The Hijacked Crusade

The loss of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 inevitably altered the dynamics of crusading in the following century. Saladin had proved that the Christian kingdoms were vulnerable, and this made it easier for subsequent Muslim leaders to inspire their followers with religious zeal. Meanwhile, in the West, crusaders and crusading had lost the aura of invincibility. Men increasingly doubted God’s Will when it came to the crusades. But the process was slow. Five more crusades – or six depending on how one counts – occurred before the last outpost of Outremer fell to the Saracens in 1291. (It is important to remember that the numbering of crusades is a historical convenience and completely anachronistic. No one in medieval times talked about "crusades" at all, much less referred to specific campaigns by set numbers.)

The first of the crusades that followed the fall of Jerusalem was, of course, the Third Crusade that achieved sufficient success to  make the crusader states viable for nearly a hundred years -- but it failed to recapture Jerusalem, so in 1198, when the crusaders had hardly returned, Pope Innocent III began preaching a new crusade.  

 Enthusiasm for this crusade was notably diminished compared to the three earlier ones. No king, nor any important nobleman, was prepared to lead it, and financing was so short that when the crusaders reached the port of embarkation, Venice, they were unable to pay for transport. The Venetians offered to provide the shipping for “free” – in exchange for crusader help in eliminating their (Christian) commercial rival, the city of Zara. Over the vehement protest of many participants -- and the Pope! -- and after much soul-searching, the crusade’s commanders agreed to do Venice’s dirty work, but a number of crusaders refused to follow their leaders and proceeded independently to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to offer their services there.

Following the capture of Zara, however, the crusaders still lacked the resources to sail for Egypt and their proposed crusade. They were no closer to recapturing Jerusalem than before they embarked. Furthermore, they had been excommunicated by the Pope for attacking a Christian city and pursuing material gain when under crusader vows. Many men abandoned the army altogether, the wealthy traveling independently to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to take up the struggle for Jerusalem as individual, armed pilgrims rather than as part of a crusading army.

It was now, however, that the son of a deposed Byzantine Emperor, sought their aid. Alexios Angelos alleged that he would be welcomed with jubilation by the people of Constantinople and offering huge rewards. The crusaders succeeded in putting Alexios on the Byzantine throne in August 1203, but his promises of pay proved empty. Worse, he was highly unpopular and deposed in a popular uprising in January 1204 -- an uprising that was directed against the Latins still camped outside the city.

There was now no hope the crusaders would be paid for their services and they were in worse straights than ever. At this juncture, Venice proposed taking the wealthy city of Constantinople on their own account.

It was a daring plan. The crusaders were few in number, and morale was low. On the other side was a city that had defied all attempts to capture it up to now. Twice, massive armies led by devout (not to say fanatical) Muslim leaders had failed to take the city after months-long sieges.

The crusader victory is largely attributable to the remarkable technology of the Venetian ships which enabled an assault from the sea -- something the Arabs had not been able to do. Equally important, however, is the fact that the mob in Constantinople did not elect a new emperor until the very day before the city fell. This suggests the population was divided and that there was no clear leadership of the defense. The great city fell to the crusaders on April 13, 1204, and the erstwhile crusaders captured and sacked one of the greatest Christian cities in the world.

Although this action was repudiated by the Pope and reviled by many devout Christians throughout Western Europe, the damage had been done. The reputation of so-called "crusaders" was besmirched forever -- and the "Fourth Crusade" is always held up as an example of the corruption of the entire concept by opponents. Yet the capture of Constantinople was not a crusade at all! The Pope had very explicitly prohibited the siege and capture of Constantinople and papal approval is the essence of a crusade. It is only a historical convention to refer to this hijacked crusade as the "Fourth Crusade."

Dr. Schrader's new series is set in the first half of the 13th century after the establishment of a Latin empire based in Constantinople. The first book in the series is:

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Dr. Helena P. Schrader holds a PhD in History.

She is the Chief Editor of the Real Crusades History Blog.

She is an award-winning novelist and author of numerous books both fiction and non-fiction. Her three-part biography of Balian d'Ibelin won a total of 14 literary accolades. Her most recent release is a novel about the founding of the crusader Kingdom of Cyprus. You can find out more at: http://crusaderkingdoms.com

The Culture of Bathing in Outremer

One of the most persistent myths about the Middle Ages is that people did not bathe regularly and went around dirty and stinking. This is demonstratively not true. The Medievalists.net have published a good and lengthy post on the topic (Bathing in the Middle Ages), which provides a great deal of documentation and detail. In this entry, Dr. Schrader does not recount or compete with that or other sources, but rather focuses on the unique traditions of "Outremer" or the Crusader States.

All the Crusader States established in the course and subsequent to the First and Third Crusades were in locations that had been under Greek influence since Alexander the Great at the latest. They had also been part of the Ancient and Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empires before coming under Arab and Turkish influence from the 7th to 11th centuries AD. This means that for the native population the predominant traditions with respect to personal hygiene came not from the Germanic tribes, Vikings or Celts, but from Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Arabia.

Whereas bathing in Western Europe is usually depicted in small, wooden tubs with curtains over them...

..the baths of any Roman town were gracious, spacious and elegant, often open to the skies in a series of atriums surrounded by colonnades.  They were public spaces in which men conducted business and politics. The baths of Turkey and Arabia, on the other hand, while darker and more inward-looking, nevertheless were sumptuous with domed roofs and elegantly furnished with marble floors, benches, and fountains. They were less important for business and politics but all the more important culturally because of the emphasis Islam places on personal cleanliness. Both the Greco-Roman and Arab/Turkish traditions shared the principle of having both hot rooms for steaming/sweating (like a sauna) and cold rooms for washing off. Both also integrated massages with fragrantly scented oils into the bathing experience.

When the crusaders arrived in Outremer they found a large number of functioning bathhouses, particularly of the later (Turkish/Arab) type, already in place. Far from scorning, abandoning, dismantling or altering their function, the Frankish settlers adopted them readily -- rather like ducks to water, one might say.  Indeed, they started building their own, and archaeologists have identified a number of Frankish baths. These include baths in the Hospitaller and Templar headquarters in Jerusalem, at or near the monastery on Mt. Zion, at Atlit, a bathhouse on the Street of Jehoshaphat near the convent of St. Anne, and another in the Patriarch's quarter. (For more details I recommend Adrian J. Boas' excellent works Jerusalem in the time of the Crusades and Crusader Archaeology.) 

The Frankish settlers in Outremer adopted some of the bathing customs as well. Thus, while men and women bathed jointly in Western Europe, they probably bathed separately (either in separate spaces or at different times) in Outremer, although this is not 100% certain. The crusaders certainly adopted the custom of massages with scented oils stored in lovely glass vessels produced locally.

It wasn't only the bathhouses that the Frankish settlers of Outremer inherited from their predecessors. They also inherited Roman aqueducts and sewage systems. The Greeks (both Ancient and Byzantine) and Romans were famous for building very sophisticated and extensive networks for bringing fresh water to the public fountains of their cities, often from many miles away. The Franks followed this example and built a number of their own. Thus while cities dating from the Roman period or earlier had Roman aqueducts that the crusaders merely needed to maintain, the construction of new castles, new towns or water-intensive industry such as sugar plantations, brought forth new aqueducts that clearly date from the crusader period.

In crusader times, the city of Caesarea was served by no less than three Roman aqueducts. All photo copyrights: www.romanaqueducts.info

Likewise, the ancient cities were served by extensive (and again very solid and sophisticated) sewage systems. These consisted both of stone-faced drains and stone or pottery pipes. The Byzantines, for example, used pottery pipes to bring sewage down the outside of their residences from upper stories to underground sewage systems. Frankish castles had extensive latrines with sewers that emptied well below the level at which people lived. While rooftop cisterns and tanks provided the means to flush out these latrines with water (as we know castles in England did a hundred and fifty years later), the archaeological evidence is insufficient to verify the practice in the Holy Land. Archaeological evidence of highly sophisticated drainage systems to divert underground streams, however, have been uncovered, and the level of engineering skills available to the Frankish settlers of Outremer should not, therefore, be under-estimated.

To conclude, there may be a direct link between the hygienic conditions in Outremer and the hot-and-cold running water of Edward III and the Black Prince. The bulk of the crusaders, including Richard the Lionheart and Edward I of England, returned home, and by the time they went home they had probably become fond of the higher standards of hygiene enjoyed by the Frankish settlers -- the very standards that had induced the crusaders to ridicule the native "poulains" initially. (See Clash of Cultures)  The large number of crusaders returning particularly to France, Germany, and England may, in fact, explain the fact that Western Europe saw a flourishing of "bathhouse culture" in the 12th - 14th centuries. 

Throughout Dr. Schrader's award-winning "Jerusalem" trilogy and her newer books the lifestyle in Outremer -- from hygiene to hospitals -- is realistically depicted. Enjoy!
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The Emperor's Men: The Five Baillies of Cyprus

Frederick II spent little more than a month on Cyprus, but his short stop triggered a chain of events that ended with the Holy Roman Emperor losing this rich and valuable kingdom forever. While this was the result of the Emperor's disastrous policies, he also showed poor judgement in his choice of deputies or “baillies," who aggravated the situation and brought rebellion to a head.

The fundamental mistake that Frederick II made with respect to Cyprus was his refusal to recognize it as an independent and unique kingdom, rather than simply “part of the Empire.” He took no account of the fact that it had its own history and laws, and conveniently overlooked the fact that his ancestors had had no role in the conquest or establishment of the kingdom. Instead, as David Abulafia points out, he “insisted that, as overlord of the king of Cyprus, he had full powers of intervention in the island’s affairs.”[i]

Prof. Peter Edbury suggests that, based on his actions, Frederick’s principle interest in Cyprus was “getting his hands on the profits from the regency for the previous decade.”[ii] Certainly, when he sailed away never to return again in May 1229, his arrangements for the regency of the kingdom were marked by greed; rather than appointing a man (or men) of particular trustworthiness or ability, he sold the regency for 10,000 marks. Indeed, one suspects — although we have no proof of this — that the only reason he chose to appoint five equally powerful baillies (a curious and inherently weak arrangement) was because he could find no one man willing to meet his excessive demands for cash. 

Nevertheless, having found five men willing to pay for the privilege of ruling, Frederick appears to have expected no further problems in milking the rich Cypriot cow.  Because the king was only 12 years old and it would be three years before he reached the age of majority, Frederick assumed he could be ignored. As for the king’s former regent, the troublesome and principled Lord of Beirut, the Emperor believed he had been check-mated by being lured out of Cyprus to take part in the Emperor’s “crusade.”

This is important. Based on the historical record it is clear that Frederick never intended to fight for Jerusalem. We know now that he was negotiating for the peaceful return of Jerusalem with al-Kamil before he ever set out on his non-crusade. In light of this, it is equally clear that he did not need Beirut’s knights and men to purse his objectives in Syria. We can conclude that the only reason he wanted to ensure they accompanied him on his “crusade” was to make sure they left Cyprus.  Thus, when Frederick sailed away he left behind an island denuded of all of Beirut’s sons, kinsmen, vassals and fighting-men.

With Ibelin out of the way, Frederick turned over control of Cyprus to the five men willing to pay his price and do his bidding. He gave them orders not to allow the Lord of Beirut or any of his partisans to return to the island. The fact that he gave no legal justification for dispossessing another king's vassals is another example of his autocratic behavior, and completely in character with the rest of his actions in the Holy Land.

So who were the five men Frederick II put in joint control of Cyprus?

The names are given as: Sir Amaury Barlais, Sir Amaury of Bethsan, Sir Hugh of Gibelet (also sometimes transcribed as Jubail), Sir William of Rivet, and Sir Gauvain of Cheneché. All were the sons of men who had been active on Cyprus since the establishment of the Lusignan dynasty on the island. Barlais particularly was closely associated with the Lusignans, which may explain why he emerged as the leader or most forceful member of the Emperor’s “quintet.”

Curiously yet significantly, however, the name Barlais is always listed without the preface “of” or “de,” suggesting the family was not of noble extraction.  His father, Renaud Barlais, is known to have come from Poitou to Outremer in the train of one of the three Lusignan brothers (Guy, Aimery or Geoffrey) sometime in the late 12^th century. Renaud married the heiress to two fiefs in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, however, it is doubtful that either of these fiefs were still in possession of the lady at the time of the marriage. In light of the fact that Barlais’ field of action was exclusively Cyprus and he does not appear to have been part of the High Court of Jerusalem, I’m inclined to believe his wife’s lands had been lost in 1187 and her titles were nominal.

Amaury de Bethsan came of more exalted heritage, and his father was the uncle of Barlais’ mother, making them cousins.  Bethsan was chamberlain of Cyprus 1218-1220. John La Monte describes the Bethsans as a noble house with an honorable reputation.[iii] Which nevertheless tells us nothing about Sir Amaury himself. 

Gibelet was an even more important family in Outremer.  Gibelet was a major fief of the Count of Tripoli, indeed the fief closest to the border with the Kingdom of Jerusalem and contiguous with the Lordship of Beirut. It had a port and a major castle. Although it fell to Saladin in 1187, it was back in Christian hands by the end of the 12^th century.  The Lord of Gibelet at the time of the Sixth Crusade was Guy, who was not a close relative of the Sir Hugh appointed Baillie of Cyprus. The latter came from a cadet branch of the family, albeit not an insignificant branch as his mother has been identified as a sister of King Leo of Armenia. Perhaps the most curious fact about the Gibelet family, however, is that it had a long tradition of good ties with the Ibelins. Indeed, there is good reason to suspect that the author of the pro-Ibelin Chronicle of Ernoul was a Gibelet. Hugh de Gibelet can be said, therefore, to have come from one of the most powerful and respected noble families of Outremer, although he himself may have been a younger son of a cadet branch anxious to improve his personal standing.

The Rivets and Chenechés were also established families in Outremer and Sir Gauvain and Sir William were related to one another as Rivet’s brother was married to the sister of Cheneché’s wife.

As for the men themselves, we know virtually nothing about Sirs William de Rivet, Hugh de Gibelet and Amaury de Bethsan. A hint of their looks or character may be found in Philip de Novare’s satirical fable Le Roman de Renard,  which depicted the opponents of the Ibelins as respectively a fox (Barlais), a badger (Bethsan), and a monkey (Gibelet). Unfortunately, I could not find Novare’s characterization of Cheneché or Rivet.

We do know, however, that Cheneché was accused of attacking a certain knight, Sir William de la Tour (who latter served as an ambassador to the court of the Emperor), treacherously at night. Sir William brought charges against Cheneché before the High Court of Cyprus, the presided over by the baillie Philip d’Ibelin. Cheneché demanded and received the right to defend himself against his accuser in judicial combat. However, Cheneché was bested in the ensuing joust, and had to accept terms which he deemed humiliating. He therefore left Outremer and made his way to the Kingdom of Sicily. According to Novare: “…he knew much concerning birds and so was much honored in [the Emperor’s] court.”[iv] This tidbit is interesting as Frederick II is known to have had a passion for falconry and is often depicted with birds of prey. 

Aimery Barlais, as described in Seeds of Civil War, was also involved in judicial combat that went poorly for him, however, his grievances against the Ibelins were considerably more substantial. He received the mandate to rule Cyprus from the Queen Mother and recognized regent Alice of Champagne sometime between 1224 and 1227 but was denied the right to assume the position of “baillie” by the High Court of Cyprus.  Since the Ibelins were the beneficiaries, he blamed them.

Nevertheless, regardless of their noble backgrounds and legitimate grievances, the recorded actions of the five baillies do not redound to their credit.  First, they happily set about seizing the property of the Ibelins and their supporters without due process. While this was perhaps understandable given their grievances, it was not wise government.  The problem is that subjects tend to get nervous about breaches in the rule of law. No matter what anyone thought of the Ibelins, they recognized that without due process the next victim of unjustified executive action might be anyone — including themselves. Second, the baillies needed to find the money they had promised the Emperor, so they raised everyone’s taxes. Few things are more guaranteed to provoke unpopularity and unrest that levying new taxes. Third, they threatened violence to the women and children of the Ibelins and their supporters. Indeed, they so thoroughly intimidated and frightened them that hundreds of them took refuge in the armed commanderies of the militant orders, particularly the Hospital.

We can also learn something about their character from an incident that Novare describes. Obviously, his account is biased, but it unlikely to have been completely fabricated. Novare claims when he was reluctant to take an oath to the baillies, they ordered his immediate arrest. Fearing for his life, Novare tells us, he appealed to the young king, but the boy king was “much afraid” and did not intervene.[v] Next Novare offered to face any of the baillies in judicial combat, but they refused. He was arrested and placed in a pillory, then released for the night and told to return the next day to face trial. Novare went instead to the commandery of the Knights Hospitaller, where many Ibelin women were already seeking sanctuary. That same night, men broke into his lodgings, killed one of his servants and stabbed his bed many times.  Novare claims to have been warned of this intended murder “by one who cared not whom it might displease” — apparently the young king himself, who had overheard talk of the planned murder.  

It was from the Hospitaller commandery that Novare then penned a lengthy appeal for help — in verse. The long poem is reproduced in full in his memoirs, and is amusing, although it certainly loses much in translation. His appeal appears to have been the final straw inducing the Lord of Beirut to take action in defense of his house and those loyal to it. Within just weeks of Novare’s bungled murder, the Ibelins landed on Cyprus with an army prepared to challenge the Emperor’s men.

The Five Ballies are characters and their rule on Cyprus is described in:

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Dr. Helena P. Schrader holds a PhD in History.

She is the Chief Editor of the Real Crusades History Blog.

She is an award-winning novelist and author of numerous books both fiction and non-fiction. Her three-part biography of Balian d'Ibelin won a total of 14 literary accolades. Her most recent release is a novel about the founding of the crusader Kingdom of Cyprus. You can find out more at: http://crusaderkingdoms.com

---

[i] Abulafia, David. Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor. Oxford University Press, 1988, p.232.

[ii] Edbury, Peter. John of Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Boydell Press, 1997, 40.

[iii] La Monte, John, in the Introduction to Novare's The Wars of Frederick II against the Ibelins in Syria and Cyprus. Columbia University Press, 1936, p. 19.

[iv] Novare, Philip. The Wars of Frederick II against the Ibelins in Syria and Cyprus. Columbia University Press, 1936, p. 70.

[v] Novare, p. 94.

Kerak - The Castle of the Robber Baron of Oultrejourdain

The Castle of Kerak has become inextricably associated with the infamous Reynald de Châtillion, the Lord of Oultrejourdain in the late 12^th century. Indeed, the Arabs referred to Châtillion as “al-Karak”— of Kerak. The castle, however, is greater than its most famous lord, serving both the Ayyibs and the Mamlukes as a center of power as well. Today it is a still impressive reminder of Crusader military architecture.

 

The construction of Kerak (also Karak, Kerak in Moab and Karak al-Shawbak) began in 1142 in the reign of King Fulk and Queen Melusinde. The construction was undertaken by Payen (also Pagen) the Butler, Lord of Montreal and Oultrejourdain.  

It was constructed on Roman foundations, but its design was mostly dictated by geography.  It was built on the very tip of a promontory or spur formed by two steep gorges. To the east, south and west, the land dropped almost vertically to the valley floor some 3,000 feet below. To the north, as the spur of the ridge widens slightly, is the town of Kerak.  In medieval times the castle was separated from the town by a deep fosse that cut across the entire width of the spur and could only be crossed by a draw bridge.

Because of the sheer sides of the cliffs to the east, south and west, siege engines could only be brought to bear from the north after capturing the town. To capture the castle it was also necessary to fill in the deep fosse separating it from the town. The castle itself had two walls facing the vulnerable north, the first flanked by two towers and the second reinforced by five towers. Vaulted chambers on two levels backed up against the inside of the inner wall and could also be used as fighting galleries. Altogether the castle’s situation and design caused a number of Arab commentators from the 12^th to 14^th centuries to conclude it impregnable.

However, the castle was also designed to withstand long sieges. It had a massive cistern, ample cellars for storing food, and accommodation for a substantial garrison. It was divided into two long wards that ran north south, the western of which was narrow and appears to have been used for stables and the like, while the upper/eastern ward contains the chapel and the better accommodations.

Kerak is located beyond the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan. It lay along the lines of trade and communication between Egypt and Syria, or (in crusader times) the Sultanates of Cairo and Damascus. It also lay along the main pilgrimage route from Turkey and Syria to Mecca. Yet the town, high above the desert, had been a Byzantine bishop’s seat and remained predominantly Christian throughout the period of Arab occupation from the mid-7^th century to the establishment of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1176, Reynald de Châtillion married the widowed Stephanie de Milly, the heiress to Kerak. He used the castle as his base to pursue a aggressive policy against Salah ad-Din. Although frequently portrayed as a “renegade” interested only in his own profit, a number of serious crusades historians have pointed out that, far from being senseless, his attacks served strategic goals. (For details see: http://www.crusaderkingdoms.com/reynald-de-chatillon.html)  It was precisely because Châtillion’s raids humiliated and threatened Salah ad-Din’s lines of communication to his power-base in Egypt that the Sultan came to see Châtillion as a personal enemy.

Hollywood's Reynald - from "The Kingdom of Heaven"

Salah ad-Din moved against Châtillion in 1183, laying siege to Kerak in November. By chance the siege commenced during the celebration of the marriage of Châtillion’s stepson, Humphrey de Toron IV, to Princess Isabella of Jerusalem. Among the guests visiting the castle for the nuptials were Isabella’s mother, the dowager queen of Jerusalem, Maria Comnena, and the queen mother, Agnes de Courtney.

The relief of the castle was delayed by the unanimous refusal of the assembled barons of Jerusalem to fight under the leadership of the king’s brother-in-law, Guy de Lusignan. Guy had been named regent of the kingdom earlier in the year because the king was suffering from leprosy that was becoming increasingly debilitating. Only after King Baldwin IV agreed to resume the rule of his kingdom and lead the feudal army himself did the feudal army come to the relief of Kerak.  Despite being delayed by roughly a month, the appearance of the force was enough to induce Salah ad-Din to lift his siege.

The sultan returned the following year, 1184, prepared to fill in the fosse and take the castle by storm.  Yet again, the arrival of the Frankish army forced him to lift the siege.  For a second time he withdrew his forces without a fight.

After the Christian defeat at Hattin, Salah ad-Din executed Reynald de Châtillion immediately and -- according to some accounts -- personally. This act made Kerak  the property of Châtillion’s step-son Humphrey de Toron IV.  Toron had been taken captive at Hattin was Salah ad-Din's prisoner. The sultan attempted to exploit this fact to negotiate the surrender of Kerak in exchange for the release of Toron. The garrison refused, so Salah ad-Din dispatched his brother al-Adil to reduce Kerak. After roughly one year, in November 1188, the garrison surrendered. Most sources agree they were not out of food much less water.  Rather, the hopelessness of their situation, since there was no longer a feudal army capable of coming to their relief, or possibly disease is believed to have led to the surrender. 

 

Salah ad-Din granted the castle to his brother al-Adil, who made it one of his power-bases and treasuries. He re-fortified parts of it and built or embellished the accommodations, turning them into a (rough) palace in 1192. Thereafter, it served as the administrative center for what is now essentially Jordan under the Ayyubids. With the fall of the Ayyubids, Kerak passed into the control of the Mamlukes, who also used it as a power base, deepening the fosse and improving the fortifications and accommodations. Finally, the Ottomans used the castle as an administrative center for the region, but it’s relevance in defense had long since been lost. Today it is a tourist attraction, open to the public, and can be visited.

Kerak is featured in the first two volumes of the Jerusalem Trilogy, particularly in award-winning Defender of Jerusalem, which describes Salah ad-Din's siege of 1183 in detail.

 

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The Second Crusade and Its Consequences

Less than a half century after the re-capture of Jerusalem by Christian forces, the new crusader states suffered their first set back. In 1144, the Principality of Edessa was captured by Saracen forces. By 1146 the Principality of Antioch was also threatened, and an appeal went out. The appeal was made not to the Byzantine Emperor, who was deemed untrustworthy by the Latins at this time, but to the West. It had been the Latin world that had provided the forces that had taken Jerusalem in 1099;  it was with the ruling elites in above all in France, England and the Holy Roman Empire that the nobles of Outremer retained cultural, linguistic and family ties.

This call for help elicited an enthusiastic response. For the first (but not the last) time, kings were persuaded to take the cross (i.e., the crusader vow). The Holy Roman Emperor, Conrad III, and the King of France, King Louis VII, both promised to raise armies to come to the aid of the Holy Land. Their efforts have gone down in history as the "Second Crusade."

  

Conrad, the Holy Roman Emperor, raised about 80,000 troops and set out first. The French left later with an estimated 100,000 men. Notably, however, when the King of France knelt before Bernard of Clairvaux to take his crusader vows, he was joined by his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who likewise knelt and took the cross. Eleanor did so as the Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou – not as Queen of France. The importance of her gesture was to muster support among the barons and lords who owed her, but not Louis of France, homage.

However, Eleanor’s example inspired many other French noblewomen to take the cross as well.  So when King Louis’ crusaders set forth on their crusade, his army included an unnamed number of ladies – or “amazons” as some liked to call them – determined to take part in the crusade themselves.  Most of these women were the wives of noble crusaders, wealthy enough to afford horses and armor, since according to a Greek chronicler writing some fifty years after the event, they rode astride and wore armor.  They were also accompanied by servants and a great deal of baggage.

The first stages of this crusade went remarkably well for the French, with the army making good progress.  Although accounts differ on the extent to which Louis was able to prevent pillaging and abuse of the civilian population along the route, it is clear that the French intention was to pay for provisions and leave the Christian populations in peace. Unfortunately, the German crusaders under Conrad III had behaved rather more badly when they passed through ahead of the French so that the French often found the cities closed to them, and the price for goods exorbitant.

Nevertheless, the French reached Constantinople in comparatively good order, and while the common soldiers encamped outside the walls, the nobles, including Eleanor and her ladies, were introduced to the luxuries and splendors of the fabled Queen of Cities. They were lodged in palaces the like of which they had never seen before. They were feted and entertained. 

The news that the Byzantine Emperor had just concluded a 12 year truce with the Turks, however, cast serious doubts upon his reliability.  The mistrust of the Greeks only increased when the Byzantine Emperor tried to make Louis swear to turn over any territories his army conquered to the Emperor. Louis thought he had come to fight the Turks and restore Christian rule – not expand the borders of the Byzantine Empire.  Nevertheless, Louis rejected calls by some of his advisors to capture Constantinople and depose the Greek emperor.  Instead he set out for Jerusalem determined to fulfill his crusading vow – and consult with the King of Jerusalem about further action.

Louis chose to proceed along the southern, coastal route at a leisurely pace until, at the end of October, his army encountered deserters from the German crusade. These reported that the Turks had all but annihilated the Germans and now lay in wait for the French.  A few days later, the French caught up with what was left of the Germans, including Emperor Conrad, who was suffering from a head wound. Together Louis and Conrad’s crusaders followed the Mediterranean coast, finally reaching Ephesus in time for Christmas. Here, however, Conrad decided he was too ill to continue, so he and his nobles took ship back for Constantinople, while what was left of the foot soldiers continued with Louis’s army.

No sooner had the German Emperor departed, than adversity struck the French. Torrential rains lasting four days washed away tents, supplies, and many men and horses. After this catastrophe, Louis elected to strike out inland across the mountains, despite the absence of guides, in an attempt to reach Antioch as soon as possible.  This route, however, crossed through rugged terrain and along bad roads, where the French were constantly harassed by Turkish raiders. By now, at the latest, the “gayness and the gilt” of Eleanor and her lady-crusaders (or amazons) were “all besmirched with rainy marching in the painful field.”

The quote is from Shakespeare's "Henry V." Above Kenneth Brangh in the title role.

Disaster, however, did not overtake them until mid-January, when the commanders of the van took fatal independent action.  They had been ordered to set up camp for the main army at a specific place, and Eleanor was sent with them. (Throughout the crusade, King Louis maintained separation from Eleanor in order not to be tempted to break his vow of chastity during the duration of the crusade.) When the main army reached the designated camp, however, they found it empty. The vanguard with the Queen had decided to move to a more attractive-looking spot down in the valley. The exhausted troops at the rear, including the King with Eleanor’s baggage train, could not possibly catch up and as darkness fell a large gap had been opened between the Christian forces. The Turks quickly exploited the situation. They attacked the main force. The fighting was so intense and close that Louis’ horse was killed under him. Chronicles claim that some 7,000 crusaders died before darkness fell, putting an end to the slaughter. Many in the army blamed Eleanor, because it was one of her most important vassals who had left the main French army in the lurch.

After this disaster, the French returned to the coast, now determined to continue the crusade by ship. They were without supplies, however, and soon reduced to eating their horses before what was left of Louis’ force finally reached Antalia on January 20, 1148.  Here they discovered it was impossible to find sufficient ships for the whole force at prices King Louis was willing to pay. Plague broke out in the crusader camp, decimating a force already on the brink of starvation. At this junction, King Louis VII (not to be confused with his namesake and future saint, Louis IX) abandoned his troops and took ship with his wife and nobles for Antioch. Abandoned by their king, some 3000 French crusaders are said to have converted to Islam in exchange for their lives and food.

Louis and Eleanor, meanwhile, arrived in Antioch. Antioch was a magnificent, walled city, which had been one of the richest in the Roman Empire. At this time it was inhabited by a mixed population of Greek and Armenian Christians ruled by a Latin Christian elite, headed by Raymond of Poitiers, the younger brother of Eleanor’s father, William Duke of Aquitaine. The language of the court at Antioch was Eleanor’s own langue d’oc, and the customs were likewise those of the Languedoc. Within a very short time, Eleanor and her uncle developed such rapport that the king became jealous and then suspicious. The clerical chroniclers are united in condemning Eleanor of forgetting her “royal dignity” – and her marriage vows.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that Raymond of Antioch thought the crusaders had come to restore Christian control over the county of Edessa – and so secure his eastern flank. Louis, in contrast, thought he had come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and insisted on continuing to the Holy City, rather than following the Prince of Antioch’s military advice. At this junction, with Louis already jealous of Eleanor’s close relationship (sexual or not) with Prince Raymond, she announced that she – and all her vassals – would remain in Antioch, whether the King of France went to Jerusalem or not. Since her vassals made up the bulk of what was left of the French forces, this was an effective veto. Louis threatened to use force to make her come with him as was his right as her husband. Eleanor retorted their marriage was invalid because they were related within the prohibited degrees and demanded an annulment. Louis responded by having her arrested in the middle of the night and carried away from Antioch by force.

After the French King's arrival in Jerusalem, the crusaders, local barons and military orders met to decide on the best strategy for action against the enemy. Although the author of the decision is not clear, the fateful decision was made to try to seize Damascus. The logic was that this would relieve the pressure on the narrowest part of the crusader kingdom -- the lands between Tyre and Tripoli. Ironically, the Muslim ruler of Damascus was one of the Saracen leaders, who had been willing to compromise and negotiate with the crusader kingdoms. The siege made an enemy of a former ally and pushed him into the arms of the jihadists -- which wouldn't have been disastrous if the campaign had been successful.  However, although a siege was established, squabbles among the leaders and then news that a strong Saracen relief army was on the way spread so much panic among the crusaders that the crusading army disintegrated. They had made a new enemy for nothing and squandered the reinforcements from the West.

Worst of all, however, was that this humiliating failure profoundly damaged the entire concept of crusades and crusading in the West.  It demonstrated that “God” was not inherently on the side of the crusaders and that victory was not assured. It also helped restore both unity and confidence among the Saracen leaders.

As a footnote, Queen Eleanor spent the months in Jerusalem while her husband’s crusade came to its final humiliating end outside Damascus. Although nothing is recorded of her activities, clearly her influence on Louis and her role in the crusade was over. Furthermore, despite an attempt to patch up the marriage after their return to France, the birth of a second daughter made a divorce a dynastic priority.  Louis abrogation of Eleanor, however, paved the way for her to marry Henry of Anjou, the future King Henry II of England. Eleanor's rich lands were instrumental in giving the Plantagenet king the means to challenge the Capets for dominance on the continent of Europe throughout the next half-century.

 Dr. Helena P. Schrader holds a PhD in History.

She is the Chief Editor of the Real Crusades History Blog.

She is an award-winning novelist and author of numerous books both fiction and non-fiction. Her three-part biography of Balian d'Ibelin won a total of 14 literary accolades. Her most recent releases are a novel about the founding of the crusader Kingdom of Cyprus and a new series on the baronial revolt against Frederick II. 
 

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