People/Papacy and Western Europe

1093–1152 · German king and leader of the Second Crusade

Conrad III

Ruler who led the German army of the Second Crusade and suffered heavy losses near Dorylaion.

No verified depiction added

BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER

Life and historical role

01

Life and political setting

Conrad was the first German king of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His reign was affected by conflict with the Welf family and other princes of the empire. He took the cross in 1146 and led a large German army east in 1147, although the expedition did not suspend the political problems of his kingdom.

02

Role in the Crusades

After tensions over Byzantine provisioning, Conrad advanced into central Anatolia. Seljuk attacks and shortage of supplies broke up his army near Dorylaeum on 25 October 1147. He later reached Acre with the surviving forces and joined Louis VII and the Jerusalem leadership in the unsuccessful siege of Damascus.

Method note

Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Related cases

1147–1149 · Anatolia, Levant and Iberia

Second Crusade

In the Second Crusade, launched after the fall of Edessa, the armies of Conrad III and Louis VII advanced east separately and suffered heavy losses in Anatolia. In the Levant, Damascus rather than Edessa became the target, and the siege of July 1148 failed. In the same period Lisbon was taken in Iberia.

Open record →25 October 1147 · Eskişehir region

Defeat of the German army at Dorylaeum

In October 1147 Conrad III's German army, advancing from Nicaea toward Konya, ran short of supplies and grew exhausted near Dorylaion (Eskişehir). Repeated attacks by Sultan Mas'ud I's cavalry destroyed most of the army, and Conrad retreated to Nicaea.

Open record →24 June 1148 · Palmarea / Acre

Council of Acre

On 24 June 1148 at Palmarea near Acre, Conrad III, Louis VII, the young King Baldwin III, Queen Melisende and the barons of Jerusalem discussed the Second Crusade's objective. The meeting decided to attack Damascus, at times an ally of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Open record →24–28 July 1148 · Damascus

Siege of Damascus

On 24 July 1148 the armies of the Second Crusade besieged Damascus from the orchards to its west. Faced with Mu'in al-Din Unur's resistance and the prospect of Nur al-Din and Sayf al-Din coming to the city's aid, the army moved to the east side; four days later the siege was lifted.

Open record →