
Baldwin recovered from malaria;
but crusading Flanders
count Philip refused to join Reginald or
cooperate
with the Byzantine navy and admitted he came mainly
to marry off his two cousins.
Philip did join Raymond of Tripoli
on an attack against Hamah.
Baldwin mustered 500 knights to defend
Ascalon from an attack by Saladin's army.
Saladin trapped them
and led most of his forces toward
Jerusalem, allowing them to
pillage the countryside;
but Frank knights surprised them near
the castle of Montisgard,
and the Muslim army fled.
Only the sacrifice
of the Mamluk guard saved Saladin,
and his army fled all the way
to Egypt,
leaving behind their booty and prisoners.
Baldwin's
army was rustling sheep near Damascus in 1179
when they were ambushed
by Saladin's nephew Farrukh-Shah.
The courageous constable Humphrey
II of Toron
gave up his life to protect the royal army's retreat.
The next year King Baldwin and Saladin agreed
on a two-year truce,
and Saladin also made a treaty with Raymond of Tripoli.
When Emperor Manuel died at Constantinople in 1180,
his son
Alexius II was only eleven.
Empress Maria from Antioch was the
first Latin to rule the
Byzantine empire and was resented along
with Venetian, Pisan,
and Genoese merchants, who seemed to be
robbing the empire of its wealth.
Andronicus Comnenus was called
back from Pontus in 1182
and led an insurrection of the army that
forced out Maria
and slaughtered many Italian merchants.
Rivals,
including young Alexius, were murdered,
and the 62-year-old Andronicus
married his
12-year-old widow Agnes of France.
However, after
the revolution Andronicus cleaned up
corruption, disciplined the
system of justice,
made the wealthy pay taxes, and helped the
peasants.
Andronicus gave officials "the choice between ceasing
to cheat and ceasing to live;" but his ruthless executions and
suppression of the landed aristocracy weakened the military.
Hungarian king Bela III (r. 1173-1196) had regained in 1181
the
territories Manuel had conquered, and two years later
the allied
Hungarians and Serbians sacked
Belgrade, Branicevo, Nis, and Sofia.
After news arrived in 1185 that a Sicilian army
had ravaged Thessalonica,
a riot resulted.
When Andronicus ordered Isaac Angelus arrested,
he took refuge in St. Sophia; a crowd gathered
and proclaimed
him emperor.
Andronicus fled, was captured,
tortured, and killed
by a mob.
Corruption returned as Emperor Isaac Angelus sold offices
and
allowed tax collectors to extort money.
He made a deferential
treaty with the King of Sicily.
In Bulgaria when the brothers
Peter and Asen claimed lands
as grants of pronoiai, Isaac
led his army against them in 1186;
but they were supported by
Serbian Grand Zupan Stephen
Nemanja, and a rebellion in Anatolia
caused Isaac to make
a treaty that recognized a revived Bulgarian
empire.
Guy of Lusignan married Sibyl at Easter 1180
and was given
Jaffa and Ascalon as fiefs.
The new Jerusalem patriarch Heraclius
was corrupt
and excommunicated his rival, the historian William
of Tyre,
who fled to Rome and died, perhaps of poisoning.
In 1181
Reginald could not resist raiding a Muslim caravan
despite the
truce and would not return the goods
after Saladin and Baldwin
insisted he do so.
So Saladin captured 1500 pilgrims,
but still
Reginald would not trade for them.
After the deaths of the rulers
in Mosul and Aleppo,
Saladin waited until the truce ended and
then attacked;
but the fortifications of Mosul were too strong.
While Saladin was camped near Aleppo,
Bohemond III made a four-year
truce with him.
After much maneuvering Saladin finally captured
Aleppo
in 1183 and then returned to his capital at Damascus.
The
powerful Saladin used diplomacy to gain
friendly relations with
the Seljuk sultan of Anatolia;
he had made a treaty with Constantinople
in 1181,
and he maintained good relations with Isaac Angelus
and
Isaac Comnenus, who had declared Cyprus independent.
After King Baldwin IV lost the use of his arms and legs
because
of leprosy, he was persuaded to let Sibyl's
husband Guy be regent
except for Jerusalem.
In 1182 Reginald began attacking caravans
to Mecca and
took Aila; his naval forces sacked the Nubian port
of Aidib,
burned shipping near Medina, and sank a ship of pilgrims.
Saladin's brother Malik al-Adil, Governor of Egypt,
sent a fleet
that recaptured Aila and sent Franks from
Reginald's fleet to
be sacrificed at Mecca or beheaded at Cairo.
In 1183 Saladin crossed
the Jordan and invaded Palestine;
but he could not lure the Franks
out for a fight and withdrew.
Quarreling with Guy, Baldwin deposed
him and made a will
leaving the regency to Raymond of Tripoli
for his heir,
Sibyl's child Baldwin V. Raymond declined guardianship
of the sickly boy lest he die,
and that job was given to Joscelin
III.
Baldwin IV died in March 1185, and Raymond tried to
make
a four-year truce with Saladin because the Christians
were in
danger of starving. Baldwin V died the following year.
While Raymond
was out of the way, Sibyl was crowned
queen by Patriarch Heraclius,
and then
she crowned her husband Guy king.
Baldwin of Ibelin refused
his fealty
and went to Bohemond at Antioch.
Late in 1186 Reginald raided a lucrative caravan,
killing its soldiers and imprisoning the merchants
and their families in his
castle at Kerak.
Saladin complained, but Guy could not
get Reginald
to give them back.
Bohemond of Antioch renewed his truce with
Saladin,
and Raymond of Tripoli made a truce too.
Guy had taken
Beirut from Raymond,
who would not join Guy unless it was returned.
Raymond even allowed a Muslim army
to pass through his territory.
Gerard of Ridfort led his Knights Templar
against the army of
thousands.
Sixty knights were killed, and forty men from Nazareth
were captured; only Gerard and two other knights escaped.
This
massacre caused Raymond to renounce his truce
with Saladin and
submit to King Guy.
Count Raymond persuaded Guy not to attack Tiberias,
even though
it was Raymond's city,
and his wife was trapped there;
but later
Gerard incited Guy to attack.
On July 4, 1187 the Frank army was
encircled by Saladin's
massive army and deprived of water near
Lake Tiberias
at Hattin, where the parched soldiers were badly
defeated.
Many prisoners were taken.
Saladin gave King Guy cool
water to drink but executed
the insolent Reginald with his own
sword.
He allowed fanatical Muslims (including Sufis) to behead
the captured Templars and Hospitallers.
The barons were sent to
Damascus,
and the poor were sold as slaves.
The price of prisoners
fell to three dinars.
Saladin moved his army to Acre,
which
was surrendered by Joscelin.
Other garrisons held out briefly
before capitulating.
Saladin's brother al-Adil brought an army
from Egypt
and besieged resisting Jaffa; when it was stormed,
all the inhabitants were sold.
The Muslims passed by strong Tyre,
but Sidon surrendered.
Ascalon was besieged and capitulated.
Gerard
commanded the Templar garrison
at Gaza to surrender, and they
obeyed.
Jerusalem now had only two knights; but Balian of Ibelin
was
given safe conduct there to get his wife, Queen Maria,
and he
was persuaded to stay and command their defense.
Balian asked
Saladin for terms; but he threatened a massacre
like the crusaders
had done in 1099 until Balian threatened
to kill all the Muslim
inhabitants and destroy the entire city.
Saladin offered to ransom
each man for ten dinars,
each woman for five, and each
child for one.
In addition he would release all 20,000 poor people,
who could not afford that, for 100,000 dinars;
but only
30,000 dinars was raised for 7,000.
Thus many captives
were sold.
Some money came from England Henry II's donation for
a future crusade; but the avaricious Patriarch Heraclius
actually
left with church gold that could have purchased
others' freedom,
and the Templars and Hospitallers were
reluctant to part with
their treasure.
Eventually the generous Saladin paid to release
captive husbands, widows, and orphans.
Tyre only accepted refugees
who could fight;
Tripoli had to close its gates;
and most refugees
ended up at Antioch.
When Italian merchants refused to transport
them for free,
the Egyptian authorities would not let them sail
until they did.
Saladin encouraged Muslims and Jews to settle
in Jerusalem,
and at the request of Isaac Angelus he granted
Christian
holy places to the Orthodox Church.
By the end of 1187 more than fifty major cities and castles
had been captured by Saladin's Muslims.
Raymond of Tripoli died
of pleurisy.
The Egyptian army besieged Kerak,
which held out
for a year.
Jabalah and Latakia surrendered in July 1188.
Bohemond
of Antioch gained a truce
by recognizing all the Muslim conquests.
Conrad arrived in a ship at Tyre, and Saladin threatened
to kill
his father, the Marquis of Montferrat;
but the merciful Saladin
did not do so and gave up
the siege of Tyre, as most of his soldiers
wanted to go home.
King William II of Sicily (r. 1166-1189) sent
a fleet led by
Margarit and 200 knights to Tyre, and Conrad of
Montferrat
assigned them to defend Tripoli in the summer of 1188.
Pope Urban III died soon after hearing the news
that Jerusalem
had been captured.
His successor Gregory VIII sent out a circular
letter calling
for a crusade and urging a truce for seven years
between
Christian princes, but he died too after two months.
Pope
Clement III contacted Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa
and sent Archbishop
Joscius of Tyre on to France and England.
There King Henry had
received a letter from Antioch
patriarch Aimery, and his son Richard
took up the cross.
Henry and King Philip of France were at war;
but they made a truce, raised special taxes,
and committed themselves
to the crusade.
When Henry died, Richard was crowned king of England.
In 1189 several hundred Danish
and Flemish ships arrived in Syria.
A fleet from London stopped to help Portuguese
king Sancho take
the fortress of Silves
from invading Muslims from Morocco.
Having experienced the crusade forty-two years earlier,
German
Emperor Friedrich knew his way
from Ratisbon through Hungary.
From Vienna about 500 prostitutes, thieves,
and wastrels were
sent back to Germany.
This time Serbs and Bulgarians were rebelling
against
excessive Byzantine taxes, and Friedrich had to negotiate
to keep the rebels from attacking his stragglers.
When Emperor
Isaac imprisoned Friedrich's envoys,
the latter's son Friedrich
of Swabia captured Didymotichum
and asked the Pope to bless a
crusade against the Greeks.
Isaac released the envoys, gave Friedrich
hostages,
and promised him ships to cross the Dardanelles.
The
Germans tried diplomacy with Kilij Arslan II in Anatolia;
but
they still encountered resistance.
Near Seleucia the elderly Friedrich
died in a river,
probably of heart failure.
Many German knights
returned to Europe;
some went on to Tyre; and Friedrich of Swabia
led others
to Antioch, where Prince Bohemond welcomed them.
After
Friedrich left, the Byzantines defeated
Stephen Nemanja's Serbians
in 1190, regaining lost territory;
but the Byzantine army failed
to take the Bulgarian capital
at Turnovo, and four years later
in 1194
they were defeated at Arcadiopolis.
Sicily king William II had married Joan, daughter of English
king Henry II; but William died in November 1189
and named Henry
as his heir.
Tancred was elected to replace him
and recalled his
forces from Palestine.
As Henry had also died, King Richard stopped
in Sicily
to collect the legacy and protect the dowry of his sister
Joan.
Richard freed his sister and attacked an island off Messina,
where his soldiers rudely drove
the monks out of a Greek convent.
Mistreatment of women by English soldiers caused a riot.
France's
King Philip was in Messina and tried to pacify
Richard with the
local archbishop; but Richard attacked
and let his men pillage
the city;
the Sicilian fleet in the harbor was burned.
Tancred
offered Richard 20,000 ounces of gold for the
legacy and the same
for Joan as her dowry;
Richard accepted and returned confiscated
goods.
Philip and Richard agreed on rules for the crusade that
controlled food prices, devoted half of every deceased
knight's
money to the crusade, limited gambling,
and ordered debts contracted
to be honored;
offenders were to be excommunicated.
Richard also stopped at Cyprus, which Isaac Comnenus
had been
ruling independently for five years, calling himself
an emperor
and enriching himself with exorbitant taxes.
Joan's ship had wrecked
there,
and Isaac had arrested Richard's men.
In May 1191 Richard
was joined by some crusaders
led by Guy who opposed Conrad and
Philip.
Richard married Berengaria, princess of Navarre,
and she
was crowned queen of England.
Poisoned arrows may have been used
as Richard's soldiers
defeated Isaac, who fled and surrendered
as the island was taken.
Richard gained Isaac's exploited treasure
and levied half the capital of every Greek.
Two Englishmen were
put in charge, and the Greeks
not only had no say in government
but were forced to shave off their beards.
Richard arrived at Acre with 25 ships on June 8, 1191.
For
nearly two years the besieging army of about
100,000 crusaders
that included Genoese, Venetians, Pisans,
Danes, Frisians, Italians,
Germans, Franks, and English
had been trapped there by Saladin's
army,
which in the next few weeks was reinforced by the army
of
Sinjar, Egyptian troops, and soldiers
from Mosul, Shaizar, and
Hamah.
Famines and disease had killed many,
especially during
the two winters.
In July 1190 10,000 mutineering soldiers had
attacked
Saladin's camp; but the cavalry did not support them,
and most were killed.
Now Richard and Philip quarreled over the
legacy of Flanders
count Philip, who had just died without heirs,
and Philip demanded half of Cyprus.
On July 12, 1191 besieged
Acre capitulated,
promising to pay 200,000 gold dinars
and release about 1500 Christian prisoners.
Saladin had not approved
this treaty
but said he would honor it.
As the crusaders occupied
Acre, Leopold of Austria
was insulted when Richard had his flag
taken down.
Philip decided to go home and promised Richard
he
would not attack his French territories
while Richard was on the
crusade.
Richard now took command of the army and complained
that Saladin
was not making full installment payments
nor releasing all the
prisoners.
Richard ordered the captured Acre garrison
of 2700
men executed, and their wives and children
were also slaughtered;
only a few nobles were kept to ransom.
Fighting continued sporadically
as Richard marched his army south down the coast.
Saladin's brother
al-Adid tried to negotiate,
but Richard demanded all of Palestine.
Saladin had Jaffa and Ascalon destroyed and fortified
Jerusalem
by poisoning the wells around it
and cutting down the fruit trees.
Richard gained more money
when he sold Cyprus to the Templars.
The crusaders approached Jerusalem but realized they
would not
be able to hold it after most crusaders went home.
So Richard
took his army and rebuilt Ascalon;
but Conrad refused to join
him, and the Franks led by
Hugh of Burgundy left and went to Acre,
where conflict
between the Pisans and Genoese erupted into war.
Richard tried to settle the dispute and then returned to Ascalon.
Al-Adil offered Richard access by Christian pilgrims to
Jerusalem
with Latin priests and the annexation of Beirut.
Richard learned
that John was usurping his authority in England
and at a council
allowed Conrad to be elected king over Guy.
Conrad prayed to be
crowned only if he was worthy,
and a few days later he was murdered
in the street by two
Assassins sent by Sinan, probably because
Conrad had
refused to return goods of theirs he had raided.
Conrad's
widow Isabella was only 21, and she married
Henri of Champagne,
making him king at Acre.
The deposed Guy was sold Cyprus,
which
the Templars no longer wanted.
Richard's army attacked Darum,
killing and enslaving the garrison.
Once again the crusaders approached
Jerusalem
and plundered a rich caravan near Hebron;
but at Jaffa
Richard asked for a truce.
While Richard went to seize Beirut
before departing,
Saladin's army attacked Jaffa; Saladin could
not control the
angry Muslims and told the garrison to stay in
the citadel.
Richard arrived by ship and courageously
recaptured
Jaffa as Saladin retreated.
Finally on September 2, 1192 Richard and Saladin signed
a truce
for three years, giving the Christians the coastal cities
as far
south as Jaffa and access to the holy places.
Muslims and Christians
were to be allowed access through
each other's territories in
Palestine,
and Ascalon was to be demolished.
Richard's ship was
forced to stop at Corfu, but he escaped.
Shipwrecked at Aquileia,
Richard was captured crossing
Austria and was taken to Leopold,
who imprisoned him for
the murder of Conrad for three months before
handing him
over to Emperor Heinrich VI, who kept Richard imprisoned
a year, ransoming him in March 1194.
Six months after the 1192 truce was signed, Saladin died
at
Damascus and was survived by two brothers
and seventeen sons,
who divided and struggled for his power.
The oldest son al-Afdal
claimed Damascus but had to cede
Judea to his brother al-Aziz,
who already ruled Egypt;
another son az-Zahr, who governed Aleppo,
was given Latakia
and Jabala for his recognition of al-Afdal as
sultan.
Saladin's brother al-Adil negotiated the settlement and
intervened in the civil war, first for al-Afdal and then for al-Aziz,
who then became sultan in 1196.
Al-Aziz fell from his horse and
died in late 1198.
Al-Afdal tried to regain control, but by the
end of 1201
al-Adil was sultan of Saladin's entire empire.
The
truce and these struggles between Muslims gave the
Franks in Palestine
and Syria a respite from the Muslim war.
In the east Khorezm-Shah
Tokush (r. 1172-1200) invaded
Khurasan about 1190 and killed the
last Seljuk sultan
Tughrul III in 1194; but Caliph an-Nasir (r.
1180-1225)
refused to recognize Khorezm-Shah as sultan at Baghdad,
and for eight years war devastated the Fars economy.
An-Nasir
turned the brotherhood societies (futuwah)
into obedient
orders of chivalry.
He also controlled education by issuing teaching
licenses
and persuaded the philosopher Suhrawardi
to found a religious
order.
Khorezmians, led by the son of Tokush,
Muhammad (r. 1200-1220),
drove the Kara-Kitai
out of the Oxus basin and invaded Persia.
In 1193 Henri of Champagne arrested plotting Pisans at Tyre.
When Pisans reacted by raiding villages
between Tyre and Acre, Henri expelled them from Acre
though this was resolved after
King Guy
died at Cyprus the next year.
Amalric of Lusignan became
king of Cyprus
by doing homage to German emperor Heinrich VI
and
was crowned there in 1197.
Antioch prince Bohemond III had been
invited to Baghras
in 1193 and then arrested by
Armenian prince
Leon II (r. 1187-1219).
Antioch set up a commune and appealed
to Bohemond's
sons Raymond and Bohemond of Tripoli
and to Henri
of Champagne.
German Chancellor Conrad had attended Amalric's
coronation and was also present when the Roupenid
prince Leon
II was crowned king of Cilician Armenia
by the Mainz archbishop
in January 1198.
Conrad was leading a new German crusade that
invaded
Galilee and besieged Toron until they learned that
Heinrich
VI had died, resulting in civil war in Germany.
Then the Germans
fled as an Egyptian army approached,
and most returned to Europe.
Once again a German crusade had accomplished little,
although
they did establish an order of Teutonic Knights.
Al-Adil led Muslim forces in an attack on Jaffa,
which Henri
of Champagne offered
to King Amalric of Cyprus.
After Henri died
falling from a window, Amalric came to Acre,
married Isabella,
and in 1198 he was crowned
King of Jerusalem (even though the
Muslims held Jerusalem).
In July of that year King Amalric II
signed a treaty
with al-Adil recognizing Frank control of Jaffa,
Jebail,
and Beirut while Sidon was divided.
In late 1198 Bohemond
of Tripoli persuaded the
Antioch commune to accept him in place
of his father
Bohemond III, who died in 1201.
In 1204 the peace
treaty between Amalric and al-Adil
was renewed for six more years,
and Sidon was ceded
to Amalric, who died in 1205.
Queen Isabella
soon died, and John of Ibelin acted
as regent for her daughter
Maria of Montferrat.
In 1195 Byzantine emperor Isaac II was blinded
and put in prison
by his brother Alexius III.
Isaac's son Alexius was also imprisoned,
but he escaped in 1201 to the German court
of his sister Irene
Angelina, wife of Philip of Swabia.
Philip and Boniface discussed
with Alexius how
they might help him become Byzantine emperor.
While Emperor Alexius tried to negotiate with the Bulgarians,
Greek intrigues resulted in the murders of the brothers Asen
and
Peter, but their youngest brother
John Kalojan (r. 1197-1207)
annexed
much of Macedonia into the Bulgarian empire.
Innocent III became Pope in 1198 and encouraged a new
crusade
by sending out popular preacher Fulk of Neuilly
and asking the
clergy to contribute
a fortieth of their annual revenue.
At a
tournament Theobald of Champagne took the cross
and led the movement
until he died in 1201
and was replaced by Boniface of Montferrat.
Theobald had negotiated with Venice for transport
of the crusaders,
and they offered to do that and supply them
for six months for
five marks per horse and two marks per man
with an expected total
of 85,000 marks for 4,500 knights,
9,000 squires, and 20,000 infantry;
also half of all conquests were to go to Venice.
Although the
goal was to regain Jerusalem,
the strategy was to attack Cairo
first.
Since the Franks were 34,000 silver marks short,
aged Venetian
Doge Enrico Dandolo suggested that the
crusading army help Venice
regain Zara,
which in 1186 had gone over to Hungary's King Bela
III.
Pope Innocent sent a complaint; but in November 1202
the
Venetian navy with crusaders assaulted Zara,
which capitulated
and was pillaged; Venetians and crusaders
even fought each other
over the spoils.
Pope Innocent absolved the crusaders who restored
what
they took illegally and promised not to commit a similar
offense;
but the Venetians were excommunicated.
Philip of Swabia sent word to Boniface that Alexius
would pay
Venice what the crusaders owe
if they would put him on the Byzantine
throne.
Thus the crusade was diverted from an attack on Muslims
to regain holy places to an attack
on the Byzantine empire to
gain money.
Alexius was accepted as Emperor
at Dyrrachium (Durazzo)
and at Corfu.
Frank crusaders, who wanted to leave, were promised
that ships would be made available to take them
to Syria later
if they remained.
Constantinople was conquered in July 1203
as
Alexius III fled to Mosynopolis in Thrace.
The blind Isaac was
put on the throne to stop the fighting,
and Alexius IV was crowned
as his father's co-emperor.
Alexius had promised to unite the
church with Latin usage,
but these were very unpopular.
The Byzantine
treasury was not sufficient to pay the
Venetian debt; more taxes
and melting down
of church treasures were also resented.
Venetians
agreed to hold their fleet
in readiness for another year.
After
a quarter of the city burned when a mosque for
visiting Muslims
was torched, the Latins left
Constantinople and joined the crusaders'
camp.
Nationalists led by Alexius Mourtzouphlus
revolted in January
1204.
A month later the people deposed Alexius IV,
who was strangled
in prison, followed a few days later
by his father's death.
Mourtzouphlus
was proclaimed Alexius V.
Crusading Franks and Venetians agreed to divide the
wealth of the city, which they stormed in April 1204.
Mourtzouphlus fled
to Thrace
while the Patriarch and others went to Anatolia.
The
soldiers were given three days
to pillage, murder, and rape;
even
nuns in convents were not safe from these "Christians."
Immense Byzantine treasures were looted,
and many relics ended
up in western Europe.
Six Franks and six Venetians elected Count
Baldwin IX
of Flanders and Hainault Latin emperor.
For their three-eighths
the Venetians took the district that
included St. Sophia and installed
Thomas Morosini
as the new patriarch; Venice also got much of
Greece.
The crusaders were to get as fiefs an equal share
of the
empire with Venice, while Emperor Baldwin
was given the quarter
around Constantinople.
Baldwin sold Crete to Venice, and so many
knights
were given fiefs that Palestine lost much of its lure.
Pope Innocent III realized the difficulty of getting the
Greeks to accept the Latin church when he asked,
"How can the church
of the Greeks be expected to
return to devotion to the apostolic
see,
when it has seen the Latins setting an example of evil?"1
With the help of his aunt, Queen Thamar of Georgia,
David Comnenus
established a dynasty
at Trebizond along the Black Sea.
The main
legacy of the Byzantine empire was headed by
Theodore Lascaris,
whose wife Anna was the daughter
of Alexius III; they established
a court at Nicaea.
Mourtzouphlus joined his father-in-law at Mosynopolis.
After Mourtzouphlus married the daughter of Alexius III,
his eyes
were torn out by Alexius.
Boniface for consolation was given Thessalonica,
because he had recently married the King of Hungary's sister.
He and Emperor Baldwin quarreled over Thessalonica and
Demotika;
but the historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin
mediated a peace between
them.
Bulgarian czar Kalojan, who was also called
Ioannitsa (r. 1197-1207),
with Kuman allies invaded Thrace,
and in 1205 they defeated the
Latin forces
as Baldwin was captured.
His brother Henry as regent
made a treaty with Venice in which
the Venetians promised to fight
for the new Latin empire.
When Paulicians offered to give Philippopolis
to Kalojan,
Renier of Trit burned down the Paulician quarter.
Greeks helped Latins defend the city against the Bulgarians;
but
after a siege Kalojan's forces burned Philippopolis
and massacred
the Greeks.
While Kalojan besieged Adrianople, Henry became
Emperor of Romania in 1206 since his brother Baldwin
was presumed dead.
The war with the Bulgarians caused Henry in 1207
to make a two-year
truce with Theodore Lascaris,
who was crowned Greek emperor at
Nicaea in 1208
by newly appointed Patriarch Michael Autoreianus.
After Bulgarian czar Boril was defeated
at Philippopolis in 1208,
he made peace.
Geoffrey of Villehardouin and William of Champlitte
led the conquest of the Peloponnese called Morea,
and the latter
became prince of Achaea.
In southern Epirus Greeks were led by
Michael Ducas Angelus Comnenus,
who had deserted Boniface.
Supported
by Armenians from the Troad,
the Latins captured the blind Mourtzouphlus
and made him jump to his death from a pillar in the forum.
Geoffrey of Villehardouin founded a dynasty
when he became
prince of Achaea in 1209.
That year Venice mediated a secret alliance
between the
Latin empire and Seljuk sultan of Rum, Kai-Khusrau,
while Theodore Lascaris turned
to King Leon II of Cilician Armenia.
Former emperor Alexius III joined the Seljuks, who fought for
his claim; but they were defeated by Theodore's Greeks and
800
Latin mercenaries in 1211; Kai-Khusrau was killed,
and Alexius
III spent the rest of his life in a monastery.
After more battles
Henry made a treaty with Theodore in 1214.
Henry reopened the
Greek churches but died in 1216.
His successor Peter was crowned
Emperor outside the walls
of Rome by Pope Honorius III in 1217;
but after besieging
Dyrrachium he was captured by
Theodore of
Epirus and died in prison.
His wife Yolanda ruled as Empress in
Constantinople
until she died in 1219.
Her daughter Mary married
Theodore Lascaris, who in 1219
made a five-year treaty with Venice
granting them free trade in the Nicaean empire.
The future doge
Jacob Teipolo also made a trade treaty for
Venice with the Seljuks
of Rum the following year.
Meanwhile in the Balkans John Asen
had captured Turnovo
in 1218 after a seven-year siege; he blinded
Boril and
became king of the Vlachs and Bulgarians until 1241,
marrying a Hungarian relative of Robert.
Robert of Courtenay was
crowned Emperor
at Constantinople by Patriarch Matthew in 1221.
In Palestine the kingdom of Jerusalem had truces with
Aiyubid
sultan al-Adil from 1194 to 1210.
John of Brienne married Queen
Maria in 1210,
and two years later he renewed a truce
with al-Adil
for five more years.
In Antioch Bohemond IV (r. 1187-1233) struggled
against
revolts led by Armenian king Leon II.
Rumors of a crusade
against Egypt in 1212 caused
3,000 European merchants in Alexandria
to be arrested.
In Europe 1212 was the year popular movements
of children
tried to go on crusades from France and Germany.
Several
thousand children led by a 12-year-old to Marseilles
were disillusioned
when the sea did not part for them.
Some who took ships either
died at sea
or were sold as slaves in Africa.
Children from Germany
walked from Cologne to Genoa,
but Pope Innocent III told them
to go home.
Pope Innocent III still wanted to launch another crusade
and announced it at the Lateran Council of 1215.
The next year
preachers were sent throughout Europe
as far as Scandinavia and
Ireland.
After Innocent died, Pope Honorius III continued the
effort
and demanded a tax of one-twentieth to support the crusade.
Hungarian king Andrew II and Duke Leopold VI of Austria
led substantial
armies, but transport
was delayed until late in 1217.
At Acre
the eager crusaders joined with King John and
sacked Beisan; Andrew
captured relics
east of the Jordan but then returned home.
In 1218 crusaders embarked in Frisian ships from Acre
to invade
Egypt, where al-Adil's son al-Kamil
had a trade treaty with Venice
since 1208.
While the crusaders besieged Damietta on the delta
of the Nile,
Pope Honorius spent 20,000 silver marks to equip
a fleet
headed by his legate Cardinal Pelagius.
Fear of an internal
conspiracy caused al-Kamil to retreat,
and the crusaders took
the tower
of the chain controlling the channel.
Al-Kamil's brother,
Sultan al-Mu'azzam, who had demolished
the walls of Jerusalem
so that it could be given to the crusaders
in a peace treaty,
came to help defend Egypt.
The offer to give crusaders Jerusalem
and access to their holy
places in exchange for evacuating Egypt
was favored by
King John and the Frank leaders from Syria;
but
Pelagius, supported by Italians, Templars, and Hospitallers,
refused
this Muslim offer of a thirty-year truce.
Francis of Assisi tried
to make peace by meeting with al-Kamil,
but Pelagius continued
to resist a truce.
In November 1219 the crusaders conquered starving
Damietta,
though John and Pelagius quarreled and compromised that
John should rule it until Friedrich of Germany joined the crusade.
The next year King John returned to Palestine to counter
an
attack on Caesarea by Damascus governor al-Mu'azzam.
Also in 1220
al-Kamil's revived navy devastated the crusader
fleet off Cyprus,
capturing thousands of prisoners.
John returned to Egypt in 1221;
but an advance led
by Pelagius resulted in his army being surrounded
by the Egyptian forces and devastated by floods.
Pelagius now
had to beg for peace and accepted an
eight-year truce and remained
a hostage with King John
and others until the crusaders evacuated
Damietta.
This crusade aroused renewed fanaticism
among Muslims
for holy war.
Although al-Kamil himself favored tolerance,
Christians
in Egypt were punished with persecution
by angry Muslims and heavy
taxes.
In 1221 Azerbaijan escaped a Mongol attack by paying tribute,
but the Georgian army led by King George IV was badly
defeated
at Khumani by the invading Mongols.
Under Genghis Khan the Mongols
conquered most of Persia;
but when he went back to Mongolia, Jalal-ad-Din
came back
from India to lead the Khorezmian army.
By 1225 he had
taken Persia and Azerbaijan from the
Mongols and invaded Georgia;
the next year Jalal-ad-Din ruled from Baghdad.
A large Mongol
army returned to Persia in 1231;
Jalal-ad-Din fled and died in
Kurdistan.
Mongol general Chormakan annexed northern Persia
and
Azerbaijan, governing them for ten years
and invading Georgia
in 1236.
The Trebizond kingdom was defeated
by the Mongols and
paid tribute.
The Mongol general Baiju served Prince Batu Khan,
and in 1243 his army defeated Seljuk sultan Kai-Khusrau,
who fled
to Armenia; but he and Armenian
king Hetoum both had to submit
to the Mongols.
In 1224 the Greek despot Theodore of Epirus invaded
and took
over the Latin kingdom of Thessalonica
from King Demetrius, who
fled to Italy.
After Latin emperor Robert secretly married
a humble
Frank woman, Frank knights mutilated her,
causing Robert to flee
and complain to the Pope in Rome;
but while returning, Robert
died in Greece in 1228.
His eleven-year-old brother Baldwin II
succeeded but was
under a regency and then was co-emperor with
John of Brienne until 1237 as the Latin empire shrunk.
In 1222
John Vatatzes succeeded his father-in-law
Theodore Lascaris as
Greek emperor at Nicaea.
In 1225 his army won a victory, and in
the treaty
Latin territory in Asia Minor was reduced to that
surrounding
Nicomedia and Constantinople.
Theodore of Epirus attacked the
Bulgarian empire
of John Asen II (r. 1218-1241) but was defeated
at Klokotinitsa in 1230; Theodore was captured and blinded.
German emperor Friedrich II had been promising
to go on a crusade
since 1215 but kept delaying
because of conflicts in Italy.
Bohemond
IV got the Antioch citadel away from the
Hospitallers and was
excommunicated by Pelagius.
The crusader's king John of Brienne
went to Rome and
visited his friend, France's King Philip, who
died
while John was there in 1223 and left him 50,000 marks
for
the kingdom of Jerusalem.
In Castile John married King Fernando
III's sister Berengaria.
In 1225 John's daughter Yolanda (Isabel)
married
Emperor Friedrich and was crowned
Queen of Jerusalem by
Patriarch Ralph at Tyre.
Friedrich's soldiers believed that John
was no longer king
and took some of the money Philip had given.
Yolanda gave birth to Conrad but died
before Friedrich reached
Palestine.
Friedrich was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX
for
delaying so long but then left before being absolved.
After al-Mu'azzam
died in late 1227, al-Kamil invaded
Palestine and took Jerusalem
and Nablus;
but when challenged by his brother al-Ashraf,
Aiyubid
ruler of the Jazira, al-Kamil divided the lands
left to al-Mu'azzam's
son an-Nasir with al-Ashraf.
An-Nasir fled to Damascus,
where
he was besieged by his uncles' armies.
After visiting Cyprus, Friedrich arrived in Palestine and in
1229
made a treaty with al-Kamil, getting Jerusalem, Bethlehem,
and a narrow corridor to the coast; but Friedrich, who was
brought
up with Muslims in Sicily and knew Arabic,
agreed to let Muslims
keep their holy places
in Jerusalem's temple area.
The treaty
was to last ten years, and all prisoners
on both sides were to
be released.
Friedrich entered Jerusalem, but his treaty was very
unpopular
with many who doubted Jerusalem could be defended and for
religious reasons; the Patriarch placed the city under interdict,
and Friedrich had to place the crown on his head himself.
Few
besides the Teutonic knights
supported his autocratic ways.
His
visit to Acre was spoiled by riots and fighting.
Friedrich appointed
Balian of Sidon and Warner
the German as baillis and departed
to Italy.
At San Germano Friedrich was reconciled with
Pope Gregory
IX, and the interdict was lifted.
The result of Friedrich's crusade was
civil war in Cyprus and
Palestine.
In 1231 Friedrich sent an army under Marshal Richard
Filangieri as his imperial legate, and they attacked Beirut.
These
were opposed in the on-going war by forces of
John of Ibelin,
recently elected mayor of Acre
and regent for young Henry of Cyprus.
Barons were victorious and declared
Henry I king of Cyprus in
1233.
Struggles over Damascus and the death of al-Kamil
in 1238 led to a civil war among the Muslims.
Before the treaty expired
in 1239, Pope Gregory IX
sent out preachers for another crusade.
Navarre king Theobald of Champagne responded,
and his crusaders
left Acre and encountered an Egyptian army
led by Mamluk Rukn
ad-Din Baybars in November 1239.
Henry of Bar was lured into a
trap and was killed along
with a thousand crusaders as 600 were
captured.
An-Nasir of Kerak then captured Jerusalem
and destroyed
its fortifications before withdrawing.
The next year Theobald
returned to Europe;
but Richard Plantagenet arrived from England
and went
to Ascalon, where he confirmed a treaty made
by the Hospitallers with the Egyptians,
recovering most of the land west of the Jordan.
Richard also left in 1241, and the next year Templars,
defying
his treaty, raided Hebron.
When an-Nasir reacted by levying tolls
on the road to Jerusalem, the Templars sacked Nablus
and massacred
the inhabitants, including Christians.
Nicaean emperor John Vatatzes (r. 1222-1254) made an
alliance
with the Bulgarians in 1235, and together they
besieged Constantinople
until John Asen changed sides
to join the Latins in attacking
the Greeks,
though he made peace with Nicaea in 1237.
That year
Michael II Angelus (r. 1237-1271)
founded the kingdom of Epirus
in Albania.
In Anatolia Turkomans led by Baba Ishaq revolted against
the Seljuks in 1239 and resisted their army for two years.
In
1240 Theodore Angelus overthrew his brother Manuel
and took over
Thessalonica, proclaiming his son John emperor;
but two years
later John Vatatzes attacked Thessalonica
and made John his vassal.
The Mongol threat caused Vatatzes to withdraw though
his Nicaean
empire later conquered
Thrace and part of Macedonia.
In 1244 John
Vatatzes married Friedrich II's daughter
Constance, and he expanded
his empire to the east
while the Turks were invading Mongols.
Demetrius was the last ruler of Thessalonica for two years
but
was imprisoned in 1246; Andronicus Paleologus was
appointed governor
of the Nicaean empire in Europe,
and his son Michael became governor
of Seres and Melnik,
which had been taken from Bulgaria.
John Vatatzes fell in love with an Italian marchioness,
a maid
of honor to his queen, and did not give her up until
after Blemmydes
was acquitted of treason
after insulting her in church.
The Emperor
could not punish an honest man who was so
popular with both the
religious puritans and the chauvinists.
Emperor John Vatatzes
was later declared a saint for his
beneficent rule that relieved
the poor, founded hospitals,
provided homes for the aged, built
churches,
and fortified the frontiers.
Soldiers, including Kumans,
were settled on small holdings
of land, and the imperial estates
were models of agriculture,
viticulture, and stock breeding.
Foreign
articles of luxury were prohibited
to stimulate the domestic economy.
Strife between the imperialists supporting Friedrich and the
crusaders loyal to the Pope continued, and barons meeting
at Acre
in 1243 announced they would not recognize the
authority of Friedrich's
son Conrad unless he ruled in person;
they gave allegiance to
Cyprus dowager queen Alice
and her young husband Ralph, Count
of Soissons,
until she died in 1246.
Also in 1243 the Templars
had gained a diplomatic
victory by getting the Muslims to withdraw
from their holy places in Jerusalem.
The next year the Templars
got the barons to intervene
on behalf of Isma'il of Damascus in
his war with
As-Salih Aiyub, who ruled Egypt (1240-1249).
Aiyub
purchased a thousand slaves that Genoese
brought from the Black
Sea port of Caffa.
These Mamluks (slaves) were trained to fight
at Bahr on the
Nile and became the nucleus of the coming Mamluk
power.
Homs prince al-Mansur Ibrahim offered Franks in Acre
part
of Egypt; but Aiyub hired a Khorezmian army of 10,000.
The Khorezmians
sacked Tiberias, Nablus,
and Jerusalem, massacring Armenian monks
and nuns.
Six thousand surrendered; but 2,000 were killed trying
to return to Jerusalem, and of the rest only 300 survived
the attacks by bandits on the way to Jaffa.
The priests remaining
in Jerusalem were slain,
and churches were burned as the city
was pillaged.
In 1244 as most of their Muslim allies fled, the army of the
Franks was caught near Gaza between the armies of the
Khorezmians
and the Egyptians led by the outstanding
Mamluk general Rukn ad-Din
Baybars.
The crusaders attacked the Egyptian army, but the
Frank
army was annihilated as about 5,000 were killed,
and 800 were
taken as prisoners to Egypt.
When the Khorezmians were kept out
of Egypt,
they raided Palestine before joining the
Egyptian siege
of Damascus in 1245.
Isma'il surrendered Damascus; but the unrewarded
Khorezmians turned against Aiyub and besieged him at
Damascus;
then Isma'il joined the Egyptians
in wiping out most of the Khorezmian
army.
Next the Egyptian army besieged Ascalon and stormed
the
city in 1247, killing and capturing the inhabitants.
In 1245 Pope
Innocent IV sent the Franciscan Lorenzo of Orta
to give Greeks
equal rights if they accepted Papal authority,
and efforts by
Franciscan and Dominican preachers to unite
the Latin and Greek
churches were encouraged
by Patriarch Albert of Antioch.
King Louis IX of France was still a young man of 30
when he
nearly died of malaria in 1244
and vowed to go on crusade.
Champagne
seneschal Joinville described the crusades
King Louis led from
personal observation.
Once the king asked Joinville if he wanted
to be
honored in the world, and then Louis said,
If so, you should deliberately avoid saying or
doing anything which, if it became generally
known, you would be ashamed to acknowledge
by saying "I did this," or "I said that.'2
Louis prided himself on virtue and raised money for the
crusade with extra taxes that included the clergy.
Venetians opposed the
crusade, and in 1249 they began
attacking Genoese and Pisans ships
along the Syrian coast.
King Louis led a squadron to Egypt,
and
in June 1249 the Franks captured Damietta.
Though they suffered
hunger and disease during the summer,
Louis refused to trade Damietta
for Jerusalem.
The next year 290 Templars that included English
knights
tried to take Mansurah; but only five survived.
Turan-shah
succeeded his father Aiyub as sultan
of Egypt and arrived from
Damascus.
After the crusaders lost 112 ships,
famine led to dysentery
and typhoid.
Louis tried to negotiate a retreat for Damietta;
but a rumor they had surrendered resulted
in the capture of the
large crusading army.
Damietta became the ransom for King Louis,
and after the murder of Turan-shah by Baybars,
the crusaders ended
up paying 800,000 bezants.
Louis and the barons sailed
to Acre, but the wounded left
at Damietta were massacred by the
Egyptians.
To the west as the Almohad empire was declining in the
Maghrib,
their caliph al-Sa'id tried to reconquer territory
but was killed
in an ambush in 1248.
His successor al-Murtada reigned over a
small kingdom
until 1266; but the Marinids conquered Marrakesh
in 1269
and destroyed the remaining Almohads at Tinmal in 1275.
Louis still believed in the crusade and asked for
reinforcements;
but the Italian Salimbene reported that
Franciscans and Dominicans
who still preached
the crusade were publicly insulted.
An-Nasir
Yusuf of Aleppo took over Damascus,
and their army invaded Egypt;
but they were defeated by the army of Aybak and fled.
An-Nasir
Yusuf offered Louis Jerusalem for an alliance
against Egypt; but
Louis used that leverage to get Aibek
to release all his prisoners
from Egypt by 1252.
An-Nasir Yusuf kept his foes apart by taking
Jaffa,
and the Mamluks stayed in Egypt.
Louis also used diplomacy
to arrange
an alliance with the Assassins.
In 1253 Caliph al-Musta'sim
from Baghdad was able
to reconcile an-Nasir Yusuf and the Mamluks.
Troubles at home caused Louis to sail from Acre in 1254;
but before
he left, he made a truce with Damascus
that would last two and
a half years.
1. Quoted in The Later Crusades 1189-1311 ed. Robert
Lee Wolff, p. 197.
2. Joinville, The Life of Saint Louis tr. Margaret R. B.
Shaw, p. 168.
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