The Second Crusade: Discord Between The Crusade States
The Second Crusade: Discord between the Crusader states
Tyler Rathke
HIS 111-601
After the end of the first Crusade, three Crusader States were created in the East. The three Crusader states were the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, and the county of Edessa and after the first three Crusader states were developed, a fourth was added called the County of Tripoli. The social, political, and economic factors throughout the Crusader States led to the cause of the second Crusade and planted the seeds for the beginning of the third Crusade. The County of Edessa was located farther North than the rest of the Crusader states, which made it less populated and caused it to be the weakest of the Crusader states. Since Edessa was so far away from the other Crusader states it left it prone to attack by the Muslim states that were ruled by the Ortoqids, Turks and Danishmends. During the course of several attacks, Count Baldwin II and future Count, …show more content…
Joscelin of Courtenay, were captured twice. The absences of Count Baldwin II and future Count Joscelin were felt vastly throught the Crusader state and left Edessa even more prone to attack and eventually lead to the demise of Joscelin in 1131. After the death of Joscelin, his successor was Joscelin II. Joscelin II was forced into a treaty a treaty with the Byzantine Empire shortly into his reign. There were many quarrels between Joscelin II and the Count of Tripoli and the Prince of Antiach, meaning that the only allies Jooscelin II had were the Byzantine emporer, John II Comnenus, and the King of Jerusalem, Fulk of Anjou. In 1143, both John II Comnenus and Fulk of Anjou died, leaving Joscelin II with no allies. This left the County of Edessa in a very powerless situation. Meanwhile, the Atabeg of Mosul, Zengi, added Aleppo, the key to power in Syria, to his rule in 1128. Aleppo was fought over by the rulers of Mosul and Damascus continuously and after Zengi won Aleppo, he turned his sights towards Damascus. This immense power struggle for Aleppo gave Zengi the confidence needed to pursue other powerful sections of the country. In late 1144, knowing that he had no more allies, Joscelin II allied with the Ortoqids out of desperation. During this time, Joscelin II marched a large majority of his army out of Edessa to help the Ortoqids against Aleppo leaving Edessa with no backup plan in case of an invasion. This proved to be a huge mistake on the part of Joscelin II because Zengi took the opportunity and besieged Edessa. Help was sent from Jerusalem to help in the fight to protect Edessa but ended up not being able to make it in time. Because the help from Jerusalem was unable to make it in time to fight Zengis’ forces, the County of Edessa fell to Zengi on December 24, 1144. Unable to rule over all of Edessa again, Joscelin II was forced to rule the remainder of the territory. Unfortunately for the Crusader states, and the Christians hope to rule Jerusalem forever, the rest of the territory in Edessa was eventually taken and Zengi became known in Islam as “Defender of the Faith.” Due to some events in Mosul, Zengi returned home and his sites returned to Damascus. Fortunately for Damascus, a slave had assassinated Zengi in 1146 and his son, Nur ad-Din, succeeded him in Aleppo. After the fall of Edessa1, Pope Eugene III announced the Second Crusade. The Second Crusade was the first to be led by European Kings and other European nobles. France, Germany and England all had large armies unite in preparation of the crusade. The most notable of these leaders were Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Bernard of Clairvaux convinced Conrad III to crusade alongside Louis VII and the two had made way for Constantinople. They had arrived in Constantinople in 1147, both leading their respective armies, which was the first time either of them had done that. That lack of experience lead to major communication issues between the two and ultimately caused a failure in the plan, which was to cross Anatolia to destroy the Turkish armies. The main objective was to recover Edessa, secure the pilgrim pass and provide reinforcements to Jerusalem, but that plan was already at risk because a majority of the Knights were already dead since the events of the First Crusade took place from 1095 until 1099. Unfortunately for the Christians, there was a lack of communication between the two kings.
They had both decided to attack the Muslim city of Damascus, which had been allied with the Christians until that point, and then while attacking, split their attack into two separate cities. Conrad moved on the Seljuk Turks capital, Iconium, while the French were off attacking somewhere else in Anatolia. This separation of the armies gave the Turks the advantage and ability to travel between both locations and not get overwhelmed or outnumbered. Conrad was the least fortunate. He was defeated instantly and almost lost his life during the course of the battle. The French lasted considerably longer but were ultimately defeated and lost nearly their entire army. This had huge repercussions for future Christian crusades and the economy in Europe as a whole because of the resources wasted and the lack of recruits afterwards. This was also the first sign of the fall of the Crusader states in the Middle
East. Saladin who was able to unite Syria and Egypt under their common enemy, the Christians, now ruled the Egyptians. This is massively important because up until that point, the Muslim states were not united. Saladin helped give them a common enemy, and the Christians were already in a state of turmoil. The lack of communication between all of the Crusader states helped to destroy the hopes of the Christians ruling over the holy land, Jerusalem. The second crusade became the Achilles heel of the Christian control of Jerusalem. Had ties been stronger between all the Christian principalities, they may have ruled Jerusalem a lot longer than they had. In conclusion, the actions by both religious factions led to massive changes in society, politics and the economics of the region over the course of the second Crusade and even leading into the third crusade.
Notes
1. Smith, Bonnie G., Marc Van De Mieroop, Richard Von Glahn, and Kris Lane. "Crusaders, Mongols, and Eurasian Integration, 1050-1350." In Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World's Peoples. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012.
Works Cited
"The Crusades." The Crusades. Accessed September 29, 2014.
Staff, History.com. "Crusades." History.com. January 1, 2010. Accessed September 29, 2014.
Smith, Bonnie G., Marc Van De Mieroop, Richard Von Glahn, and Kris Lane. "Crusaders, Mongols, and Eurasian Integration, 1050-1350." In Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World's Peoples. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012.
Tyler Rathke
HIS 111-601
After the end of the first Crusade, three Crusader States were created in the East. The three Crusader states were the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, and the county of Edessa and after the first three Crusader states were developed, a fourth was added called the County of Tripoli. The social, political, and economic factors throughout the Crusader States led to the cause of the second Crusade and planted the seeds for the beginning of the third Crusade. The County of Edessa was located farther North than the rest of the Crusader states, which made it less populated and caused it to be the weakest of the Crusader states. Since Edessa was so far away from the other Crusader states it left it prone to attack by the Muslim states that were ruled by the Ortoqids, Turks and Danishmends. During the course of several attacks, Count Baldwin II and future Count, …show more content…
Joscelin of Courtenay, were captured twice. The absences of Count Baldwin II and future Count Joscelin were felt vastly throught the Crusader state and left Edessa even more prone to attack and eventually lead to the demise of Joscelin in 1131. After the death of Joscelin, his successor was Joscelin II. Joscelin II was forced into a treaty a treaty with the Byzantine Empire shortly into his reign. There were many quarrels between Joscelin II and the Count of Tripoli and the Prince of Antiach, meaning that the only allies Jooscelin II had were the Byzantine emporer, John II Comnenus, and the King of Jerusalem, Fulk of Anjou. In 1143, both John II Comnenus and Fulk of Anjou died, leaving Joscelin II with no allies. This left the County of Edessa in a very powerless situation. Meanwhile, the Atabeg of Mosul, Zengi, added Aleppo, the key to power in Syria, to his rule in 1128. Aleppo was fought over by the rulers of Mosul and Damascus continuously and after Zengi won Aleppo, he turned his sights towards Damascus. This immense power struggle for Aleppo gave Zengi the confidence needed to pursue other powerful sections of the country. In late 1144, knowing that he had no more allies, Joscelin II allied with the Ortoqids out of desperation. During this time, Joscelin II marched a large majority of his army out of Edessa to help the Ortoqids against Aleppo leaving Edessa with no backup plan in case of an invasion. This proved to be a huge mistake on the part of Joscelin II because Zengi took the opportunity and besieged Edessa. Help was sent from Jerusalem to help in the fight to protect Edessa but ended up not being able to make it in time. Because the help from Jerusalem was unable to make it in time to fight Zengis’ forces, the County of Edessa fell to Zengi on December 24, 1144. Unable to rule over all of Edessa again, Joscelin II was forced to rule the remainder of the territory. Unfortunately for the Crusader states, and the Christians hope to rule Jerusalem forever, the rest of the territory in Edessa was eventually taken and Zengi became known in Islam as “Defender of the Faith.” Due to some events in Mosul, Zengi returned home and his sites returned to Damascus. Fortunately for Damascus, a slave had assassinated Zengi in 1146 and his son, Nur ad-Din, succeeded him in Aleppo. After the fall of Edessa1, Pope Eugene III announced the Second Crusade. The Second Crusade was the first to be led by European Kings and other European nobles. France, Germany and England all had large armies unite in preparation of the crusade. The most notable of these leaders were Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Bernard of Clairvaux convinced Conrad III to crusade alongside Louis VII and the two had made way for Constantinople. They had arrived in Constantinople in 1147, both leading their respective armies, which was the first time either of them had done that. That lack of experience lead to major communication issues between the two and ultimately caused a failure in the plan, which was to cross Anatolia to destroy the Turkish armies. The main objective was to recover Edessa, secure the pilgrim pass and provide reinforcements to Jerusalem, but that plan was already at risk because a majority of the Knights were already dead since the events of the First Crusade took place from 1095 until 1099. Unfortunately for the Christians, there was a lack of communication between the two kings.
They had both decided to attack the Muslim city of Damascus, which had been allied with the Christians until that point, and then while attacking, split their attack into two separate cities. Conrad moved on the Seljuk Turks capital, Iconium, while the French were off attacking somewhere else in Anatolia. This separation of the armies gave the Turks the advantage and ability to travel between both locations and not get overwhelmed or outnumbered. Conrad was the least fortunate. He was defeated instantly and almost lost his life during the course of the battle. The French lasted considerably longer but were ultimately defeated and lost nearly their entire army. This had huge repercussions for future Christian crusades and the economy in Europe as a whole because of the resources wasted and the lack of recruits afterwards. This was also the first sign of the fall of the Crusader states in the Middle
East. Saladin who was able to unite Syria and Egypt under their common enemy, the Christians, now ruled the Egyptians. This is massively important because up until that point, the Muslim states were not united. Saladin helped give them a common enemy, and the Christians were already in a state of turmoil. The lack of communication between all of the Crusader states helped to destroy the hopes of the Christians ruling over the holy land, Jerusalem. The second crusade became the Achilles heel of the Christian control of Jerusalem. Had ties been stronger between all the Christian principalities, they may have ruled Jerusalem a lot longer than they had. In conclusion, the actions by both religious factions led to massive changes in society, politics and the economics of the region over the course of the second Crusade and even leading into the third crusade.
Notes
1. Smith, Bonnie G., Marc Van De Mieroop, Richard Von Glahn, and Kris Lane. "Crusaders, Mongols, and Eurasian Integration, 1050-1350." In Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World's Peoples. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012.
Works Cited
"The Crusades." The Crusades. Accessed September 29, 2014.
Staff, History.com. "Crusades." History.com. January 1, 2010. Accessed September 29, 2014.
Smith, Bonnie G., Marc Van De Mieroop, Richard Von Glahn, and Kris Lane. "Crusaders, Mongols, and Eurasian Integration, 1050-1350." In Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World's Peoples. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012.