Richard I

Th e C r u sa d e s

In the year 635 Jerusalem had fallen into hands of the Arabs.In the eleventh century a fresh horde of Eastern invaders swept over Siria.When Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1076 they began a policy of persecution.

• All European monarchs , thought of themselves as members of one great body – “Christendom”.

• Christendom had badges of unity, its temporal head the Emperor, its spiritual head the Pope.

• There was a motive besides zeal for the faith on which the popes could rely: This was the spirit of adventure.

The Crusades

• Jerusalem was captured from the Turks in 1099, and Godfrey de

Buillon (who was a knight) was chosen as its ruler.

• The fury turned too against the Jews.

• In distant parts of Europe, they were plundered and ill-treated by kings and barons. The result of this violence reacted on the Christian

kingdom in Palestine.

• Godfrey died, and was succeeded by his brother, Baldwin: he by a second Baldwin. Then, there was none left but a daughter of Baldwin I. She was married to Fulk of Anjou, king Henry II of England’s grandfather. Thus Fulk became King in Jerusalem, and so set up the

Angevin dynasty there.

A Second Crusade

• It was led by Louis VII of France. • Saladin, was the Molems leader.• The fall of Jerusalem had shocked all Christendom.• To Henry II the disaster came home with special force; it

was the overthrow of his Angevin kinsmen.• He imposed a tax, the Saladin Tithe, to pay the expenses of

the Crusade. • When Henry II died, he left the task as a legacy to his son,

Richard.

A third Crusade

• Richard played the chief part.

• Richard was not alone: his antagonist, Saladin,

is renowned for his martial skill and courtesy, which drew from the Crusaders a respect which they seldom gave to any infidel.

• Philip Augustus, the King of France, accompained Richard. Leopold, Duke of Austria, led his forces to the Holy Land also.

• On his way to the Holy Land he angaged in one quarrel in Sicily, and another in Cyprus.

• As soon as he arrived he pressed on the stege of Acre, which had lasted two years, to a vitorious end.

• Richard led the Crusaders southwards winning a great battle.

• At last he made a treaty with Saladin, securing for Christian pilgrims rights to visit Jerusalem.

• The capture of Acre alone was said to have cost 300,000 men. Richard was now to reap the harvest of his quarrels.

• If Richard wished to retain the crown of England, he could no longer

battle in Palestine. • Richard was shipwrecked on the coasts of the Adriatic, and, trying to

cross Austria in disguise, fell a prisoner into Leopold’s hands.

• The enterprise begun for the rescue of the Holy City ended with the

selling of one Christian monarch by another.

Effects of the Crusades:

• They removed from England a number of the most turbulent and dangerous barons. Some of these never came home; those who did return had often sold much of their possessions in order to find the money to pay their expenses.

• Many of the towns took advantage of the Crusades to buy charters, which relieved them of this control. They encouraged trade also. The crusading armies opened new trades routes, or reopened old ones long blocked.

• All this led to a new intercourse between East and West, which had results far more solid than the erratic exploits of the Crusaders.