Causes of the Third Crusade

After the great success of the First Crusade, people felt an intense need to keep hold of the new territory in Jerusalem. The First Crusade had been such a success for the Franks, against all odds, that many saw it as a divine act of providence as though God wished for people to have control over Jerusalem.

As such, the Second and Third Crusades were more about retaining Jerusalem against an increasing Islamic threat from Nur Ad-Din and Saladin than they were about going out…