Third Crusade Responsibility
Who, or what, was responsible for the failure of the Third crusade?
The third crusade was launched in 1189 due to the catastrophic defeat of Crusader forces at the Battle of the Hattin, in 1187, and the subsequent loss of Jerusalem. The news of this significant setback was, according to the chronicler Ernoul, so great that, Pope Urban died of grief when he heard the news. As a result, the newly elected Pope issued a Papal bull called the “Audita Tremendi” and in turn the three most powerful Christian kings in Europe took up the cause. The religious zeal created by the propaganda of the church even managed Henry II of England and Philip II of France to lay aside their differences and travel to the Holy Land. However, Henry II died and was succeeded by his son Richard the Lionheart. It was his decision to renege on a promise to Philip II that he would marry his daughter Alice would foster mistrust into their relationship and would, more significantly, undermine the Third Crusade due to the lack of Christian unity. The crusade also as a whole was undermined by the lack of efficiency and clearness of thought, this is most evidently seen by the way that it would take all three major leaders a year to leave for the Levant, with Richard being the only one with legitimate reasons for the delay as he had just ascended to the throne and needed to sort England out before he left. The Third Crusade would ultimately turn out to be failure; insofar that Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands. However, there were many successes such as King Richard managed to remain undefeated and there was a genuine amount of fear among the Muslim forces, plunged into disarray by the death of Saladin shortly after the Treaty of Ramla, that he would return after the three-year truce to continue the crusade. Even Saladin himself was said to be wary of this, with his biographer recounting that he said, “ 'I fear to make peace, not knowing what may become of me. Our enemy will grow strong, now that
The third crusade was launched in 1189 due to the catastrophic defeat of Crusader forces at the Battle of the Hattin, in 1187, and the subsequent loss of Jerusalem. The news of this significant setback was, according to the chronicler Ernoul, so great that, Pope Urban died of grief when he heard the news. As a result, the newly elected Pope issued a Papal bull called the “Audita Tremendi” and in turn the three most powerful Christian kings in Europe took up the cause. The religious zeal created by the propaganda of the church even managed Henry II of England and Philip II of France to lay aside their differences and travel to the Holy Land. However, Henry II died and was succeeded by his son Richard the Lionheart. It was his decision to renege on a promise to Philip II that he would marry his daughter Alice would foster mistrust into their relationship and would, more significantly, undermine the Third Crusade due to the lack of Christian unity. The crusade also as a whole was undermined by the lack of efficiency and clearness of thought, this is most evidently seen by the way that it would take all three major leaders a year to leave for the Levant, with Richard being the only one with legitimate reasons for the delay as he had just ascended to the throne and needed to sort England out before he left. The Third Crusade would ultimately turn out to be failure; insofar that Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands. However, there were many successes such as King Richard managed to remain undefeated and there was a genuine amount of fear among the Muslim forces, plunged into disarray by the death of Saladin shortly after the Treaty of Ramla, that he would return after the three-year truce to continue the crusade. Even Saladin himself was said to be wary of this, with his biographer recounting that he said, “ 'I fear to make peace, not knowing what may become of me. Our enemy will grow strong, now that
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