Causes of the Crusades in the Holy Land
Economic problems of Europe. Pope Urban said that Europe can no longer feed itself and all the people living here. And that is why he considered it necessary to seize the rich lands of the Muslims in the East;
religious factor. The Pope considered unacceptable the fact that Christian shrines (the Holy Sepulcher) are in the hands of infidels - that is, Muslims;
outlook of the people of that time. People rushed en masse into the crusades, primarily because with the help of this they will atone for all their sins and will go to Paradise after their death;
The greed of the Catholic Church. The Papacy wanted not only to enrich Europe with resources, but above all, it wanted to fill its wallets with new land and other riches.

Reasons for visiting the Baltic countries
Destruction of the pagans. The population of the Baltic countries, especially Lithuania, were pagan, which the Catholic Church did not allow, and they had to be converted to the Christian faith or to destroy the infidels.
Also, the reasons can be considered the same greed of the Catholic papacy and the desire to get more number of novices, more lands, as we talked about above.

Progress of the Crusades
Crusaders carried out eight crusades to the territory of the Middle East.
The first crusade to the Holy Land began in 1096 and continued until 1099, bringing together several tens of thousands of crusaders. During the first campaign, the Crusaders created several Christian states in the Middle East: the County of Edessa and Tripoli, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch.
The second crusade began in 1147 and continued until 1149. This crusade ended in nothing for the Christians. But during this campaign, the crusaders "created" for themselves the most powerful enemy of Christianity and the defender of Islam - Saladin. After the campaign, the Christians lost Jerusalem.
Third crusade: began in 1189, ended in 1192; known for the participation of the English monarch Richard the Lionheart. He managed to capture Acre, Cyprus, inflict several defeats on Saladin, but he could never return Jerusalem.
The Fourth Crusade: began in 1202 and ended in 1204. During the campaign, Constantinople was captured. On the territory of Byzantium, the crusaders also founded four states: the Principality of Achaea, the Latin Empire, the Duchy of Athens and the Kingdom of Thessaloniki.
The Fifth Crusade started in 1217 and ended in 1221. It ended in complete defeat for the crusaders and they were forced to leave Egypt, which they so desired to capture.
Sixth Crusade: beginning - 1228, end - 1229. The crusaders managed to recapture Jerusalem, but strong strife began between them, which caused many Christians to leave the Holy Land.
The Seventh Crusade began in 1248 and ended in complete defeat for the crusaders in 1254.
The Eighth Crusade: beginning - 1270, end - 1272. The position of Christians in the East became critical, it was aggravated by internal strife, as well as the invasion of the Mongols. As a result, the crusades ended in defeat.

History of the Second Crusader Campaign

Remark 1

The completion of the victorious first campaign of the crusaders and the formation of new states in the East at first did not arouse resistance. The first attempt by the Seljuks to regain their lost positions dates back to 1144. A commander from the Zangid clan, Atabeg of Mosul, Imad ad-Din Zangi, captured Edessa.

Other states of the crusaders were not able to help Edessa to repulse the Muslims. Devastation reigned in Antioch after the defeat by Byzantium; in Jerusalem, power was unstable after the death of King Fulk. The Pope could organize a new campaign, but Eugene III was under strong pressure from the democratic movement in Italy. Its leader, Arnold of Brescia, advocated limiting the pope's power to ecclesiastical affairs only.

The king of France, Louis VII, took up the organization of a new campaign to the East. In 1146, after the approval of the plan by the Pope, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux issued an appeal in Burgundy. Saint Bernard entrusted the French people with the mission of protecting the Holy Sepulcher and Christians in the East. An army large enough to crush the Muslims advanced from southern and central France.

On the first day of 1147, Saint Bernard convinces the German emperor Conrad III to join the French crusaders. The emperor decides to go to the East and a mass movement of supporters of the campaign to the East begins in the country.

Crusader movement to Jerusalem

The French decided to go to Jerusalem by sea. To do this, Louis made an alliance with the king of Sicily, Roger II. The crossing of troops by Norman and merchant ships provided security and speed. The crusaders put forward the weakening of the Muslim emir Zangi, the seizure of Edessa from him and the return of independence to the Principality of Edessa as the goal of their campaign. The number of French crusaders reached 70,000 soldiers.

The plans of the French king were not destined to come true. Under the influence of Germany, the French went to Jerusalem following the German crusaders along the path of the first crusaders: through Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Thrace and Macedonia. They hoped for a unification of forces and help from Byzantium.

In the summer of 114, King Conrad was the first to set out, a month later Louis set off on the same path. Roger II decided to act on his own. He equipped ships and began to plunder the population of the islands and coastal lands. The Christian cities of Illyria, Dalmatia, Greece and Byzantium suffered. The Christian king Roger made an alliance with the North African Muslims against the participants in the second campaign of the crusaders.

The Crusaders plundered Christian cities on their way to the Holy Land. Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, for the security of his possessions, entered into a military alliance with the Seljuk Turks. The Seljuks could now count on fighting only with the Western European crusaders. The Seljuk Turks turned from eternal enemies into temporary, but friends. A second Christian-Muslim union was formed.

Manuel sent the German army across the Bosporus. Then he started a rumor about their victories, and the French hurried to the same place. On October 26, 1147, the first battle took place near Cappadocia. The Germans were defeated, the survivors went to Nicaea to wait for the French army. The two emperors decided to stick with each other and move together. The militia moved slowly in a roundabout way through Pergamon and Smyrna. Turkish horsemen made short attacks on the convoy, robbed, captured people and food convoys.

Plan
Introduction
1 Prerequisites
2 Start of the hike
3 Passage through the Byzantine Empire
4 Campaign failure
5 Results of the Second Crusade

Second crusade

Introduction

The second crusade took place in 1147-1149.

1. Background

The policy of Christian rulers in the East pursued a false goal - the destruction of Byzantine rule in Asia and the weakening of the Greek element, which naturally had to be counted on in the destruction of Muslims.

Such a policy led to the fact that the Muslims, weakened and pushed back into Asia as a result of the First Crusade, strengthened again and began to threaten Christian possessions from Mesopotamia.

One of the most powerful Muslim emirs, the emir of Mosul, Imad-ed-Din Zengi, began to threaten the advanced principalities in a very serious way. In 1144, Zengi made a strong onslaught, which ended with the capture of Edessa and the fall of the Principality of Edessa.

This dealt a very sensitive blow to all Eastern Christianity: the Principality of Edessa was an outpost against which waves of Muslim raids broke, in the Principality of Edessa there was a stronghold that protected the entire Christian world.

At the time when Edessa fell under the blows of the Muslims, other Christian principalities were either in a straitened position, or were occupied with questions of a purely selfish nature, and therefore, just as they could not give help to the Principality of Edessa, they were not able to replace its significance for Christians.

In Jerusalem, shortly before, King Fulk died, the same one who united the interests of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with the interests of his French possessions.

After his death, the widow, Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, the guardian of Baudouin III, became the head of the kingdom; the disobedience of the vassal princes took away from her every opportunity and means even to protect her own possessions - Jerusalem was in danger and could not give help to Edessa. As for Antioch, Prince Raymond started an unfortunate war with Byzantium, which ended in complete failure for him, and thus also could not help Edessa.

And yet, there were no favorable conditions for raising a new crusade in Western Europe. In 1144, Pope Eugene III sat on the Roman throne. He would have to, taking advantage of the power of the church, take under his own hand the cause of protecting the East Asian principalities, but by this time the position of the pope, even in Italy itself, was far from powerful: the Roman throne was a victim of parties, and the authority of the church was threatened by a new democratic trend , which was headed by Arnold of Brescia, who fought against the secular power of the Pope. The German king Conrad III was also placed in difficult circumstances by the fight against the Welfs. It was impossible to hope that the Pope or the King would take the lead in the Second Crusade.

In France, Louis VII was king; a knight at heart, he felt connected to the East and was inclined to embark on a crusade. The king, like all his contemporaries, was strongly influenced by that literary movement, which penetrated deeply into all of France and spread even to Germany. Louis VII, before deciding to take such an important step as a trip to the Holy Land, asked the opinion of the abbot Suger, his tutor and adviser, who, without discouraging the king from good intentions, advised him to take all measures to ensure the due success of the enterprise. Louis VII wanted to know the mood of the people and the clergy. Eugene III approved the king's plan and entrusted St. Bernard with a sermon on the crusade, providing him with an appeal to the French people.

In 1146 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was present at a state meeting in Vézelay (Burgundy). He sat down next to King Louis, put a cross on him and delivered a speech in which he invited him to arm himself in defense of the Holy Sepulcher against the infidels. Thus from 1146 the question of the crusade was decided from the point of view of the French. Southern and central France moved a large army, which was quite sufficient to repulse the Muslims.

The ideas of the Second Crusade reached not only France, but also spread by themselves in Germany, which caused a wave of anti-Semitic sentiments. Bernard of Clairvaux had to appear in person across the Rhine to rebuke the clergy who allowed such sentiments to arise. During his visit to Germany, on the eve of 1147, Conrad III invites Bernard to celebrate the first day of the New Year. After a solemn Mass, the Pope delivers a speech that convinces the German emperor to take part in the Second Crusade.

The decision of Conrad III to participate in the Second Crusade echoed very vividly throughout the German nation. From 1147 the same animated general movement began in Germany as in France.

2. Start of the hike

The French nation, led by its king, put up a considerable force. Both King Louis VII himself and the feudal princes of France showed much sympathy for the cause of the Second Crusade; gathered a detachment of up to 70 thousand. The goal that the Second Crusade was to achieve was clearly outlined and strictly defined. His task was to weaken the Mussul emir Zengi and take Edessa from him. This task would have been successfully completed by one French army, consisting of a well-armed army, which along the way was doubly enlarged by the volunteers who molested. If the crusader militia of 1147 had consisted entirely of Frenchmen, they would have taken a different route, shorter and safer than that which they had taken under the influence of the Germans.

The French in the political system of that era represented a nation, completely isolated, which, with its closest interests, leaned towards Italy. The Sicilian king Roger II and the French king were on close terms. Consequently, it was most natural for the French king to take the route through Italy, whence he could, using the Norman fleet and also the fleet of the trading cities, which were such energetic assistants in the First Crusade, conveniently and quickly arrive in Syria. In addition, the route through southern Italy had the advantage that the Sicilian king could also join the militia. Louis VII, having communicated with Roger II, was ready to move through Italy.

When the question of the path and means of movement was raised, the German king proposed to choose the path that the first German crusaders also went - to Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Thrace and Macedonia. The Germans insisted that the French king also move along this path, motivating their proposal by the fact that it was better to avoid the division of forces, that the movement through the possessions of an allied and even related sovereign to the German king was completely secured from all sorts of accidents and surprises, and that with the Byzantine king began negotiations on this issue, in the favorable outcome of which Conrad did not doubt.

In the summer of 1147, the movement of the crusaders through Hungary began; Conrad III went ahead, a month later Louis followed him.

Roger II of Sicily, who had not previously declared his intention to participate in the Second Crusade, but who, however, could not remain indifferent to its outcome, demanded that Louis fulfill the agreement concluded between them - to direct the path through Italy. Louis hesitated for a long time, but yielded to an alliance with the German king. Roger II realized that if he now did not take part in the campaign, then his position would become isolated. He equipped the ships, armed himself, but not in order to assist the general movement. He began to act in accordance with the Norman policy towards the East: the Sicilian fleet began to plunder the islands and coastal lands belonging to Byzantium, the coast of Illyria, Dalmatia and southern Greece. Devastating the Byzantine possessions, the Sicilian king took possession of the island of Corfu and at the same time, in order to successfully continue his naval operations against Byzantium and to provide himself from the African Muslims, he concluded an alliance with the latter.

On the way to the Holy Land, the crusaders plundered the territories that lay in their path, attacked the local residents. The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos was afraid that Conrad III would not be able to curb the violent and recalcitrant crowd, that this crowd, greedy for profit, might start robberies and violence in the mind of Constantinople and cause serious unrest in the capital. Therefore, Manuel tried to remove the crusader militia from Constantinople and advised Conrad to cross to the Asian coast of Gallipoli. But the crusaders made their way to Constantinople by force, accompanying their path with robberies and violence. In September 1147, the danger to Byzantium from the crusaders was serious: irritated Germans stood at the walls of Constantinople, betraying everything to robbery; after two or three weeks, the arrival of the French crusaders was to be expected; the combined forces of both could threaten Constantinople with serious troubles. At the same time, news reached the Byzantine king about the capture of Corfu, about the attacks of the Norman king on the coastal Byzantine possessions, about the alliance of Roger II with the Egyptian Muslims.

3. Passage through the Byzantine Empire

Under the influence of danger threatening from all sides, Manuel took a step that fundamentally undermined the tasks and goals proposed by the Second Crusade - he entered into an alliance with the Seljuk Turks; True, this was not an offensive alliance, it had the goal of securing the empire and threatening the Latins in case the latter took it into their head to threaten Constantinople. Nevertheless, this alliance was very important in the sense that it made it clear to the Seljuks that they would have to reckon with only one western militia. Concluding this alliance with the Iconian sultan, Manuel made it clear that he did not look at the Seljuks as enemies. Protecting his personal interests, he washed his hands, leaving the crusaders to act at their own risk with their own forces and means. Thus, two Christian-Muslim alliances were formed against the crusade militia: one - directly hostile to the crusader militia - is the alliance of Roger II with the Egyptian sultan; the other - the union of the Byzantine king with the Iconian sultan - was not in the interests of the crusade. All this was the cause of the failures that ended the Second Crusade.

Second crusade (1147--1149)

Conrad arrived by land (through Hungary) in Constantinople, in mid-September 1147 he sent troops to Asia, but after a clash with the Seljuks at Dorilei, he returned to the sea. The French, frightened by the failure of Conrad, went along the western coast of Asia Minor; then the king and noble crusaders sailed on ships to Syria, where they arrived in March 1148. The rest of the crusaders wanted to break through by land and for the most part died. Conrad arrived in Acre in April; but the siege of Damascus, undertaken together with the Jerusalemites, failed, due to the selfish and short-sighted policy of the latter. Then Conrad, and in the fall of the following year, Louis VII returned to their homeland. Edessa, taken after the death of Imad-ad-Din by the Christians, but soon again taken from them by his son Nur-ad-Din, was now forever lost to the crusaders. The 4 decades that followed were a difficult time for Christians in the East. In 1176, the Byzantine emperor Manuel suffered a terrible defeat from the Seljuk Turks at Miriokefal. Nur-ad-Din took possession of the lands lying in the North-East of Antioch, took Damascus and became a close and extremely dangerous neighbor for the crusaders. His commander Asad ad-Din Shirkuh established himself in Egypt. The crusaders were surrounded by a "ring" of enemies. Upon the death of Shirkuh, the title of vizier and power over Egypt passed to his famous nephew Saladin, son of Ayub.

Third Crusade (1189-1192)

In March 1190, Frederick's troops crossed into Asia, moved to the southeast and, after terrible hardships, made their way through all of Asia Minor; but shortly after crossing the Taurus, the emperor drowned in the river Salef. Part of his army dispersed, many died, Duke Frederick led the rest to Antioch, and then to Acre. In January 1191 he died of malaria. In the spring, the French (Philip II Augustus) and English (Richard the Lionheart) and Duke Leopold of Austria arrived. On the way, Richard the Lionheart defeated the Emperor of Cyprus, Isaac, who was forced to surrender; he was imprisoned in a Syrian castle, where he was kept almost until his death, and Cyprus fell into the power of the crusaders. The siege of Acre went badly, due to strife between the French and English kings, as well as between Guy de Lusignan and the Margrave Conrad of Montferrat, who, after the death of Guy's wife, claimed the crown of Jerusalem and married Isabella, sister and heiress of the deceased Sibylla. It was not until July 12, 1191 that Acre surrendered after an almost two-year siege. Conrad and Guy reconciled after the capture of Acre; the former was recognized as Guy's heir and received Tyre, Beirut and Sidon. Shortly thereafter, Philip II sailed home with part of the French knights, but Hugh of Burgundy, Henry of Champagne and many other noble crusaders remained in Syria. The crusaders managed to defeat Saladin at the battle of Arsuf, but due to lack of water and constant skirmishes with Muslim troops, the Christian army failed to recapture Jerusalem - King Richard approached the city twice and both times did not dare to storm. Finally, in September 1192, a truce was concluded with Saladin: Jerusalem remained in the power of the Muslims, Christians were only allowed to visit the holy city. After that, King Richard sailed to Europe.

A circumstance that somewhat alleviated the position of the crusaders was the death of Saladin in March 1193: the division of his possessions between his many sons became a source of civil strife among the Muslims. Soon, however, Saladin's brother, al-Malik al-Adil, came forward and took possession of Egypt, southern Syria and Mesopotamia and assumed the title of sultan. After the failure of the third crusade, Emperor Henry VI began to gather in the Holy Land, accepting the cross in May 1195; but he died in September 1197. Some detachments of the crusaders who set off earlier nevertheless arrived in Acre. Somewhat earlier than the emperor, Henry of Champagne died, who was married to the widow of Conrad of Montferrat and therefore wore the crown of Jerusalem. Amaury II (brother of Guy de Lusignan), who married Henry's widow, was now chosen king. Meanwhile, military operations in Syria were not going well; a significant part of the crusaders returned to their homeland. Around this time, the German hospital fraternity of St. Mary, founded during the 3rd Crusade, was transformed into the Teutonic Spiritual and Knightly Order.

The cries that had been heard in the Christian colonies of the East were echoed in the West. Although forty-five years have passed since the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher, the spirit of the people has not changed: armed people ran from all sides. Their zeal was stimulated by the speech of St. Bernard, abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux, one of the most eloquent preachers of his time. And this performance was facilitated by the events that took place in France.

King Louis VII of France began his reign under very favorable circumstances. Almost all the major vassals who fought against the royal power laid down their arms. Through his marriage to Eleanor, daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, Louis annexed this vast duchy to the crown lands. But then he had a fight with Count Thibaut of Champagne, who resorted to the support of the pope. In anger, the king betrayed the possessions of the obstinate vassal to fire and sword, not sparing his innocent subjects. Having taken the city of Vitry, he ordered to burn the church, in which one thousand three hundred parishioners tried to hide. This inhuman act caused general indignation, and Saint Bernard sent a reproachful letter to the monarch. Thinking better and horrified by what he had done, Louis fell into despair: he was afraid of the judgment of heaven. It was necessary to repent. At that time, pilgrimage to the Holy Land was considered the most effective form of repentance. And then came the news of the fall of Edessa. And the king of France conceived a new crusade.

At Christmas he gathered the barons and the clergy in Bourges and shared his plans. The Bishop of Langres praised the king's zeal in pathetic words, and Bernard advised him to receive the blessing of Rome. Pope Eugene III met the idea favorably: among other things, it was a way to distract the enemies who overcame him. Having sent draft letters to various places promising future crusaders about the same rights and rewards that Urban II promised on the eve of the First Crusade, the pope instructed Bernard of Clairvaux to conduct appropriate propaganda in France and Germany.

Having received the highest approval, Louis gathered his like-minded people in Vezile, a small town in Burgundy. Many barons, knights, prelates and people of every rank gathered. On Palm Sunday, Bernard spoke to them. First, after reading the letter of the high priest, he then made a fiery speech. Mentioning the disasters of Edessa, he conjured those present to appease the wrath of heaven not with tears and prayers, but by means of a holy war, a saving struggle against the Muslims. Shouts: “God wants it! God wants it that way!” covered this call, as they once did in Clermont. Excited by the enthusiasm of the crowd, the orator predicted the success of the campaign and threatened with divine wrath those who did not stain their sword with the blood of infidels in the name of Jesus Christ. In the midst of the general excitement, Louis fell at the feet of Bernard and asked him for a cross, after which he repeated the call, urging all believers to accompany him to the East. Eleanor of Aquitaine, following her husband, received the sign of the cross from the hands of the abbe of Clairvaux, followed by the counts of Toulouse, Champagne, Flanders, Nevers, Archambo de Bourbon, Engueran de Coucy, Hugo de Lusignan, many barons, knights and clerics. Since there were not enough crosses for everyone, Bernard tore his cassock to put on new ones, and many prelates followed his example.

Not limited to Vezile, the abbot of Clairvaux continued to preach in different parts of France. He was asked to lead the campaign. But, remembering the example of Peter the Hermit, Bernard shied away from this honor and, since the appeals were persistent, even turned to the protection of the pope. In general, his preaching in France was such a success that, in his words, "villages and cities were depopulated."

In Germany, things were different. There, at the same time, a certain monk named Rudolf was preaching in the Rhine region. He urged his listeners to start with the extermination of the Jews, since, in his opinion, they were allies of the Saracens and the most dangerous enemies of the Christian religion. Upon learning of this, Bernard hurried to Germany, where, although not without difficulty, he stopped such encroachments, proving to the enraged common people that in a Christian way it is necessary to pardon the weak and declare war on the strong and that one should not kill the Jews, but ask heaven for their conversion.

Meanwhile, Emperor Conrad III, having put an end to internal unrest in Germany, convened the General Diet in Speyer. Bernard, arriving at the Diet, preached war with the infidels and peace between sovereigns. The emperor, motivating his position by the complexity of the situation in the country, did not succumb to these calls for a long time, but the persistence of the abbot of Clairvaux and his ability to influence emotions eventually bore fruit, and Conrad, and then many of his barons, accepted the cross. They were followed by the feudal lords of Bavaria, Bohemia, Styria and Carinthia, among others the emperor's brother, Otgon of Frezingen, who became the historiographer of the campaign. As usual, Bernard's sermon was accompanied by miracles, and crowds of listeners, believing in the sanctity of the abbot, tore his clothes to get a piece as a sign of participation in a future campaign.

Bernard's success in Germany further encouraged the French volunteers. After the return of the preacher at a meeting in Etampes, Louis VII and his entourage took up the plan of the campaign. The envoys of Roger, king of Apulia and Sicily, offered ships and provisions to the crusaders; it seemed, allowing to avoid clashes with Byzantium, the sea route presented fewer dangers and difficulties. But the future crusaders nevertheless chose the overland path, according to the established tradition.

Leaving Abbot Saint-Denis, who had already shown himself to be an outstanding administrator, as the ruler of the state of Suger during his absence, Louis began to organize the campaign. The example of Eleanor of Aquitaine was followed by many noble ladies, and where there are ladies, there is poetry. The army was joined by a mass of troubadours and minstrels, who were supposed to brighten up the boredom of such a long voyage. However, it is impossible not to notice that, unlike the First Campaign, now from the very beginning there was more organization and order: the participation of two powerful sovereigns could not but affect the very nature of the expedition. This time, the barons and knights did not take with them either dogs or hunting falcons, but stocked up not only with weapons, but also with the tools necessary for building bridges and laying roads. The French crusaders were to join at Metz, the Germans at Regensburg.

The example of France and Germany was followed by England, Flanders and Italy. From the Alpine foothills, from Lombardy and Piedmont, armies moved under the leadership of the Marquis of Montferrat and the Count of Maurienne, uncle of the French king. The English crusaders set off on ships from the harbors of the English Channel, heading for Spain. The Flemings were led by their Count Thierry, who had already been there, in the Holy Land, and became famous.

Before leaving Paris, the French king indulged in prayers and pious deeds. On the eve of his departure, he went to the abbey of Saint-Denis to receive the holy banner - the oriflamme, which was always carried in front of the troops before the battle. Louis and the paladins accompanying him, not without trepidation, looked at the images of Gottfried of Bouillon, Tancred, Raymond of Toulouse and at the pictures of the battles of Dorileus, Antioch and Ascalon that adorned the choirs of the basilica. Pope Eugene personally presented the king with the signs of his pilgrimage - a staff and a knapsack. Then the French army, consisting of one hundred thousand soldiers, set off. Stopping at Metz, where she was joined by detachments from neighboring regions of France, she passed through Germany and headed for Constantinople to join up with the rest of the crusaders.

At the same time, the emperor Conrad, having crowned his son with a royal crown and entrusting the administration of the country to the wisdom of the abbot of Corvey, set out from Regensburg, leading numerous battalions and sending messengers in advance to Constantinople.

At the time of the First Crusade, the Turks terrified the Byzantine emperor, and therefore the Latins were called; but since then, having been driven to the east, the Muslims no longer threatened Constantinople, and the Greeks became much more afraid of another danger - the same Latins who had once been called against the Turks, especially since there was a suspicion that the people of the West planned to take possession of Constantinople. Suspicion, as the future showed, is not entirely unfounded.

The grandson of Emperor Alexei, a contemporary of the First Crusade, Manuel Komnenos, loyal to his grandfather's policy, but more cunning and secretive, immediately led the line to destroy the Germans, who had arrived earlier than others in the capital of Byzantium. Sending truce envoys to them and supplying them with provisions, Manuel at the same time made an alliance with the Turks and fortified his capital. The Germans on the march more than once had to repulse the sudden raids of the Byzantines. And when, already near Constantinople, disaster struck their camp in the form of a terrible hurricane that caused great damage, they saw how the Greeks did not hide their joy, prophesying the failure of the entire Western expedition. Manuel and Conrad - both heirs of the former Roman Empire - equally claimed the supreme power; the ceremonial meeting between them aroused lengthy disputes; at last it was decided that the two emperors, on horseback, would approach each other to exchange a brotherly kiss. The hatred of the Greeks did not decrease after this; she continued to pursue the Germans throughout their journey through the lands of the Eastern Empire. Ambushes awaited them everywhere, directly to which traitor guides led. Those who strayed from the army were killed. Lime was added to the flour delivered under the contract. They paid with counterfeit money, which they did not accept back. Conrad's warriors were stoic about all this and did not try to avenge treachery.

The French turned out to be less accommodating, but more respected. The emperor sent to meet them the chief dignitaries of the court, who fell at the feet of Louis and talked to him on their knees. The French were more surprised than moved, and responded to such searches with contemptuous silence. But the magnanimous king, pitying the alarmed Manuel, did not deal with the problems of etiquette, but he himself came to his palace without ceremony and without a retinue. Manuel appreciated this act, the French barons were received at the highest level and daily festivities were given in their honor. However, in the midst of these celebrations, when they took the oath to Manuel, the French learned that behind their backs the emperor was negotiating with the Sultan of Iconium about joint actions against intruders. The indignation of the barons and knights was so great that they almost began to smash everything around, and the Bishop of Langres made a proposal to immediately capture Constantinople. This, however, did not happen. Most soon changed their minds. They began to say that they had come to the East not to punish the treachery of the Greeks and not to capture their cities, but in order to wash away their sins and protect Jerusalem. Let us recall that Gottfried of Bouillon at one time gave the same answer to his barons to a similar proposal; thus, the sacred sense of honor for the French saved Constantinople and the Eastern Empire for the second time. However, Emperor Manuel was mortally frightened by the situation and, in order to speed up the French crossing of the Bosphorus, spread a rumor that the Germans had won great victories over the Turks and had already captured Iconium. The remedy proved effective, and the army quickly crossed into Bithynia.

The army of Louis VII camped on the shores of Lake Ascany, not far from Nicaea. At this time, a solar eclipse occurred, and superstitious warriors took it as a prediction of great misfortunes: either a new betrayal of Emperor Manuel, or a close defeat in battle. They were not worried in vain: soon the news of the complete defeat of the Germans reached them.

Detachments of Emperor Conrad III, having set out from Nicaea, deceived by the Greeks, stocked up on food for no more than a week: they were assured that this time would be enough to reach Iconium. But a week later, the supplies ran out, and instead of reaching the capital of rich Lycaonia, the Germans found themselves lost in the desert, not knowing where to go next. So, in their haste to get ahead of the French, they fell into a trap, for the Turks, warned by the Greeks, were already waiting for them. The Sultan of Iconium, concentrating all his forces in one place, rushed at the exhausted Christians, exhausted by hunger and fatigue. The Germans tried to resist, with a fight retreating back to Nicaea. But soon this withdrawal turned into a disorderly flight, and the enemy began to finish them off, capturing the entire convoy, including women and children. Conrad, who barely saved a tenth of his army, himself pierced by two arrows, only miraculously escaped the persecution of the Saracens.

Louis VII hastened to leave to meet the emperor and together with him mourned the bitter fate of the German crusaders. Both monarchs swore an oath to go to Palestine together, but the emperor, either fearful of just reproaches for being too gullible towards the Greeks, or ashamed of being left without an army, soon parted with the king, allegedly deciding to go to Jerusalem by sea; but in reality he returned back to Constantinople, where, since he no longer posed a danger, he was cordially received by Manuel.

Meanwhile, the French army continued on its way and, crossing the mountain range, descended into Phrygia. The crusaders passed Pergamum, Ephesus and many other once famous cities, now lying in ruins. The onset of winter with its heavy rains and snow made the roads impassable. When Christians appeared, the villagers fled, stealing their flocks, and the cities were locked up and denied food. Manuel, through his messengers, informed the king that the Turks were preparing to defeat him on the march, and offered to take refuge in the fortresses that belonged to him. But such an offer, seasoned with threats, seemed to Louis a new trap, and he preferred the attacks of the Saracens to the hospitality of the Greeks. Having crossed Phrygia, the army approached the banks of the Meander. At the crossing, the Turks were already waiting for her. The meander was swollen from the rains; the crossing was difficult and dangerous. But the king was not afraid of danger. Under a hail of enemy arrows, the French crossed the river, crushed the ranks of the Turks and pursued them to the foot of the mountains. This victory encouraged the crusaders and made their enemies more cautious: no longer daring to attack openly, they waited for an opportunity to attack by surprise. The opportunity soon presented itself.

After leaving Laodicea, the crusaders held on to the mountain range separating Phrygia from Pisidia. The army was divided into two corps, one of which went alternately in the forefront. Once, when it was necessary to cross the most difficult of the ridges, the king ordered the vanguard to stop on the heights and wait for the rest of the army, so that the next day they would all descend into the valley in battle order. The commander of the vanguard came early to the appointed place for the night. Since it was naked and uncomfortable, and below lay a spacious valley, the brother of the king, the queen Eleanor and the ladies of her retinue persuaded the commander to descend into the valley. But as soon as they descended, the Turks occupied the heights they had left and lined up in battle order. Meanwhile, the rearguard, led by the king, was advancing unknowingly. Seeing the ranks of the troops, the French took them for their own, welcoming them with joyful cries. The Turks silently waited for the French to enter the gorge, and then, with a wild howl, rushed at them. The stunned Christians, having no time to prepare, found themselves on a narrow road between rocks and an abyss. People and horses flew down. The screams of the wounded and dying mingled with the noise of the streams and the roar of stones rolling from the rocks. In the general confusion, the soldiers could no longer run or fight. But a group of brave men gathered around the king and began to push their way to the top of the mountain. Thirty barons who guarded Louis died near him, having sold their lives dearly. The king, left almost alone, leaning his back against a tree, fought off hundreds of enemies who never managed to overpower him: mistaking Louis for a simple soldier and sparing time, the Saracens abandoned him and ran to rob the carts. Taking advantage of this, the king jumped on someone's abandoned horse and through a thousand dangers broke into the valley to the vanguard, where his death was already mourned. The rumor of this defeat and the death of the king spread throughout the East and reached Europe, filling Christians with confusion and sadness; they lamented that the Lord, always merciful to his sons, suddenly left them and let so many heroes perish.

Passing through Pamphylia, the French had to defend themselves not only from the raids of the Turks, but also from a more merciless enemy - a harsh winter with its cold and hunger. The rain poured like a bucket. Most of the horses were eaten. Clothes turned into tatters. In this state, the crusaders reached the rich Greek city of Atalia, hoping to warm up and rest here. But they were not allowed inside the walls, and they agreed to sell food only for gold. However, alarmed by the murmur of despair and the threats of the crusaders, the ruler of Atalia offered Louis ships to advance by sea. The king, who initially refused this plan, then realized that there was no other way out. The promised ships had to wait five weeks, and there were so few of them that only a small part of the army could be loaded. I had to agree to this. Having given the remaining counts of Flanders and Bourbon as chiefs and generously endowed them with money, as well as the ruler of Atalia, who had sworn an oath to lead them on dry land to Cilicia, Louis, accompanied by the queen and the noblest knights, left the inhospitable coast with pain. The king was troubled by gloomy forebodings; and they were justified. Both commanders assigned to him immediately fled. The ruler of Atalia did not keep his word. He did not give the remaining guides, did not give food, and most of them died from hunger, disease and raids by the Saracens. Those who survived, seeing that God had abandoned them, converted to Islam to save their lives. Atalia, however, was punished for her sins. Suddenly, a terrible epidemic broke out, and after a few weeks the city was depopulated, and later turned into ruins.

Having lost three-quarters of his army, the French king, after a long voyage, arrived in the harbor of Antioch, where he was very cordially received by Raymond de Poitiers, master of the principality. The modern chronicler speaks of this ruler as a charmingly amiable person, who had a beautiful face and sweet speech. Many noble ladies constantly lived at his court, and Queen Eleanor, who was the niece of the prince, did not spoil this bouquet at all either with her mind, or temper, or appearance. Daily feasts and sumptuous festivities made the newly arrived French quickly forget about recent troubles and abandoned comrades, Eleanor, who at one time captivated Emperor Manuel, immediately found a common language with her loving uncle. However, while flirting with his niece, Raymond did not forget about the affairs of life, trying to link one with the other. Wanting to weaken the power of his main enemy, Nureddin, he decided to use the king and his people to lay siege to Aleppo and Caesarea. With this proposal, he first turned to Louis, who accepted him very coldly, declaring that he could not enter the war until he visited the holy places. Not embarrassed by the refusal, the prince of Antioch decided to act through the queen. Eleanor was easy to persuade - already, intoxicated with spring and awakening love, she tried in every possible way to prolong her stay in Antioch. But all this, as you might guess, had the opposite effect on the king. And not only pious thoughts called him to leave Antioch as soon as possible; now jealousy was added to it. Eleanor, however, stubbornly held on to her own: she would never agree to part with a cheerful life in Antioch and even threatened the king with a divorce. Echoing her, Raymond swore that by any means he would keep his charming niece. In the end, Louis, extremely indignant both as a sovereign and as a spouse, was forced to kidnap his own wife and secretly took her away from Antioch at night.

The behavior of Eleanor led into temptation not only the Christians of the West and the East, but also the infidels; the story mentions one Turk for whom she wanted to leave the French king. One way or another, but Louis could not forget his shame, and on his return to France he divorced Eleanor, although he understood that this could have serious political consequences. Indeed, as a result of this step, the vast Duchy of Aquitaine left his hands and fell into the hands of his rival, King Henry II of England, whom Eleanor soon married. And this was for France the most deplorable of the consequences of the Second Crusade.

The accelerated departure of Louis VII to Jerusalem was stimulated by a special embassy from the Holy City. The king was in such a hurry that he did not even linger in Tripoli, realizing that the count of Tripoli had the same views on him as the prince of Antioch. Jerusalem welcomed Louis solemnly. Princes, prelates and a mass of people came out to meet him; they carried olive branches in their hands and recited the words with which they once greeted the Savior: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The German emperor also arrived here; having lost his entire army, he came as a simple pilgrim. Both monarchs wept, recalling the disasters they experienced, and blessed the inscrutable path of God's Providence. The young Baldwin III, king of Jerusalem, eager to expand the boundaries of his state, took advantage of the presence of European crusaders to start a war. Having gathered in Acre, the two kings and the emperor decided to begin with the siege of Damascus, the possession of which promised rich booty and reliable protection to the kingdom of Jerusalem. It is characteristic that, although the reason for the crusade was a pious desire to recapture Edessa, neither here nor elsewhere, neither earlier nor later, was a word said about this city. Needless to say, neither the Prince of Antioch nor the Count of Tripoli was invited to Acre; and of course, such an attitude did not bode well for the crusader colonies.

The troops united in Galilee and headed for the upper Jordan. They were preceded by a patriarch who carried the Life-Giving Cross. In early June, the army, joined by the Knights of the Temple and the Johnites, crossed the Lebanese Range and set up camp near the town of Dari, from where Damascus was visible. This ancient city, "a home of comfort and luxury," repeatedly passed from hand to hand until, in the time of Muhammad, the Muslims finally took it from the Christians. During the Second Crusade, the Emirate of Damascus belonged to a prince who constantly fought back from his neighbors. Nureddin, who repeatedly besieged him, laid eyes on him. The city was defended by high walls, but only from the southeast side. In the north and west, it was surrounded only by gardens and groves, separated by fences and embankments with small turrets. The crusaders decided to start the siege from here, correctly calculating that in the gardens they would find plenty of fruits and water. Despite the clouds of arrows with which they were met by the enemies who had settled in the turrets, the siege was successful, and soon the Christian soldiers, chasing the Muslims, came close to the city. Here the emperor Conrad glorified himself by an amazing feat that made him forget for a moment his past failures. While the soldiers of Baldwin, who repeatedly tried to break through the ranks of the enemy, almost began to retreat, he suddenly attacked the Muslims with a handful of his soldiers. The Turks fell under his blows, when a gigantic Saracen, clad in iron, rode out to meet him and challenged him to battle. The emperor accepted the challenge, and both troops stopped, looking with interest at this fight. The fight, however, was short-lived. Conrad, repeating the feat of Gopyrride, cut the giant in half with one blow of the sword, from the shoulder to the saddle. This amazing blow decided the outcome of the battle: the Muslims left the battlefield in horror and took refuge in the city.

What happened next seemed a foregone conclusion: the capture of the city became a matter of several days. Already its defenders in fear sprinkled ashes on their heads, already the women, who trusted in the mercy of Allah, constantly recited prayers, were already thinking of fleeing from the doomed city. But there was no need to run. As often happened in the past, the victory of the Christians was thwarted by their internal strife. When it became clear that Damascus would fall, disputes began over whose banner would fly over the defeated city. And here the line was clearly marked, dividing the two groups of the Christian army: the princes and barons of the East, on the one hand, and the newcomers from the West, led by the king and emperor, on the other. Among those who sought power over the city, Thierry, Count of Flanders, was especially zealous. It would seem that his reputation was tarnished: he was one of two commanders who cowardly fled from Atalia, where the king, serving in Antioch, appointed them to lead the remaining crusaders. But now Thierry showed great perseverance and promptness. Motivating by the fact that he had already visited the East twice and left his possessions in Europe to his relatives, he demanded the Principality of Damascus as compensation for his exploits and losses. The French king agreed with these arguments. This preference aroused the envy and malice of other princes, especially the princes of Syria and Palestine, who felt that each of them had a greater right to any new addition than any of these new arrivals. Seeing no more personal advantage for themselves, they cooled off towards an enterprise that until recently aroused their enthusiasm. This mood was sensitively caught by the besieged and tried to strengthen it: they persuaded the Syrian barons not to believe the newcomers from the West, who came to rob them and profit from their lands. These speeches fell on grateful ground. Military action has ground to a halt. Little of. The Syrian barons, arguing that the presence of gardens prevented the delivery of guns to the city, proposed moving the siege to the southeast. The Europeans, who had full confidence in their eastern brothers, agreed with them, and the decision was made. It turned out to be fatal. In the new place where the crusaders set up camp, among the sandy plain, neither food nor water could be found - instead, impregnable walls and high towers appeared before the crusaders. The besieged, meanwhile, let reinforcements into the city - twenty thousand Kurds and Turkmens. Since then, all the actions of the Christians proved fruitless, and when they learned that the armies of the sultans of Aleppo and Mosul were approaching, the crusaders despaired of their enterprise, and the siege was lifted. Among other circumstances of this fruitless siege, it is striking that the troops of Damascus were then commanded by a certain Ayub, who became the founder of the Ayubid dynasty, and with him was his son, the young Saladin, who later had such a prominent role in the fight against the crusaders.

Modern historians have explained the reasons for the failure of the Christians at Damascus in different ways. One Muslim author explicitly stated that the King of Jerusalem was bribed by the inhabitants of Damascus. Some Latin chroniclers blame the greed of the templars for everything, others blame the malice of Raymond of Antioch, who allegedly took revenge on the French king in this way. But everyone agrees that treason was at the heart of the failure. Having previously pointed out the rivalry between the Syrian and European crusaders, we cannot fail to note such a factor as the ignorance and inability of the leaders of the campaign, who were unable to resist the disastrous proposal of the Syrian barons; we will return to this below.

After such a shameful failure, they began to despair of the success of the holy war. They wanted to begin the siege of Ascalon, but quickly abandoned this idea. The French king and the German emperor decided to return to Europe, having on account of their successes only that one defended himself against many Turks on the Pamphylian rock, and the other cut the giant in half under the walls of Damascus. “From that day on,” writes a contemporary, “the condition and position of the Eastern Latins became worse from hour to hour.” Muslims learned not to be afraid of Western warriors and sovereigns, and disbelief in their courage, timidity and disagreement more and more seized Christians.

In general, the new holy war is much inferior to the previous one. Having repeated all the mistakes and weaknesses of the First Crusade, the Second was devoid of its strengths. If the first was driven by faith and heroism, then the second was dictated by one faith, and even then a flawed one: the monks, who played a large role in its organization and promotion, pulled in their direction. The sovereigns who led this campaign turned out to be much lower than the tasks that confronted them. The French king, accepting all disasters and failures with the humility of a martyr, showed on the battlefield the courage of a warrior, but not the wisdom of a strategist. Overly relying on Providence, Louis forgot that it does not patronize those who are unable to take the initiative and make a bold decision. As for the German emperor, being a narrow-minded and conceited man, he was even less suitable for the role of a commander. Summarizing, we can say: neither one nor the other monarch had the foresight and firmness necessary to accomplish great things, their subordinates were quite a match for them. Lack of discipline and depravity of morals was largely due to the abundance of women. In this campaign there was a whole detachment of Amazons, distinguished by more extravagance of outfits than fighting qualities, and at the head of them was the "captain" - a beauty in gilded boots, who was nicknamed "the lady with golden legs." No less specific weight fell on the share of criminals and villains, whom Saint Bernard, having invited on a campaign, delivered from well-deserved punishments. Of course, this goodness was enough in the First Campaign, but then Gottfried and Bohemond easily knew how to deal with them; now all these bastards were getting out of control and often trying to play their own game.

Moreover, not all the forces of this war were directed against Asia. Many preachers, authorized by the pope, turned the weapons of the Saxons and Danes against the Baltic Slavs, who were devastating the coast and were still in paganism. This campaign, led by Henry of Saxony, many princes and bishops, carried away one and a half thousand crusaders, who burned pagan temples and destroyed cities, but, having exterminated many Slavs, they could not subdue them. After a three-year futile war, the allies offered peace, subject to the acceptance of the faith of Christ by the pagans. The Slavs agreed, but as soon as the crusaders left, they returned to their idols.

More fortunate for Christians was another holy war that began at the same time in the Iberian Peninsula. For many centuries the Saracens, or the Moors, as they were called here, owned Spain. Defeated by the brave Sid, they were expelled from a number of regions, and when the Second Crusade began, the siege of Lisbon was going on here, which soon ended in the victory of the Christians. Then many other cities were taken from the Moors. In the heat of these conquests, the crusaders forgot about the East and, exposed to lesser dangers, founded a state that outshone both the splendor and the duration of the unlucky Kingdom of Jerusalem.

From these two campaigns directed against the peoples of the north and south of Europe, one can see that the spirit of the holy wars took on a new character: they no longer fought for the possession of the Coffin alone, but for the universal triumph of Christianity. This, as it is easy to imagine, divided the forces of the crusaders and harmed their successes on the main line. But even more these successes were damaged by the consequences of the Second Crusade. There was not a family in France and Germany that did not mourn their loss. Never seen so many widows and orphans.

Naturally, the general anger fell upon the Abbot of Clairvaux, who so propagated this campaign and assured that it would be successful. Saint Bernard was compared to Abbot Suger, who at one time strongly opposed the Crusade and turned out to be right, especially since France flourished under his rule, while Bernard's fiery tirades sowed destruction and death. Why, people asked, was it necessary to send soldiers to die in the East, if there were enough cemeteries in Europe as well? It was difficult for the venerable preacher to divert accusations from himself. Justifying himself, he tried to attribute the failure of the campaign to its bad organization, unrest and lawlessness, the presence of a large number of people alien to the goals of the campaign, as if he himself was not to blame for all this. It seems to us that the defenders of St. Bernard could have made stronger arguments to justify the Second Holy War: after all, Western Europe received some benefit from it. By pulling the troops and battles to the East, the Second Crusade gave the West a short-term peace: what was the point of rattling swords in Europe when they fought the Saracens in Asia? And where there is peace, there is stability. Emperor Conrad, a weak and weak-willed monarch, returned from Palestine and became more powerful than he was before his departure. The power of the French king, whose state was so carefully preserved by Suger, also increased. The crusade gave Louis a reason to establish a regular tax and rein in recalcitrant vassals. However, to be fair, it cannot be denied that this benefit was quickly crossed out by the harm that the royal power in France suffered as a result of the divorce of Louis from Eleanor and the transfer of Aquitaine into the hands of the English kings; this harm will be felt with particular force in the following centuries. So, when summing up the overall result, we have to state that it was not in favor of the campaign. This was understood by Louis VII, who, as if feeling guilty, tried to start a new expedition to the East and even swore this to the pope, but did not keep his promise.

And the East, more than ever, needed help. With the departure of the French from Palestine, new sorrows arose every day. Soon after the unsuccessful siege of Damascus, the brilliant Raymond de Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, died in battle with the Turks, and his head was sent to Baghdad. Josselin the younger, having lost Edessa, fell into the hands of the infidels himself and died in prison in Aleppo. Two agents of the Old Man of the Mountain killed Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, in his very capital. The Muslims nearly took Jerusalem. The invincible Nureddin captured all the Christian cities of Mesopotamia and made Damascus his capital, from where he threatened the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

This sad news spread despair in the West, and the pope again began to call for a campaign. But now it was difficult to find those willing. And here's what is surprising: it is now that the man who was once an ardent enemy of the Crusade suddenly undertook to organize it. It was Abbot Suger. In his seventieth year of life, he raised an army at his own expense, and already more than ten thousand people expressed a desire to follow him, when suddenly death stopped the execution of his plan. Characteristically, the zeal of the Abbé Saint-Denis was passionately supported by the Abbé of Clairvaux, who did not long outlive him. The death of these two Church Fathers, whose names are so closely associated with the Second Crusade, as if symbolically completed its last echoes.