THE WORLD ATLAS

War · May 1189 – 9 October 1192

Third Crusade

In July 1187 Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, destroyed the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Hattin and went on to take Jerusalem and nearly every crusader town except Tyre. Pope Gregory VIII called a new crusade, and three of Europe's most powerful rulers took the cross: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Philip II of France and Richard I of England.

Frederick marched overland, fought his way through Byzantine territory and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, but drowned in Anatolia in June 1190, and most of his army went home. Richard and Philip came by sea, conquering Cyprus on the way, and in July 1191 joined the two-year siege of Acre, which surrendered. Philip then went home. Richard beat Saladin at Arsuf and twice came close to Jerusalem but did not besiege it. The Treaty of Jaffa (September 1192) left Jerusalem in Muslim hands, restored a coastal crusader kingdom from Tyre to Jaffa and opened the holy places to Christian pilgrims.

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Dates
May 1189 – 9 October 1192
Casualties
No reliable total exists; the two-year siege of Acre alone is estimated to have cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, many from disease, and about 2,700 Muslim prisoners were executed there in August 1191.

The sides

Crusaders

Ayyubid Sultanate (Saladin)

Sultanate of Rum (fought the German army)

Timeline of the Third Crusade

  1. Frederick Barbarossa's crusade sets out from Regensburg

    Saladin's victory at Hattin on 4 July 1187 and his capture of Jerusalem that October left the crusaders holding little but Tyre. Pope Gregory VIII called a new crusade, and Frederick took the cross at the 'Court of Christ' in Mainz in March 1188. The first of the three monarchs to leave, he mustered his army at Regensburg in May 1189 and chose the overland route through Hungary, the Balkans and Anatolia.

  2. King Guy of Jerusalem begins the siege of Acre

    Released by Saladin, King Guy found Conrad of Montferrat in control of Tyre and turned instead to the rich port of Acre. His small army, reinforced by fleets of crusaders from northern Europe and Italy, besieged the city, but Saladin's army in turn surrounded the besiegers. Both sides were supplied by sea, and the siege dragged on for nearly two years amid disease, hunger and repeated battles.

  3. German crusaders clash with Byzantium in Thrace

    Emperor Isaac II Angelos distrusted Frederick, refused him the imperial title and held his envoys, while an Ayyubid ambassador was at his court. The crusaders broke with Byzantium, seized Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and its supplies on 26 August and occupied much of the surrounding country into November. Around 22 November they routed a Byzantine force under Manuel Kamytzes that had been sent to ambush their supply train, before eventually crossing into Asia.

  4. Barbarossa takes Iconium, capital of the Sultanate of Rum

    Although promised safe passage by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, the Germans faced constant Turkish hit-and-run attacks as they crossed Anatolia. Short of food and horses, Frederick decided to seize the Seljuk capital, Iconium (Konya), ruled by Kilij Arslan II. On 18 May 1190 the crusaders defeated the Turkish army there and sacked the city, gaining the supplies they needed to continue toward Armenian Cilicia.

  5. Frederick Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph river

    While crossing the Saleph (Göksu) river in Cilicia, the elderly emperor was thrown from his horse and drowned. Much of his army returned to Germany by sea, partly because an imperial election was expected. His son Frederick of Swabia led the remaining few thousand men to Antioch, where fever thinned them further, and then to Acre, where he died in the winter of 1190–91.

  6. Richard I and Philip II set out together from Vézelay

    Henry II of England and Philip II of France had made peace in January 1188 to go on crusade and raised the 'Saladin tithe', a tax on income and movable goods, to pay for it. Henry died in July 1189 and his son Richard took his place. The two kings left Vézelay together on 4 July 1190 and parted at Lyon, Richard heading for Marseille and Philip for Genoa, agreeing to meet in Sicily.

  7. Richard captures Messina and winters in Sicily

    King Tancred of Sicily had imprisoned Richard's sister Joan, widow of the previous king. Richard seized Messina on 4 October 1190 and secured her release. The crusaders wintered in Sicily, where Richard and Philip fell out after Richard broke off his betrothal to Philip's half-sister Alys to marry Berengaria of Navarre. Philip sailed for the Holy Land on 30 March 1191; Richard followed on 10 April.

  8. Richard conquers Byzantine-ruled Cyprus

    A storm scattered Richard's fleet, and ships carrying Joan, Berengaria and crusade treasure were driven to Cyprus, whose ruler Isaac Komnenos seized the treasure. Richard landed at Limassol on 6 May, married Berengaria there and, when Isaac turned hostile, conquered the whole island within weeks. Cyprus became a lasting Latin kingdom and a base for the crusader states; Richard later sold it to Guy of Lusignan.

  9. Acre surrenders to the crusaders after a two-year siege

    Leopold V of Austria arrived with the remaining German forces in spring 1191 and Philip with the French in April. Richard reached Acre on 8 June and pressed the siege with new siege engines, and the garrison surrendered on 12 July. The victors quarrelled over the spoils: Richard threw down Leopold's banner, and the kings backed rival claimants, Guy and Conrad, for the crown of Jerusalem.

  10. Philip II and Leopold of Austria leave the crusade

    Frustrated with Richard and, in Philip's case, in poor health, the French king and Duke Leopold of Austria took their forces home in August 1191. Philip left behind 7,000 French crusaders and 5,000 silver marks to pay them, under the command of the duke of Burgundy. Richard was left as the sole royal leader of the crusade, with the dispute over the crown of Jerusalem settled for the moment: Guy would reign, and Conrad would succeed him.

  11. Richard executes about 2,700 Muslim prisoners at Acre

    Saladin tried to negotiate the release of the captured Acre garrison, which included women and children, but the talks dragged on. On 20 August Richard, judging that Saladin was stalling, had about 2,700 Muslim prisoners beheaded in full view of Saladin's army, which tried in vain to rescue them. Saladin responded by killing the Christian prisoners he held. The memory of the massacre embittered the rest of the war, and Muslim soldiers took revenge when they stormed Jaffa a year later.

  12. Richard defeats Saladin at Arsuf

    Richard marched south along the coast toward Jaffa, the port he needed for any attack on Jerusalem, with his fleet alongside. Saladin harassed the column for days, then committed his army on the plain north of Arsuf. The crusaders kept their formation until the Hospitallers charged, and Richard turned it into a general counter-attack that routed the Ayyubid army. Saladin's army survived, but his reputation suffered and Richard took Jaffa.

  13. First advance on Jerusalem stops at Beit Nuba

    Talks with Saladin's brother al-Adil, including a proposal that he marry Richard's sister Joan, came to nothing. In winter the crusaders advanced inland, spent Christmas at Latrun and reached Beit Nuba, about 12 miles from Jerusalem, after Saladin had been forced to dismiss much of his army. Cold, rain and hail, and the fear of being trapped by a relief army during a siege, led the leaders to retreat to the coast.

  14. Conrad of Montferrat elected king, then murdered in Tyre

    The nobles of the kingdom chose Conrad of Montferrat as king, and Richard had to accept it, compensating Guy with Cyprus. Before he could be crowned, Conrad was stabbed to death by two Assassins in the streets of Tyre. Eight days later Richard's nephew Henry of Champagne married the heiress Queen Isabella and became ruler. Many suspected that Richard had arranged the killing.

  15. Crusaders capture Darum on the road to Egypt

    Through the winter Richard's men refortified Ascalon, which Saladin had demolished, and in spring negotiations and skirmishing continued. On 22 May the crusaders took the fortified town of Darum on the frontier of Egypt after five days of fierce fighting. Richard and most of his council saw Egypt as the base of Saladin's power and favoured attacking it rather than Jerusalem.

  16. Second advance comes within sight of Jerusalem, then retreats

    The army again marched inland and came within sight of Jerusalem in June 1192. The leaders were split: Richard and most of the council wanted to strike at Egypt, while the duke of Burgundy, leading the French, insisted on attacking Jerusalem directly. Neither faction was strong enough on its own, and the crusaders withdrew once more without laying siege to the city.

  17. Richard saves Jaffa from Saladin's surprise attack

    In July Saladin suddenly attacked and took Jaffa, though he lost control of soldiers still angry over the Acre massacre. Richard, about to leave for England, sailed down with a little over 2,000 men, stormed ashore and drove the Ayyubids out. When Saladin counter-attacked at dawn, Richard's crossbowmen inflicted heavy losses on his lightly armoured troops and the attack failed, strengthening the coastal crusader states.

  18. Treaty of Jaffa: a three-year truce ends the crusade

    Negotiated with the help of Balian of Ibelin, the truce left Jerusalem under Muslim rule but allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims and merchants to visit it, and guaranteed safe passage through Palestine for Christians and Muslims. The crusaders kept the coast from Tyre to Jaffa, while Ascalon, its walls demolished, went back to Saladin. Richard sailed for home on 9 October 1192, leaving Jerusalem in Muslim hands until a later crusade briefly regained it by treaty in 1229.

Related

Other wars of the time

Sources