The Third Crusade

The Third Crusade

The Calling of the Crusade

·       In October 1187, Gregory VIII issued a crusader bull, Auditi Tremendi, which included penitential war and protection of land and family with preachers added to with tales of Muslim atrocities and the Archbishop of Canterbury toured Wales in 1188

·       Even though King Henry England, King Philip of France and Frederick Barbarossa vowed to take the cross, it took two years for the first effective army to set out

·       Philip was determined to hound Henry to his death, aided by Henry’s sons, and it was only after his death in July 1189 that Richard became king and could use the considerable wealth of the Angevin empire in the crusade

·       The crusade was only possible due to Conrad of Mont Ferrat who managed to secure Tyre by forcing Saladin’s troops back in 1187

·       Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor and the greatest military leader in Christendom, had taken part in the Second Crusade with Conrad III, however although he marched successfully across Asia Minor and defeated the Turks in a battle near Iconium in May 1190, he had a heart attack and drowned that June, leaving the leadership to Richard and Phillip, the king of France, however his vast army had broken up, many returning home, even when his son continued into Acre with a portion of the army and the crusaders had lost a leader who had managed to impose his authority over the Byzantine Empire

Preparations

·       This crusade was the most significantly prepared of all them all and Richard himself, the holder of England, Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Aquitaine, spent three years preparing

·       The Jews of England were taxed heavily; all those of military age not taking the cross were fined; a fleet of 100 ships was hired

·       Richard harnessed all of the resources of all the Angevin lands for the campaign and, learning from the previous crusade, chose to sail to the Holy Land, assembling 17,000 men in Sicily by 1191, the majority of whom were the nobility and their housecarls

The Course of the Crusade

·       The central aim was the recapture of Jerusalem but throughout the crusade other issues arose

·       In 1188, Saladin released Guy who went to Tyre to assert his power as king but Conrad refused to pay homage which led to Guy besieging Acre and his prestige rising which led to Conrad paying homage

·       After Sybilla died, Conrad forced her sister to divorce Humphrey of Toron and marry him, again causing dispute over the crown

·       Richard supported Guy who came from Poitiers, a town in jurisdiction of Aquitaine but Conrad was related to Philip and so got his support, straining the newfound peace between England and France, with no Barbarossa to referee

·       When Richard was sailing from Sicily, a storm blew up scattering his ships, some…