Military history of the Crusader states
Encyclopedia
The military history
of the Crusader states
began with the formation of the County of Edessa
in 1097 and ended with the loss of Ruad in 1302 it was the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land
.
wrested territory from the Seljuk Turks during the Siege of Nicaea
in 1097 and lasted until 1128 when Zengi
became atabeg
of Aleppo. At the latter date, the chief threat to the Crusaders
from the east and north became the Zengids. The conflict was generally fought between European Crusaders and the Seljuk Turks and their vassals. The Muslim
Syria
n emirates occasionally allied themselves with the Christians against rival states.
from its Seljuk garrison, advancing from there into Anatolia
. In the Battle of Dorylaeum the main Seljuk Turkish army was defeated. In 1097 the Frankish host besieged Antioch
which fell in 1098. They successfully repelled an army sent by the Seljuk Sultan in Baghdad
. The bulk of the Latin army moved on, capturing Ma'arrat al-Numan
.
After the siege many of the local emirs cooperated with the Christians in the hope that they would move on and attack the territory of another ruler. The Crusaders soon moved beyond Seljuk territory and went on to capture Jerusalem from the Fatimid
s in the Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
.
in 1100. The Crusade of 1101
ended in disaster when three separate Crusader columns were ambushed and annihilated by Seljuk armies in central Anatolia. Some of the commanders survived, but most of the foot soldiers and camp followers were enslaved or slaughtered. A decisive Crusader defeat at the Battle of Harran
in 1104 " permanently ended Frankish expansion towards the Euphrates."
sent a Turkish force to help Fatimid Egypt, but the combined force was defeated in the Third Battle of Ramla. That year in the Battle of Artah
, the Principality of Antioch
under Tancred
won a victory over Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan of Aleppo and put the city on the defensive. The seven-year Siege of Tripoli
ended in 1109 when the port fell and became the capital of the County of Tripoli
.
of Baghdad ordered counter-attacks on the Crusader states for six years. In 1110, 1112, and 1114 the city of Edessa
was targeted; Galilee
was invaded in 1113, and in 1111 and 1115 the Latin possessions east of the Orontes
between Aleppo and Shaizar
."
In the Battle of Shaizar (1111)
King Baldwin I of Jerusalem
fought the army of Mawdud of Mosul
in an extended skirmish around the walls of Shaizar. Mawdud defeated Baldwin's army at the Battle of Al-Sannabra
in 1113. After a protracted campaign, the army of Bursuq bin Bursuq of Hamadan was routed by Roger of Salerno
's army in 1115 at the Battle of Sarmin
. The Seljuk successor states continued the war against the Frankish states.
Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq
's army destroyed the Antiochene field army and killed Roger of Salerno at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis
in June 1119. Baldwin II of Jerusalem
repaired the situation by rapidly reinforcing Antioch with forces from the Kingdom of Jerusalem
and the County of Tripoli, winning the Battle of Hab
that August.
, putting Aleppo back on the defensive. However, the Franks were defeated at the Battle of Marj es-Suffar
in 1126, losing so many men that they were unable to capture Damascus
.
assumed the rule of Aleppo in 1128 and ended when his son Nur ad-Din, the ruler of Aleppo and Damascus
, died in 1174. Though the Zengids were technically Seljuks, they represented a menace to the Crusader states in their own right.
was confirmed as atabeg
of Mosul
by the Seljuk
Sultan Mahmud II
. When he also became ruler of Aleppo the following year, the combined resources of the two cities made him a major threat to the Crusader states. However, Zengi first intrigued against the emirates of Homs
and Damascus
.
In 1135, Imad-ud-din Zengi moved against the Latin Principality of Antioch
. When the Crusaders failed to put an army into the field to oppose him, he captured the Syria
n towns of Atharib, Zerdana, Ma'arrat al-Numan
and Kafr Tab. He defeated King Fulk of Jerusalem
in 1137 at the Battle of Ba'rin
. Afterward, he seized Ba'rin castle which the Crusaders never recovered. In 1138, he helped repel a Frankish-Byzantine
attack on Shaizar
. Because of his continued efforts to seize Damascus, that city sometimes allied itself with the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
.
The crowning achievement of Imad-ud-din Zengi's career occurred when he moved against the Christian state of Edessa
when the bulk of its forces were campaigning elsewhere. In the Siege of Edessa
he stormed and captured that city. The western portion of the County of Edessa
remained in Crusader hands for only a few more years before being extinguished.
Zengi was assassinated by a Frankish slave in 1146. He was succeeded in Aleppo by his second son Nur-ud-din Zengi, while his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I
inherited Mosul
.
. In 1148, the Second Crusade
was forced to lift the Siege of Damascus
when the armies of Nur-ud-din Zengi and his brother Saif appeared in the vicinity. He annihilated the army of Antioch
at the Battle of Inab
in 1149.
Nur-ud-din Zengi became overlord of Mosul
in 1149. He conquered the rest of the County of Edessa
soon after the Battle of Aintab
in 1150. For the next few years, he turned his attention to Damascus, except when he briefly seized the Crusader port of Tortosa
in 1152. In a coup, he finally seized control of Damascus
in 1154. For several years afterward he became involved in the affairs of Mosul. In 1157, he defeated the Franks at the Battle of Lake Huleh
.
In 1163, King Amalric of Jerusalem
began the Crusader invasions of Egypt
against the disintegrating Fatimid
Caliphate
. To counter this, Nur-ud-din Zengi sent his own forces to intervene in the Fatimid civil war. That year, he was defeated at the Battle of al-Buqaia
in Syria
. In 1164 he won a great victory over the Crusaders at the Battle of Harim
and went on to capture Banias
. In Egypt
, his general Shirkuh
won the Battle of al-Babein
in 1167, but the war dragged on. Shirkuh triumphed in 1169, but died soon after.
Shirkuh
was succeeded by his lieutenant Saladin
, thus uniting all the Zengid territories into a vast empire. But the new ruler of Egypt refused to act as Nur-ud-din Zengi's vassal. Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan
in 1171 and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. Nur-ud-din Zengi planned to move against the upstart but died in 1174. With his death, the Zengid empire fell apart.
Egypt
began when the First Crusade
invaded Fatimid
territory and started the Siege of Jerusalem
in 1099. Soon after, the Crusaders stormed and captured the city. The war between the newly established Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
and Fatimid Egypt
continued until Saladin
became the effective ruler of Egypt in 1169.
appeared from the north. On July 15, 1099, the Crusaders successfully stormed the city and violently sacked it.
The Crusaders crushed an early attempt by the Fatimids to recover the holy city by winning the Battle of Ascalon
in 1099. The Egyptians were nevertheless able to hold onto the key fortress, which served as a launching point for raids on the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem
until 1153 when it fell in the Siege of Ascalon
.
, mounted a series of campaigns "almost annually" against the Crusader kingdom from 1100 to 1107. Egyptian armies fought three major Battles of Ramla in 1101, 1102 and 1105, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. After this, the vizier contented himself by launching frequent raids on Frankish territory from his coastal fortress of Ascalon
. In 1121, al-Afdal was assassinated.
The new vizier, Al-Ma'mum, organized a major invasion of Crusader lands. This came to grief at the Battle of Yibneh
in 1123. To protect against the raids from Ascalon, the Crusaders began encircling the strategic port with a ring of castles. Built between 1136 and 1149, the strongholds were at Ibelin
(Yibneh) 20 miles northwest of Ascalon, Blanchegarde (Tell es-Safi
) 15 miles east-northeast, Gibelin (Bait Jibrin) 18 miles east, and Gaza
12 miles south-southwest.
. The Fatimid regime broke apart into warring factions. From 1163 to 1169, Egypt became the prize of a struggle between King Amalric of Jerusalem
and Nur ed-Din of Syria
as the Fatimid factions invited one side or the other to intervene in their civil war.
In 1169, Nur ed-Din's general, Shirkuh
seized Cairo
for the last time and proclaimed himself ruler of Egypt. He died suddenly two months later and Nur ed-Din appointed Shirkuh's young nephew Saladin as his successor. As directed by his sponsor, Saladin ruthlessly stamped out Shi'ite Islam in Egypt, which had flourished under the Fatimids. But, instead of acting as Nur ed-Din's vassal, Saladin consolidated power in his own hands. He deposed the last Fatimid caliph in 1171.
) in chainmail
wielding lances and swords. These were backed by a much more numerous body of infantry armed with bows and spears. The charge of the Frankish heavy cavalry developed tremendous shock power. With a bit of hyperbole, the contemporary Byzantine scholar Anna Comnena
noted that a Frank on horseback would "make a hole through the walls of Babylon." The knights were sometimes joined by mounted squires or turcopoles who were less heavily armed. While the Crusader cavalry represented the main offensive force in battle, they "would have been absolutely useless had they not been supported by the infantry."
Often, the infantry opened the battle with a volley of arrows, with the horsemen in the rear. When an opportunity for a successful charge appeared, the infantry would open ranks to allow the mailed cavalry to advance. If the horsemen suffered a reverse, they could fall back behind the foot soldiers. The Frankish infantry had considerable defensive power, but it could not hold out for long if unsupported by their heavy cavalry.
ese bowmen supported by Arab
and Berber
cavalry. Since the archers were on foot and the horsemen awaited attack with lance and sword, a Fatimid army provided exactly the sort of immobile target that the Frankish heavy cavalry excelled in attacking. Except for the third battle of Ramleh in 1105, when Toghtekin of Damascus
sent a contingent of Seljuk Turks to help the Egyptians, the Fatimids did not use horse archers.
Whereas the Crusaders developed a healthy respect for the harass-and-surround tactics of the Turkish horse archers, they tended to discount the effectiveness of the Egyptian armies. While overconfidence led to a Crusader disaster at the second battle of Ramleh, the more frequent result was a Fatimid defeat. "The Franks never, until the reign of Saladin
, feared the Egyptian as they did the armies from Muslim Syria
and Mesopotamia
."
(1228–1242) was a civil war
in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
and the Kingdom of Cyprus
between the "Lombards" (also called the imperialists), the representatives of the Emperor Frederick II, largely from Lombardy
, and the native aristocracy, led first by the Ibelin
s and then by the Montfort
s. The war was provoked by Frederick's attempt to control the regency
for his young son, Conrad II of Jerusalem. Frederick and Conrad represented the Hohenstaufen dynasty.
that arrived in Asia Minor in 1097 were a type of armed pilgrimage. A prior expedition, the People's Crusade
, made up of peasants and low-ranking knights arrived in Asia Minor in August 1096, but were decisively defeated by Seljuk forces a month later in October (??). The later force called the Prince's Crusade, which succeeded in taking Jerusalem and started the Crusader states, was representative of European armies. Crusader armies contained heavy cavalry, infantry and ranged troops such as archers or crossbowmen. The original leadership was generally made up of high-ranking knights from modern-day France. Later on, other Western European monarchs participated such as Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
from the Holy Roman Empire and Richard I of England
in the Third Crusade
of 1189–1192. The long distance to the Middle East and the difficulty in crossing often hostile territory resulted in the Crusader forces being relatively outnumbered by the surrounding pre-existing nations. There were regular calls for reinforcements from the Crusader states attempting to alleviate this problem. Several calls resulted in new Crusades.
(1099) and the Battle of Lake Huleh
(1157). Against horse archers such as those used by the Seljuks, running battles were common. In these instances, the Crusaders kept in close marching formation while being harassed by mobile horse archers. Generally the forces opposing the Crusaders were unable or unwilling to attempt breaking the formation. This type of battle usually resulted in no clear result. Examples of running battles include the Battle of Bosra (1147)
and the Battle of Aintab
(1150). This use of relatively heavily armoured troops to shield the less armoured foot soldiers and archers was also seen in the formation used by Bohemund of Taranto during the Battle of Dorylaeum (1097). Although often no clear result appeared in running battles, there could be a chance for the Crusaders to charge into unprepared and disorganised enemy forces after some time had passed. This could result in a decisive victory, as happened in the Battle of Arsuf
(1191) although it was not part of the original battle plan. Against the Fatimid forces, which used foot archers and light melee cavalry, the Crusaders could use their heavy cavalry more effectively, achieving decisive results. This can be seen in the first
and third
battles of Ramla. In the Second Battle of Ramla
, faulty intelligence had resulted in the near-destruction of a small Crusader force.
These tactics were dictated by the forces on hand. The more well-off Crusader troops, such as the knights, were individually superior in a melee to any cavalry in the area at the time, and were relatively immune to arrows due to their armour. Nonetheless, they tended to be ill-disciplined in the face of arrow volleys. The Seljuks attempted to use this on several occasions to draw small groups of cavalry away from the main body where they could be destroyed piecemeal by superior numbers. An example of a tactical retreat by lightly armoured Seljuk cavalry leading to a tactical advantage and a surrounded Crusader force was at the Battle of Azaz
(1125). An alternative or supporting tactic to feigned retreats that was used by the Seljuks and others was harassing the Crusader line to disorganise it and leave it open to a cohesive cavalry charge. Crusader generals would have needed to be careful to maintain discipline in the face of losses from arrows and to keep heavy cavalry reserves to repel probing attacks. Note that this analysis is only drawn from examination mainly of some battles between 1097 and the mid 12th century, and so does not include the tactics of the entire Crusader period which only truly ended in 1302.
The two famous crusader orders, the Knights of Saint John and Knights Templar
, fought similarly and a lot like most other Knights, except the Templars would tend to be a more aggressive a force (even outside the crusader kingdom such as in the Reconquista
). As a result they suffered more casualties; indeed the order was almost destroyed several times throughout the Crusades period such as at the Horns of Hattin
. They would also take part in many defences in the crusader kingdom such as Antioch
and finally Acre
committing to many sallies in last-ditch efforts to deny the cities to the enemy. Also, they held some of the strongest castles in the kingdom, for example Krak des Chevaliers
, which was primarily controlled by the Knights of Saint John.
The only effective defensive method of defeating the hit and run tactics launched by the Saracens was to form a shield wall and hope that the armour one wore was thick enough. Crossbowmen and or archers could then fire their own missiles from the safety of the shield wall. To counter the heat, many knights wore a surcoat underneath their armour to insulate against the metal which under the heat of the sun, would have burned their skin. Later, the Saracens and Turks employed heavier troops, but since most soldiers came from the local population of the Arabs, these would not have naturally worn much armour. As such, the Crusaders were often of a heavier type than their enemies and few of their enemies could withstand a heavy cavalry charge unless the cavalry were seriously outnumbered.
The crusaders were also a very determined band of soldiers, bearing the heat of a foreign land, and surviving on minimal amounts of water (and in the case of the First Crusade
, minimal amounts of food). Many would have had to have travelled either by land which was exhausting at best, or else by sea, whereby many of their comrades would have died or been lost in storms. Those few that arrived were the best, and crusader soldiers were at least as determined as their opponents were. A classical example is the Siege of Antioch
where the crusaders, though outnumbered, were inspired and eventually drove of a larger army of Seljuk Turks. Many have argued that the cause of victory was due to factional infighting between the various Turkish tribes within the army, as opposed to the Christian zeal inspired by the Lance of Longinus that was supposedly found in the city.
At times the Crusaders could be a large force. Under Richard the Lionheart, there were some 40,000 men under his command at the height of the Third Crusade. There may well have been many more, but the Holy Roman Emperor
's enormous army broke apart after his death.
Crusader castles allowed the Christian invaders to secure their beachhead in the Levant. Building many fortifications, which were well-supplied with water and food, they could hold out almost indefinitely, unless supply was cut, the enemy infiltrated the fort such as Krak des Chevaliers or a big enough force was marshaled against them in a siege such as by Saladin
, who only caputred Jerusalem after destroying the Crusader army at Hattin. After the crusader period, this occurred at Constantinople
itself. Pitched battles were avoided as often as possible, unless the political situation called for it, due to problems with manpower, logistics and the impracticability of marching armoured soldiers in such a hot climate.
in 1290s resulting in the Siege of Acre
.
Often, the actions of Crusader armies were not beneficial to their cause of aiding their powerful and uneasy allies, the Byzantine Christians. The Byzantines, dubious of Crusader usefulness, even went so far as to make a deal with Saladin: when Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa marched his enormous army towards Jerusalem, the Byzantine emperor promised to delay the crusaders in return for Saladin not attack the Byzantine Empire.
The sacking of the Hungarian city of Zara
, and the capture of Constantinople in 1204 were some of the main factors behind the fall of Byzantium.
The key to surviving against their numerous opponents was to keep them from uniting. The Crusaders were able to make a few alliances with various Arabic factions. However, the over-confidence of the Crusaders meant that after a little initial success, they would lustily attack their former allies. Since the crusaders were not strong enough to defeat the combined enemy forces, even when they combined forces, open war was not wise. In Spain, the initially powerful Moors were greatly weakened by civil war and various city states with little or no allegiance to each other. The few Christian kingdoms in Northern Spain were able to stay a few in number (and hence mainly united), even as they conquered more land.
Reinforcing a Crusader army was difficult at best. Troops were brought from Europe but these would often have their own orders led by their own leaders, often with conflicting interests. The Second Crusade demonstrates this, when a large Crusader army failed to capture Damascus
after a row broke out between the commanders (who were of different origins) as to who should rule the city, even though the city had not even fallen at the time (and consequently did not). Since troops were being brought over from such a long distance, Crusader leaders feared that one would plot against the other back in Europe, something that their Arabian counterparts had little worry of considering that their lands were already occupied. Their fears were not unfounded, as in the cases of Richard the Lionheart, whose half brother plotted against him, and the Austrian emperor Leopold
, whom had Richard captured and ransomed.
At the Battle of Hattin
, a large crusader army was annihilated when it was ambushed searching for a source of water. The lack of local knowledge resulted from poor intelligence-gathering.
Conscription was limited at best. The mainly Muslim local population that survived any initial massacres would not be permitted to join the army, but almost certainly none would have wished to. At the time of the Siege of Jerusalem
, there were some 60,000 refugees wishing to flee that Saladin
gave a paid passage to. So whilst some people from Europe, or local Christians may have swelled the city and hence had the potential to raise a militia force, it was not enough. At the siege of Acre, the crusaders amounted to 15,000 men, a small force compared to the typical army of 40,000 to 80,000 deployed by the Saracens. As a result, the Arabs had a seemingly unlimited supply of men, whilst the crusaders struggled to man their walls during the latter periods in the late thirteenth centuries.
After the First Crusade, many of the veteran soldiers who won the Battle of Ascalon
left, believing that their mission was accomplished. Often, some crusades were nothing more than poorly led raids, like the Fourth Crusade. This only aggravated the local Arabs, uniting them in their desire to fling the Crusaders from their holdings.
, the Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat against the Turks, seeing much land lost. The Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos
called for mercenaries from the West for help in combating the Turks. In response, Pope Urban II
at the council of Clermont
declared an armed pilgrimage to the Holy land. The resulting Crusaders aided Byzantium so greatly that by 1143, the death of John II Komnenos
, the Byzantine empire was once more a superpower and the Crusaders had control of a sizable piece of the Levant along with Jerusalem, which did not fall until 1187.
Large numbers of Crusader States
were formed, most of them independent of the European powers, though the Byzantine Empire did claim the Crusader states as 'Protectorates'.
By the late 13th century, crusades were no longer of benefit, weakening the Byzantines more than the Turks and Saracens. Naval expansion by the Venetians
at the expense of the Byzantine empire strained relations.
Some military orders may have fought on foot as dismounted knights. This would have been favorable in circumstances were the ground was difficult or else too narrow for large numbers of cavalry. However, in the open desert plains of the Middle East, it would have been foolish to travel on foot.
Templar Knights
The Templar Knights were created in 1119 when King Baldwin II gave permission for eight knights to start a new military order to protect pilgrims on their way to the Holy land. They never retreated from battle and as a result, only a tenth of the Templars survived battle. The Order had to constantly spend large sums of money recruiting new knights. Over time, The Templars grew to an impressive order of thousands of members, though not all would have been heavy cavalry – most would have been squires or servants accompanying the Knights. The Templars participated in almost every major battle of the Second Crusade onwards. They were later betrayed and disbanded by a combination of the French crown and the papacy.
Knights of St. John
The Knights of St. John were founded as a military order in 1113. Their aim was to protect pilgrims and more importantly, to set up Hospices and other charitable services to the pilgrims. In 1005, a Christian hospital was destroyed by the Caliph Al Hakim. This was rebuilt later in 1023. The Knights of St. John were forced to evacuate from the Holy Land, traveling across the Mediterranean until finally settling on Malta. They remained a potent force until their dismemberment by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
Knights of Santiago
Although many historians see the Reconquista
in Spain itself as a long Crusade, the Knights of Santiago did not take part in any campaigns in the Levant. Their mission, like many of the other military orders, was to protect pilgrims heading from Northern Spain, which in the twelfth century was Christian, into the Islamic south and then to the Holy land.
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Knightly order was founded in the late 12th century after the crusades in the Middle East (most likely the Third Crusade). Of German origin, Germany initially contributed a large army of heavy infantry and cavalry under Frederick Barbarossa. After the aging emperor's mysterious death (and supposed pickling), a few of these knights made it to the Holy Land and established themselves, where they controlled the polls of the ports in the parts of the Levant controlled by the Crusaders. Most of the action seen by these Knights, however, were directed against Prussia and the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. The Teutonic Knights declined in importance after a crushing defeat by the Polish-Lithuanian forces in the 1410 Battle of Tannenberg
. The Teutons were finally dissolved by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809. However, the descendants of these Knights formed the elite Prussian officers and such the legacy of the order's martial skill can be examined in the Napoleonic
and the Franco-Prussian War
.
Infantry
Typical medieval military doctrine dictated that infantry would be the main composition of any army, but that cavalry would dominate the battlefield. This was certainly true of the Crusaders. It required great horsemanship and archery skills to be a cavalry archer. Horsemen could conserve their strength for battle but infantry had to march to battle. This daunting task across the desert is made all the more uncomfortable when considering the weight arms, armour, and baggage, combined with the threat of getting lost while surrounded by the enemy. Both sides used their cavalry to strike the deepest blow, while the infantry would then be useful in supporting roles, such as archery, covering flanks, or using sheer weight and numbers in attrition and pursuit.
, the Crusader states fell one by one.
One of the Crusaders' long-term goals was the conquest of Egypt. A rich and fertile province, any cost in its invasion would have been easily paid off from its revenue, even if the spoils were to be shared with the Byzantine Empire.
Crusaders emphasized speed, attempting to make a bold opening move before the enemy could finish theirs. This was done despite the lack of mounts for their knights, and could have good or ill consequences. At Ascalon
, the Crusaders were able to launch a rapid assault, leading to a great victory. At Hattin
, they quickly fell into a deadly trap and were annihilated for it. Having said that, the distance covered by an army in a day was small: this crusading haste was only present in battle.
The Crusaders generally speaking however, did not seem to have much of a plan other than divide and rule, or else strike at the chain which has the weakest point, as with Egypt. These strategies were pursued as best as they could do so.
, using their siege towers to successfully assault the city.
However, Crusaders were renowned for their castle building. Some of the strongest fortresses, such as Krak des Chevaliers
, were built and ensured their supremacy in a land surrounded by hostiles, until their under-manned walls were taken, as with Acre which, despite possessing a double wall, was under-manned and therefore overwhelmed.
Military history
Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....
of the Crusader states
Crusader states
The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land , and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area...
began with the formation of the County of Edessa
County of Edessa
The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
in 1097 and ended with the loss of Ruad in 1302 it was the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
.
War with the Seljuks
The Seljuk-Crusader War began when the First CrusadeFirst Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
wrested territory from the Seljuk Turks during the Siege of Nicaea
Siege of Nicaea
The Siege of Nicaea took place from May 14 to June 19, 1097, during the First Crusade.-Background:Nicaea , located on the eastern shore of Lake İznik, had been captured from the Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Turks in 1081, and formed the capital of the Sultanate of Rüm...
in 1097 and lasted until 1128 when Zengi
Zengi
Imad ad-Din Zengi was the atabeg of Mosul, Aleppo, Hama and Edessa and founder of the Zengid dynasty, to which he gave his name.-Early life:...
became atabeg
Atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince...
of Aleppo. At the latter date, the chief threat to the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
from the east and north became the Zengids. The conflict was generally fought between European Crusaders and the Seljuk Turks and their vassals. The Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n emirates occasionally allied themselves with the Christians against rival states.
First Crusade
In 1097 the Crusaders captured NicaeaSiege of Nicaea
The Siege of Nicaea took place from May 14 to June 19, 1097, during the First Crusade.-Background:Nicaea , located on the eastern shore of Lake İznik, had been captured from the Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Turks in 1081, and formed the capital of the Sultanate of Rüm...
from its Seljuk garrison, advancing from there into Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. In the Battle of Dorylaeum the main Seljuk Turkish army was defeated. In 1097 the Frankish host besieged Antioch
Siege of Antioch
The Siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098. The first siege, by the crusaders against the Muslim city, lasted from October 21, 1097, to June 2, 1098. The second siege, against the crusaders who had occupied it, lasted from June 7 to June 28, 1098.-Background:Antioch...
which fell in 1098. They successfully repelled an army sent by the Seljuk Sultan in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The bulk of the Latin army moved on, capturing Ma'arrat al-Numan
Siege of Ma'arrat al-Numan
The Siege of Maarat, or Ma'arra, occurred in 1098 in the city of Ma'arrat al-Numan, in what is modern-day Syria, during the First Crusade...
.
After the siege many of the local emirs cooperated with the Christians in the hope that they would move on and attack the territory of another ruler. The Crusaders soon moved beyond Seljuk territory and went on to capture Jerusalem from the Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
s in the Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
The Siege of Jerusalem took place from June 7 to July 15, 1099 during the First Crusade. The Crusaders stormed and captured the city from Fatimid Egypt.-Background:...
.
Crusader setbacks 1100–1104
The Crusader successes suddenly came to an end when Bohemond I of Antioch was captured by the Danishmend Turks in the Battle of MeliteneBattle of Melitene
In the Battle of Melitene in 1100, a Crusader force led by Bohemond I of Antioch was defeated by Danishmend Turks commanded by Malik Ghazi Gumushtekin.After acquiring the Principality of Antioch in 1098, Bohemond allied himself with the Armenians of Cilicia...
in 1100. The Crusade of 1101
Crusade of 1101
The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First...
ended in disaster when three separate Crusader columns were ambushed and annihilated by Seljuk armies in central Anatolia. Some of the commanders survived, but most of the foot soldiers and camp followers were enslaved or slaughtered. A decisive Crusader defeat at the Battle of Harran
Battle of Harran
The Battle of Harran took place on May 7, 1104 between the Crusader states of the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa, and the Seljuk Turks. It was the first major battle against the newfound Crusader states in the aftermath of the First Crusade marking a key turning point against...
in 1104 " permanently ended Frankish expansion towards the Euphrates."
Crusader consolidation 1105–1109
In 1105, Toghtekin of DamascusDamascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
sent a Turkish force to help Fatimid Egypt, but the combined force was defeated in the Third Battle of Ramla. That year in the Battle of Artah
Battle of Artah
The Battle of Artah was fought in 1105 between Crusader forces and the Seljuk Turks. The Turks were led by Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan of Aleppo, while the Crusaders were led by Tancred, Prince of Galilee, regent of the Principality of Antioch...
, the Principality of Antioch
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...
under Tancred
Tancred, Prince of Galilee
Tancred was a Norman leader of the First Crusade who later became Prince of Galilee and regent of the Principality of Antioch...
won a victory over Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan of Aleppo and put the city on the defensive. The seven-year Siege of Tripoli
Siege of Tripoli
The Siege of Tripoli lasted from 1102 until July 12, 1109 and took place on the site of the present day Lebanese city of Tripoli. It took place in the aftermath of the First Crusade and led to the establishment of the fourth crusader state, the County of Tripoli.-Background:After the capture of...
ended in 1109 when the port fell and became the capital of the County of Tripoli
County of Tripoli
The County of Tripoli was the last Crusader state founded in the Levant, located in what today are parts of western Syria and northern Lebanon, where exists the modern city of Tripoli. The Crusader state was captured and created by Christian forces in 1109, originally held by Bertrand of Toulouse...
.
Seljuk counterattack 1110–1119
Beginning in 1110, Sultan Muhammad IMuhammad I of Great Seljuk
Muhammad I was a son of Seljuq Sultan Malik Shah I. In Turkish, Tapar means for "he who obtains, finds"....
of Baghdad ordered counter-attacks on the Crusader states for six years. In 1110, 1112, and 1114 the city of Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
was targeted; Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
was invaded in 1113, and in 1111 and 1115 the Latin possessions east of the Orontes
Orontes River
The Orontes or ‘Āṣī is a river of Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.It was anciently the chief river of the Levant, also called Draco, Typhon and Axius...
between Aleppo and Shaizar
Shaizar
Shaizar, Shayzar or Saijar was a medieval town and fortress in Syria, ruled by the Banu Munqidh dynasty, which played an important part in the Christian and Muslim politics of the crusades.- Early history :...
."
In the Battle of Shaizar (1111)
Battle of Shaizar (1111)
In the Battle of Shaizar in 1111, a Crusader army commanded by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem and a Seljuk army led by Mawdud ibn Altuntash of Mosul fought to tactical draw but a withdrawal of Crusader forces.-Background:...
King Baldwin I of Jerusalem
Baldwin I of Jerusalem
Baldwin I of Jerusalem, formerly Baldwin I of Edessa, born Baldwin of Boulogne , 1058? – 2 April 1118, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, who became the first Count of Edessa and then the second ruler and first titled King of Jerusalem...
fought the army of Mawdud of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
in an extended skirmish around the walls of Shaizar. Mawdud defeated Baldwin's army at the Battle of Al-Sannabra
Battle of Al-Sannabra
In the Battle of Al-Sannabra , a Crusader army led by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem was defeated by a Muslim army sent by the Sultan of the Seljuk Turks and commanded by Mawdud ibn Altuntash of Mosul.-Background:...
in 1113. After a protracted campaign, the army of Bursuq bin Bursuq of Hamadan was routed by Roger of Salerno
Roger of Salerno
Roger of Salerno was regent of the Principality of Antioch from 1112 to 1119.He was the son of Richard of the Principate and the 2nd cousin of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, both participants on the First Crusade. He became regent of Antioch when Tancred died in 1112; the actual prince, Bohemund II,...
's army in 1115 at the Battle of Sarmin
Battle of Sarmin
In the Battle of Sarmin on September 14, 1115, Prince Roger of Salerno's Crusader army surprised and routed the Seljuk Turkish army of Bursuq bin Bursuq of Hamadan.-Background:...
. The Seljuk successor states continued the war against the Frankish states.
Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq
Ilghazi
Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq was the Turkish Artukid ruler of Mardin from 1107 to 1122.- Biography :His father Artuk was the founder of the Artukid dynasty, and had been appointed governor of Jerusalem by the Seljuq emir Tutush. When Artuk died, Ilghazi and his brother Sökmen succeeded him as...
's army destroyed the Antiochene field army and killed Roger of Salerno at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis
Battle of Ager Sanguinis
In the Battle of Ager Sanguinis, also known as the Battle of the Field of Blood, the Battle of Sarmada, or the Battle of Balat, Roger of Salerno's Crusader army of the Principality of Antioch was annihilated by the army of Ilghazi of Mardin, the Artuqid ruler of Aleppo on June 28,...
in June 1119. Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II of Jerusalem , formerly Baldwin II of Edessa, also called Baldwin of Bourcq, born Baldwin of Rethel was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death.-Ancestry:Baldwin was the son of Hugh, count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende,...
repaired the situation by rapidly reinforcing Antioch with forces from the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
and the County of Tripoli, winning the Battle of Hab
Battle of Hab
In the Battle of Hab on August 14, 1119, a Crusader army commanded by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem won a disputed victory over a Muslim army led by Ilghazi of Mardin since the Muslim army claimed it as a victory...
that August.
Crusader consolidation 1120–1128
In 1124 Tyre fell to the Crusaders. In 1125, the Crusaders triumphed at the Battle of AzazBattle of Azaz
In the Battle of Azaz forces of the Crusader States commanded by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem defeated Aq-Sunqur il-Bursuqi's army of Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125 and raised the siege of the town....
, putting Aleppo back on the defensive. However, the Franks were defeated at the Battle of Marj es-Suffar
Battle of Marj es-Suffar
The Battle of Marj es-Suffar was fought on January 25, 1126 between a Crusader army led by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Seljuk Emirate of Damascus, which was ruled by Toghtekin...
in 1126, losing so many men that they were unable to capture Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
.
War with the Zengids
The war with the Zengids began when ZengiZengi
Imad ad-Din Zengi was the atabeg of Mosul, Aleppo, Hama and Edessa and founder of the Zengid dynasty, to which he gave his name.-Early life:...
assumed the rule of Aleppo in 1128 and ended when his son Nur ad-Din, the ruler of Aleppo and Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, died in 1174. Though the Zengids were technically Seljuks, they represented a menace to the Crusader states in their own right.
Imad-ud-din Zengi
In 1127, Imad-ud-din ZengiZengi
Imad ad-Din Zengi was the atabeg of Mosul, Aleppo, Hama and Edessa and founder of the Zengid dynasty, to which he gave his name.-Early life:...
was confirmed as atabeg
Atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince...
of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
by the Seljuk
Seljuq dynasty
The Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
Sultan Mahmud II
Mahmud II of Great Seljuk
Mahmud II was the Seljuq sultan of Baghdad in 1118 following the death of his father Mehmed I. At the time Mahmud was fourteen, and ruled over Iraq and Persia....
. When he also became ruler of Aleppo the following year, the combined resources of the two cities made him a major threat to the Crusader states. However, Zengi first intrigued against the emirates of Homs
Homs
Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...
and Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
.
In 1135, Imad-ud-din Zengi moved against the Latin Principality of Antioch
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade.-Foundation:...
. When the Crusaders failed to put an army into the field to oppose him, he captured the Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n towns of Atharib, Zerdana, Ma'arrat al-Numan
Ma'arrat al-Numan
Maarat al-Numaan, , is a city in northwestern Syria with a population of about 90000 . It is located at the highway between Aleppo and Hama and near the Dead Cities of Bara and Serjilla...
and Kafr Tab. He defeated King Fulk of Jerusalem
Fulk of Jerusalem
Fulk , also known as Fulk the Younger, was Count of Anjou from 1109 to 1129, and King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death...
in 1137 at the Battle of Ba'rin
Battle of Ba'rin
In the Battle of Ba'rin in 1137, a Crusader force commanded by King Fulk of Jerusalem was scattered and defeated by Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo. This setback resulted in the permanent loss of the Crusader castle of Ba'rin....
. Afterward, he seized Ba'rin castle which the Crusaders never recovered. In 1138, he helped repel a Frankish-Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
attack on Shaizar
Shaizar
Shaizar, Shayzar or Saijar was a medieval town and fortress in Syria, ruled by the Banu Munqidh dynasty, which played an important part in the Christian and Muslim politics of the crusades.- Early history :...
. Because of his continued efforts to seize Damascus, that city sometimes allied itself with the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
.
The crowning achievement of Imad-ud-din Zengi's career occurred when he moved against the Christian state of Edessa
County of Edessa
The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
when the bulk of its forces were campaigning elsewhere. In the Siege of Edessa
Siege of Edessa
The Siege of Edessa took place from November 28 to December 24, 1144, resulting in the fall of the capital of the crusader County of Edessa to Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo.- Background :...
he stormed and captured that city. The western portion of the County of Edessa
County of Edessa
The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
remained in Crusader hands for only a few more years before being extinguished.
Zengi was assassinated by a Frankish slave in 1146. He was succeeded in Aleppo by his second son Nur-ud-din Zengi, while his eldest son Saif ad-Din Ghazi I
Saif ad-Din Ghazi I
Saif ad-Din Ghazi I was the Emir of Mosul from 1146 to 1149He was the eldest son of Zengi of Mosul, and the elder brother of Nur ad-Din....
inherited Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
.
Nur-ud-din Zengi
Nur-ud-din Zengi crushed a brief attempt by the Franks to reoccupy Edessa in 1146. The following year, he helped a rival city, Damascus, repel a Crusader expedition in the Battle of BosraBattle of Bosra (1147)
In the Battle of Bosra in 1147, a Crusader force commanded by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem fought an inconclusive running battle with Turkish forces from Damascus led by Mu'in ad-Din Unur aided by Nur ad-Din's contingent from Mosul and Aleppo...
. In 1148, the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
was forced to lift the Siege of Damascus
Siege of Damascus
The Siege of Damascus took place over four days in July 1148, during the Second Crusade. It ended in a decisive crusader defeat and led to the disintegration of the crusade. The two main Christian forces that marched to the Holy Land in response to Pope Eugenius III and Bernard of Clairvaux's call...
when the armies of Nur-ud-din Zengi and his brother Saif appeared in the vicinity. He annihilated the army of Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
at the Battle of Inab
Battle of Inab
The Battle of Inab, also called Battle of Ard al-Hâtim or Fons Muratus, was fought on June 29, 1149, during the Second Crusade. The Syrian army of Nur ad-Din Zangi destroyed the Crusader army of Raymond of Antioch and the allied followers of Ali ibn-Wafa.-Background:Nur ad-Din had gained control...
in 1149.
Nur-ud-din Zengi became overlord of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
in 1149. He conquered the rest of the County of Edessa
County of Edessa
The County of Edessa was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century, based around Edessa, a city with an ancient history and an early tradition of Christianity....
soon after the Battle of Aintab
Battle of Aintab
In the Battle of Aintab in August 1150, a Crusader force commanded by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem repelled the attacks of Nur ad-Din Zangi of Aleppo and evacuated the Latin Christian residents of the County of Edessa. This was both a tactical victory and a strategic defeat for the...
in 1150. For the next few years, he turned his attention to Damascus, except when he briefly seized the Crusader port of Tortosa
Tortosa
-External links:* *** * * *...
in 1152. In a coup, he finally seized control of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
in 1154. For several years afterward he became involved in the affairs of Mosul. In 1157, he defeated the Franks at the Battle of Lake Huleh
Battle of Lake Huleh
In the Battle of Lake Huleh in June 1157, a Crusader army led by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem was ambushed and badly defeated by Nur ad-Din Zangi, the emir of Aleppo and Damascus. While the king and some fighting men escaped to a nearby castle, a large number were killed or made prisoner...
.
In 1163, King Amalric of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
began the Crusader invasions of Egypt
Crusader invasions of Egypt
The Crusader invasion of Egypt was a series of campaigns undertaken by the Kingdom of Jerusalem to strengthen its position in the Levant by taking advantage of the weakness of Fatimid Egypt....
against the disintegrating Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
. To counter this, Nur-ud-din Zengi sent his own forces to intervene in the Fatimid civil war. That year, he was defeated at the Battle of al-Buqaia
Battle of al-Buqaia
In the Battle of al-Buqaia in 1163, the Crusaders and their allies inflicted a rare defeat on Nur ad-Din Zangi, the Emir of Aleppo and Damascus...
in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. In 1164 he won a great victory over the Crusaders at the Battle of Harim
Battle of Harim
The Battle of Harim was fought on 12 August 1164 between the forces of Nur ad-Din Zangi and a combined army from the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Byzantine Empire and Armenia...
and went on to capture Banias
Banias
Banias is an archaeological site by the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights...
. In Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, his general Shirkuh
Shirkuh
Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi , also known as Shêrko or "Shêrgo" was an important Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Saladin....
won the Battle of al-Babein
Battle of al-Babein
The Battle of al-Babein took place on March 18, 1167, between Amalric I of Jerusalem and a Zengid army under Shirkuh for control of Egypt. Saladin served as Shirkuh’s highest ranking officer in the battle. The battle was a tactical draw between the Zengid forces and King Amalric's invasion...
in 1167, but the war dragged on. Shirkuh triumphed in 1169, but died soon after.
Shirkuh
Shirkuh
Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi , also known as Shêrko or "Shêrgo" was an important Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Saladin....
was succeeded by his lieutenant Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, thus uniting all the Zengid territories into a vast empire. But the new ruler of Egypt refused to act as Nur-ud-din Zengi's vassal. Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
in 1171 and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. Nur-ud-din Zengi planned to move against the upstart but died in 1174. With his death, the Zengid empire fell apart.
War with Fatimid Egypt
The war with FatimidFatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
began when the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
invaded Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
territory and started the Siege of Jerusalem
Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
The Siege of Jerusalem took place from June 7 to July 15, 1099 during the First Crusade. The Crusaders stormed and captured the city from Fatimid Egypt.-Background:...
in 1099. Soon after, the Crusaders stormed and captured the city. The war between the newly established Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
and Fatimid Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
continued until Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
became the effective ruler of Egypt in 1169.
Jerusalem
Fatimid Egypt had no sooner captured Jerusalem from the Seljuks when the First CrusadeFirst Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
appeared from the north. On July 15, 1099, the Crusaders successfully stormed the city and violently sacked it.
The Crusaders crushed an early attempt by the Fatimids to recover the holy city by winning the Battle of Ascalon
Battle of Ascalon
The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade.-Background:The crusaders had negotiated with the Fatimids of Egypt during their march to Jerusalem, but no satisfactory compromise could be reached — the Fatimids were willing to give...
in 1099. The Egyptians were nevertheless able to hold onto the key fortress, which served as a launching point for raids on the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
until 1153 when it fell in the Siege of Ascalon
Siege of Ascalon
The Siege of Ascalon took place in 1153, resulting in the capture of that Egyptian fortress by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Background:...
.
Fatimid counterattack
The capable vizier of Egypt, Al-Afdal ShahanshahAl-Afdal Shahanshah
al-Malik al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali Shahanshah was a vizier of the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt.- Ascent to power :He was born in Acre, the son of Badr al-Jamali, an Armenian who became Muslim. Badr was vizier for the Fatimids in Cairo from 1074 until his death in 1094, when al-Afdal succeeded him...
, mounted a series of campaigns "almost annually" against the Crusader kingdom from 1100 to 1107. Egyptian armies fought three major Battles of Ramla in 1101, 1102 and 1105, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. After this, the vizier contented himself by launching frequent raids on Frankish territory from his coastal fortress of Ascalon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...
. In 1121, al-Afdal was assassinated.
The new vizier, Al-Ma'mum, organized a major invasion of Crusader lands. This came to grief at the Battle of Yibneh
Battle of Yibneh
In the Battle of Yibneh in 1123, a Crusader force led by Eustace Grenier crushed a Fatimid army from Egypt sent by Vizier Al-Ma'mum between Ascalon and Jaffa.-Background:...
in 1123. To protect against the raids from Ascalon, the Crusaders began encircling the strategic port with a ring of castles. Built between 1136 and 1149, the strongholds were at Ibelin
Ibelin
Ibelin was a castle in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century , which gave its name to an important family of nobles.-The castle:...
(Yibneh) 20 miles northwest of Ascalon, Blanchegarde (Tell es-Safi
Tell es-Safi
Gath, Gat, or Geth , often referred to as Gath of the Philistines, was one of the five Philistine city-states, established in northwestern Philistia. According to the Bible, the king of the city was Achish, in the times of Saul, David, and Solomon. It is not certain whether this refers to two or...
) 15 miles east-northeast, Gibelin (Bait Jibrin) 18 miles east, and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
12 miles south-southwest.
Fatimid weakness
After the fall of Ascalon, Egypt ceased to be a threat to the Crusader states until the rise of SaladinSaladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
. The Fatimid regime broke apart into warring factions. From 1163 to 1169, Egypt became the prize of a struggle between King Amalric of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
and Nur ed-Din of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
as the Fatimid factions invited one side or the other to intervene in their civil war.
In 1169, Nur ed-Din's general, Shirkuh
Shirkuh
Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi , also known as Shêrko or "Shêrgo" was an important Kurdish military commander, and uncle of Saladin....
seized Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
for the last time and proclaimed himself ruler of Egypt. He died suddenly two months later and Nur ed-Din appointed Shirkuh's young nephew Saladin as his successor. As directed by his sponsor, Saladin ruthlessly stamped out Shi'ite Islam in Egypt, which had flourished under the Fatimids. But, instead of acting as Nur ed-Din's vassal, Saladin consolidated power in his own hands. He deposed the last Fatimid caliph in 1171.
Crusader armies
A typical Crusader army consisted a core of heavy cavalry (knightsKnight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
) in chainmail
Chainmail
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
wielding lances and swords. These were backed by a much more numerous body of infantry armed with bows and spears. The charge of the Frankish heavy cavalry developed tremendous shock power. With a bit of hyperbole, the contemporary Byzantine scholar Anna Comnena
Anna Komnene
Anna Komnene, Latinized as Comnena was a Greek princess and scholar and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Byzantium and Irene Doukaina...
noted that a Frank on horseback would "make a hole through the walls of Babylon." The knights were sometimes joined by mounted squires or turcopoles who were less heavily armed. While the Crusader cavalry represented the main offensive force in battle, they "would have been absolutely useless had they not been supported by the infantry."
Often, the infantry opened the battle with a volley of arrows, with the horsemen in the rear. When an opportunity for a successful charge appeared, the infantry would open ranks to allow the mailed cavalry to advance. If the horsemen suffered a reverse, they could fall back behind the foot soldiers. The Frankish infantry had considerable defensive power, but it could not hold out for long if unsupported by their heavy cavalry.
Fatimid armies
Egyptian armies of the period relied on masses of SudanSudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese bowmen supported by Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
and Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
cavalry. Since the archers were on foot and the horsemen awaited attack with lance and sword, a Fatimid army provided exactly the sort of immobile target that the Frankish heavy cavalry excelled in attacking. Except for the third battle of Ramleh in 1105, when Toghtekin of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
sent a contingent of Seljuk Turks to help the Egyptians, the Fatimids did not use horse archers.
Whereas the Crusaders developed a healthy respect for the harass-and-surround tactics of the Turkish horse archers, they tended to discount the effectiveness of the Egyptian armies. While overconfidence led to a Crusader disaster at the second battle of Ramleh, the more frequent result was a Fatimid defeat. "The Franks never, until the reign of Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, feared the Egyptian as they did the armies from Muslim Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
."
War of the Lombards
The War of the LombardsWar of the Lombards
The War of the Lombards was a civil war in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus between the "Lombards" , the representatives of the Emperor Frederick II, largely from Lombardy, and the native aristocracy, led first by the Ibelins and then by the Montforts...
(1228–1242) was a civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
and the Kingdom of Cyprus
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
between the "Lombards" (also called the imperialists), the representatives of the Emperor Frederick II, largely from Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, and the native aristocracy, led first by the Ibelin
Ibelin
Ibelin was a castle in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century , which gave its name to an important family of nobles.-The castle:...
s and then by the Montfort
Montfort
- People :* Amaury de Montfort, Canon of York * Amaury I de Montfort * Amaury IV de Montfort * Bertrade de Montfort , Queen of France* Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola...
s. The war was provoked by Frederick's attempt to control the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
for his young son, Conrad II of Jerusalem. Frederick and Conrad represented the Hohenstaufen dynasty.
Crusader forces
The army of the First CrusadeFirst Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
that arrived in Asia Minor in 1097 were a type of armed pilgrimage. A prior expedition, the People's Crusade
People's Crusade
The People's Crusade is part of the First Crusade and lasted roughly six months from April 1096 to October. It is also known as the Peasants' Crusade or the Paupers' Crusade...
, made up of peasants and low-ranking knights arrived in Asia Minor in August 1096, but were decisively defeated by Seljuk forces a month later in October (??). The later force called the Prince's Crusade, which succeeded in taking Jerusalem and started the Crusader states, was representative of European armies. Crusader armies contained heavy cavalry, infantry and ranged troops such as archers or crossbowmen. The original leadership was generally made up of high-ranking knights from modern-day France. Later on, other Western European monarchs participated such as Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
from the Holy Roman Empire and Richard I of England
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
in the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
of 1189–1192. The long distance to the Middle East and the difficulty in crossing often hostile territory resulted in the Crusader forces being relatively outnumbered by the surrounding pre-existing nations. There were regular calls for reinforcements from the Crusader states attempting to alleviate this problem. Several calls resulted in new Crusades.
Tactics
Tactics followed by Crusaders varied according to the commander at the time and depended on the strengths of the different armies. The Crusaders were generally less mobile than their foes especially the Seljuk Turks who regularly used horse archers. However, the Crusader heavy cavalry had a powerful charge that could and did turn many battles. Where records are available several common threads on tactics may be found. Surprise attacks and ambushes were common and generally effective and were used by both the Crusaders and their enemies. Examples of surprise attacks included the Battle of Dorylaeum (1097), the Battle of AscalonBattle of Ascalon
The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade.-Background:The crusaders had negotiated with the Fatimids of Egypt during their march to Jerusalem, but no satisfactory compromise could be reached — the Fatimids were willing to give...
(1099) and the Battle of Lake Huleh
Battle of Lake Huleh
In the Battle of Lake Huleh in June 1157, a Crusader army led by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem was ambushed and badly defeated by Nur ad-Din Zangi, the emir of Aleppo and Damascus. While the king and some fighting men escaped to a nearby castle, a large number were killed or made prisoner...
(1157). Against horse archers such as those used by the Seljuks, running battles were common. In these instances, the Crusaders kept in close marching formation while being harassed by mobile horse archers. Generally the forces opposing the Crusaders were unable or unwilling to attempt breaking the formation. This type of battle usually resulted in no clear result. Examples of running battles include the Battle of Bosra (1147)
Battle of Bosra (1147)
In the Battle of Bosra in 1147, a Crusader force commanded by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem fought an inconclusive running battle with Turkish forces from Damascus led by Mu'in ad-Din Unur aided by Nur ad-Din's contingent from Mosul and Aleppo...
and the Battle of Aintab
Battle of Aintab
In the Battle of Aintab in August 1150, a Crusader force commanded by King Baldwin III of Jerusalem repelled the attacks of Nur ad-Din Zangi of Aleppo and evacuated the Latin Christian residents of the County of Edessa. This was both a tactical victory and a strategic defeat for the...
(1150). This use of relatively heavily armoured troops to shield the less armoured foot soldiers and archers was also seen in the formation used by Bohemund of Taranto during the Battle of Dorylaeum (1097). Although often no clear result appeared in running battles, there could be a chance for the Crusaders to charge into unprepared and disorganised enemy forces after some time had passed. This could result in a decisive victory, as happened in the Battle of Arsuf
Battle of Arsuf
The Battle of Arsuf was a battle of the Third Crusade in which Richard I of England defeated Saladin at Arsuf. Following a series of harassing attacks by Saladin's forces, battle was joined on the morning of 7 September 1191...
(1191) although it was not part of the original battle plan. Against the Fatimid forces, which used foot archers and light melee cavalry, the Crusaders could use their heavy cavalry more effectively, achieving decisive results. This can be seen in the first
Battle of Ramla (1101)
The first Battle of Ramla took place on 7 September 1101 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt. The town of Ramla lay on the road from Jerusalem to Ascalon, the latter of which was the largest Fatimid fortress in Palestine...
and third
Battle of Ramla (1105)
The third Battle of Ramla took place on 27 August 1105 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt. The town of Ramla lay on the road from Jerusalem to Ascalon, the latter of which was the largest Fatimid fortress in Palestine...
battles of Ramla. In the Second Battle of Ramla
Battle of Ramla (1102)
The second Battle of Ramla took place on 17 May 1102 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt.-Background:...
, faulty intelligence had resulted in the near-destruction of a small Crusader force.
These tactics were dictated by the forces on hand. The more well-off Crusader troops, such as the knights, were individually superior in a melee to any cavalry in the area at the time, and were relatively immune to arrows due to their armour. Nonetheless, they tended to be ill-disciplined in the face of arrow volleys. The Seljuks attempted to use this on several occasions to draw small groups of cavalry away from the main body where they could be destroyed piecemeal by superior numbers. An example of a tactical retreat by lightly armoured Seljuk cavalry leading to a tactical advantage and a surrounded Crusader force was at the Battle of Azaz
Battle of Azaz
In the Battle of Azaz forces of the Crusader States commanded by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem defeated Aq-Sunqur il-Bursuqi's army of Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125 and raised the siege of the town....
(1125). An alternative or supporting tactic to feigned retreats that was used by the Seljuks and others was harassing the Crusader line to disorganise it and leave it open to a cohesive cavalry charge. Crusader generals would have needed to be careful to maintain discipline in the face of losses from arrows and to keep heavy cavalry reserves to repel probing attacks. Note that this analysis is only drawn from examination mainly of some battles between 1097 and the mid 12th century, and so does not include the tactics of the entire Crusader period which only truly ended in 1302.
The two famous crusader orders, the Knights of Saint John and Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, fought similarly and a lot like most other Knights, except the Templars would tend to be a more aggressive a force (even outside the crusader kingdom such as in the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
). As a result they suffered more casualties; indeed the order was almost destroyed several times throughout the Crusades period such as at the Horns of Hattin
Horns of Hattin
Horns of Hattin is an extinct volcano with twin peaks overlooking the plains of Hattin in the Lower Galilee, Israel.-History:...
. They would also take part in many defences in the crusader kingdom such as Antioch
Siege of Antioch (1268)
The Siege of Antioch occurred in 1268 when the Mamelukes under Baibars finally succeeded in capturing the city of Antioch. Prior to the siege, the Crusader Principality was oblivious to the loss of the city as demonstrated when Baibars sent negotiators to the leader of the former Crusader state and...
and finally Acre
Siege of Acre (1291)
The Siege of Acre took place in 1291 and resulted in the loss of the Crusader-controlled city of Acre to the Muslims. It is considered one of the most important battles of the time period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end...
committing to many sallies in last-ditch efforts to deny the cities to the enemy. Also, they held some of the strongest castles in the kingdom, for example Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers , also Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by a settlement of Kurds; as a result it was known as Hisn al Akrad, meaning the "Castle of the...
, which was primarily controlled by the Knights of Saint John.
Strengths
Crusading soldiers wore armour far heavier than their Saracen and Turk counterparts.The only effective defensive method of defeating the hit and run tactics launched by the Saracens was to form a shield wall and hope that the armour one wore was thick enough. Crossbowmen and or archers could then fire their own missiles from the safety of the shield wall. To counter the heat, many knights wore a surcoat underneath their armour to insulate against the metal which under the heat of the sun, would have burned their skin. Later, the Saracens and Turks employed heavier troops, but since most soldiers came from the local population of the Arabs, these would not have naturally worn much armour. As such, the Crusaders were often of a heavier type than their enemies and few of their enemies could withstand a heavy cavalry charge unless the cavalry were seriously outnumbered.
The crusaders were also a very determined band of soldiers, bearing the heat of a foreign land, and surviving on minimal amounts of water (and in the case of the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
, minimal amounts of food). Many would have had to have travelled either by land which was exhausting at best, or else by sea, whereby many of their comrades would have died or been lost in storms. Those few that arrived were the best, and crusader soldiers were at least as determined as their opponents were. A classical example is the Siege of Antioch
Siege of Antioch
The Siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098. The first siege, by the crusaders against the Muslim city, lasted from October 21, 1097, to June 2, 1098. The second siege, against the crusaders who had occupied it, lasted from June 7 to June 28, 1098.-Background:Antioch...
where the crusaders, though outnumbered, were inspired and eventually drove of a larger army of Seljuk Turks. Many have argued that the cause of victory was due to factional infighting between the various Turkish tribes within the army, as opposed to the Christian zeal inspired by the Lance of Longinus that was supposedly found in the city.
At times the Crusaders could be a large force. Under Richard the Lionheart, there were some 40,000 men under his command at the height of the Third Crusade. There may well have been many more, but the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
's enormous army broke apart after his death.
Crusader castles allowed the Christian invaders to secure their beachhead in the Levant. Building many fortifications, which were well-supplied with water and food, they could hold out almost indefinitely, unless supply was cut, the enemy infiltrated the fort such as Krak des Chevaliers or a big enough force was marshaled against them in a siege such as by Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, who only caputred Jerusalem after destroying the Crusader army at Hattin. After the crusader period, this occurred at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
itself. Pitched battles were avoided as often as possible, unless the political situation called for it, due to problems with manpower, logistics and the impracticability of marching armoured soldiers in such a hot climate.
Weaknesses
The Crusaders were at times poorly united and their tactics lacked flexibility. The Crusading soldiers were also not very disciplined. The impetuousness of the Frankish knights resulted in killings of innocent civilians and consequently, a peace treaty between the Baibars and the Crusaders was revoked by the BaibarsBaibars
Baibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu l-Futuh , was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He was one of the commanders of the forces which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France and he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked...
in 1290s resulting in the Siege of Acre
Siege of Acre (1291)
The Siege of Acre took place in 1291 and resulted in the loss of the Crusader-controlled city of Acre to the Muslims. It is considered one of the most important battles of the time period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end...
.
Often, the actions of Crusader armies were not beneficial to their cause of aiding their powerful and uneasy allies, the Byzantine Christians. The Byzantines, dubious of Crusader usefulness, even went so far as to make a deal with Saladin: when Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Frederick Barbarossa marched his enormous army towards Jerusalem, the Byzantine emperor promised to delay the crusaders in return for Saladin not attack the Byzantine Empire.
The sacking of the Hungarian city of Zara
Siege of Zara
The Siege of Zara or Siege of Zadar was the first major action of the Fourth Crusade and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders...
, and the capture of Constantinople in 1204 were some of the main factors behind the fall of Byzantium.
The key to surviving against their numerous opponents was to keep them from uniting. The Crusaders were able to make a few alliances with various Arabic factions. However, the over-confidence of the Crusaders meant that after a little initial success, they would lustily attack their former allies. Since the crusaders were not strong enough to defeat the combined enemy forces, even when they combined forces, open war was not wise. In Spain, the initially powerful Moors were greatly weakened by civil war and various city states with little or no allegiance to each other. The few Christian kingdoms in Northern Spain were able to stay a few in number (and hence mainly united), even as they conquered more land.
Reinforcing a Crusader army was difficult at best. Troops were brought from Europe but these would often have their own orders led by their own leaders, often with conflicting interests. The Second Crusade demonstrates this, when a large Crusader army failed to capture Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
after a row broke out between the commanders (who were of different origins) as to who should rule the city, even though the city had not even fallen at the time (and consequently did not). Since troops were being brought over from such a long distance, Crusader leaders feared that one would plot against the other back in Europe, something that their Arabian counterparts had little worry of considering that their lands were already occupied. Their fears were not unfounded, as in the cases of Richard the Lionheart, whose half brother plotted against him, and the Austrian emperor Leopold
Leopold V, Duke of Austria
Leopold V , the Virtuous, was a Babenberg duke of Austria from 1177 and of Styria from 1192 until his death...
, whom had Richard captured and ransomed.
At the Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
, a large crusader army was annihilated when it was ambushed searching for a source of water. The lack of local knowledge resulted from poor intelligence-gathering.
Conscription was limited at best. The mainly Muslim local population that survived any initial massacres would not be permitted to join the army, but almost certainly none would have wished to. At the time of the Siege of Jerusalem
Siege of Jerusalem
The Siege of Jerusalem can refer to several historical events:*Sack of Jerusalem by biblical pharaoh Shishaq, identified as Shoshenq I of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt....
, there were some 60,000 refugees wishing to flee that Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
gave a paid passage to. So whilst some people from Europe, or local Christians may have swelled the city and hence had the potential to raise a militia force, it was not enough. At the siege of Acre, the crusaders amounted to 15,000 men, a small force compared to the typical army of 40,000 to 80,000 deployed by the Saracens. As a result, the Arabs had a seemingly unlimited supply of men, whilst the crusaders struggled to man their walls during the latter periods in the late thirteenth centuries.
After the First Crusade, many of the veteran soldiers who won the Battle of Ascalon
Battle of Ascalon
The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade.-Background:The crusaders had negotiated with the Fatimids of Egypt during their march to Jerusalem, but no satisfactory compromise could be reached — the Fatimids were willing to give...
left, believing that their mission was accomplished. Often, some crusades were nothing more than poorly led raids, like the Fourth Crusade. This only aggravated the local Arabs, uniting them in their desire to fling the Crusaders from their holdings.
Impact of the Crusader armies
After the Battle of ManzikertBattle of Manzikert
The Battle of Manzikert , was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert...
, the Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat against the Turks, seeing much land lost. The Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
called for mercenaries from the West for help in combating the Turks. In response, Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...
at the council of Clermont
Council of Clermont
The Council of Clermont was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, which was held from November 18 to November 28, 1095 at Clermont, France...
declared an armed pilgrimage to the Holy land. The resulting Crusaders aided Byzantium so greatly that by 1143, the death of John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as Kaloïōannēs , he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina...
, the Byzantine empire was once more a superpower and the Crusaders had control of a sizable piece of the Levant along with Jerusalem, which did not fall until 1187.
Large numbers of Crusader States
Crusader states
The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land , and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area...
were formed, most of them independent of the European powers, though the Byzantine Empire did claim the Crusader states as 'Protectorates'.
By the late 13th century, crusades were no longer of benefit, weakening the Byzantines more than the Turks and Saracens. Naval expansion by the Venetians
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
at the expense of the Byzantine empire strained relations.
Heavy cavalry and infantry
Crusader heavy cavalry initially did not consist of any military orders like the Templars. These were created after the successes of the first crusade. Most of the heavy cavalry were knights. However, these knights would often find themselves unhorsed throughout their mission, due to starvation and lack of fodder for their mounts. Consequently, many heavy cavalry may have found themselves as infantry towards the end of their crusade.Some military orders may have fought on foot as dismounted knights. This would have been favorable in circumstances were the ground was difficult or else too narrow for large numbers of cavalry. However, in the open desert plains of the Middle East, it would have been foolish to travel on foot.
Templar Knights
The Templar Knights were created in 1119 when King Baldwin II gave permission for eight knights to start a new military order to protect pilgrims on their way to the Holy land. They never retreated from battle and as a result, only a tenth of the Templars survived battle. The Order had to constantly spend large sums of money recruiting new knights. Over time, The Templars grew to an impressive order of thousands of members, though not all would have been heavy cavalry – most would have been squires or servants accompanying the Knights. The Templars participated in almost every major battle of the Second Crusade onwards. They were later betrayed and disbanded by a combination of the French crown and the papacy.
Knights of St. John
The Knights of St. John were founded as a military order in 1113. Their aim was to protect pilgrims and more importantly, to set up Hospices and other charitable services to the pilgrims. In 1005, a Christian hospital was destroyed by the Caliph Al Hakim. This was rebuilt later in 1023. The Knights of St. John were forced to evacuate from the Holy Land, traveling across the Mediterranean until finally settling on Malta. They remained a potent force until their dismemberment by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
Knights of Santiago
Although many historians see the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
in Spain itself as a long Crusade, the Knights of Santiago did not take part in any campaigns in the Levant. Their mission, like many of the other military orders, was to protect pilgrims heading from Northern Spain, which in the twelfth century was Christian, into the Islamic south and then to the Holy land.
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Knightly order was founded in the late 12th century after the crusades in the Middle East (most likely the Third Crusade). Of German origin, Germany initially contributed a large army of heavy infantry and cavalry under Frederick Barbarossa. After the aging emperor's mysterious death (and supposed pickling), a few of these knights made it to the Holy Land and established themselves, where they controlled the polls of the ports in the parts of the Levant controlled by the Crusaders. Most of the action seen by these Knights, however, were directed against Prussia and the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. The Teutonic Knights declined in importance after a crushing defeat by the Polish-Lithuanian forces in the 1410 Battle of Tannenberg
Battle of Grunwald
The Battle of Grunwald or 1st Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautas , decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led...
. The Teutons were finally dissolved by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809. However, the descendants of these Knights formed the elite Prussian officers and such the legacy of the order's martial skill can be examined in the Napoleonic
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
and the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
.
Infantry
Typical medieval military doctrine dictated that infantry would be the main composition of any army, but that cavalry would dominate the battlefield. This was certainly true of the Crusaders. It required great horsemanship and archery skills to be a cavalry archer. Horsemen could conserve their strength for battle but infantry had to march to battle. This daunting task across the desert is made all the more uncomfortable when considering the weight arms, armour, and baggage, combined with the threat of getting lost while surrounded by the enemy. Both sides used their cavalry to strike the deepest blow, while the infantry would then be useful in supporting roles, such as archery, covering flanks, or using sheer weight and numbers in attrition and pursuit.
Strategy
Despite their small size, the Crusaders were a very effective force. Many leaders who led their own national crusades like Richard the Lionheart, used only the knights under his banner. When it came to composite Crusader armies, there was no choice but to unite, since the surrounding hostile Arab and Turkish forces could easily outnumber the Crusaders. When that was the case with BaibarsBaibars
Baibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu l-Futuh , was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He was one of the commanders of the forces which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France and he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked...
, the Crusader states fell one by one.
One of the Crusaders' long-term goals was the conquest of Egypt. A rich and fertile province, any cost in its invasion would have been easily paid off from its revenue, even if the spoils were to be shared with the Byzantine Empire.
Crusaders emphasized speed, attempting to make a bold opening move before the enemy could finish theirs. This was done despite the lack of mounts for their knights, and could have good or ill consequences. At Ascalon
Battle of Ascalon
The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade.-Background:The crusaders had negotiated with the Fatimids of Egypt during their march to Jerusalem, but no satisfactory compromise could be reached — the Fatimids were willing to give...
, the Crusaders were able to launch a rapid assault, leading to a great victory. At Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
, they quickly fell into a deadly trap and were annihilated for it. Having said that, the distance covered by an army in a day was small: this crusading haste was only present in battle.
The Crusaders generally speaking however, did not seem to have much of a plan other than divide and rule, or else strike at the chain which has the weakest point, as with Egypt. These strategies were pursued as best as they could do so.
Siege warfare
The Crusaders were not renowned for their siege warfare. During the first siege of Antioch, the Crusaders managed to take the city initially through treachery. However, siege equipment was used, although a favourite tactic of all Medieval European armies was a simple blockade and then wait for a few months or so for the defenders to run out of water, food, or both. This tactic was ineffective when the crusaders faced larger numbers, such as at Antioch. During the Portuguese Reconquista, a fleet of English, German and French crusaders assisted in the Siege of LisbonSiege of Lisbon
The Siege of Lisbon, from July 1 to October 25, 1147, was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords. The Siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade—it was "the only success of the...
, using their siege towers to successfully assault the city.
However, Crusaders were renowned for their castle building. Some of the strongest fortresses, such as Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers , also Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by a settlement of Kurds; as a result it was known as Hisn al Akrad, meaning the "Castle of the...
, were built and ensured their supremacy in a land surrounded by hostiles, until their under-manned walls were taken, as with Acre which, despite possessing a double wall, was under-manned and therefore overwhelmed.