The Crusades/II

1147–1149 · 11 event records

Second Crusade

Proclaimed after the fall of Edessa, the crusade brought the French and German kings east; their armies suffered heavy losses in Anatolia and broke up before Damascus.

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Second Crusade

01

Overview

The Second Crusade was a response to Imad al-Din Zengi's capture of Edessa in 1144. Pope Eugenius III's bull Quantum praedecessores and the preaching of Bernard of Clairvaux brought King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany to take the cross, while crusades were also proclaimed in the Iberian Peninsula and the Baltic.

The German army suffered heavy losses to Seljuk attacks near Dorylaion in 1147, and the French army at the pass of Mount Cadmus in early 1148. An assembly at Acre decided to besiege Damascus, an ally of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; the siege of July 1148 collapsed within days. The failure caused deep disillusionment in the West and opened the way for Nur al-Din's takeover of Damascus in 1154.

02

Main route

Vézelay · Constantinople · Dorylaion · Mount Cadmus · Attalia · Acre · Damascus

03

Outcome

The crusade achieved none of its aims; Damascus soon passed to Nur al-Din.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Event records for this crusade

28 November – 24 December 1144 · Edessa

Zengi's capture of Edessa

While Count Joscelin II was away from the city, Imad al-Din Zengi besieged Edessa in November 1144. The city was entered on 24 December through walls brought down by mining, and the citadel surrendered two days later. The fall of the first crusader state's capital gave rise to the Second Crusade.

Open record →1 December 1145 · Vetralla / Western Europe

Call for the Second Crusade

In response to the fall of Edessa, Pope Eugenius III issued the bull Quantum praedecessores, addressed to King Louis VII of France, on 1 December 1145. It called for a new expedition and granted participants privileges such as remission of sins, protection of their families and property, and exemption from interest on debts.

Open record →31 March 1146 · Vézelay

Assembly of Vézelay and the preaching of the Second Crusade

On Easter Day, 31 March 1146, at Vézelay, Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade before King Louis VII and a great crowd. The king, Queen Eleanor and a large part of the French aristocracy took the cross there.

Open record →October – November 1146 · Edessa

Second capture of Edessa

After Zengi's death in September 1146, Joscelin II entered Edessa in October 1146 with the support of its Armenian population but could not take the citadel. Nur al-Din Zengi soon arrived and routed the Franks and the inhabitants trying to flee with them; the city's Christian population suffered heavy losses.

Open record →February 1147 · Étampes

Assembly of Étampes and the crusade route

The assembly Louis VII held at Étampes in February 1147 decided that the Second Crusade would travel overland through Hungary and Byzantium. In the king's absence the government of France was entrusted to Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis and Count Ralph of Vermandois.

Open record →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 →7 January 1148 · Mount Honaz / Denizli

Crossing of Mount Honaz

In early January 1148, at the pass of Mount Cadmus (Honaz Dağı), Louis VII's French army was split in two when the vanguard advanced against orders. Seljuk forces routed the exposed main column with heavy losses; the king barely escaped.

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 →28–29 June 1149 · Inab / Afrin

Battle of Inab

On 29 June 1149 near the castle of Inab, Nur al-Din surrounded and destroyed the forces of Prince Raymond of Poitiers of Antioch and his ally Ali ibn Wafa. Raymond and Ali died in the battle; Nur al-Din advanced through Antiochene territory to the Mediterranean coast.

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