The Crusades as a military-religious phenomenon arose during the reign of Pope Gregory the Seventh and were aimed at liberation from the "infidels" of Palestine and Jerusalem, where the tomb of the Lord was located, as well as the spread of Christianity by military means among pagans, Muslims, residents Orthodox states and heretical movements. In subsequent centuries, the crusades were conducted mainly for the sake of Christianizing the population of the B altic states, suppressing heretical manifestations in a number of European countries, or to solve some personal problems of those who headed the throne in the Vatican.
There were nine military campaigns in total. What were the main participants in the Third Crusade striving for? The table roughly reflects their claims in a particular campaign in general terms as follows:
Who went on the crusades?
Ordinary participants in the Third Crusade did not differ much in composition from the contingent that took part in such actionspreviously. For example, numerous French nobles of that time took part in the first campaign, who, with their squads and the monks and townsfolk who adjoined them (there were even children who were ready to go to the "infidels" in the name of the forgiveness of all sins promised by the pope) came to Constantinople in various ways and to 1097 crossed the Bosporus.
Three hundred thousand crusaders participated in one of the campaigns
The total number of crusaders reached about a third of a million people. Two years later, they reached Jerusalem with fighting, massacring a significant part of the Muslim population living here. Then the knights with their troops waged wars both with Muslims and with the Greeks, Byzantines, etc. They founded several Christian states on the territory of Lebanon, which controlled trade between Europe, China and India until new routes to Asian countries were opened. lands through Eastern Russia. They also tried to control trade through the Russian lands with the help of the crusaders, so the supporters of this military-religious movement remained in the B altic states for the longest time.
Ancient Edessa as a casus belli
Participants of the Third Crusade (1147-1149) were actually involved in the second crusade. This event also began with the arrival in Constantinople of the German king Conrad with his troops in 1147. The preconditions for the second wave of hostilities in the Holy Land were thatMuslim civilization became more active and began to return to the lands recaptured from it earlier. In particular, Edessa was captured, King Fulk died in Jerusalem, who also had possessions in France, and his daughter could not provide adequate protection of interests due to the rebellion of the vassals.
St. Bernard blessed the Germans and French on the campaign
Participants of the third crusade (actually the second, in the middle of the 12th century) were preparing for more than one year. It was assumed that Pope Eugene III would actively advocate for him, who, however, was weakened as an authority by democratic movements in Italy (under the leadership of Arnold of Brescia) at that time. The French ruler Louis the Seventh, a knight in spirit, also underwent some hesitation, until the Pope blessed him on the campaign in the person of St. Bernard, who delivered a sermon on the need to liberate the Holy Sepulcher in 1146, inspiring the population of central and southern France. Participants of the 3rd crusade (historians consider it the second) left France with a total number of about 70 thousand people, who were joined by the same number of pilgrims along the way. A year later, St. Bernard caused a similar wave of popular movement among the German population when he came to visit King Conrad.
Having crossed the Bosphorus, the Germans of King Conrad faced such resistance from the Seljuks that they could not go inland and, in the end, returned to their homeland (including Konrad and King Ludwig the Seventh). The French have gonealong the shores of Asia Minor, and the most noble of them sailed to Syria in 1148. The ground troops almost in full strength were killed during the transition. Edessa, recaptured by the crusaders from the "infidels", was again conquered by the Muslims, Nur ad Din seized the lands near Antioch, the Kurds, led by Shirku, captured Egypt, in which the famous Saladin later reigned, who also subjugated Muslim Syria, Damascus and part of Mesopotamia.
Exacerbation of relations in the East after the death of Baldwin the Fourth
In those years, Baldwin the Fourth, who was seriously ill with leprosy, ruled in Jerusalem, who was a good diplomat and successfully maintained neutrality between Jerusalem and Damascus. However, after his death, a certain Guy de Lusignan married Baldwin's sister, proclaimed himself king of Jerusalem and began to provoke Saladin into hostilities, in which the latter more than succeeded, having won almost all the lands from the crusaders.
The military successes of Saladin led to the fact that potential participants in the third crusade appeared in Europe, who wanted to take revenge on him. The new military operation in the east, with the blessing of the Pope, was led by Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip Augustus II (French) and Richard the Lionheart - the king of England at that time. It is worth noting that Philip and Richard clearly did not like each other. This was due to the fact that Philip was a master of intrigue (including with Richard's brother, John Landless, who led England in the absence of the main ruler), which did not distinguish his English opponent. Last,however, he endured a lot, not using the military force of his state.
Frederick Barbarossa was a cautious military leader
Such relations were among the heads of state - participants in the Third Crusade. Frederick the First, as some historians believe, was far from such squabbles and prepared very carefully for his enterprise in the East. There is some evidence that before the campaign he negotiated with Byzantium, and with the Iconian sultan, and, possibly, with Sultan Saladin himself. Under an agreement with the Byzantine emperor, participants in the 3rd crusade received free passage through the lands and the supply of provisions at predetermined prices. The Hungarian king Bela, who did not participate in the campaign, led the army of Barbarossa through his territory in the best way. But on the way, gangs of robbers began to attack the Germans. The crusaders began to include local residents who were dissatisfied with their rulers, which increased the number of military clashes.
What difficulties did the German participants in the Third Crusade face? Frederick 1 did not take into account that after crossing the Bosphorus in March 1190, his already exhausted troops would have to go through Asia Minor, previously devastated by wars with the Seljuks, where they would experience problems with pack animals and provisions. The king of Germany won a major victory at Iconium, but in Cilicia, while crossing the mountain river Salef, Frederick choked and died. This ruined the success of the whole enterprise, as some of the crusaders were forced to return.to Europe by sea, and the part that reached Agra (the main goal of the campaign) under the leadership of the Duke of Swabia participated in the battles along with the rest of the Christians.
Richard and Philip went by sea
Other senior members of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) arrived to lay siege to Agra with their troops in the spring of 1190. Along the way, Richard managed to capture Cyprus. But Agra, mainly because of the contradictions between Richard and Philip, held out until the summer of 1191, almost two years. Part of the French knights then sailed home under the guidance of their king. But some, like Henry of Champagne, Hugh of Burgundy and others, remained to fight in Syria, where they defeated Saladin at Arsuf, but could not return Jerusalem. In September 1192, participants in the Third Crusade signed a peace treaty with the Sultan, according to which Christians could only visit the Holy City. Richard the Lionheart then returned to his homeland. Around the same period, the Teutonic Order of Knights appeared, which was obtained by transforming the German hospital brotherhood of St. Mary, organized during the invasion of the East.
Results of the Crusades
What results did the participating states of the Third Crusade have? The table shows that the Europeans and the peoples of the East, rather, lost more from these historical events. But it is worth noting that the Crusades as a result had not only the death of a large number of people, the weakeningmedieval forms of government, but also contributed to the rapprochement of classes, different nationalities and peoples, contributed to the development of navigation and trade, the spread of Christianity, the mutual penetration of the cultural values of East and West.
