3rd crusade. Preparing for the hike

The news of what happened in the East was not immediately received in Europe, and the movement began in the West no earlier than 1188. The first news of events in the Holy Land came to Italy. There was no room for hesitation at that time for the Pope. All church politics in the 12th century it turned out to be false; all the means used by Christians to retain the Holy Land were in vain. It was necessary to maintain both the honor of the church and the spirit of all Western Christianity. Despite any difficulties and obstacles, the pope took under his protection the idea of ​​raising the Third Crusade. In the near future, several definitions were drawn up with the goal of spreading the idea of ​​​​a crusade throughout all Western states. The cardinals, amazed by the events in the East, gave the pope their word to take part in raising the campaign and preaching to go through it bare feet in Germany, France and England. The pope decided to use all church means to facilitate participation in the campaign, if possible, for all classes. For this purpose, an order was made to stop internal wars, the sale of fiefs was made easier for the knights, debt collection was delayed, and it was announced that any assistance in the liberation of the Christian East would be accompanied by absolution.

It is known that the Third Campaign took place under circumstances more favorable than the first two. Three crowned heads took part in it - the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French King Philip II Augustus and the English King Richard the Lionheart. The only thing missing in the campaign was a general guiding idea. The movement of the crusaders to the Holy Land was directed in different ways, and the very goals of the leaders who participated in the campaign were far from the same. As a result, the history of the Third Campaign breaks up into separate episodes: the Anglo-French movement, the German movement and the siege of Acre. A significant issue that for a long time prevented the French and English kings from coming to an agreement on the campaign depended on the mutual relations of France and England in the 12th century. The fact is that on the English throne sat the Plantagenets, the counts of Anjou and Mena, who received the English throne as a result of the marriage of one of them to the heiress of William the Conqueror. Every English king, while remaining at the same time the Count of Anjou and Maine, the Duke of Aquitaine and Guienne, which was also annexed here, had to give the French king an oath of fealty to these lands. By the time of the Third Campaign, the English king was Henry II Plantagenet, and the French king was Philip II Augustus. Both kings found an opportunity to harm each other due to the fact that their lands in France were adjacent. The English king had his two sons, John and Richard, as rulers of his French regions. Philip entered into an alliance with them, armed them against his father and more than once put Henry of England in a very difficult position. Richard was wooed by the French king's sister Alice, who then lived in England. Rumors spread that Henry II had an affair with his son's fiancée; it is clear that this kind of rumor should have influenced Richard's disposition towards Henry II. The French king took advantage of this circumstance and began to fan hostility between son and father. He incited Richard, and the latter betrayed his father by giving fealty to the French king; this fact only contributed more development enmity between the French and English kings. There was one more circumstance that prevented both kings from filing possible ambulance Eastern Christians. The French king, wanting to stock up on significant funds for the upcoming campaign, declared a special tax in his state under the name of “Saladin's tithe.” This tax applied to the possessions of the king himself, secular princes and even the clergy; no one, due to the importance of the enterprise, was exempt from paying the “Saladin tithe”. The imposition of tithes on the church, which had never paid any taxes, and which itself still enjoyed the collection of tithes, aroused discontent among the clergy, who began to put an obstacle to this measure and make it difficult for royal officials to collect the “Saladin tithe.” Nevertheless, this measure was carried out quite successfully in both France and England and provided a lot of funds for the Third Crusade.

Meanwhile, during the collections, disrupted by war and internal uprisings, the English king Henry II died (1189), and the inheritance of the English crown passed into the hands of Richard, a friend of the French king. Now both kings could boldly and amicably begin to implement the ideas of the Third Crusade. In 1190 the kings set out on a campaign. The success of the Third Crusade was greatly influenced by the participation of the English king. Richard, man highest degree energetic, lively, irritable, acting under the influence of passion, he was far from the idea of ​​a general plan, and sought first of all knightly deeds and glory. His very preparations for the campaign reflected his character traits too clearly. Richard surrounded himself with a brilliant retinue and knights; for his army, according to contemporaries, he spent as much in one day as other kings spent in a month. When getting ready to go on a campaign, he transferred everything into money; he either leased out his possessions, or mortgaged them and sold them. Thus he actually raised enormous funds; his army was well-armed. It would seem that good funds and a large armed army should have ensured the success of the enterprise. Part of the English army left England on ships, while Richard himself crossed the English Channel to connect with the French king and direct his way through Italy. This movement began in the summer of 1190. Both kings intended to go together, but the large number of troops and the difficulties that arose during the delivery of food and fodder forced them to separate. The French king led the way and in September 1190 arrived in Sicily and stopped in Messina, waiting for his ally. When the English king arrived here, the movement allied troops was delayed by the considerations that it was inconvenient to start a campaign in the fall by sea; Thus, both troops spent the autumn and winter in Sicily until the spring of 1191.

The Crusades as a military-religious phenomenon arose during the reign of Pope Gregory the Seventh and were aimed at liberating Palestine and Jerusalem, where the Holy Sepulcher was located, from the “infidels,” as well as spreading Christianity by military means among pagans, Muslims, residents of Orthodox states and heretical movements . In subsequent centuries, the crusades were carried out mainly for the Christianization of the population of the Baltic states, the suppression of heretical manifestations in a number of European countries or to solve some personal problems of the persons who headed the throne in the Vatican.

There were nine military campaigns in total. What the main participants of the Third were striving for approximately reflects their claims in a specific campaign in general outline So:

Who went on the Crusades?

The rank and file of the Third Crusade was not very different in composition from the contingent that had taken part in similar actions previously. For example, numerous French nobles of that time took part in the first campaign, who, with their squads and the monks and ordinary people who joined them (there were even children ready to go against the “infidels” in the name of the forgiveness of all sins promised by the pope) in various ways came to Constantinople and crossed the Bosphorus in 1097.

Three hundred thousand crusaders took part in one of the campaigns

The total number of crusaders reached approximately a third of a million people. Two years later, they fought their way to Jerusalem, slaughtering a significant part of the Muslim population living here. Then the knights and their troops waged wars with both Muslims and Greeks, Byzantines, etc. They founded several Christian states on the territory of Lebanon, which controlled trade between Europe, China and India until new routes were opened to the Asian lands through Eastern Rus'. They also tried to control trade through the Russian lands with the help of the crusaders, which is why supporters of this military-religious movement remained for the longest time in the Baltic states.

Ancient Edessa as a reason for war

Participants in the Third Crusade (1147-1149) were actually involved in the second. This event also began with the arrival of the German king Conrad with his troops in Constantinople in 1147. The prerequisites for the second wave of hostilities in the Holy Land were that Muslim civilization became more active and began to return to the lands that had been taken from it earlier. In particular, Edessa was captured, King Fulk, who also had possessions in France, died in Jerusalem, and his daughter could not provide adequate protection of interests due to the rebellion of the vassals.

Saint Bernard blessed the Germans and French on their campaign

Participants in the third crusade (actually the second, in the mid-12th century) prepared for more than one year. It was assumed that Eugene the Third would actively speak out for him, who, however, at that time was weakened as an authority by democratic movements in Italy (under the leadership of Arnold of Brescia). The French ruler, a knight in spirit, also suffered some hesitations until he was blessed for the campaign by the Pope in the person of St. Bernard, who preached a sermon on the need to free the Holy Sepulcher in 1146, inspiring the population of central and southern France. Participants in the 3rd Crusade (historians consider it the second) left France with a total number of about 70 thousand people, who were joined along the way by the same number of pilgrims. A year later, Saint Bernard caused a similar wave among the German population when he came to visit King Conrad.

Having crossed the Bosporus, the Germans of King Conrad encountered such resistance from the Seljuks that they were unable to penetrate into the interior of the country and, in the end, returned to their homeland (including Conrad and King Ludwig the Seventh). The French went along the coast of Asia Minor, and the most noble of them sailed to Syria in 1148. Almost all of them died during the transition. Edessa, recaptured by the crusaders from the “infidels,” was again conquered by the Muslims, Nur ad Din captured lands near Antioch, the Kurds under the leadership of Shirku captured Egypt, where the famous Saladin later reigned, who also subjugated Muslim Syria, Damascus and part of Mesopotamia.

Worsening relations in the East after the death of Baldwin the Fourth

In those years, Jerusalem was ruled by Baldwin the Fourth, who was seriously ill with leprosy, who was a good diplomat and successfully maintained neutrality between Jerusalem and Damascus. However, after his death, a certain Guy de Lusignan married Baldwin’s sister, proclaimed himself king of Jerusalem and began to provoke Saladin into military action, in which the latter was more than successful, having conquered almost all the lands from the crusaders.

Saladin's military successes led to the appearance of potential participants in the third crusade in Europe who wanted to take revenge on him. New military operation in the east, with the blessing of the Pope, they were led by Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip Augustus II (French) and Richard Lionheart- King of England at that time. It is worth noting that Philip and Richard clearly did not like each other. This was due to the fact that Philip was a master of intrigue (including with Richard's brother, John Lackland, who led England in the absence of the main ruler), which did not distinguish his English opponent. The latter, however, endured a lot, not using military force of your state.

Frederick Barbarossa was a cautious military leader

The heads of state participating in the Third Crusade had such relations among themselves. Frederick the First, as some historians believe, was far from such squabbles and prepared for his enterprise in the East very carefully. There is some evidence that before the campaign he held negotiations with Byzantium, and with the Iconian Sultan, and, possibly, with Sultan Saladin himself. Under an agreement with the Byzantine emperor, participants in the 3rd Crusade received free passage through the lands and the supply of provisions at predetermined prices. Hungarian king Bela, who did not participate in the campaign, led Barbarossa's army through his territory the optimal way. But during the journey, gangs of robbers began to attack the Germans. The crusaders began to include local residents dissatisfied with their rulers, which increased the number of military clashes.

What difficulties did the German participants in the Third Crusade face? Frederick 1 did not take into account that after crossing the Bosporus in March 1190, his already exhausted troops would have to march through Asia Minor, previously devastated by the wars with the Seljuks, where they would have problems with pack animals and provisions. The King of Germany won a major victory at Iconium, but in Cilicia, while crossing the mountain river Saleph, Frederick choked and died. This destroyed the success of the entire enterprise, since some of the crusaders were forced to return to Europe by sea, and the part that reached Agra (the main goal of the campaign) under the leadership of the Duke of Swabia took part in the battles along with the rest of the Christians.

Richard and Philip took the sea route

Other high-ranking members of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) arrived with their troops to besiege Agra in the spring of 1190. Along the way, Richard managed to capture Cyprus. But Agra, mainly due to the contradictions between Richard and Philip, lasted until the summer of 1191, almost two years. Some of the French knights then sailed to their homeland under the leadership of their king. But some, like Henry of Champagne, Hugo of Burgundy and others, remained to fight in Syria, where they defeated Saladin at Arsuf, but were unable to return Jerusalem. In September 1192, participants in the Third Crusade signed a peace treaty with the Sultan, according to which Christians could only visit the Holy City. Richard the Lionheart then returned to his homeland. Around the same period, the Teutonic Brotherhood appeared, which was obtained by transforming the German hospital brotherhood of St. Mary, organized during the period of the invasion of the East.

Results of the Crusades

What results did the states participating in the Third Crusade have? The table shows that Europeans and the peoples of the East, rather, lost more from these historical events. But it is worth noting that the Crusades resulted not only in death large quantities people, the weakening of medieval forms of government, but also contributed to the rapprochement between classes, different nationalities and peoples, contributed to the development of navigation and trade, the spread of Christianity, and the mutual penetration of cultural values ​​of the East and West.

The Third Crusade is the third campaign of the crusaders to the Holy Land with the aim of expelling the infidels from it. Was organized by the Pope Gregory VI II. The Third Crusade began in 1189 year and ended four years later.

Reasons for the trip

In response to the Crusades, Muslims declared holy war– jihad, which was headed Saladin. IN 1187 year, Saladin's huge army laid siege to the most sacred city in all of Palestine - Jerusalem. The garrison of the city was small, and Saladin's army outnumbered it tens of times. After a short siege, the crusaders surrendered, and they were allowed to leave the city peacefully. Jerusalem was again in Muslim hands. The Catholic Church was embittered by the loss of the Holy City and announced the Third Crusade.

Participants of the hike

In total, four of the strongest monarchs took part in the Third Crusade against the infidels Western Europe: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, English King Richard the Lionheart, Duke Leopold of Austria V and the French King Philip II August.

There is information about the number of crusader troops. Sources say that initially army of Richard the Lionheart numbered about 8 thousand x well trained warriors. The army of the French king was small - only 2 thousand warriors However, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa led a huge army numbering 100 thousand warriors from all over the empire.

The German army was able to correct the situation in the Holy Land. This army would be enough to completely rid it of the presence of Muslims. But a terrible event happened: the emperor drowned in the river, after which some of the soldiers returned to Europe, and only a small part of it reached the Holy Land, but their small number did not in any way affect the outcome of the campaign.

Fighting in the Holy Land

Christians for a long time tried to capture Acre, but they did not succeed, since the city’s defense was always strong, and to capture it they needed siege weapons, which the crusaders could not afford yet due to the lack of scaffolding. In addition, previously Christians attacked Acre only with a small force and never united into one army.

When in 1191 In the year European monarchs landed on the shores of Acre, the situation could radically change. But even here difficulties arose, enmity broke out between the French and English monarchs, the reason for it was both personal hostility and the situation with the capture of Cyprus. Richard captured Cyprus with his own hands and refused to share it with the French, since the treaty provided for the division of captured territories only among Muslims. For these reasons, the two armies could not unite.

But despite this, Acre was nevertheless besieged. The Crusaders did not allow the Muslims to send provisions to the city, due to which the defenders' forces were greatly depleted. Under the threat of starvation, the garrison of Acre began to think about surrendering the city into the hands of the crusaders. And finally July 12 the same year Muslims surrendered the city. Exactly was founded during the siege of Acre Teutonic Order, who first had to help the poor Germans.

After the capture of Acre, disagreements between the monarchs intensified even more, everything came to the point that the French monarch and his army left Acre and went back to France. Thus, Richard the Lionheart was left alone with Saladin's huge army.

After the capture of Acre, Richard and his army moved towards the Muslim city Arfus. During the campaign, he was attacked by a Muslim army. The infidels showered the crusaders with arrows. Then Richard built his troops in such a way that the cavalry was placed in the center, and the infantry with large shields was built around it, they got a kind of "boxes". With the help of such a battle formation, the crusaders moved forward, ignoring the Muslim archers. But the Knights Hospitaller could not stand it and went on the attack. Richard managed to wait a moment, and he ordered all forces to launch a decisive attack, which ended in victory for the crusaders.
After the victory, the crusader army moved to Jerusalem. The crusaders crossed the desert, after which were severely exhausted. Having approached the city, the crusaders had no strength left to besiege Jerusalem. Then Saladin invited the crusaders to leave without a fight if they left Jerusalem. Richard retreated to Acre and there he executed several thousand civilians of Arab origin, Saladin responded in kind.

The Third Crusade was drawing to a close. Richard did not want to go to Jerusalem again, but there was always a reason to return to Acre. When the French monarch planned to seize the lands of England, then ruled by Richard's brother John, Richard made a truce with Saladin and decided to return to save his crown. IN 1192 Richard left the Holy Land and the Third Crusade came to an end.

While returning home, Richard was captured Leopold V and planted the monarch to prison for two years. Richard emerged from captivity only after England paid a ransom of 23 tons of silver.

Consequences of the Third Crusade

The Third Crusade ended in complete defeat for the crusaders, although they initially managed to win several victories. Richard's victories ultimately brought no results. It was not possible to return Jerusalem to Catholic possession, and Acre was surrendered after Richard left. After the end of the crusade, the crusaders were left with only a narrow strip of coastline.

The campaign ended with the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Richard's power was undermined and all of England was endangered. Disagreements with France intensified, and Richard himself was captured, for which England ransomed him and thereby suffered economic losses.

The Muslims thereby strengthened their position in the Holy Land, and the personality of Saladin became a cult; after the victory over the crusaders, many Muslims joined him and were ready for a new invasion of the crusaders.

Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, commander and Muslim leader of the 12th century, is perhaps the only Muslim ruler who has been compared to the Prophet Muhammad. Saddam Hussein, having captured Kuwait, gladly called himself “the new Saladin.”

Most brief description This ruler, perhaps, would become one of his habits: in the saddle he read the Koran.

Saladin (or rather, Yusuf ibn Ayyub, and Saladin, Salah ad-Din is just an honorary nickname meaning “Rightness of Faith”) was born in Tikrit (now Iraq) in 1138 in a family of Kurds. His father Nayim ad-Din Ayyub was the ruler of Baalbek. In Damascus, young Saladin received a comprehensive education (including theological) and was presented at the court of the then caliph Nur ad-Din (Nureddin), where many of his relatives served.

Under the leadership of one uncle Shirkakh, Saladin went to war with the Fatimid Caliphate, where he learned the art of war. In 1164, Saladin, already the right hand of the commander Nurad-Din in the war, participated in the liberation of Egypt from the crusaders.

After the death of Nurad-Din, Salah ad-Din led the Arab army and fought with the crusaders and their states in the Holy Land. Along with the title of commander-in-chief of the Muslim army, Salah ad-Din received in 1169 the title of vizier of Egypt conquered by the Muslims.

Sunni Saladin could not greatly influence the Egyptian army, where the Shiite caliph al-Adid ruled. But when he died in September 1171, Saladin ordered the name of al-Mustadi, the Caliph of Baghdad, to be proclaimed before Friday prayers. In fact, this was the taking of all power and the removal of the previous rulers. Officially, Saladin was the viceroy of the Seljuk Sultan Nur ad-Din, but he ruled himself. He revived the economy and reformed the army. But being a wise man, he avoided in every possible way any conflicts with Nur ad-Din, his nominal ruler. It was only after his death in 1174 that Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan of Egypt and became the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Over the course of ten years, Saladin annexed lands to Egypt, capturing Hama and Damascus in 1174, and Aleppo in 1175. In October 1187, Saladin occupied Jerusalem.

King Baudouin IV of Jerusalem was a weak politician, and realizing that he was not fit for such a position, he decided to crown his infant son Baudouin V, but a dispute arose over custody. It was claimed by Guido Lusignan, son-in-law of Baudouin IV, and Raymond, Count of Tripoli.

Renaud de Chatillon, a Jerusalem aristocrat, regularly plundered Muslim caravans coming from Egypt, although this displeased not only Muslims, but also Christians, whose trade he indirectly undermined. Once Reno robbed a caravan in which Saladin's mother was. It is unlikely that this was such a strong reason for Saladin’s attack on the Christian kingdom, but it undoubtedly served as some additional impetus for making such a decision. Despite the existing truce, he declared war, and his powerful army moved from Aleppo and Mossul. In Jerusalem, only about 2 thousand knights and 15 thousand infantry were recruited, and the army advanced to the city of Tiberias to meet Saladin. Several Christian princes, including Count Raymond, seeing the size of the Muslim army, went over to Saladin’s side without any hesitation. The Christian army was destroyed, the king of Jerusalem and the prince of Antioch were captured. All prisoners, except the king, were executed. In a short time, Saladin took possession of all the Christian coastal castles and fortresses on the Mediterranean coast. Saladin perfectly understood the value of the coastal trading fortified points and therefore, having taken them, he was in no hurry to further conquer Jerusalem, Antioch, Tripoli and Tire.

In September 1187, Saladin approached Jerusalem and offered to surrender the city under the condition of granting freedom to the inhabitants, but they refused. But when the siege of the city began, the Christians, seeing the impossibility of resistance, decided to surrender, but Saladin had already demanded a ransom for each life: 10 gold coins per man, 5 gold coins per woman, and 2 gold coins per child.

On October 2, the defeated city, having prepared a generous ransom, opened the gates. Soon the remaining Christian cities were conquered, except Tire, which Count Conrad from the house of the Dukes of Montferrat came to defend from Constantinople.

The Third Crusade was assembled to liberate Jerusalem. And it was after Saladin’s battles with the participants of this campaign that he became for Europeans a terrible monster with which they scare children.

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade, which took place from 1189 to 1192, was initiated by Pope Gregory VIII and supported after his death by Clement III. Four of the most powerful European monarchs took part in the Crusade - the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French King Philip II Augustus, the Austrian Duke Leopold V (Duke of Austria) and the English King Richard I the Lionheart.

In the summer of 1190, the kings set out on a campaign. Richard, a man of passions, surrounded himself with a brilliant retinue and knights and, according to contemporaries, spent on his army as much per day as other kings spent in a month. When preparing to go on a campaign, he either leased out his possessions, or mortgaged them, or sold them, and his army was distinguished by the most the best weapons. Part of the English army went to Asia on ships, Richard himself crossed the English Channel to connect with the French king and go through Italy. Both kings thought to go together, but the large number of troops and the difficulties encountered in supplying food and fodder forced them to separate. The French king led the way and in September 1190 arrived in Sicily and stopped in Messina. Richard arrived in the fall, and it was decided to postpone the campaign until spring.

Friedrich Barbarossa

Richard the Lionheart

Leopold V. Painting by Hans Part (1489 – 1492)

Wintering together did not do the kings any good. Richard declared his claims to the Norman possessions, to which he actually had some vague right, but to which the German king also laid claim, giving his strong arguments. This quarrel later had a negative impact on the campaign. Just like the behavior of the English knights in Sicily: the local population refused to tolerate their violent behavior, and it almost came to an uprising, which Philip calmed down by acting as a mediator. By spring, the French king realized that he was not on the same path with the British, and in March 1191 he crossed to Syria, from where he set out for the city of Ptolemais (in Russian - Acre). Both Christian and Muslim forces had already been gathered here.

Richard did not hide the fact that he did not want to have anything to do with Philip after property disputes, and especially after he refused to marry his sister. Richard's fleet departed from Sicily in April 1191, but was caught in a storm, and the ship carrying Richard's new bride, Princess Berengaria of Navarre, was thrown onto the island of Cyprus, which was at that time in the power of Isaac Comnenus. Isaac declared the English king's bride his captive, and Richard was forced to start a war with Cyprus, which took a lot of time and effort. Having taken possession of the island, Richard chained Isaac Comnenus in silver chains and began to celebrate England's acquisition of its first possession in the Mediterranean. Soon the titular king of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, arrived there, and Richard, out of the breadth of his soul... gave him the conquered island. However, there was nothing super wasteful in this: England still would not have been able to hold onto the territory located so far from it.

After this, Richard arrived at Acre, where for two years, together with other kings, he took part in the siege of the city. Acre, in fact, would not have added anything to the strategic position of the Christians, and it was a waste of time, money, effort and lives, only for the sake of Guy de Lusignan, who was left without the throne.

Meanwhile, Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa decided to take part in the campaign. On May 4, 1189, intending to go through Byzantium, he entered Hungary. Bogged down for a long time in diplomatic squabbles in Europe, Frederick crossed the Bosphorus only on March 25, 1190. Frederick's path continued through the western regions of Asia Minor, partly devastated by the Seljuks, partly occupied by them. In May, Frederick approached Iconium and defeated the Seljuks, forcing them to give him provisions and hostages. But in Cilicia, on June 9, while crossing the mountain river Salef, Frederick was carried away by the stream and drowned. Part of the German detachment returned by sea to Europe, and part, under the leadership of Duke Frederick of Swabia, went to Acre, where it arrived in the fall.

Saladin, constantly renewing his forces from Mesopotamia, steadfastly held the defense, while Christians died in the thousands. But finally, in July, Acre was reduced to exhaustion, and Saladin began negotiations for surrender. He wanted to conclude a mutually beneficial peace, but the Christians demanded the surrender of Acre, the return of Jerusalem and other areas conquered by Saladin, as well as 2 thousand hostages from noble Muslims.

On July 12, 1191, Acre was surrendered to Christians. The Duke of Austria, entering the city, raised the German banner, but Richard ordered it to be torn down and replaced with his own. An insult to everything to the German army was quite strong. Quarrels between the kings began again, and Philip left Acre and went home. Once in France, he began to take revenge to the English king in his French possessions. Meanwhile, according to the agreement concluded even before the campaign, the kings did not have the right to attack each other in anyone’s absence and no earlier than forty days after the return from the campaign of the one on whose land the troops were to be sent. All these actions did not add optimism to Richard. In addition, Saladin refused to return Jerusalem, did not release prisoners and did not pay military costs. And Richard committed an act that frightened and shocked the enemy army. He ordered the slaughter of 2 thousand noble Muslims who were in his hands as hostages. It cannot be said that Muslims always kept their word, look at Saladin, but this act was still out of the ordinary in their understanding. And Saladin was not slow to respond in kind: there were many Christian prisoners in his hands. After this, the inconsistent Richard did not take decisive action against Saladin, but limited himself to minor skirmishes. And then, instead of storming Jerusalem, he went to liberate the coastal cities, in particular Ascalon. He ordered the walls of Ascalon to be torn down and turned the entire city into a pile of stones. He did not forget about the task of the Crusade and even set out towards Jerusalem three times, but each time something distracted him. According to historians, his distractions were, to put it mildly, very insignificant.

For example, Richard was visited by one amazing idea from the same area: he suggested that Saladin become related: he wanted to marry his sister Joanna to Saladin’s brother Malek-Adel. Without taking into account the general unrealizability of the idea, if we assume that the marriage would have taken place, the lands of Christians would still remain under Muslims.

Finally, on September 1, 1192, Richard concluded a shameful treaty with Saladin, according to which a small coastal strip from Jaffa to Tire remained for the Christians, and Jerusalem was given to the Muslims. Saladin allowed Christians to make pilgrimages to holy places unhindered for three years, and after that a new treaty was to be signed, even tougher than the previous one. In October 1192, Richard, despised by both Muslims and Christians, left Syria. He landed in Italy, from where he wanted to get to England. But near Vienna he was recognized, captured and imprisoned by Duke Leopold, where he was kept for about two years and was released only under strong pressure from the Pope.

Of the hundred thousand warriors who went on this completely mediocre campaign, thanks to Richard the Lionheart, only five thousand returned to Europe.

The Ayyubid dynasty, founded by Saladin, ruled until 1250. All people from the Ayub clan had separate provinces under independent rule, and in 1238 the state broke up into fiefs.

In 1250, the Mamluks killed the last Ayyubid sultan and seized power.

Fourth Crusade

In 1198, Innocent III became Pope, who decided to lead the next Crusade and thereby restore the authority of Rome. The Pope sent legates to all Catholic countries with a demand to hand over a fortieth part of state property for a new campaign, and he promised all knights who would participate in the war for the Holy Land exemption from tax duties, write-off of all debts, and the safety and inviolability of property. This attracted a huge number of poor people and debtors who planned to improve their financial affairs through the campaign.

Crusader troops gathered in France by the summer of 1200. In 1201, the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, signed a treaty with the crusader ambassadors, according to which Venice joined in the Crusade and undertook to transport 4,500 knights, 9,000 squires and 20,000 infantry, subject to the payment of 85 thousand marks in silver. In June 1202, the ships were ready, but by this time only a third of the army had reached Venice, and besides, the crusaders could not raise the amount necessary to pay for the crossing.

Dream of Innocent III. Painting by Giotto (1297 – 1299)

The Doge offered the leader of the campaign, the Marquis of Montferrat Boniface, a reprieve if the crusaders would help Venice capture the Dalmatian port of Zadar, which had recently come under the rule of the Hungarian Christian king. Despite the prohibition of the Pope and part of the crusaders, who simply left the camp and went home, on November 24, 1202, Zadar was stormed and plundered. It was too late to undertake the crossing, and the expedition decided to winter in Zadar. Within three days, a real battle broke out between the Franks and Venetians, resulting in many casualties. Innocent III excommunicated all participants in the sack of Christian Zadar from the Church, but soon left the excommunication only to the Venetians, although he allowed the crusaders to use the Venetian fleet to send their troops to conquer Jerusalem.

But the Venetians suggested that the crusaders once again deviate from the route and landed them in Byzantium, not far from Constantinople.

The pretext for the attack on Constantinople was the struggle for the Byzantine throne, and the crusaders were going to restore the legitimate, in their opinion, Emperor Isaac II Angel to the throne. Constantinople was taken. Isaac II Angel promised a reward for his accession, which would have been enough to get to Jerusalem without much hardship, but, once on the throne, he changed his mind. Soon there was an uprising in Constantinople, the emperor and his son were removed. It has already become clear that there will be no compensation. The Crusaders were very offended and, having captured Constantinople for the second time, plundered it for three days, starting on April 13, 1204. Part of the population died, many Christian relics were stolen, Orthodox churches were devastated, many monuments of ancient art were destroyed.

Second conquest of Constantinople

Another crusader state arose - the so-called Latin Empire, the crusaders themselves called it the Roman Empire. Part of the lands went to Venice, power Orthodox Emperor preserved in Asia Minor in the so-called Nicene Empire.

The Byzantines, enlisting the support of the Turks and Venice's rival Genoa, began to conquer territory after territory from the Latin Empire and in 1261 again captured Constantinople. The Latin Empire fell, but Byzantium never recovered from the shock.

The Fourth Crusade, which turned from the “path to the Holy Sepulcher” into a Venetian commercial enterprise, not only destroyed the Christian empire of Byzantium, which was holding back Muslim conquests with its force, but also brought about a deep split in Christianity.