Second Crusade
| Second Crusade | |||||||||
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 Illustration of the Battle of Inab by Jean Colombe from the Passages d'outremer by Sébastien Mamerot, c. 1473–1474 | |||||||||
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The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade (1096–1099) by the future King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.
The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was led in the east by European kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The main Western Christian source, Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the crusaders' progress, particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. However, this alleged sabotage of the Crusade by the Byzantines was likely fabricated by Odo, who saw the Empire as an obstacle; moreover, Emperor Manuel had no political reason to do so. Louis and Conrad reached Jerusalem in 1148, where the remnants of their armies participated in an ill-advised attack on Damascus that ended in their retreat. Crusader efforts were successful in Iberia, where several territories—including Lisbon, the future capital of the Portuguese Empire—were conquered.
The initial response to the new crusade bull, with incipit Quantum praedecessores, was poor, and it in fact had to be reissued when it was clear that Louis VII of France would be taking part in the expedition. Louis VII had also been considering a new expedition independently of the Pope, which he announced to his Christmas court at Bourges in 1145. It is debatable whether Louis was planning a crusade of his own or in fact a pilgrimage, as he wanted to fulfill a vow made by his dead brother Philip to go to the Holy Land. It is probable that Louis had made this decision without having heard about the bull. In any case, Abbot Suger and other nobles were not in favour of Louis's plans, as he would be gone from the kingdom for several years. Louis consulted Bernard of Clairvaux, who referred him back to Eugene. By now Louis would have definitely heard about the papal bull, and Eugene enthusiastically supported Louis's crusade. The bull was reissued on 1 March 1146, and Eugene authorized Bernard to preach the news throughout France.[1]
Background
[edit]Rise of Imad al-Din Zengi
[edit]In 1084, the Great Seljuk Empire was almost at its apex, ruling Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia, and many other lands in the Middle East. Its sultan was the great and warlike Seljuk Turk Malik-Shah I. To help in his wars in the Levant, in 1084, Malik-Shah I assigned many Turkish beys to aid his general, Fakhr ad-Dawla ibn Jahir, in the capture of the Uqaylid dynasty.[2] One of these beys was Aq Sunqur al-Hajib. After successfully doing his job, Aq Sunqur al-Hajib was appointed the governor of Aleppo in 1086.[3]
Aq-Sunqur ruled Aleppo for eight years. Because of the many conflicts between the rulers and princes of the Levant region at the time, conditions within the city were difficult. A combination of high taxes and goods prices led to an increase in crime.[4] However, Aq-Sunqur was a good ruler. He began reforming life in Aleppo by fixing the security situation in Aleppo and its environs. He activated the Hudud in Islam, repelling thieves and bandits and stamping out corruption. He increased the use of the police to secure civilian rights. He used the police authority to protect people rather than to control them, something many other Turkic beys did. Aq-Sunqur created the "principle of collective responsibility" for every village or sector, which meant that if a village was raided by thieves, the whole village shared the responsibility of defending it.[4]
Because of his policy to make order in the city, Aleppo once again became a great city, being again a suitable place for trading and farming as its economy recovered and inflation went down. [citation needed] He asked the people to not remove their goods from the road should they travel, stating that he would guarantee that their goods would not be stolen.[4] Aq-Sunqur gained a good reputation over the people he ruled. However, war would once again plague the city.
In 1089, Aq-Sunqur was sent together with Bozan and Yağısıyan by Malik Shah to aid his brother Tutush to capture cities that the Fatimids had reconquered under Badr al-Jamali. However, the coalition fell apart when Aq Sunqur refused to continue the siege of Tripoli after he had been bribed and claimed the city had proclaimed allegiance.[5]
After the death of Malik Shah, Tutush I tried to become Sultan himself and Aq Sunqur first supported his bid until he and Bozan defected again, forcing Tutush to withdraw.[6] In return, Tutush marched on Aq-Sunqur in March/April together with Yağısıyan. Aq Sunqur was defeated and captured in battle on 27 May 1094 after a part of his Türkmen defected. Aq -unqur was then decapitated together with fourteen others by Tutush.[7] He died when his son Imad al-Din Zengi was only 10 years old. Zengi would not return to his birthplace and home for another 34 years.
The young man now looked for a new home. He found one in Mosul, where he was brought up by Kerbogha, the city’s ambitious governor. He spent time raising and teaching the boy, letting Zengi then served in the military of the Governors of Mosul, first under Jawali Saqawa (1106–1109), then Mawdud (1109–1113), and from 1114, under Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, fighting Crusaders on many times, gaining experience fighting them.[8] In fact in 1111, in a campaign against the Crusaders, he led a siege of Edessa, but failed due to less supplies. However it would not be the last time he would stand under the city’s great walls.
Zengi remained in Mosul until 1118, when he entered into the service of the new Seljuk ruler Mahmūd (1118–1119). Zengi was loyal to the Seljuk Empire just like his father, even though it was crumbling and decaying due to civil strife and war. Upon Sanjar's accession in 1119, Zengi remained loyal to Mahmūd, who became the governor of Iraq for the Seljuk Sultan.[9]
The region of Mesopotamia was under the control of the Seljuk Empire from 1055 to 1135, since Tughril Beg had expelled the Shiite Buyid dynasty. Tughril Beg was the first Seljuk ruler to style himself Sultan and Protector of the Abbasid Caliphate.[10][11] Mesopotamia remained under the control of the Great Seljuks during the reign of Muhammad I Tapar (1082–1118), but from 1119, his 14 years old son Mahmud II (1118–1131) was restricted to the only rule of Iraq, while Sanjar took control of the rest of the Empire.[9]
Wishing to contain the Banu Mazyad leader Dubais ibn Sadaqa, in 1122 Mahmūd II ordered a military expedition from Mosul to southern Iraq, commanded by Zengi and Altun-Tash al-Aburi under the orders of Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi.[12] Zengi, for whom this was the first major military command, garrisoned his troops around Wasit, and was granted Governorship of the region of Wasit as an ıqta.[12] In alliance with the troops of the Caliphate, they defeated Dubays at the Battle of Mubarraqiyya in 1123.[12] Zengi then received in addition to his previous responsibilities the Military Governorship of Basra in 1124.[12][9]
In order to counter the ambitions of Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid (1118–1135), who wanted to acquire world dominance, the Seljuks led by Mahmud II now waged a campaign against him.[12] Now, Zengi faced his first real test of loyalty, will he side with the Caliph, the supposed successor of Muhammad, or the Seljuk Empire? Zengi chose the Seljuks and decisively defeated the Abbasid Caliphate. The Seljuks managed to take control of Baghdad and the Caliphate, pillaging the Caliph's palace.[12] The Caliph sued for peace and had to pay a huge ransom.[12] In addition to his possessions in Wasit and Basra, Zengi was promoted and received the Governorship for Baghdad in April 1126, receiving the title of shihna which effectively put him in control of the whole of Seljuk Iraq.[12][9] After his many campaigns against the Crusaders, which culminated to his defeat at the Battle of Azaz (1125) by them, the ruler of Mosul, Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi was murdered in the November of 1126. His son Mas’ûd ibn Bursuqî became the next ruler but he was quickly overshadowed by Zengi. In 1227, following the murder of Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, Zengi was named Governor of Mosul, where his Zengid dynasty was formed with land for the first time in 33 years.[9] From there, Zengi took control of Nisibis, Sinjar, Harran, and all of Upper Mesopotamia and Northern Iraq. The slowness of the Crusaders to react to Aleppo’s weakened state after its ruler, Al-Bursuqi’s death due to Joscelin I of Edessa’s and Bohemond II of Antioch’s quarrel over Azaz, Zengi was able to retake the city and all of Northern Syria and see it again for the first time in 34 years. Zengi had those two cities formally invested by the Sultan, Mahmud II. Zengi managed to create a giant empire all over the Levant and Iraq not seen for years. He was the greatest threat the Crusaders had ever faced so far.
Zengi was a great, inspiring, wise, and brave commander and soldier who was also ruthless and cruel. He was also a heavy drinker. However, this personality was perfect for rallying Muslims to fight the Crusaders. According to Ibn 'al-Adim:
The Atabeg was violent, powerful, awe-inspiring and liable to attack suddenly ... When he rode, the troops use to walk behind him as if they were between two threads, out of fear they would trample over crops, and nobody out of fear dared to trample on a single stem (of them) nor march his horse on them ... If anyone transgressed, he was crucified. He (Zengi) used to say: "It does not happen that there is more than one tyrant (meaning himself) at one time."[13]
However, Zengi knew he couldn’t fight the Crusaders just yet, as they were ruled by powerful and experienced rulers and soldiers too like him. They included the aging Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Joscelin I of Edessa. So Zengi signed a truce with Joscelin in 1130.
Death of Baldwin II and Joscelin I
[edit]Now Zengi looked south for lands to conquer. Burid Damascus had lost its ruler, Toghtekin in 1128. This led to the city also being weakened by civil strife, similar to what happened to Aleppo after Al-Bursuqi’s death, leading to the Crusaders taking Banias. However, Baldwin II of Jerusalem also eyed Damascus and all of its rich lands in the Levant. But the aging king first had to solve his succession. Baldwin had no male heirs so he had to decide who will succeed him and marry his daughter, Melisende. He chose Fulk of Anjou, an experienced warrior, leader, and crusader. So Baldwin called for a Crusade Against Damascus. He marched all the way to the walls of Damascus where he and his army faced off the Burid army under Toghtekin’s capable son, Tāj al-Mulūk Būrī across a bridge. In the standoff, Buri managed to threaten Baldwin’s supply lines long enough to force him to attack the Burid army across the bridge. However, as the Crusaders charged across the bridge, a thunderstorm started, threatening visibility and forcing the Crusaders to shamefully retreat. The failure to capture Damascus in the Crusade marked the end of the Crusader States zenith and Baldwin II’s dream to expand the Crusader Kingdoms’ land deeper into the Middle East. With the failure of the Crusade came new crises.
After the Crusade, Bohemond II of Antioch decided to recover Anazarbus and other territories which had been lost to Cilician Armenia.[14] He invaded Cilician Armenia in the February of 1130, traveling along the Ceyhan River.[15] Leo I of Cilicia sought assistance from the Danishmends under Emir Gazi against the Antiochene threat. Emir Gazi who made a surprise attack on Bohemond's army.[16] Bohemond and his soldiers were massacred in the battle.[17][18] According to Michael the Syrian, the Turks killed Bohemond II of Antioch because they did not recognize him; had they recognized him, they would have saved him so they could demand a ransom from him.[19] Emir Gazi had Bohemond's head embalmed and sent to Al-Mustarshid, the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.[16][18] Emir Gazi may have been able to conquer more territory in the Principality of Antioch after the victory if not for the intervention of Eastern Roman emperor John II Komnenos, who wished to exert his own influence in Antioch.
Bohemond had been a promising ruler,[18] and the first clearly legitimate prince in Antioch since c. 1105.[20] Asbridge believes that his death must have been a shattering blow to the Franks of Antioch. They had been protecting the Principality for years, losing many knights and soldiers in the process. Baldwin had spent his entire reign protecting Antioch, just for Bohemond to die and leave the realm again to another child ruler.[21] His only child, Constance was only two years old and she needed a regent to rule the principality before she could come of age.
The Franks of Antioch decided to send for Alice's father, King Baldwin, to come and take control, and when Baldwin heard the news of the battle, he instantly travelled to Antioch to make arrangements for the administration of the Principality of Antioch.[22] However, Baldwin’s daughter and Bohemond’s wife, Alice of Jerusalem wanted to establish herself as regent during the minority of her and Bohemond's infant daughter, Constance, so she acted first and seized control of the city.[20] Archbishop William of Tyre, the Jerusalemite chronicler who wrote long after these events,[23] records that Alice intended to claim the principality for herself "in perpetuity", dispossessing her infant daughter, Constance of Antioch.[20] Rumors spread in Antioch that Alice planned to send Constance to a convent or to have her marry a commoner.[24] Asbridge, however, says that it is not clear whether Alice wished to divert the succession from Constance or to rule as regent,[20] as was usual for the mother of a child ruler.[25] Asbridge argues that Alice's success in seizing power proves that William cannot be correct in claiming that she had no major supporters.[26] Meanwhile, Bohemond II of Antioch's cousin, Roger II of Sicily regarded himself as Bohemond's lawful successor because he was the senior member of the House of Hauteville.[27][28]
King Baldwin II of Jerusalem hastened to Antioch with his son-in-law Fulk of Anjou to take custody of his granddaughter Constance of Antioch and appoint a regent.[29] Alice, William says, then took another drastic move for power. She attempted to ally herself with Imad ad-Din Zengi, the ruler of all of Upper Mesopotamia and Northern Syria and Aleppo and Mosul. She offered to make Antioch a Seljuk tributary in exchange for protection from her father. However her messenger was captured by Baldwin’s men. After Baldwin learned of Alice’s schemes from the messenger, the messenger was killed.[30] This account is widely accepted in traditional historiography, but Asbridge is suspicious because it is not confirmed in either Christian or Muslim contemporary sources.[31] When her father appeared at the gates of Antioch, Alice ordered them shut, and garnered support by distributing money from the princely treasury.[22][18][32] Historian Steven Runciman speculates that her Armenian heritage may have endeared her to the city's native Christians.[29]
Encamped outside the city, Baldwin sent for Joscelin of Edessa.[29] After a few days, a monk named Peter Latinator and a knight called William of Aversa opened the gates to Fulk and Joscelin,[26] allowing the king to enter.[29] They were strongly opposed to Alice’s plans to make the principality a Muslim tributary. Alice took refuge in a tower and only emerged after city officials guaranteed her life. She knelt before her father, who forgave her but removed her from power. Baldwin had the Antiochene nobles swear fealty to himself and Constance, and then gave the guardianship of the principality and its heir to Joscelin.[29] Joscelin was to rule the principality until a marriage could be arranged for Constance.[18] Alice retained Latakia and Jabala, leaving her extremely powerful because those cities were the main ports of the northern Levant.[33] This enabled to
However, Zengi received Alice’s pleas for aid and he saw it as an opportunity to reassert Muslim control over the eastern frontier of the Principality of Antioch.[citation needed] Zengi invaded and raided the territories of Antioch; in the Spring of 1130, he laid siege to Atharib.[citation needed] When the Franks and King Baldwin, who was in command of a Latin army, advanced to relieve the city, his officers advised him to retreat. However, the bold and daring Baldwin scorned their advice and marched towards the Zengid position.[citation needed] A battle followed and Zengi emerged victorious.[citation needed] After conquering the citadel of Atharib, Zengi destroyed it and razed it to the ground.[34] Zengi then advanced on the fortress of Harem but its inhabitants persuaded him to abandon his siege in return for half of the district's revenues.[citation needed] A truce was concluded and Zengi returned to his territories.[citation needed]
According to William of Tyre, Baldwin fell seriously ill after his return from Antioch.[35] He was already dying when he made arrangements for his succession in August 1131.[36] Baldwin had himself transferred to the Holy Sepulchre as he wanted to die as close to Christ as possible. Then he bequeathed the kingdom to Fulk of Anjou, Melisende of Jerusalem and their infant son, Baldwin.[35] He took monastic vows and entered the collegiate chapter of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where he died on 21 August.[37] He was buried in the Holy Sepulchre.[35][38] Fulk and Melisende were to be joint rulers of the Kingdom according to Baldwin’s will and serve as guardians to their sons Baldwin.
The coronation of Fulk and Melisende took place on 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was the first time that a ruler of Jerusalem had been crowned in this way.[39] On the occasion of his coronation, the Egyptian ruler Kutayfat sent Fulk an ivory object described as "the ivory tau".[40] Fulk subsequently sent the ivory tau back to his palace at Angers with instructions that it should be used to ceremonially receive counts of Anjou.[41]
At the beginning of 1130 Zengi desired to gain political legitimacy in Syria, as a result he married the daughter of the former ruler of Aleppo.[42] In 1130 Zengi allied with Taj al-Mulk Buri of the Burid dynasty in Damascus (the Burid dynasty was named after Buri) against the Crusaders, but this was only a ruse to extend his power. Buri knew this and took caution. However Buri soon overcame his doubts about Zengi. So he sent his son Sawinj, lord of Hama, in command of 500 elite knights.[42] The warm welcome and hospitality of Zengi banished any doubts and mistrust that Sawinj and his commanders may have had.[42] Three days later Zengi had Sawinj and his commanders arrested and imprisoned in Aleppo.[42][43] Zengi managed to loot the camp of Sawinj and confiscate all of his weapons, he then laid siege to Manbij and Hama which he captured in October 1130.[42] He also tried to besiege Homs but failed. This began the long rivalry between Burid Damascus and Zengid Aleppo.
In 1131, during the siege of a small Zengid castle north-east of Aleppo, a sapper's mine collapsed and Joscelin I of Edessa was gravely injured.[44] Following this he received word that Emir Gazi of the Danishmendids was besieging the fortress town of Kaysun.[45] Joscelin asked his son, Joscelin II to relieve the siege. However, the cowardly Joscelin refused to do so, as he claimed that Gazi had many more men then the Edessans. This forced Joscelin to command the army to relieve Kaysun.[45] Joscelin was borne on a litter. Emir Gazi believed that Joscelin had already died so when he heard that Joscelin's army was approaching, he lifted the siege and retreated.[45] Joscelin won his final battle but the journey to Kaysun opened his wounds. Joscelin died soon after.[45]
In 7 May 1131, two Assassins of Buri's personal guard, probably sent from Alamut for that purpose, tried to kill him, and he was severely wounded. Despite the care of Damascus' best physicians, he accelerated his convalescence. After riding a horse, his wound opened back, causing his death in 6 June 1132.[46][47] He was married to Zumurrud Khatun. He was succeeded by his three sons Shams al-Mulk Isma'il, Shihab ed-Din Mahmud, and Jamal ad-Din Muhammad who fought one another over the inheritance.
Mahmud II died in 1131, setting off a war for the succession of the Great Seljuk Empire. As the Seljuk princes were occupied fighting one another in Persia, Zengi marched on Baghdad to add it to his dominions. He was defeated by the caliph's troops, however, and only escaped thanks to the help of the Kurdish governor of Tikrit, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, the father of a certain Saladin. Several years later, Zengi would reward the governor with a position in his army, paving the way for Saladin's brilliant career.
Fulk’s and Alice’s Struggles For Power
[edit]From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favoured fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility.[48] The other Crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done. As Fulk was far less powerful than his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority. Early in her queenship, Melisende found herself deprived of the power she had possessed during her father's lifetime. Fulk did not associate her in any of his public acts for the first five years of the new reign.[49] He deliberately attempted to sideline Melisende,[50] which was in contravention of both their marriage contract and Baldwin II's last will.[51] Melisende's exclusion from power was not just a matter of protocol: without a role in the government she could not grant appointments and land.[52]
Melisende's sister Alice of Antioch, exiled from the Principality by Baldwin II, took control of Antioch once more after the death of her father.[53] In 1132, she allied with Pons of Tripoli and Joscelin II of Edessa to prevent Fulk from marching north. Fulk and Pons fought a brief battle before peace was made and Alice was exiled again.
Alice saw an opportunity to make her second bid for power with the deaths of Joscelin I and Baldwin II.[54] She allied with Counts Joscelin II of Edessa and Pons of Tripoli, neither of whom wished to accept Fulk's suzerainty, and also had the support of a major Antiochene baron, William of Saone.[55][25] According to William of Tyre, Alice bribed Pons into the alliance.[56] An embassy of concerned Antiochene nobles informed Fulk of the plot.[54]
As Fulk attempted to go to Antioch, Pons refused the king passage through Tripoli. Fulk was forced to avoid the county and travel by sea to the Antiochene port of Saint Symeon (now Samandağ in Turkey).[57][58] Pons hurried to Antioch and launched a series of attacks against Fulk and his allies from the Antiochene fortresses Arcicanum and Rugia (two castles forming his wife's dowry).[59] Fulk attacked Pons near Rugia in late 1132.[60] Pons suffered a heavy defeat. Although many of his retainers were captured on the battlefield, he was able to flee.[60][61] His soldiers were taken in chains to Antioch where they were either imprisoned or executed.[60] Pons lost Rugia, but Fulk did not restore the suzerainty of the kings of Jerusalem over Tripoli.[62] However Fulk was not strong enough to punish the rebels nor to break up Alice's party.[63] The king stayed in Antioch for some time, and left Rainald I Masoir as regent.[64]
Pons renounced the estates he held in the county of Velay (in France) in favor of the bishop of Le Puy in 1132.[65] He had the ra'īs (native chief) of Tripoli killed for unknown reasons in 1132 or 1133.[66] The killing of a native chief at a crusader ruler's order was an unprecedented act. Lewis argues that it was a sign of growing unrest among the local population.[66] Actually, the Nizari strengthened their hold on the mountainous region along the northern border of the county in the 1130s.[67]
Imad ad-Din Zengi, atabeg of Mosul, invaded the County of Tripoli, plundering the capital and the neighboring region in 1133.[68] The Count of Tripoli, Pons of Tripoli led an army to meet the Zengids, who were near Rafaniyya. Initially, the Zengids avoided battle and Pons chased them, but the Zengids turned back and fought the Crusaders, inflicting a heavy defeat on Pons's army. Few of the Crusaders survived the battle.[69][70][68] Pons and his few men retreated towards Montferrand. The Zengids chased them and quickly besieged the castle.[71]
Pons managed to slip from the castle with 20 men and head towards Tripoli, where he managed to send a letter to the Latin king, Fulk I of Jerusalem, to send a relief force. Despite Pons’s previous support of Alice against him, Pons’s call was quickly answered by Fulk and he led a Crusader force to meet the Zengids. Hearing this, the Zengids marched to meet the Crusader force, and in a heavy battle, both sides suffered severe casualties, and the Crusaders were almost defeated. The battle ended in stalemate when the Latins retreated towards Rafaniyya while the Zengids withdrew to their territory.[72][73][61][74] The Zengids now attacked Edessa. Joscelin initially struggled to fight off the raiding Zengids. However, Fulk and Pons soon arrived to assist their comrade and with the help of both of them, Joscelin was able to repel the Zengids.
Fulk returned again to Antioch in late 1133 or early 1134. In concert with the Antiochene nobles he sent an offer to Raymond of Poitiers, a younger son of Duke William IX of Aquitaine, to come from France to become the new prince of Antioch.[64][75] The invitation to Raymond was kept secret to prevent a counter strike by either Alice or King Roger II of Sicily, who was Constance's closest relative on her father's side and may have had his own designs on the principality.[75][76]
Alice remained active throughout the 1130s. By 1134 at the latest she had started developing an independent government at Latakia and issuing charters through her own scriptorium as "Alice, second daughter of Baldwin king of Jerusalem, once wife of Lord Bohemond, son of Bohemond the Great, most excellent prince of Antioch, by the grace of God princess of Antioch". She had her own chancellor, constable, and possibly other officers.[77] Asbridge maintains that she saw herself as an "absentee princess or regent",[78] while his colleague Malcolm Barber believes that Rainald Masoir needed Alice's co-operation to govern the principality effectively.[75] Her court became the center of opposition to Fulk's rule in the crusader states. In 1134 she hosted Hugh II of Jaffa, who in the same year led a major revolt against Fulk.[79]
William of Tyre recorded the rumor that the queen was having an illicit relationship with the "young and very handsome" Count Hugh II of Jaffa, drawing the king's ire.[80] Hamilton and Mayer both discount the gossip. Mayer argues that William himself did not believe the rumor[81] and that a medieval queen, being constantly attended by the members of her household and the court, would have found it exceedingly difficult to have a secret lover.[82] Hamilton, on the other hand, argues that public opinion, spearheaded by the clergy, would have sided with Fulk and not, as it did, with Melisende if she had committed adultery.[52] Mayer suspects that the rumors may have been spread by Fulk to both get rid of Hugh and to have Melisende locked up in a monastery, circumventing Baldwin II's will.[50]
Hugh's stepson Walter I Grenier, lord of Caesarea, openly accused him of treason at court.[49] Mayer suggests that Walter may have been incited to make this accusation. Hugh denied the charge and was challenged to a trial by combat, but did not appear. The king thus obtained a legal reason to confiscate Hugh's County of Jaffa.
So in 1134, noblemen led by Melisende's second cousin and vassal Count Hugh II of Jaffa revolted against Fulk.[83] Hugh revolted alongside Roman of Le Puy, lord of Oultrejordain. One reason for the conflict other than the rumor of an affair between Melisende and Hugh had originated from Fulk's replacement of the kingdom's established nobility with newcomers from Anjou.[52][84] According to Mayer, the noblemen may have expected to be protected by the queen from the king's designs if they succeeded in restoring her to the place in government which her father had intended for her to have.[84] The historian Malcolm Barber argues that Melisende must have been involved in the revolt, but concedes that her role is unknown.[85]
Hugh allied with the Fatimid city of Ascalon, and Fulk invaded Jaffa and besieged the city. Hugh's rear-vassals, including Baldwin of Ramla and Barisan, constable of Jaffa, deserted him and "wisely betook themselves to the king." (William of Tyre, 14.16) The usual punishment for such actions was permanent exile and confiscation of the rebel's territories, but in this case, perhaps due to Hugh's high status in the kingdom and his relationship with the queen, the Patriarch William mediated in the dispute, and Hugh was exiled for only three years.
Hugh was free to remain in Jerusalem while waiting for a ship to take him into exile. One day, while playing dice on the street, he was brutally attacked by a Breton knight.[81] Rumours spread that Fulk had hired the knight to assassinate Hugh, and public opinion considered Hugh to be innocent of the charges of treason and conspiracy. Fulk ordered "...that the tongue should not be included among the members so mutilated", supposedly so that he would not be accused of trying to silence the knight. In any case, the knight claimed to have acted on his own.” Though Fulk's involvement was never proven, his reputation was severely damaged.[86] Nevertheless, Fulk no longer had the support of the public in the dispute. Hugh remained in the kingdom for a short time, while his wounds healed.[87] He then went into exile in Apulia, where his relative Roger II of Sicily named him Count of Gargan. Hugh never fully recovered, and died soon after his arrival.
Melisende was incensed by Fulk's treatment of Hugh and the slight on her honor.[52][88] Fulk's men did not dare appear in her presence.[86] The queen directed most of her wrath at the viscount, Rohard the Elder, whom she held most responsible for influencing Fulk.[86] Melisende, who was legally the queen regnant, was supported by the Church and various other nobles, and Fulk and his supporters in the dispute for a time felt unwelcome and even unsafe. According to William of Tyre, "from that day forward, the king became so uxorious that...not even in unimportant cases did he take any measures without her knowledge and assistance." (William of Tyre, 14.18) Fulk even feared for his own life.[89] Mayer suggests that for this reason, Fulk stayed in Antioch in 1135.[82] The court was disrupted until third parties mediated a reconciliation between the king and queen. After persistent attempts, Fulk succeeded in obtaining Melisende's pardon for Rohard and his other supporters, who were then able to appear at court again.[86] From then on Fulk, in the words of William of Tyre, "did not attempt to take the initiative, even in trivial matters, without her knowledge".[52]
Fulk began to build numerous castles in the area of Jaffa, including Ibelin, to defend against Egyptian invasions. As a consequence of the revolt, the former rear-vassals of Jaffa became more powerful, such as the Lordship of Ramla. The lords of Ibelin and Ramla would become important in the affairs of the kingdom later in the century.
Raymond of Poitiers’s Arrival
[edit]
Meanwhile, Zengi led an attack on Antioch himself. In the spring of 1135, he captured Bara, Maarat al-Numan, Maarrat Misrin, Taladah, Zardana, and Atharib, basically every border fort east of the Orontes River which Baldwin II had spent his entire reign as King recapturing from Ilghazi.[90] He did this while his lieutenant Sawar threatened Turbessel, Aintab and Azaz.[91] Following this successful campaign against Antioch, the Count of Tripoli, Pons of Tripoli attempted to block the road that crossed Syria from north to south and launched an offensive against Qinnasrin, however Zengi repelled this attack in the Battle of Qinnasrin.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, the Patriarch of Antioch, Bernard of Valence died in the late summer of 1135. Constance, was now seven, and so the incumbent bishops of the principality gathered uncanonically in Antioch to choose Bernard's successor.[92] While they were meeting, the people of Antioch chose Ralph of Domfront, who happened to be in the city although he was not attending the council.[93] Although William of Tyre presents Ralph's election as the spontaneous action of the people, it was probably orchestrated by Ralph and some of his Italo-Norman compatriots.[92] The king's bailiff, Rainald I Masoir, and the party that favored a marriage between Constance and Raymond of Poitiers have often been suspected by historians as they may have done so in an attempt to counter Alice's party.[94][93][92] At this enthronement, Ralph took Bernard's pallium from the altar and put it on. He explicitly rejected the supremacy of the Pope, saying that both Rome and Antioch were "the see of Peter and Antioch was the firstborn."[95] Pope Innocent II took no action against Ralph out of fear that the latter would choose to recognise the Antipope Anacletus II instead.[95]
Towards the end of 1135 Alice marched to Antioch and again assumed power. Alice persuaded her sister Melisende in a letter, who then granted her safe return from exile. Melisende also interceded with Fulk not to interfere and let her replace him as regent of Antioch.[96] Alice had the support of the new patriarch,[97] and is not recorded to have encountered resistance from Masoir.[96] Alice knew that she was unpopular within Antioch and she knew that this time Zengi wouldn’t risk coming to her aid this time. So, Alice contacted another enemy of Antioch, the Byzantines, seeking a marriage either for herself or for Constance with Manuel Komnenos, son of Emperor John II Komnenos, in exchange for Byzantine protection as a vassal.[98][99]
When his marriage was arranged with Constance, Raymond of Poitiers, was at the time staying in England, which he left only after the death of Henry I of England on 1 December 1135.[100] Upon hearing word that Raymond was going to pass through his lands in order to marry the princess of Antioch, King Roger II of Sicily ordered him arrested. By a series of subterfuges, Raymond passed through southern Italy and only arrived at Antioch after 19 April 1136.[100]
Raymond of Poitiers is described by William of Tyre (the main authority for his career) as "a lord of noble descent, of tall and elegant figure, the handsomest of the princes of the earth, a man of charming affability and conversation, open-handed and magnificent beyond measure"; pre-eminent in the use of arms and military experience; litteratorum, licet ipse illiteratus esset, cultor ("although he was himself illiterate, he was a cultivator of literature" – he caused the Chanson des chétifs to be composed); a regular churchman and faithful husband; but headstrong, irascible and unreasonable, with too great a passion for gambling (bk. xiv. c. xxi.).
In the winter of 1135–36, Ralph had supported the regency of Constance's mother, Alice. But Ralph couldn’t, however, support her attempt for an alliance with the Byzantine Empire, since the Treaty of Devol of 1108 forbade the patriarch of Antioch from being a non-Greek Christian. If the alliance was formed, the Byzantines would not recognize him as legitimate.[100] He knew he had to replace Alice with Raymond before she could cement the alliance. When Raymond of Poitiers arrived before Antioch, Ralph forced him to sign an agreement whereby he would do homage to Ralph for the principality and in turn Ralph would marry him to Constance.[101] Ralph then made Alice believe that Raymond came to Antioch to marry her instead of her eight-year-old daughter.[102], whereupon she allowed him to enter Antioch and the patriarch married him to Constance.
Constance was kidnapped from the palace, and Ralph of Domfront blessed her marriage to Raymond in the cathedral.[103] With the marriage, Raymond became the ruler of the principality, and in defeat, Alice left Antioch, now under the control of Raymond and Ralph.[101], for Latakia.[103]
Ralph's precedent for making the prince do homage to him as patriarch was the case of the first prince, Bohemond I, who in 1099 did homage to the papal legate, Dagobert of Pisa.[101] According to William of Tyre, the power-sharing arrangement in Antioch did not succeed:
the lord patriarch in his customary way behaved more arrogantly, believing himself superiro to the lord prince, and he was, indeed, deceived; for the prince thought it most shameul that he had exacted an oath of fealty from him and ... began to behave hostilely towards him and, dispensing with the oath he had taken, allied with his enemies.[101]
Only open war with the Byzantine empire, whose efforts at alliance with Alice had been ruined by Ralph and Raymond's joint action, prevented the situation from devolving into civil war.
The first years of Raymond of Poitiers and Ralph’s joint rule were spent in fighting the powerful Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos, who had come south partly to recover Cilicia from Leo of Armenia, and to reassert his rights over Antioch and reinforce Byzantine claims to suzerainty over the Crusader States. These rights dated back to the Treaty of Devol of 1108, though the Byzantines had not been in a position to enforce them then. John II started his campaign by subduing Armenian Cilicia. In 1137 he conquered Tarsus, Adana, and Mopsuestia from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and in 1138 Prince Leo I of Armenia and most of his family were brought as captives to Constantinople.[104][105] Leo would die in Constantinople on February 14, 1140. With Armenian Cilicia out of his way, the road was open for John to invade Antioch. In the summer of 1137, John invaded Antioch. Raymond sent pleas for aid to Fulk, while Ralph, knowing how the emperor had expelled the Latin churchmen from Cilicia, appealed to Innocent II for help.[106] Raymond, hearing of Ralph’s action, responded by putting him in prison and, according to a Muslim source, Ibn al-Qalanisi, plundering his house.[107]
However it became too late for any aid to arrive. In August, Raymond paid homage to John. John demanded the unconditional surrender of Antioch and, after asking the permission of Fulk, King of Jerusalem, Raymond of Poitiers agreed to surrender the city to John. The agreement, by which Raymond swore homage to John, was explicitly based on the Treaty of Devol, but went beyond it. Raymond, who was recognized as an imperial vassal for Antioch, promised the Emperor free entry to Antioch, and undertook to hand over the city in return for the cities of Aleppo, Shaizar, Homs, and Hama as soon as these were conquered from the Muslims, cities which John planned to take in his planned campaign against the Zengids later.. Raymond would then rule the new conquests and Antioch would revert to direct imperial control.[108][109] Raymond wasn’t too excited about this. Joscelin II of Edessa would also recognize himself as a vassal of the emperor.
Battle of Montferrand
[edit]In 1134 Zengi became involved in Artuqid affairs, allying with the emir Timurtash (son of Ilghazi) against Timurtash's cousin Rukn al-Dawla Da'ud. Zengi's real desires, however, lay to the south, in Damascus. In 1135 Zengi received an appeal for help from Shams ul-Mulk Isma'il, who had succeeded his father Buri as emir of Damascus, and who was in fear for his life from his own citizenry, who considered him a cruel tyrant. Ismail was willing to surrender the city to Zengi in order to restore peace. None of Isma'il's family or advisors wanted this, however, and Isma'il was murdered by his own mother, Zumurrud, to prevent him from turning over the city to Zengi's control. Isma'il was succeeded by his brother Shihab al-Din Mahmud.
Zengi was not discouraged by this turn of events and arrived at Damascus anyway, still intending to seize it. The siege lasted for some time with no success on Zengi's part, so a truce was made and Shahib al-Din's brother Bahram-Shah was given as a hostage. At the same time, news of the siege had reached the caliph and Baghdad, and a messenger was sent with orders for Zengi to leave Damascus and take control of the governance of Iraq. The messenger was ignored, but Zengi gave up the siege, as per the terms of the truce with Shihab al-Din. On the way back to Aleppo, Zengi besieged Homs, whose governor had angered him, and Shihab al-Din responded to the city's call for help by sending Mu'in al-Din Unur to govern it.
A Damascene mamluk, Bazawash led a regiment at Baalbek who murdered Yusuf ibn Firuz in 1136, and was then made chief minister by Shihab ed-Din Mahmud, atabeg of Damascus. Spurred on by Zengi’s successes, in March 1137, Bazawash, the mamluk commander of Damascus, launched a military campaign against the County of Tripoli, reaching Mons Peregrinus near the town.[110] Pons rode out of Tripoli to meet the enemy unprepared and suffered a defeat.[110] He fled to the nearby mountains, but local Christians—according to Lewis, most probably Jacobites or Nestorians—captured and handed him over to Bazawash, who had him killed on 25 March 1137.[111][112] If it wasn’t for Bazawash’s reluctance to attack Tripoli after his victory, he may have been able to take it.
His son, Raymond II, who inherited the County of Tripoli, and his retainers captured the local Christians’s settlements in the Mount Lebanon area and captured many of them.[113][92] The captured men, women and children were taken to Tripoli where the majority were tortured and executed.[113] William of Tyre remarked that Raymond's campaign against the local Christians provided "the first lessons of his martial courage".[114]
Zengi was not happy with Bazawash’s passiveness fighting the Crusaders, causing him to attack Homs, then under the Damascene governor, Mu'in ad-Din Unur. However, Bazawash would retreat back to Baalbek. With the retreat of Bazawash, Raymond decided to attack Zengi, who was nearby besieging Homs. Surprised by Raymond’s attack, Zengi lifted his siege and then moved to attack him.[114] As Raymond approached, Zengi’s army marched out to meet him. Raymond then suddenly realized he couldn’t win this fight as he was heavily outnumbered and retreated to the castle of Montferrand. After Zengi laid siege to Montferrand,[115] Raymond sent envoys to King Fulk of Jerusalem, his maternal uncle and brother-in-law, urging him to hurry to relieve the besieged fortress.[116] Shortly after Fulk and his army crossed the frontier of the County of Tripoli, the envoys of Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antioch, informed him that the Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos had invaded Antioch.[116]
Fulk now faced a dilemma. Which ally should he help first? Raymond II of Tripoli against the Zengid Empire or Raymond of Poitiers against the Byzantine Empire? Fulk immediately held a council and decided that Montferrand should be helped first.[citation needed] When Fulk reached Montferrand, he and Raymond of Tripoli decided to launch an assault on Zengi's forces before marching to Antioch, because they thought they could easily defeat the atabeg.[116] However, the sheer number of Zengids easily annihilated the Crusader force.[116] Thousands of Christian soldiers were killed during the battle, and even more (including Raymond of Tripoli) were captured; Fulk and his retinue fled back to Montferrand.[116][117]
In the battle, the Crusaders also lost all of the baggage intended for Montferrand leaving them with no supplies.[citation needed] Zengi then resumed his siege of Montferrand while the imprisoned Franks appealed for aid to Antioch, Jerusalem, and Edessa, who answered the appeal.[citation needed] However when the Crusaders "...ran out of food they ate their horses, and then they were forced to ask for terms."[118] Zengi was also eager to come to terms. Although Fulk didn’t know it yet, his pleas for aid from the Crusader states were being answered. John II Komnenos and his two vassals, Joscelin and Raymond of Poitiers, began assembling a large army of Byzantines and Crusaders while large numbers of Christian pilgrims were rallied to join the fight. With this host approaching the castle, Zengi suddenly granted Fulk and the other besieged Crusaders terms. In return for their freedom and evacuation from the castle Zengi surrendered all of his prisoners, including Raymond.[117][119] The Crusaders, unaware of the imminent arrival of the large relieving army, accepted Zengi's offer.[118][117][120] The Franks never recovered Montferrand.
Byzantine Campaign in the Levant
[edit]
After defeating the Crusaders at Montferrand, Zengi faced now one of the biggest threats to his rule he faced so far; the mighty Byzantine Empire, under Emperor John II Komnenos.
The Latin historian William of Tyre described John as short and unusually ugly, with eyes, hair and complexion so dark he was known as 'the Moor'.[121] Yet despite his physical appearance, John was known as Kaloïōannēs, "John the Good" or "John the Beautiful"; the epithet referred to his character. Both his parents were unusually pious and John surpassed them. Members of his court were expected to restrict their conversation to serious subjects only. The food served at the emperor's table was very frugal and John lectured courtiers who lived in excessive luxury. His speech was dignified, but he engaged in repartee on occasion. All accounts agree that he was a faithful husband to his wife, an unusual trait in a medieval ruler. Despite his personal austerity, John had a high conception of the imperial role and would appear in full ceremonial splendour when this was advantageous.[122]
John was famed for his piety and his remarkably mild and just reign. He is considered an exceptional example of a moral ruler, at a time when cruelty was the norm. He is reputed never to have condemned anyone to death or mutilation.[123] Charity was dispensed lavishly. For this reason, he has been called the Byzantine Marcus Aurelius.[124] By the example of his personal morality and piety he effected a notable improvement in the manners of his age. Descriptions of him and his actions indicate that he had great self-control and personal courage, and was an excellent strategist and general.[122] John’s military genius was displayed from the start of his reign. Before John focused on affairs happening in the east as he was doing now, he successfully waged many wars with his western neighbors. He defeated the Grand Principality of Serbia, Pechenegs, and Kingdom of Hungary. John’s power was so great as Raymond II of Tripoli, after he was freed by Zengi, he hastened northwards to pay homage to John, repeating the homage that his predecessor had given John's father in 1109.[125]
After John was finished with preparations, he launched his campaign against the Zengids on April 1, 1138.[126] John’s army was largely composed of Byzantine regulars and also included a force of Knights Templar and substantial contingents from his two vassals, Antioch and Edessa.[126] The Antiochene contingent was led by Raymond of Poitiers while the Edessan one was led by Joscelin II of Edessa.
In February, all merchants and travellers from Aleppo and other Muslim towns were arrested to prevent them from reporting on the developing military preparations. The Byzantine-Crusader army crossed into enemy territory and occupied Ballat. On April 3 they arrived at Biza'a which held out for five days. A large amount of booty was plundered from the town, which was sent back to Antioch, though the convoy was attacked by a Muslim force and plundered in its turn. It had been hoped that Aleppo could be surprised. However, Imad ad-Din Zengi, was besieging nearby Hama, which was held by a Damascene garrison. He had enough warning of the Emperor's operations to quickly reinforce Aleppo. Zengi rushed to obtain reinforcements before the arrival of the allied army; he received a reinforcement of cavalry, infantry, and specialist archers just in time.[126]
The Byzantines were aware of the strategic importance of Aleppo. One of the objectives of their Syrian campaign was to create a Christian buffer state centered on Aleppo but also including Shaizar, Homs and Hama.[126] Due to the dangers involved the Byzantines were content to let the Franks own the buffer state of the hinterlands, presumably under imperial suzerainty.[126]
The Byzantines were camped on Queiq river and launched attacks on the south and west of Aleppo on April 19 to size out the garrison's strength and intimidate them into surrendering with the size and aggression of the besieging force.[126] Instead the reverse happened, large numbers of the Muslim militia made a sortie against the Byzantines and emerged victorious from the skirmishing.[126] One of the senior Byzantine commanders was wounded during the fight.[126] Following their repulse, the Christian army departed in search of easier pickings. The siege is hardly mentioned in Christian chronicles, and while Aleppo might have been viewed as a target if its defenses had been weak, there is evidence that the city of Shaizar was the real goal of the allied army. However, the failure of the Siege of Aleppo angered John.
John subsequently took the Antiochene border fortresses which Zengi took from Antioch in his 1135 Campaign against Antioch.These fortresses included Ballat, Bizaah, Athareb, Maarat al-Numan, and Kafartab were taken by assault.[127] After taking all these fortresses, the road to the main goal of John’s campaign, Shaizar, was open. Although the rulers of the city, Munqidhites, led by Sultan, were neutral, Shaizar had a strategic position which the Byzantines recognized.
The Crusader princes were suspicious of each other and of John, and none wanted the others to gain from participating in the campaign. Raymond also wanted to hold on to Antioch, which was a Christian city; the attraction of lordship over a city like Shaizar or Aleppo, with a largely Muslim population and more exposed to Zengid attack, must have been slight. With the lukewarm interest his allies had in the prosecution of the siege, the Emperor was soon left with little active help from them.[128]
Following some initial skirmishes, John II organised his army into three divisions based on the nationalities of his soldiery: Macedonians (native Byzantines); 'Kelts' (meaning Normans and other Franks); and Pechenegs (Turkic steppe nomads). Each division was equipped with its characteristic arms and equipment, and was paraded before the city in order to overawe the defenders.[129][130]
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Although John fought hard for the Christian cause during the campaign in Syria, his allies Raymond of Poitiers and Joscelin II of Edessa remained in their camp playing dice and feasting instead of helping to press the siege. Due to their example, the morale of their troops was undermined. The Emperor's reproaches could only goad the two princes into perfunctory and fitful action. Latin and Muslim sources describe John's energy and personal courage in prosecuting the siege. Conspicuous in his golden helmet, John was active in encouraging his troops, supervising the siege engines and consoling the wounded. The walls of Shaizar were battered by the trebuchets of the impressive Byzantine siege train. The Emir's nephew, the poet, writer and diplomat Usama ibn Munqidh, recorded the devastation wreaked by the Byzantine artillery, which could smash a whole house with a single missile.[131][132][133]
The city was taken, but the citadel, protected by its cliffs and the courage of its defenders, defied assault. Tardily, Zengi had assembled a relief army and it moved towards Shaizar. The relief army was smaller than the Christian army but John was reluctant to leave his siege engines in order to march out to meet it, and he did not trust his allies. At this point, Sultan ibn Munqidh, the Emir of Shaizar, offered to become John's vassal, pay a large indemnity and pay yearly tribute. Also offered was a table studded with jewels and an impressive carved cross said to have been made for Constantine the Great, which had been captured from Romanos IV Diogenes by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert. John, disgusted by the behaviour of his allies, reluctantly accepted the offer. On 21 May, the siege was raised.[134][135][136][137][126]
Zengi's troops skirmished with the retreating Christians, but did not dare to actively impede the army's march In May 1138, John II returned to Antioch, where Ralph, released from prison, presided over the ceremony in the cathedral of St. Peter that marked the end of the Byzantine campaign. His change of fortune was probably the result of the papal encyclical, since John required Innocent's assistance in building up an anti-Sicilian alliance.[138] Joscelin and Raymond conspired to delay the promised handover of Antioch's citadel to the emperor. As part of their plan, Count Joscelin II of Edessa incited a riot of Franks in the city against John and the local Greek community, but full warfare between the Franks and Byzantines was avoided.[138] However, this caused being besieged in the palace by the Antiochene mob. This and news of a raid by the Anatolian Seljuks on Cilicia, and Raymond not replying to his request for control of the citadel, John abandoned his demand for control of the citadel. He insisted, however, on a renewal of Raymond’s and Joscelin's oaths of fealty. John told them that he would return with his army to implement his treaties with them. He then left Antioch intending to punish the Seljuk sultan Mas'ud (r. 1116–1156) and subsequently to return to Constantinople.[139][140][141]
The events of the campaign underlined that the suzerainty the Byzantine emperor claimed over the Crusader states, for all the prestige it offered, had limited practical advantages. The Latins enjoyed the security that a distant imperial connection gave them when they were threatened by the Muslim powers of Syria. However, when Byzantine military might was directly manifested in the region, their own self-interest and continued political independence was of greater importance to them than any possible advantage that might be gained for the Christian cause in the Levant by co-operation with the Emperor.[142][143][144]
Zengid Campaign Against Damascus
[edit]In 1138, Shihab ad-Din appointed the atabeg (governor) of Homs, Mu'in ad-Din Unur atabeg of Damascus and gave him the title Isfahsalar. In May 1138 Zengi came to an agreement with Damascus. He married Zumurrud Khatun, the widowed wife of Taj al-Muluk Buri, Shihab ad-Din's mother, and the same woman who had murdered her son Ismail. Zengi received Homs as her dowry. Unur, who was governor of that city, was given the castle of Montferrand in place of Homs. On June 22, 1139, Shihab ad-Din was assassinated in Damascus; Jamal ad-Din, emir of Baalbek, was chosen as his successor, and Mu'in ad-Din was chosen to govern Baalbek in his absence.
When Zengi heard of the death of his wife’s surviving son, Shihab al-Din, he decided to use Burid Damascus’s weakness to his advantage. Zengi launched a campaign against Damascus with the excuse of avenging his stepson’s death. He started his campaign by besieging Baalbek. Unur was in charge of the defenses of Baalbek when Zengi besieged it. Zengi besieged it with 14 catapults, which forced the defenders of Baalbek to come to terms. The city of Baalbek offered to surrender only if Zengi swore on the Koran to spare its defenders. However, when Baalbek surrendered, Zengi didn’t not keep his word. He ordered that the defenders be crucified. Unlike Saladin at Jerusalem in 1187, Zengi did not keep his word to protect his captives at Baalbek in 1139. According to Ibn al-‘Adim, Zengi "had sworn to the people of the citadel with strong oaths and on the Qur’an and divorcing (his wives). When they came down from the citadel he betrayed them, flayed its governor and hanged the rest."[145][146] Zengi most likely broke his oath on the Koran to break the spirit of the Damascenes. However, it increased the resolve of Damascus, who didn’t wish to be conquered by such a man who breaks his oath to the Koran. It also stained Zengi’s reputation as champion of Islam. Zengi granted Baalbek to his Kurdish lieutenant Najm al-Din Ayyub, father of Saladin.[147]
Acting as regent for Jamal al-Din, Mu'in al-Din Unur used the massacre of Baalbek to his advantage, uniting the Damascene populace and court against Zengi. To end the siege, Unur started negotiations with Fulk of Jerusalem against the Zengids. In exchange for Banias, Unur offered an alliance against Zengi. In an attempt to help heal the scars of the disastrous defeat at Montferrand, Fulk allied with Damascus to repel Zengi. Not wanting to get stuck between Jerusalem and Damascus, Zengi abandoned his siege, but took Banias from the Damascenes before leaving for his territory. After Zengi abandoned his siege of Damascus, Jamal al-Din died of a disease and was succeeded by his son Mujir al-Din Abaq, with Mu'in al-Din Unur remaining as regent. But due to Mujir al-Din’s young age, Unur was basically ruler of Damascus in all but in name. Fulk and Unur then joined armies and then besieged the fort of Banias together. The Zengid garrison in Banias attempted to divert the Crusader-Damascene army away from the siege by raiding Crusader territory as far as Tyre. However, as the Zengids were raiding, they ran into Raymond of Poitiers's Antiochene army, who had come to assist Fulk in the siege. A short battle happened where the Zengid troops were routed. Banias was now almost undefended. After the victory, Raymond joined Unur and Fulk and they all captured Banias. Unur subsequently offered 20,000 pieces of gold per month to pay for their expenses. When it was captured, Unur handed it over to Fulk and returned to Damascus. A more thorough alliance, to protect Damascus against Zengi, was negotiated during a visit by Mu'in ad-Din to Jerusalem, accompanied by the future chronicler Usamah ibn Munqidh. Since Banias was to the north of Lake Tiberias, its capture secured the northern frontier of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Fulk also strengthened the kingdom's southern border. His butler Paganus built the fortress of Kerak to the east of the Dead Sea.[53] To help give the kingdom access to the Red Sea, Fulk had Blanchegarde, Ibelin, and other forts built in the south-west to overpower the Egyptian fortress at Ascalon. This city was a base from which the Egyptian Fatimids launched frequent raids on the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Fulk wisely sought to neutralise this threat. Also, the construction of more forts in the Transjordan Region led to frequent raids against caravans and people going on Hajj to Mecca.
After the departure of John, there followed a struggle between Raymond of Poitiers and the patriarch Ralph of Domfront. Raymond was annoyed by the homage which he had been forced to pay to the patriarch in 1135 and the dubious validity of the patriarch's election offered a handle for opposition. Eventually Raymond triumphed, and the patriarch was deposed in 1139. Raymond II of Tripoli granted several settlements to the Knights Hospitallers along the eastern borders of his county in 1142.[148][149] His grant included "the fortress of the Kurds" which developed into the important Crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers during the following decades.[149][150] He also transferred his rights to Montferrand and Rafaniya, both seized by Zengi in 1137, to the Hospitallers if they could recapture them.[148][149] When establishing a military order on the eastern borderland, Raymond only wanted to secure the defence of his county, but his magnanimous grant laid the foundation of an almost independent ecclesiastic state.[151]
After his unsuccessful campaigns in the Levant, in early 1142 Emperor John II Komnenos campaigned against the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum of Iconium to secure his lines of communication through Attalia. During this campaign his eldest son and co-emperor Alexios died of a fever. Having secured his route, John embarked on a new expedition into the Levant determined to reduce the Principality of Antioch to direct imperial rule.[152] This expedition included a planned pilgrimage to Jerusalem on which he intended to take his army. King Fulk of Jerusalem, fearing that the emperor's presence with overwhelming military force would constrain him to make an act of homage and formally recognise Byzantine suzerainty over his kingdom, begged the emperor to bring only a modest escort. Fulk cited the inability of his largely barren kingdom to support the passage of a substantial army.[153] This lukewarm response resulted in John II deciding to postpone his pilgrimage. John descended rapidly on northern Syria, forcing Joscelin II of Edessa to render hostages, including his daughter, as a guarantee of his good behavior. He then advanced on Antioch demanding that the city and its citadel be surrendered to him. Raymond of Poitiers played for time, putting the proposal to the vote of the Antiochene general assembly. John, though he ravaged the neighborhood of Antioch, was unable to effect anything against him. With the season well advanced John decided to take his army into winter quarters in Cilicia, proposing to renew his attack on Antioch the following year.[citation needed]
Having prepared his army for a renewed attack on Antioch, John amused himself by hunting wild boar on Mount Taurus in Cilicia, where he accidentally cut himself on the hand with a poisoned arrow.[154] John initially ignored the wound and it became infected. He died a number of days after the accident, on 8 April 1143,[155] probably of septicaemia.[156] John's final action as emperor was to choose Manuel, the younger of his surviving sons, to be his successor. John is recorded as citing two main reasons for choosing Manuel over his older brother Isaac: Isaac's irascibility, and the courage that Manuel had shown on campaign at Neocaesarea.[157][158] Raymond of Poitiers felt complacent when dealing with the Byzantines after John’s campaign of 1142.
In late 1143 the court was at Acre enjoying a period of peace. On 7 November 1143, Melisende expressed a wish to have a picnic. While they were riding in the countryside, Fulk galloped off in pursuit of a hare. His horse stumbled and threw him off, and the heavy saddle struck him on the head. He was carried unconscious to Acre, where he died a few days later.[citation needed] He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.[159] Melisende made a public demonstration of grief and then proceeded to take full charge of the government.[160] There was no royal election because the joint reign initiated in 1131 continued with Melisende and her son, Baldwin III.[161]
Baldwin III was 13 years old when his father Fulk died in a hunting accident in 1143. Melisende, who had been consecrated, anointed, and crowned in 1131, underwent a second coronation on Christmas 1143, this time together with Baldwin III of Jerusalem, who was also consecrated and anointed on this occasion.[162] The rites were performed by the patriarch, William of Messines.[163] All power was in Melisende's hands;[160] Baldwin was 13 at the time and Melisende became his guardian.[162] The queen is commonly said to have acted as her son's regent, but neither she nor the chronicler William of Tyre saw her rule as a regency. Citing William's statement that royal power came to Melisende through hereditary right, Hamilton concludes that she was "not a regent but the queen regnant".[160] Baldwin started issuing charters in 1144 at the latest, when he issued one without reference to Melisende; henceforth all were issued jointly by the mother and son, leading Mayer to believe that Melisende forbade that any charters be issued in her son's name only.[164] Yet Baldwin showed little interest in the intricacies of governance.[48] Most of the burden thus fell on Melisende of Jerusalem, who had to deal with the emerging Zengid raids and invasions and her squabbling Crusader allies in Tripoli, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
With a woman and a child ruling Jerusalem, the political situation was somewhat tense; the northern crusader states of Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa increasingly asserted their independence, and there was no king to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem as Baldwin II or Fulk had done. In the Muslim world, Zengi ruled northern Syria from the cities of Mosul and Aleppo, and desired to add Damascus in the south to his control.
Melisende's first action, as had been her husband's or of any contemporary ruler, was to appoint supporters to the kingdom's offices.[165] As a woman, Melisende could not command the army.[160] She appointed her first cousin Manasses of Hierges, who had recently arrived in the kingdom, to conduct military affairs in her name as constable.[165] By choosing Manasses rather than empowering one of her subjects, Melisende ensured the preservation of royal authority.[160] Besides Manasses, the queen's inner circle comprised the lord of Nablus, Philip of Milly; the prince of Galilee, Elinand of Tiberias; and the viscount, Rohard the Elder.[165] Philip's family had been undermined early in Fulk's reign, and Barber believes that this may explain Philip's loyalty to Melisende. Elinand commanded more knights than any other lord in the kingdom. Rohard had incurred the queen's wrath in the early 1130s by supporting her husband's attempt to exclude her, but he was a key figure in the city of Jerusalem and, apparently, both were content to make peace. Through the support of Philip, Elinand, and Rohard, Melisende controlled Jerusalem and the regions of Samaria and Galilee, all of which contained parts of the royal domain.[166] However, immediately after his coronation, Baldwin III sought to assert himself in warfare, the one field in which he had the advantage over his mother, and in 1144 he quelled a revolt at Wadi Musa.[167]
Fall of Edessa
[edit]Meanwhile to the north, Joscelin II of Edessa and Raymond of Poitiers were freed from Byzantine domination with the death of John II Komnenos. This enabled Raymond to invade Byzantine Cilicia and even demand the cession of some Cilician towns from Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, who had succeeded John. Then, Raymond decided to attack Zengid Aleppo, agreeing to attack the city in a joint attack with Joscelin II of Edessa. Initially Joscelin followed the agreement and marched for Aleppo. However, Joscelin changed his mind in the middle of his march to Aleppo, and changed course for his army to go back home. This angered Raymond, who felt betrayed with the Count of Edessa, starting an animosity between the two neighbors. Raymond spoke openly about his disdain with Joscelin. Joscelin had also quarreled with the Count of Tripoli, Raymond II of Tripoli. With the deaths of Emperor John II Komnenos of the Eastern Roman Empire and King Fulk I of Jerusalem, who were his protectors, and his feuds with his Crusader neighbors, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli, Joscelin II of Edessa left his County of Edessa with no powerful allies.[168]
Imad al-Din Zengi, atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, was observing the situation. After the death of John II Komnenos, his successor Manuel I Komnenos wasn’t interested in the Levant, ending the Byzantine threat to the region. Meanwhile, Fulk I of Jerusalem’s death left the Outremer weak and divided, seen by Joscelin’s feuds with his Crusader allies. As mentioned before, this left Edessa with no allies to help them in the case of an invasion. So Zengi prepared for an offensive against the Crusader States. Oghuz Turks from all over the Great Seljuk Empire amassed in Mosul in preparation for an offensive. But where would Zengi lead the army? Zengi chose Edessa.
After the First Crusade and the minor Crusade of 1101, there were three crusader states established in the east: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa. A fourth, the County of Tripoli, was established in 1109. Edessa was the most northerly of these, and also the weakest and least populated; as such, it was subject to frequent attacks from the surrounding Muslim states ruled by the Artuqids, Danishmendids and Seljuk Turks.[169] This can be seen by observing the many conflicts Edessa had with their neighbors. Baldwin II, then count of Edessa, and future count Joscelin of Courtenay were taken captive after their defeat at the Battle of Harran in 1104. Baldwin and Joscelin were both captured a second time in 1122, and although Edessa recovered somewhat after the Battle of Azaz in 1125, Joscelin was killed in battle in 1131 fighting the Danishmendids. There hasn’t been a single year in the County of Edessa’s history when it hasn’t been attacked by one of its Muslim neighbors. Edessa’s weakness and vulnerability made it the target of Zengi’s attack.
In 1144, Joscelin was able to make an alliance with Kara Arslan, the Artuqid ruler of Diyarbakır, the great-nephew of the famed Ilghazi. Joscelin made this alliance to combat the growing power and influence of Zengi. So when Zengi sent some Turkish raiders against Diyarbakir, Joscelin immediately marched out of Edessa with almost his entire army to support Kara Arslan against Aleppo. Due to this, Edessa was almost completely undefended. Zengi pounced on the opportunity and hurried north to besiege Edessa, arriving on November 28. The city had been warned of his arrival and was prepared for a siege, but there was little they could do while Joscelin and the army were elsewhere.[170]
The Christian population of Edessa attempted to organize themselves to defend the city. The defence of the city was led by the Latin Archbishop of Edessa Hugh of Edessa, the Armenian Bishop of Edessa John, and the Syriac Bishop of Edessa Basil bar Shumna. All of these bishops ensured that the Edessans put their differences aside and defend the city. The Armenian bishop John and the Syriac bishop Basil ensured that no native Christians would desert to Zengi. The Edessans’ goal was to buy as much time as possible for Joscelin to return to their aid.
Zengi surrounded the entire city and his experienced engineers built siege engines to bombard the walls. Zengi also began to mine the walls, while his forces were joined by Kurdish and Oghuz Turkish reinforcements. When Joscelin II of Edessa heard of the siege, he at first rushed to Edessa’s aid. However, on the way back to Edessa, he changed his mind and changed his army’s course for Turbessel. This decision brought him heavy scrutiny from many Edessans but Joscelin did this knowing that he could never dislodge Zengi without help from the other crusader states. In Jerusalem, Queen Melisende responded to Joscelin's appeal by holding a council to decide what to do.[171] The council decided to send an army led by Manasses of Hierges, Philip of Milly, and Elinand of Bures. Melisende probably didn't send Baldwin III because Melisende resented his success at Wadi Musa;[167] it is also possible that the queen did not wish to see her son gain a reputation as a military leader lest it lead to him becoming a threat to her political leadership.[172] In any case, the army was too far away and they would arrive too late. Raymond of Poitiers, who was close enough to Edessa to do something, ignored the call for help , as his army was already occupied against the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia and he was against Joscelin after their many feuds.[173] In Turbessel, Joscelin prepared for a counterattack against the Zengids.
Zengi’s miners dug closer and closer to Edessa’s walls. The inhabitants of Edessa resisted as much as they could but had no experience in siege warfare; the city's numerous towers remained undefended. They also did not know counter-mining, and part of the wall near the Gate of the Hours collapsed on December 24, Christmas Eve. The Edessan inhabitants attempted to fight off the Zengids, but the number of Zengids flooding into the city ended up breaking the defence. Zengi's troops rushed into the city, killing all those who were unable to flee to the citadel. Thousands more were suffocated or trampled to death in the panic, including Archbishop Hugh. Zengi ordered his men to stop the massacre of the native Christians. They were allowed to live freely while Zengi ordered the massacre of all Franks and Latins while all the Latin prisoners that he had taken were executed. The citadel was handed over on December 26. One of Zengi's commanders, Zayn ad-Din Ali Kutchuk, was appointed governor, while Bishop Basil, apparently willing to give his loyalty to whoever ruled the city, was recognized as leader of the Christian population.[170]
In January 1145, Zengi captured Saruj and besieged Birejik, but the army of Jerusalem had finally arrived and joined with Joscelin. Zengi also heard of trouble in Mosul and rushed back to take control. The Islamic world praised him as a "defender of the faith" and al-Malik al-Mansur, the victorious king. Ibn al-Qaysarani praised his victory in a rhyming panegyric.[174] Zengi did not pursue an attack on the remaining territory of Edessa or the Principality of Antioch, as was feared.[173] Joscelin II continued to rule the remnants of the county from Turbessel, but little by little the rest of the territory was captured by Muslims or sold to the Byzantines. Zengi was assassinated by a slave in 1146 and was succeeded in Aleppo by his son Nur ad-Din.[175]
Papal bull and French plans
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Immediately upon receiving the news of Edessa’s Fall, the Queen of Jerusalem, Melisende, contacted the Principality of Antioch about sending an embassy to break the news to the pope and to request a new crusade.[176] Meanwhile, Baldwin III of Jerusalem came of age on his fifteenth birthday in early 1145,[162] but the occasion was not publicly celebrated due to the tense atmosphere following Edessa's fall.[160]
Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, found himself in a precarious position following Edessa’s fall. Antioch now found its eastern frontier dangerously exposed to the Zengids after Edessa’s fall and Raymond knew he couldn’t risk having a hostile Byzantium in his western frontier anymore. He had to come to terms with the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel I Komnenos, who he had seriously provoked the year before by demanding the cession of Cilician towns. Swallowing his pride, Raymond made the journey north to submit to Manuel and ask for protection. He was promised the support that he had requested, and his allegiance to Byzantium was secured.[177] Raymond also promised to acknowledge a Greek Patriarch of Antioch. Raymond of Poitiers then sent a delegation including Hugh, Bishop of Jabala, to seek aid from Pope Eugene III following Edessa’s fall in the form of another Crusade.[178][179]
The news of the fall of Edessa was brought back to Europe first by pilgrims early in 1145, and then by embassies from Antioch, Jerusalem and Armenia, many of whom delivered the news directly at the papal court in Viterbo. Bishop Hugh of Jabala was among those who delivered the news. In response to Hugh of Jabala, Eugene issued the papal bull Quantum praedecessores on the 1st of December.[180] The bull, issued at Vetralla, briefly recounted the acts of the First Crusade, and lamented the loss of Edessa, one of the oldest Christian cities. The bull was addressed directly to Louis VII of France and his subjects, and promised the remission of sins for all those who took the cross, as well as ecclesiastical protection for their families and possessions, just as Pope Urban II had done before the First Crusade. Those who completed the crusade, or died along the way, were offered full absolution.[181]
Hugh of Jabala also told the Pope of an eastern Christian king, who, it was hoped, would bring relief to the crusader states: this is the first documented mention of Prester John.[176][179][182]
Eugene did not control Rome and lived instead at Viterbo,[183] but nevertheless the Second Crusade was meant to be more organized and centrally controlled than the First: the armies would be led by the strongest kings of Europe and a route would be planned. However, unlike the First Crusade, Pope Eugene and his bull did not set a clear goal for the Crusade, something that would cause problems later.[184]
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
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In 1144, Pope commissioned French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to preach the Second Crusade, and granted the same indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade.[185][186][187] A Council was convened at Vezelay in Burgundy in 1146, and Bernard preached before the assembly on 31 March.
The crowd was so large that a large platform was erected on a hill outside the city. The full text has not survived, but a contemporary account says that "his voice rang out across the meadow like a celestial organ"[188] When Bernard was finished the crowd enlisted en masse; they supposedly ran out of cloth to make crosses. Bernard is said to have flung off his own robe and began tearing it into strips to make more.[186][188] Others followed his example and he and his helpers were supposedly still producing crosses as night fell.[188]
The Castle of Vezelay could not contain the multitudes who thronged to hear the fervid eloquence of Bernard. The preacher, with the King of France Louis VII. by his side, who wore the cross conspicuously on his dress, ascended a platform of wood. At the close of his harangue the whole assembly broke out in tumultuous cries, " The Cross, the Cross ! " They crowded to the stage to receive the holy badge ; the preacher was obliged to scatter it among them, rather than deliver it to each. The stock at hand was soon exhausted. Bernard tore up his own dress to satisfy the eager claimants. For the first time, the two greatest sovereigns in Christendom, the Emperor and the King of France, embarked in the cause. Louis had appeared at Vezelay ; he was taking measures for the [189]
There was at first virtually no popular enthusiasm for the crusade as there had been in 1095. Bernard found it expedient to dwell upon taking the cross as a potent means of gaining absolution for sin and attaining grace. On 31 March, with King Louis VII of France present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay, making "the speech of his life".[188] The full text has not survived, but a contemporary account says that "his voice rang out across the meadow like a celestial organ"[188]
James Meeker Ludlow describes the scene romantically in his book The Age of the Crusades:
A large platform was erected on a hill outside the city. King and monk stood together, representing the combined will of earth and heaven. The enthusiasm of the assembly of Clermont in 1095, when Peter the Hermit and Urban II launched the first crusade, was matched by the holy fervor inspired by Bernard as he cried, "O ye who listen to me! Hasten to appease the anger of heaven, but no longer implore its goodness by vain complaints. Clothe yourselves in sackcloth, but also cover yourselves with your impenetrable bucklers. The din of arms, the danger, the labors, the fatigues of war, are the penances that God now imposes upon you. Hasten then to expiate your sins by victories over the Infidels, and let the deliverance of the holy places be the reward of your repentance." As in the olden scene, the cry "Deus vult! Deus vult!" rolled over the fields, and was echoed by the voice of the orator: "Cursed be he who does not stain his sword with blood."[190]
When Bernard was finished the crowd enlisted en masse; they supposedly ran out of cloth to make crosses. Bernard is said to have flung off his own robe and began tearing it into strips to make more.[186][188] Others followed his example and he and his helpers were supposedly still producing crosses as night fell.[188] In the end of the council, Louis VII of France, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the princes and lords present prostrated themselves at the feet of Bernard to receive the pilgrims' cross.[191]
Unlike the First Crusade, the new venture attracted royalty, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France; Thierry of Flanders, Henry of Champagne; Louis's brother Robert I of Dreux; Alphonse I of Toulouse; William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey; Hugh VII of Lusignan, Yves II of Soissons; and numerous other nobles and bishops. But an even greater show of support came from the common people. Bernard wrote to the pope a few days afterwards, "Cities and castles are now empty. There is not left one man to seven women, and everywhere there are widows to still-living husbands."[186] [192]
Subsequently, Bernard passed into Germany, with reported miracles contributing to the success of his mission. King Conrad III of Germany heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, and he and his nephew Frederick Barbarossa agreed to join Louis VII in a great expedition to the Holy Land, receiving the cross from the hand of Bernard.[191] Pope Eugene came in person to France to encourage the enterprise.[1]
For all his overmastering zeal, Bernard was by nature neither a bigot nor a persecutor. As in the First Crusade, the preaching inadvertently led to attacks on Jews; a fanatical French monk named Rudolf was apparently inspiring massacres of Jews in the Rhineland, Cologne, Mainz, Worms and Speyer, with Rudolf claiming Jews were not contributing financially to the rescue of the Holy Land. Bernard; Arnold I, the Archbishop of Cologne; and Henry I, the Archbishop of Mainz, were vehemently opposed to these attacks, and so Bernard traveled from Flanders to Germany to deal with the problem and quiet the mobs. Bernard then found Rudolf in Mainz and was able to silence him, returning him to his monastery.[193]
Zengi’s Death
[edit]Imad al-Din Zengi was a hero after his capture of Edessa. Zengi then moved to besiege the fortress of Qal'at Ja'bar. But as he was besieging the city, he held a party in September 1146, where he noticed a slave called Yarankash of Frankish origin drink from his goblet. So the extremely drunk atabeg drunkenly threatened him with punishment for drinking from his goblet. After doing so, Zengi fell asleep.[194] Yarankash, fearing for his life, entered Zengi’s tent and assassinated him.
Following Zengi’s death, the Zengid forces were scattered, but his two sons were able to regain control and to divide the Zengid Empire. Zengi’s eldest son, Sayf al-Din Ghazi I succeeded him in Mosul and in his domains in Upper Mesopotamia while Zengi’s second son, Nur al-Din Zengi succeeded in Aleppo and in his Syrian domains. [195] The border between the two new kingdoms was formed by the Khabur River.
After Zengi’s death, Joscelin II of Edessa decided to use the supposed Zengid weakness to regain Edessa. So he and the Armenian community in the city began plotting how he might retake the city.[196] An earlier Armenian plot to retake the city had been suppressed in May by the Turks, who then settled 300 Jewish families in the city.[197] He and his vassal Baldwin of Marash set out from Dülük with an army of cavalry and infantry in late October.[198] They arrived before the city on 27 October.[199] They entered the city by night with the help of the citizenry, who let down ropes and ladders from the walls, and the incompetence of the Turkish garrison.[200]
Joscelin quickly took control of the city, but the garrison retreated to the citadel. Lacking siege machinery and the materials with which to construct it, the citadel could not be properly invested. Joscelin sent out appeals for aid to the other Crusader states. According to the Chronicle of 1234, Prince Raymond I of Antioch refused to help Joscelin and Baldwin because "he was enraged with both of them for not acknowledging him as their overlord."[201] Historian Steven Runciman gives a more sympathetic reason for Raymond's refusal: "the expedition was ill-planned".[202] During their brief second period of control of the city, which lasted a mere six days, the Franks engaged in looting of shops and houses, both of Muslims and Christians. The Muslim population either fled to Harran or took refuge in the citadel with the Turkish garrison.[197]
Meanwhile, Nur al-Din Zengi was busy fighting the Principality of Antioch, seizing several castles in the north of Syria. But when he heard of Joscelin’s new offensive, Nur al-Din ceased his campaign against Antioch and ordered a levée en masse throughout his domains.[201][202] He also appealed to the neighbouring Turkish governors for aid.[202] He marched from Aleppo to Edessa with an army of 10,000.[201][196] He arrived on 2 November and set about besieging the city with trebuchets.[202][203] Through a spy, Joscelin had advanced knowledge of his arrival.[197] When Joscelin realized that he was trapped between the besiegers and the garrison in the citadel, he chose to abandon the city. The Syriac sources claim that this decision was made without consulting the citizenry, but that after it was made the military leaders forced the citizens to leave during the night. This account has been questioned. Since the citizens are otherwise portrayed as collaborators, it would hardly have made sense for them to stay. It is possible, however, that the Syriac citizens had stood aloof while the Armenians collaborated.[201]
The retreat was a disaster. The Crusaders were caught in the gate and massacred. Joscelin and a band of twenty knights escaped to the Water Tower, but were unable to defend it and fled in secret. The Christian survivors made their way to the Euphrates river, a distance of fourteen miles.[201] Baldwin was in the vanguard leading the retreat while Joscelin in the rear.[197] The following day, on 3 November, Joscelin ordered a counterattack on the pursuing Zengids.[202] He led the attack from the west while Baldwinicounterattacked from the east. Both were routed and Baldwin was killed in the attempt. Joscelyn was wounded in the side by an arrow, but escaped to Samosata.[201] There he was joined by the Syriac bishop, Basil bar Shumna.[202] By December, Nur al-Din was in control of the city.[201] He had the walls razed.[204]
The men of Edessa were massacred, the women and children enslaved. Michael the Syrian estimates the total number of dead from both sieges of Edessa at 30,000 with a further 16,000 enslaved. He estimates that only about 1,000 Edessan men escaped to freedom and no women or children.[197][205] At the end of 1146, the city was empty save for the corpses.[206] The Armenian bishop John was captured and taken to Aleppo.[202][207] It was "far worse than the first [siege] and the city never recovered its former prominence".[196] It was also the "fatal blow to the county" of Edessa.[207] The County of Edessa was now history. The expedition was doomed from the beginning due to After the Frankish attempt to reoccupy Edessa, Nur al-Din massacred the local Armenian Christian population of the city and destroyed its fortifications [204] in punishment for assisting Joscelin in this attempt. The women and children of Edessa were enslaved.[208]
After Zengi's death, the atabeg of Damascus, Mu'in ad-Din Unur, took the opportunity to besiege Baalbek. Its governor, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Saladin, quickly surrendered to him. Mu'in ad-Din also asserted control over Homs and Hama. Unur was always suspicious of Nur al-Din's power, so he negotiated with Melisende of Jerusalem a joint offensive against the Zengids. However, Baldwin II of Jerusalem, willing to undermine his mother’s authority ruined all of her plans by allying with Altuntash, the Damascene governor of Bosra and Salkhad in the Hauran region who was rebelling against Unur in the spring of 1147.[209] Baldwin agreed to help only if Altuntash surrendered the cities of Salkhad and Bosra, [210] even though the seizure of those cities meant breaking a treaty with Damascus[211]
After the Crusaders betrayed him, Unur quickly negotiated an alliance with Nur al-Din, ruler of Aleppo. Nur al-Din married Unur's daughter Ismat ad-Din Khatun. Having established peace with Zengid Aleppo, Unur set out to meet the Crusader host, which Baldwin led in an invasion of the Hauran. Soon after the Crusader march began, the Damascene army under Unur showed up in great strength to contest their advance. Many Crusader soldiers were eager for battle, but more cautious heads prevailed. Posting extra guards to watch for a surprise attack, the Frankish army made camp and spent the night. After a council of war the next day, Baldwin and his officers determined to continue the expedition to Bosra in a fighting march. The Crusader army moved in the usual formation when opposed by an army of Turkish horse archers. Provision was made to oppose attacks on the van, the flanks and the rear. The Frankish foot soldiers marched in close formation with foot archers ready to fire back at the Turkish horse archers and spearmen ready to repel a direct attack. "In order to maintain the solidity of the column, the pace of the mounted troops was made to conform to that of the infantry."[212]
For four days, the Crusaders advanced toward their intended goal, under constant archery and probing attacks. Further, the soldiers were bedeviled by thirst in the hot summer weather. When they arrived at Bosra, the Franks managed to obtain water and other supplies. However Crusaders' high hopes were dashed when they found that Altuntash's wife had let Damascene troops into Bosra's citadel. Unwilling to besiege Bosra close to the pursuing Damascene army under Unur, Baldwin elected to withdraw.
The Franks suffered even worse on their return march from the heat, dust and constant harassment by the Turks. Damascene attacks on the Crusader supply line caused starvation and thirst among the Christians. One day, the Turks set fire to the dry brush upwind of the Franks, adding to their misery. The Crusaders carried their dead and wounded with them so that their enemies would not be encouraged by their losses. "Any man who left his place in the ranks was threatened with severe penalties."[213] Leaving the ranks without permission was forbidden. However, one exception was that a knight was allowed to rescue a Christian if he was about to be killed by a Muslim.
As the Franks neared their own territories, the Damascenes redoubled their attacks on the Crusader rearguard, trying to separate it from the rest of the formation. Near the moment of crisis, a Turk fighting with the Crusaders rode out without leave and killed an opponent in personal combat. This so dismayed the Damascenes and encouraged the Franks that "excuses were found for his breach of orders."[209] Ultimately, the Turks were unable to stop the Crusader army from recrossing the Jordan River and safely returning to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The running battle lasted twelve days. Following the battle both Bosra and Salkhad then surrendered to Unur.[214] Baldwin’s defeat served to increase Melisende's power at Baldwin's expense.[215][216] Meanwhile, Nur al-Din launched a new campaign against the Principality of Antioch, where he was able to seize Artah, Kafar Latha, and Bara.
Reconquista in Iberia
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In the spring of 1147, the Pope authorized the expansion of the crusade into the Iberian Peninsula, in the context of the Reconquista. He also authorized Alfonso VII of León and Castile to equate his campaigns against the Moors with the rest of the Second Crusade.[191] In May 1147, the first contingents of crusaders left from Dartmouth in England for the Holy Land. Bad weather forced the ships to stop on the Portuguese coast, at the northern city of Porto on 16 June 1147. There they were convinced to meet with King Afonso I of Portugal.[217]
The crusaders agreed to help the king attack Lisbon, with a solemn agreement that offered to them the pillage of the city's goods and the ransom money for expected prisoners. However, some of the crusader forces were hesitant to help, remembering a previous failed attempt on the city by a combined force of Portuguese and northern crusaders during the earlier siege of Lisbon in 1142.[218] The 1147 siege of Lisbon lasted from 1 July to 25 October, when the Moorish rulers agreed to surrender primarily due to hunger within the city. Most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, but some of them set sail and continued to the Holy Land.[217] Some of them, who had departed earlier, helped capture Santarém earlier in the same year. Later they also helped to conquer Sintra, Almada, Palmela and Setúbal, and they were allowed to stay in the conquered lands, where they settled down and had offspring.
Almost at the same time on the peninsula, King Alfonso VII of León, Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and others led a mixed army of Catalan, Leonese, Castilian and French crusaders against the rich port city of Almería. With support from a Genoese–Pisan navy, the city was occupied in October 1147.[191]
Ramon Berenguer then invaded the lands of the Almoravid taifa kingdom of Valencia and Murcia. The fraction of the crusading forces which had aided the Portuguese in the capture of Lisbon were encouraged to participate in the proposed siege of Tortosa by the Count of Barcelona and the English Papal envoy Nicholas Breakspear. In December 1148, he captured Tortosa after a five-month siege—again with the help of French, Rhenish, Flemish, Anglo-Norman and Genoese crusaders. A large number of crusader forces were rewarded with lands inside and in the vicinity of the newly captured city.[219] The next year, Fraga, Lleida and Mequinenza in the confluence of the Segre and Ebro rivers fell to his army.[220]
Forces
[edit]Muslims
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The professional soldiers of the Muslim states, who were usually ethnic Turks, tended to be very well-trained and equipped. The basis of the military system in the Islamic Middle East was the iqta' system of fiefs, which supported a certain number of troops in every district. In the event of war, the ahdath militias, based in the cities under the command of the ra’is (chief), and who were usually ethnic Arabs, were called upon to increase the number of troops. The ahdath militia, though less well trained than the Turkish professional troops, were often very strongly motivated by religion, especially the concept of jihad. Further support came from Turkmen and Kurdish auxiliaries, who could be called upon in times of war, though these forces were prone to indiscipline.[222]
The principal Islamic commander was Mu'in ad-Din Unur, the atabeg of Damascus from 1138 to 1149. Damascus was supposedly ruled by the Burid dynasty of Damascus, but Anur, who commanded the military, was the real ruler of the city. The historian David Nicolle described Anur as an able general and diplomat, also well known as a patron of the arts. Because the Burid dynasty was displaced in 1154 by the Zengid dynasty, Anur's role in repulsing the Second Crusade has been largely erased with historians and chroniclers loyal to the Zengids giving the credit to Anur's rival, Nur al-Din Zengi, the emir of Aleppo.[223]
Crusaders
[edit]The German contingent comprised about 20,000 knights; the French contingent had about 700 knights from the king's lands while the nobility raised smaller numbers of knights; and the Kingdom of Jerusalem had about 950 knights and 6,000 infantrymen.[224]
The French knights preferred to fight on horseback, while the German knights liked to fight on foot. The Byzantine Greek chronicler John Kinnamos wrote "the French are particularly capable of riding horseback in good order and attacking with the spear, and their cavalry surpasses that of the Germans in speed. The Germans, however, are able to fight on foot better than the French and excel in using the great sword."[225]
Conrad III was considered to be a brave knight, though often described as indecisive in moments of crisis.[226] Louis VII was a devout Christian with a sensitive side who was often attacked by contemporaries like Bernard of Clairvaux for being more in love with his wife Eleanor than he was interested in war or politics.[227]
Stephen, King of England did not participate in the second crusade due to internal conflicts in his kingdom.[228] Meanwhile, King David I of Scotland was dissuaded by his subjects from joining the crusade himself.[229]
In the East
[edit]
On 16 February 1147, the French crusaders met at Étampes to discuss their route. The Germans had already decided to travel overland through Hungary; they regarded the sea route as politically impractical because Roger II of Sicily was an enemy of Conrad. Many of the French nobles distrusted the land route, which would take them through the Byzantine Empire, the reputation of which still suffered from the accounts of the First Crusaders. Nevertheless, the French decided to follow Conrad, and to set out on 15 June. Roger II took offence and refused to participate any longer. In France, Abbot Suger was elected by a great council at Étampes (and appointed by the Pope) to act as one of the regents during the king's absence on crusade. In Germany, further preaching was done by Adam of Ebrach, and Otto of Freising also took the cross. The Germans planned to set out at Easter, but did not leave until May.[230]
German route
[edit]The German crusaders, accompanied by the papal legate and cardinal Theodwin, intended to meet the French in Constantinople. Ottokar III of Styria joined Conrad at Vienna, and Conrad's enemy Géza II of Hungary allowed them to pass through unharmed. When the German army of 20,000 men arrived in Byzantine territory, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos feared they were going to attack him, and had Byzantine troops posted to ensure against trouble. A brief skirmish with some of the more unruly Germans occurred near Philippopolis and in Adrianople, where the Byzantine general Prosouch fought with Conrad's nephew, the future emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. To make matters worse, some of the German soldiers were killed in a flood at the beginning of September. On 10 September, however, they arrived at Constantinople, where relations with Manuel were poor, resulting in the Battle of Constantinople, after which the Germans became convinced that they should cross into Anatolia as quickly as possible.[231] Manuel wanted Conrad to leave some of his troops behind, to assist in defending against attacks from Roger II, who had taken the opportunity to plunder the cities of Greece, but Conrad did not agree, despite being a fellow enemy of Roger.[232]
In Anatolia, Conrad decided not to wait for the French, but marched towards Iconium, capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Conrad split his army into two divisions. Much of the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the western provinces of Anatolia was more nominal than real, with much of the provinces being a no-man's land controlled by Turkish nomads.[233] Conrad underestimated the length of the march against Anatolia, and anyhow assumed that the authority of Emperor Manuel was greater in Anatolia than was in fact the case.[234] Conrad took the knights and the best troops with himself to march overland while sending the camp followers with Otto of Freising to follow the coastal road.[234] The Seljuks almost totally destroyed King Conrad's party on 25 October 1147 at the second battle of Dorylaeum.[235]
In battle, the Turks used their typical tactic of pretending to retreat, and then returning to attack the small force of German cavalry which had separated from the main army to chase them. Conrad began a slow retreat back to Constantinople, his army harassed daily by the Turks, who attacked stragglers and defeated the rearguard.[236] Conrad himself was wounded in a skirmish with them. The other division of the German force, led by the King's half-brother, Bishop Otto of Freising, had marched south to the Mediterranean coast and was similarly defeated early in 1148.[237] The force led by Otto ran out of food while crossing inhospitable countryside and was ambushed by the Seljuks near Laodicea on 16 November 1147. The majority of Otto's force were either killed in battle or captured and sold into slavery.[234]
French route
[edit]
The French crusaders had departed from Metz in June 1147, led by Louis, Thierry of Alsace, Renaut I of Bar, Amadeus III of Savoy and his half-brother William V of Montferrat, William VII of Auvergne, and others, along with armies from Lorraine, Brittany, Burgundy and Aquitaine. A force from Provence, led by Alphonse of Toulouse, chose to wait until August, and to cross by sea. At Worms, Louis joined with crusaders from Normandy and England. They followed Conrad's route fairly peacefully, although Louis came into conflict with King Géza II of Hungary, when Géza discovered that Louis had allowed a failed Hungarian usurper, Boris Kalamanos, to join his army. Relations within Byzantine territory were also grim, and the Lorrainers, who had marched ahead of the rest of the French, also came into conflict with the slower Germans whom they met on the way.[238]
Since the original negotiations between Louis and Manuel I, Manuel had broken off his military campaign against Rûm, signing a truce with his enemy Sultan Mesud I. Manuel did this to give himself a free hand to concentrate on defending his empire from the crusaders, who had gained a reputation for theft and treachery since the First Crusade and were widely suspected of harbouring sinister designs on Constantinople. Nevertheless, Manuel's relations with the French army were somewhat better than with the Germans, and Louis was entertained lavishly in Constantinople. Some of the French were outraged by Manuel's truce with the Seljuks and called for an alliance with Roger II and an attack on Constantinople, but Louis restrained them.[239]
When the armies from Savoy, Auvergne and Montferrat joined Louis in Constantinople, having taken the land route through Italy and crossing from Brindisi to Durazzo, the entire army took ship across the Bosporus to Anatolia. The Greeks were encouraged by rumours that the Germans had captured Iconium, but Manuel refused to give Louis any Byzantine troops. Roger II of Sicily had just invaded Byzantine territory, and Manuel needed all his army in the Peloponnese. Both the Germans and French therefore entered Asia without any Byzantine assistance, unlike the armies of the First Crusade. Following the example set by his grandfather Alexios I, Manuel had the French swear to return to the Empire any territory they captured.[240]
The French met the remnants of Conrad's army at Lopadion, and Conrad joined Louis's force. They followed Otto of Freising's route, moving closer to the Mediterranean coast, and arrived at Ephesus in December, where they learned that the Turks were preparing to attack them. Manuel also sent ambassadors complaining about the pillaging and plundering that Louis had done along the way, and there was no guarantee that the Byzantines would assist them against the Turks. Meanwhile, Conrad fell sick and returned to Constantinople, where Manuel attended to him personally, and Louis, paying no attention to the warnings of a Turkish attack, marched out from Ephesus with the French and German survivors. The Turks were indeed waiting to attack, but in at the Battle of Ephesus on 24 December 1147, the French proved victorious.[241] The French fended off another Turkish ambush at the Battle of the Meander in the same month.
They reached Laodicea on the Lycus early in January 1148, just after Otto of Freising's army had been destroyed in the same area.[242] Resuming the march, the vanguard under Amadeus of Savoy became separated from the rest of the army at the Battle of Mount Cadmus, where Louis's troops suffered heavy losses from the Turks (6 January 1148). Louis himself, according to Odo of Deuil, climbed a rock and was ignored by the Turks, who did not recognize him. The Turks did not bother to attack further and the French marched on to Attalia, continually harassed from afar by the Turks, who had also burned the land to prevent the French from replenishing their food, both for themselves and their horses. Louis no longer wanted to continue by land, and it was decided to gather a fleet at Attalia and to sail for Antioch.[235] After being delayed for a month by storms, most of the promised ships did not arrive at all. Louis and his associates claimed the ships for themselves, while the rest of the army had to resume the long march to Antioch. The army was almost entirely destroyed, either by the Turks or by sickness.[243]
Journey to Jerusalem
[edit]
Though delayed by storms, Louis eventually arrived in Antioch on 19 March; Amadeus of Savoy had died in Cyprus along the way. Louis was welcomed by Eleanor's uncle Raymond of Poitiers.
Raymond expected him to help defend against the Turks and to accompany him on an expedition against Aleppo, the Muslim city that functioned as the gateway to Edessa, but Louis refused, preferring instead to finish his pilgrimage to Jerusalem rather than focus on the military aspect of the crusade.[244]
Eleanor enjoyed her stay, but her uncle implored her to remain to enlarge family lands and divorce Louis if the king refused to help what was assuredly the military cause of the Crusade.[245] During this period, there were rumours of an affair between Raymond and Eleanor, which caused tensions in the marriage between Louis and Eleanor.[246]
Louis quickly left Antioch for Tripoli with Eleanor under arrest. Meanwhile, Otto of Freising and the remnant of his troops arrived in Jerusalem early in April, and Conrad soon after.[247] Fulk, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, was sent to invite Louis to join them. The fleet that had stopped at Lisbon arrived around this time, as well as the Provençals who had left Europe under the command of Alfonso Jordan, Count of Toulouse.
Alfonso himself did not reach Jerusalem; he died at Caesarea, supposedly poisoned by Raymond II of Tripoli, the nephew who feared his political aspirations in the county. The claim that Raymond had poisoned Alfonso caused much of the Provençal force to turn back and return home.[245] The original focus of the crusade was Edessa, but the preferred target of King Baldwin III and of the Knights Templar was Damascus.[244]
In response to the arrival of the crusaders, the regent of Damascus, Mu'in ad-Din Unur, started making feverish preparations for war, strengthening the fortifications of Damascus, ordering troops to his city and having the water sources along the road to Damascus destroyed or diverted. Unur sought help from the Zangid rulers of Aleppo and Mosul (who were normally his rivals), though forces from these states did not arrive in time to see combat outside of Damascus. It is almost certain that the Zangid rulers delayed sending troops to Damascus out of the hope that their rival Unur might lose his city to the crusaders.[248]
Council of Palmarea
[edit]The nobility of Jerusalem welcomed the arrival of troops from Europe. A council to decide on the best target for the crusaders took place on 24 June 1148, when the High Court of Jerusalem met with the recently arrived crusaders from Europe at Palmarea, near Acre, a major city of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. This was the most spectacular meeting of the Court in its existence.[235][249]
In the end, the decision was made to attack the city of Damascus, a former ally of the Kingdom of Jerusalem that had shifted its allegiance to that of the Zengids, and attacked the Kingdom's allied city of Bosra in 1147.[250] Historians have long seen the decision to besiege Damascus rather than Edessa as "an act of inexplicable folly". Noting the tensions between Unur, the atabeg of Damascus, and the growing power of the Zangids, many historians have argued that it would have been better for the crusaders to focus their energy against the Zangids. More recently, historians such as David Nicolle have defended the decision to attack Damascus, arguing that Damascus was the most powerful Muslim state in southern Syria, and that if the Christians held Damascus, they would have been in a better position to resist the rising power of Nur ad-Din. Since Unur was clearly the weaker of the two Muslim rulers, it was believed that it was inevitable that Nur ad-Din would take Damascus sometime in the near future, and thus it seemed better for the crusaders to hold that city rather than the Zangids.[251] In July their armies assembled at Tiberias and marched to Damascus, around the Sea of Galilee by way of Banias. There were perhaps 50,000 troops in total.[252]
Siege of Damascus
[edit]The crusaders decided to attack Damascus from the west, where orchards would provide them with a constant food supply.[235] They arrived at Darayya on 23 July. The following day, the Muslims were prepared for the attack and constantly attacked the army advancing through the orchards outside Damascus. The defenders had sought help from Sayf al-Din Ghazi I of Mosul and Nur ad-Din of Aleppo, who personally led an attack on the crusader camp. The crusaders were pushed back from the walls into the orchards, leaving them exposed to ambushes and guerrilla attacks.[244]
According to William of Tyre, on 27 July the crusaders decided to move to the plain on the eastern side of the city, which was less heavily fortified but had much less food and water.[235] It was recorded by some that Unur had bribed the leaders to move to a less defensible position, and that Unur had promised to break off his alliance with Nur ad-Din if the crusaders went home.[244] Meanwhile, Nur ad-Din and Sayf al-Din had arrived. With Nur ad-Din in the field it was impossible for the crusaders to return to their better position.[244] The local crusader lords refused to carry on with the siege, and the three kings had no choice but to abandon the city.[235] First Conrad, then the rest of the army, decided to retreat to Jerusalem on 28 July, though for their entire retreat they were followed by Turkish archers who constantly harassed them.[253]
Aftermath
[edit]The crusaders were victorious in the west, where they conquered several territories—including Lisbon, which would later became the capital of Portugal and thus the Portuguese Empire.[254]
In the east, each of the Christian forces felt betrayed by the other.[235] A new plan was made to attack Ascalon and Conrad took his troops there, but no further help arrived, due to the lack of trust that had resulted from the failed siege. This mutual distrust would linger for a generation due to the defeat, to the ruin of the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land. After quitting Ascalon, Conrad returned to Constantinople to further his alliance with Manuel. Louis remained behind in Jerusalem until 1149. The discord also extended to the marriage of Louis and Eleanor, which had been falling apart during the course of the Crusade. In April 1149, Louis and Eleanor, who were barely on speaking terms by this time, pointedly boarded separate ships to take them back to France.[255]
Back in Europe, Bernard of Clairvaux was humiliated by the defeat. Bernard considered it his duty to send an apology to the Pope and it is inserted in the second part of his Book of Consideration. There, he explains how the sins of the crusaders were the cause of their misfortune and failures. When his attempt to call a new crusade failed, he tried to disassociate himself from the fiasco of the Second Crusade altogether.[256] He would die in 1153.[256]
The cultural impact of the Second Crusade was even greater in France, with many troubadours fascinated by the alleged affair between Eleanor and Raymond, which helped to feed the theme of courtly love. Unlike Conrad, the image of Louis was improved by the Crusade with many of the French seeing him as a suffering pilgrim king who quietly bore God's punishments.[257]
Relations between the Eastern Roman Empire and the French were badly damaged by the Crusade. Louis and other French leaders openly accused the Emperor Manuel I of colluding with Turkish attacks on them during the march across Anatolia. The memory of the Second Crusade was to colour French views of the Byzantines for the rest of the 12th and 13th centuries. Within the empire itself, the crusade was remembered as a triumph of diplomacy.[258] In the eulogy for the Emperor Manuel by Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica, it was declared, "He was able to deal with his enemies with enviable skill, playing off one against the other with the aim of bringing peace and tranquility".[258]
In the East the situation was much darker for the Christians. In the Holy Land, the Second Crusade had disastrous long-term consequences for Jerusalem. In 1149, the atabeg Anur died, at which point Abu Sa'id Mujir al-Din Abaq Ibn Muhammad began to rule as emir. The ra'is of Damascus and commander of the ahdath military Mu'ayad al-Dawhal Ibn al-Sufi feel that since his ahdath had played a major role in defeating the Second Crusade that he deserved a greater share of the power, and within two months of Anur's death was leading a rebellion against Abaq. The in-fighting within Damascus was to lead to the end of the Burid state within five years. Damascus no longer trusted the crusader kingdom and was taken by Nur ad-Din after a short siege in 1154.[259]
Baldwin III finally seized Ascalon in 1153, which brought Egypt into the sphere of conflict. Jerusalem was able to make further advances into Egypt, briefly occupying Cairo in the 1160s.[260] However, relations with the Byzantine Empire were mixed, and reinforcements from Europe were sparse after the disaster of the Second Crusade. King Amalric I of Jerusalem allied with the Byzantines and participated in a combined invasion of Egypt in 1169, but the expedition ultimately failed. In 1171, Saladin, nephew of one of Nur ad-Din's generals, was proclaimed Sultan of Egypt, uniting Egypt and Syria and completely surrounding the crusader kingdom. Meanwhile, the Byzantine alliance ended with the death of Emperor Manuel I in 1180, and in 1187, Jerusalem capitulated to Saladin. His forces then spread north to capture all but the capital cities of the Crusader States, precipitating the Third Crusade.[261]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Tyerman 2006, pp. 275–281.
- ^ Basan 2010, p. 90.
- ^ Basan 2010, p. 91.
- ^ a b c Shaker, Mustafa. دخول الترك الغز إلى الشام Entering of Turks to Sham. pp. 307، 314، 315.
- ^ Basan 2010, p. 92.
- ^ Basan 2010, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Basan 2010, p. 99.
- ^ Alptekin, Cojkun (1972). The Reign of Zangi (PDF). University of London. pp. 33–36.
- ^ a b c d e Küçüksipahioğlu, Birsel (30 June 2020). "Mosul and Aleppo Governor Imad Al-Din Zangi's Fight Against the Crusaders". Journal of Oriental Studies (36): 104. doi:10.26650/jos.2020.005.
Staying in Mosul until the death of Sultān Muhammad Tapar in 1118, Zengi then entered the service of the Sultān's son and the new Seljuk ruler Mahmūd (1118–1119), remaining loyal to him to the end. With the new era introduced with the defeat of Sultān Mahmūd in the Sāveh battle he engaged his uncle Sanjar in 1119, which opened the way for Sanjar (1119–1157) to accede to the throne of Great Seljuk Empire, Mahmūd was assigned to the Iraqi Seljuk Sultānate (1119–1131), continuing his rule there. In 1124, Sultān Mahmūd granted the city of Wasit to Imad al-Din Zangi as a ıqta, and conferred him the Military Governorship of Basra together with Baghdad and Iraq in 1127. The reason behind such assignments was to attempt to impede Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid (1118–1135) who then wished to build a worldwide dominance. Indeed, the efforts of Zangi in the fight of Mahmūd, whom Sanjar urgently sent to Baghdad, against the Caliph ensured the Sultān became victorious, and he contributed to the efforts in damaging the sole authority and dominance claims of the Caliph. Following the deaths of Mosul Governor Aq-Sunqur el-Porsuqi and his successor and son Mas'ud in the same year in 1127, Zangi was appointed Governor of Mosul. He was also in charge of al-Jazeera and Northern Syria, and Sultān Mahmūd approved him being assigned as the Atabeg of his two sons, Farrukh shah and Alparsalan. Thus the Atabegdom of Mosul was formed.
- ^ Falk, Avner (8 May 2018). Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-429-89969-0.
- ^ McHugo, John (2 April 2018). A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi'is. Georgetown University Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-62616-588-5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Alptekin, Cojkun (1972). The Reign of Zangi (PDF). University of London. pp. 38–44.
- ^ Ibn al-‘Adim, Zubda, vol. 2, p. 471
- ^ Runciman 1989, p. 182.
- ^ Runciman 1989, pp. 182–183.
- ^ a b Runciman 1989, p. 183.
- ^ Nicholson 1969, p. 431.
- ^ a b c d e Barber 2012, p. 152.
- ^ Barber 2012, p. 395.
- ^ a b c d Asbridge 2003, p. 32.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 31.
- ^ a b Maalouf 1984, p. 115.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 30.
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 183.
- ^ a b Runciman 1952, p. 188.
- ^ a b Asbridge 2003, p. 33.
- ^ Norwich 1992, p. 473.
- ^ Murray 2016, p. 85.
- ^ a b c d e Runciman 1952, p. 184.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 34.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 35.
- ^ Runciman 1989b, p. 184.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 36.
- ^ Hillenbrand, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. p. 533 Edinburgh University Press, 1999.
- ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 149.
- ^ Runciman 1989b, pp. 184–185.
- ^ Runciman 1989b, p. 185.
- ^ Hunt, Lucy-Anne (1998). Byzantium, Eastern Christendom and Islam. Pindar. p. 284. ISBN 978-1-899828-23-4.
the tombs of the Latin Kings of Jerusalem were located inside entrance to the Holy Sepulchre, just beyond the eastern entrance […]. Theoderich [a pilgrim c. 1172] identifies the fifth tomb, that of Baldwin II, as "that of the father of the abbess of St Lazarus".
(His daughter was the abbess Ioveta.) - ^ John 2017, p. 495.
- ^ Riley-Smith 1997, pp. 55–66.
- ^ Paul 2012, p. 125-128.
- ^ a b c d e El-Azhari, Taef. Zengi and the Muslim response to the Crusades: The politics of Jihad. Routledge, 2016.
- ^ Wilson, Ian. "11 By the Sword or by an Oath: Siege Warfare in the Latin East 1097-1131". In A Military History of the Mediterranean Sea, (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2018) doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004362048_013
- ^ Elisseeff 1991, p. 380.
- ^ a b c d MacEvitt 2019, p. 682.
- ^ Maalouf, Amin (1983). Les croisades vues par les arabes. J'ai lu. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-2-290-11916-7.
- ^ Mirza, Nasseh Ahmad (1997). Syrian Ismailism: The Ever Living Line of the Imamate, AD 1100-1260. Psychology Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9780700705054.
- ^ a b Barker, Ernest (1911). "Baldwin III". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 246–247.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1978, p. 149.
- ^ a b Mayer 1972, p. 110.
- ^ Mayer 1989, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e Hamilton 1978, p. 150.
- ^ a b Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300189315.
- ^ a b Asbridge 2003, p. 37.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Lewis 2017, p. 104.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 105–106.
- ^ Barber 2012, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 107–108.
- ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 108.
- ^ a b Lock 2006, p. 41.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 108, 112.
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 190.
- ^ a b Asbridge 2003, p. 38.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 79–80, 117.
- ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 116.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 114–115.
- ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 112.
- ^ Kevin James Lewis, p. 112
- ^ Donald Sidney Richards, p. 303
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 112–113.
- ^ Kevin James Lewis, p. 113
- ^ Donald Sidney Richards, p. 303
- ^ Lewis 2017, p. 113.
- ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 153.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 46.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 40.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 42.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 43.
- ^ Mayer 1989, p. 2.
- ^ a b Mayer 1972, p. 102.
- ^ a b Mayer 1972, p. 107.
- ^ Hamilton 1978, pp. 149–150.
- ^ a b Mayer 1989, p. 4.
- ^ Barber 2012, p. 156.
- ^ a b c d Mayer 1972, p. 103.
- ^ Mayer 1972, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Mayer 1972, p. 109.
- ^ Mayer 1972, p. 106.
- ^ Venning 2015, p. 101.
- ^ Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades. Vol. 3. CUP Archive, 1987.
- ^ a b c d Barber 2012, p. 167.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1984, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Barber 2012, p. 168.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1984, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Asbridge 2003, p. 44.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, p. 45.
- ^ Buck 2020, p. 191.
- ^ Asbridge 2003, pp. 44–45.
- ^ a b c Hamilton 1984, p. 8.
- ^ a b c d Hamilton 1984, p. 9.
- ^ Runciman 1989, pp. 199–200.
- ^ a b Runciman 1989, p. 200.
- ^ Kinnamos, pp. 21–22
- ^ J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Decline and Fall, 76
- ^ Hamilton 1984, p. 11. His letter must be inferred from Innocent's encyclical..
- ^ Hamilton 1984, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 213–214.
- ^ Harris 2014, pp. 88–89
- ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 117.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 43, 134.
- ^ Runciman 1989, p. 202.
- ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 134.
- ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 135.
- ^ Lock 2006, p. 43.
- ^ a b c d e Lewis 2017, p. 136.
- ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 165.
- ^ a b Gabrieli, p 43
- ^ Lewis 2017, p. 137.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Runciman, p. 209
- ^ a b Choniates, p. 27
- ^ Dennis, p. 7
- ^ "John II", The World-wide Encyclopedia and Gazetteer, Vol. V, Ed. William Harrison De Puy, (The Christian Herald, 1908), 3654.
- ^ Runciman, p. 309
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Tibble 2020, p. 75.
- ^ Runciman, p. 215
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 216.
- ^ Choniates & Magoulias 1984, p. 17.
- ^ Birkenmeier 2002, pp. 93
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 216.
- ^ Harris 2014, pp. 89
- ^ Bucossi and Suarez, p. 87
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 215–217.
- ^ Kinnamos 1976, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Choniates & Magoulias 1984, p. 18.
- ^ Harris 2014, pp. 90
- ^ a b Hamilton 1984, p. 12.
- ^ Angold (1984), p. 156
- ^ Bucossi and Suarez, pp. 89–90
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 217–218
- ^ Choniates & Magoulias 1984, p. 18
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 216–218; Angold 1984, p. 156.
- ^ Harris 2014, pp. 90
- ^ Maalouf, Crusades Through Arab Eyes, p. 138. Also, Ibn Wasil, Mufarrij al-Kurub, p. 86
- ^ Asbridge, Thomas (2010). The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781849837705.
- ^ EI (1913), p. 543.
- ^ a b Barber 2012, p. 166.
- ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 144.
- ^ Lock 2006, p. 45.
- ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Choniates p. 22
- ^ J. Harris, Byzantium and The Crusades, p. 86
- ^ Choniates, p. 23
- ^ John Kinnamos, History I.10.
- ^ Kinnamos, pp. 28-31
- ^ Choniates, pp. 24–26
- ^ Angold (1984), pp. 157–158
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 233.
- ^ a b c d e f Hamilton 1978, p. 152.
- ^ Mayer 1972, p. 113.
- ^ a b c Mayer 1972, p. 114.
- ^ Barber 2012, p. 174.
- ^ Mayer 1972, p. 115.
- ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 176.
- ^ Barber 2012, p. 177.
- ^ a b Mayer 1972, p. 117.
- ^ Tyerman 2006, pp. 185–189.
- ^ Riley-Smith 2005, pp. 50–53.
- ^ a b Gibb, Hamilton A. R. (1969). "Zengi and the Fall of Edessa". In Setton, K. A History of the Crusades: Volume I. pp. 449–462.
- ^ Barber 2012, p. 180.
- ^ Mayer 1972, p. 118.
- ^ a b Runciman 1952, pp. 225–246, The Fall of Edessa.
- ^ Hermes 2017, p. 272.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 225–244.
- ^ a b Runciman 1952, p. 247.
- ^ J. Cinnamus, Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus, 33–35
* P. Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 40 - ^ Jotischky 2013, pp. 90–91.
- ^ a b Silverberg, pp. 3–7
- ^ Tyerman 2006, pp. 273–275.
- ^ Setton 1958, p. 466.
- ^ Halsall, Paul (1997). "Otto of Freising: The Legend of Prester John". Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Retrieved June 20, 2005.
- ^ Tyerman 2006, p. 289.
- ^ Tyerman 2006, p. 298.
- ^ Bunson 1998, p. 130.
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
d594was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Father Marie Gildas (1907). "St. Bernard of Clairvaux". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ a b c d e f g NORWICH, JOHN JU (2012). The Popes: A History. London: Vintage. ISBN 9780099565871.
- ^ Milman, Henry Hart (1854). HISTORY OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY. p. 652.
- ^ Ludlow 1896, pp. 164–167.
- ^ a b c d Riley-Smith 1991, p. 48.
- ^ Durant, Will; Durant, Ariel (1935). The age of Faith; a history of medieval civilization (Christian, Islamic, and Judaic) from Constantine to Dante, A.D. 325-1300. The Story of Civilization. Simon and Schuster. p. 594.
- ^ Tyerman 2006, pp. 281–288.
- ^ Maalouf, Crusades Through Arab Eyes, p.138
- ^ Grousset 1935, p.193-194
- ^ a b c Baldwin 1969, p. 531.
- ^ a b c d e Amouroux-Mourad 1988, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Nicholson 1973, p. 11, calls it a "strong cavalry and infantry army", while Runciman 1952, p. 240, and MacEvitt 2007, p. 97, call it "a small army".
- ^ According to Runciman 1952, p. 240. Barber 2012, p. 182 dates these events to "late in 1146, in November or December".
- ^ Nicholson 1973, p. 11, refers to the slothfulness of the Turkish guards, but Runciman 1952, p. 240, and MacEvitt 2007, p. 97, describe them as having advanced knowledge and being well prepared. Amouroux-Mourad 1988, p. 86, says there was no combat that night and also that the Armenians had opened the gates for the attackers.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nicholson 1973, pp. 10–12.
- ^ a b c d e f g Runciman 1952, p. 240.
- ^ Chevedden 1998, p. 221.
- ^ a b Tyerman 2006, p. 268.
- ^ Barber 2012, pp. 182–183.
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 240: "At Edessa itself the whole Christian population was driven into exile. The great city, which claimed to be the oldest Christian commonwealth in the world, was left empty and desolate, and has never recovered to this day."
- ^ a b MacEvitt 2007, p. 97.
- ^ Asbridge 2012, p. 1140.
- ^ a b Smail 1995, p. 129.
- ^ Beeler 1971, p. 140.
- ^ Smail 1995, p. 92.
- ^ Beeler 1971, p. 141.
- ^ Smail 1995, p. 159.
- ^ Barber 2012, pp. 182–184.
- ^ Mayer 1972, p. 124.
- ^ Baldwin, Marshall W. (1969). "The Latin States under Baldwin III and Amalric I, 1143–1174". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: Volume One. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 528–563.
- ^ a b Runciman 1952, p. 258.
- ^ Villegas-Aristizábal 2013, pp. 7–20.
- ^ Villegas-Aristizábal 2009, pp. 80–97.
- ^ Riley-Smith 1991, p. 126.
- ^ Rice, D. S. (1953). "The Aghānī Miniatures and Religious Painting in Islam". The Burlington Magazine. 95 (601): 130. ISSN 0007-6287. JSTOR 871101.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 28–30.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 19–21.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 24.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 17.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 18.
- ^ Schmieder & O'Doherty 2015, pp. 121–138.
- ^ Cowan, Mackay & Macquarrie 1983, p. 18.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 257, 259.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 42.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 259–267.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 43.
- ^ a b c Nicolle 2009, p. 46.
- ^ a b c d e f g Riley-Smith 1991, p. 50.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 47.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 267–270.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 259–263.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 268–269.
- ^ Runciman 1952, p. 269.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 270–271.
- ^ Riley-Smith 1991, p. 51.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 272–273.
- ^ a b c d e Brundage 1962, pp. 115–121.
- ^ a b Nicolle 2009, p. 54.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 18, 54.
- ^ Riley-Smith 1991, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 55.
- ^ William of Tyre, Babcock & Krey 1943, vol. 2, bk. 17, ch. 1, pp. 184–185: "it seems well worth while and quite in harmony with the present history that the names of the nobles who were present at the council... should be recorded here for the benefit of posterity ... to name each one individually would take far too long.".
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 228–229.
- ^ Baldwin & Setton 1969, p. 510.
- ^ Baldwin & Setton 1969, p. 466.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, p. 77.
- ^ a b Runciman 1952, pp. 232–234, 277.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 81–84.
- ^ a b Nicolle 2009, p. 84.
- ^ Nicolle 2009, pp. 78, 81.
- ^ Riley-Smith 1991, p. 56.
- ^ Riley-Smith 1991, p. 60.
References
[edit]- Baldwin, Marshall W.; Setton, Kenneth M. (1969). A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
- Barraclough, Geoffrey (1984). The Origins of Modern Germany. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 481. ISBN 978-0-393-30153-3.
- Berry, Virginia G. (1969). The Second Crusade (PDF). Chapter XV, A History of the Crusades, Volume I.
- Brundage, James (1962). The Crusades: A Documentary History. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press.
- Christiansen, Eric (1997). The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-14-026653-5.
- Cowan, Ian Borthwick; Mackay, P. H. R.; Macquarrie, Alan (1983). The Knights of St John of Jerusalem in Scotland. Vol. 19. Scottish History Society. ISBN 978-0-906245-03-3.
- Davies, Norman (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 1365. ISBN 978-0-06-097468-8.
- Herrmann, Joachim (1970). Die Slawen in Deutschland. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. p. 530.
- Magdalino, Paul (1993). The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143–1180. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52653-1.
- Nicolle, David (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.
- Norwich, John Julius (1995). Byzantium: the Decline and Fall. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-82377-2.
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1991). Atlas of the Crusades. New York: Facts on File.
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan (2005). The Crusades: A Short History (Second ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10128-7.
- Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-34771-6.
- Schmieder, Felicitas; O'Doherty, Marianne (2015). Travels and Mobilities in the Middle Ages: From the Atlantic to the Black Sea. Vol. 21. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers. ISBN 978-2-503-55449-5.
- Tyerman, Christopher (2006). God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Cambridge, MA: Belknap. ISBN 978-0-674-02387-1.
- Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas (2016) [2009]. Crusades. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315271590. ISBN 978-1-315-27159-0.
- Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas (2013). "Revisiting the Anglo-Norman Crusaders' Failed Attempt to Conquer Lisbon c. 1142". Portuguese Studies. 29 (1). doi:10.5699/portstudies.29.1.0007.
- William of Tyre; Babcock, E. A.; Krey, A. C. (1943). A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. Columbia University Press. OCLC 310995.
Further reading
[edit]Primary sources
[edit]- Osbernus. De expugniatione Lyxbonensi. The Conquest of Lisbon. Edited and translated by Charles Wendell David. Columbia University Press, 1936.
- Odo of Deuil. De profectione Ludovici VII in orientem. Edited and translated by Virginia Gingerick Berry. Columbia University Press, 1948.
- Otto of Freising. Gesta Friderici I Imperatoris. The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa. Edited and translated by Charles Christopher Mierow. Columbia University Press, 1953.
- The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusaders, extracted and translated from the Chronicle of Ibn al-Qalanisi. Edited and translated by H. A. R. Gibb. London, 1932.
- O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniatēs, trans. Harry J. Magoulias. Wayne State University Press, 1984.
- John Cinnamus, Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus, trans. Charles M. Brand. Columbia University Press, 1976.
Secondary sources
[edit]- Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W., eds. (1969) [1955]. A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years (Second ed.). Madison, Milwaukee, and London: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-04834-9.
- Ferzoco, George. "The Origin of the Second Crusade". In Gervers (see below), and available online.
- Gervers, Michael, ed. The Second Crusade and the Cistercians. St. Martin's Press, 1992.
- Harris, Jonathan (2014). Byzantium and The Crusades. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-78093-767-0.
- Phillips, Jonathan, and Martin Hoch, eds. The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences. Manchester University Press, 2001.
- Phillips, Jonathan (2007). The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom. Yale University Press.
External links
[edit]
- Second Crusade
- 12th-century crusades
- 1140s conflicts
- 12th-century Christianity
- 12th century in religion
- Crusader–Fatimid wars
- Wars involving the Kingdom of Jerusalem
- Wars involving the Holy Roman Empire
- Wars involving the Byzantine Empire
- 1140s in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
- 12th century in the Fatimid Caliphate
- Wars involving the Nizari Ismaili state