Second Crusade ｜ 3 Minute History

At the end of the First Crusade in 1099, the Crusaders had established three Christian states on the coast of the Levant. In 1101, a minor crusade was organized to reinforce the states, however they were largely defeated while crossing Anatolia. Nevertheless, the survivors managed to capture Tripoli and establish a new state under Raymond IV of Toulouse. Then, the Crusaders were helped by another minor crusade, the Norwegian Crusade, which arrived in the Holy Land in 1110 and captured the city of Sidon. Jerusalem expanded its borders as far south as Eilat, and in 1124, the Venetian Crusade helped the Crusaders take Tyre. And in the north, the Crusaders had fought off numerous invasion attempts, but they had failed to expand into Aleppo. And it was in this chaotic inter-crusade period that the Knights Templar was created to protect pilgrims and travellers. There were other Christian states in the region. The Byzantine Empire and Armenia were helping the Crusaders against the Arabs, but the state of Edessa remained vulnerable as they lacked the natural defences the other states had. Plus, on their border, a Turkic noble, Imad ad-Din Zengi of Mosul, had, by the 1140s, expanded into Aleppo, Homs and Baalbek. This new threat forced the Crusaders to form alliances with smaller Muslim powers on their borders. King Fulk of Jerusalem allied with the Bura dynasty in Damascus, and Jocelyn II of Edessa allied with the Orta kids of Hassan-Kif. Then, in 1143, the situation for Edessa was made a lot worse when King Fulk of Jerusalem and the Byzantine Emperor John Komnenos died, leaving Jocelyn with no strong Christian ally. So, Zengi took advantage of this and, in 1144, lured Jocelyn to send troops to support the Orta kids. Then, with Edessa relatively undefended, Zengi moved troops in and captured the city. News of the fall of Edessa reached Europe in 1145 and the new Pope, Eugene III, issued Quantum Praedesisaurus, directed at King Louis VII of France, calling for a second crusade. He then sent Bernard of Clairvaux to Germany and, with the promise of remissions of sins, Conrad III also took up the cause. However, some Germans felt more concerned about the pagans on their own borders and appealed to the Pope to sanction a crusade against the Wends. The Pope obliged and the Wendish Crusade began. The crusade achieved very little, but it did help start the Northern Crusades, which continued until the 13th century. Meanwhile, the other crusaders had left for the Holy Land. Louis and Conrad took their armies to Constantinople over land, while another force from northwest Europe left from England by ship. This second force docked in Portugal due to poor weather and agreed to join the Portuguese against the Muslims in their Reconquista. In mid-1147, they successfully captured Lisbon and handed it over to King Alfonso I, and many continued on their journey to the Holy Land. In the Middle East, Conrad decided to move from Constantinople into Anatolia in late 1147, while Louis was still en route. But in Anatolia, his army was devastated by Massoud I of the Seljuks at the Second Battle of Dorylaeum, the first being in the First Crusade. So he then waited for Louis to arrive, and together they fought off further Seljuk attacks and moved along the coast to the Levant. During this march, many believed the Byzantines weren't helping sufficiently, and this ultimately worsened relations between the Greeks and the Latins. Meanwhile, Zengi was killed in 1146, and his son Nur ad-Din took control of his western possessions. Nur ad-Din then ordered the destruction of the city of Edessa and the massacre of its inhabitants. Therefore, the crusaders could no longer retake the city. So, Louis took his ship to Antioch, while his army marched on land, guided by the Knights Templar. Once in Christian territory, the crusaders held a conference to discuss which would be the best target for their crusade. There was a great deal of friction between the leaders, but eventually, Baldwin III of Jerusalem persuaded them to attack Damascus, which was then controlled by Mahenadin Unur of the Burids. The crusaders set off to Damascus in June 1148, and arrived the following month and lay siege to the city. However, Mahenadin reluctantly asked his old rival Nur ad-Din for aid. So, Nur ad-Din and his brother Said ad-Din, who governed Mosul, sent a large army to Damascus to help fight the crusaders. So, with the prospect of fighting Nur ad-Din, as well as distrust amongst the leaders and even reports of bribery, the crusaders broke the siege after just four days and returned home. The crusade therefore ended in failure, and its failure allowed Nur ad-Din to expand his influence and eventually take control of Damascus in 1154.