The Crusades/III

1189–1192 · 13 event records

Third Crusade

Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem drew three great Western rulers east; the crusade recovered Acre and the coast but never reached Jerusalem.

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Third Crusade

01

Overview

The Third Crusade followed Saladin's destruction of the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Hattin in July 1187 and his capture of Jerusalem in October. After Pope Gregory VIII's bull Audita tremendi, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip Augustus of France and King Richard the Lionheart of England took the cross.

Barbarossa drowned in the Saleph (Göksu) river in Anatolia in 1190, and much of the German army dispersed. With the arrival of Richard and Philip, Acre surrendered in July 1191 after a siege begun in 1189. Richard halted Saladin at Arsuf but did not attack Jerusalem. The Treaty of Jaffa in September 1192 left the coast to the Franks and Jerusalem to the Ayyubids, with access for pilgrims.

02

Main route

Regensburg · Anatolia · Tyre · Acre · Cyprus · Arsuf · Jaffa

03

Outcome

The Treaty of Jaffa left the coast to the Franks and Jerusalem under Ayyubid rule, with access for pilgrims.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Event records for this crusade

3–4 July 1187 · Hattin

Battle of Hattin

On 3–4 July 1187 at Hattin near Tiberias, Saladin wore down the main army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with thirst and fire and then destroyed it. King Guy of Lusignan was captured, Reynald of Châtillon was killed and the True Cross was taken; the kingdom's defensive strength collapsed in a single day.

Open record →20 September – 2 October 1187 · Jerusalem

Surrender of Jerusalem to Saladin

Saladin besieged Jerusalem on 20 September 1187. After a breach was opened in the walls, negotiations led by Balian of Ibelin ended with the city's surrender by agreement on 2 October. The departure of the Latin population was tied to a ransom per person; some who could not pay were released, others enslaved.

Open record →29 October 1187 · Western Europe

Call for the Third Crusade

On news of the defeat at Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem, Pope Gregory VIII issued the bull Audita tremendi on 29 October 1187. It attributed the defeat to the sins of Christians, called for penance and fasting, and granted broad privileges to those joining a new expedition.

Open record →November 1187 – January 1188 · Tyre

Defence of Tyre

Conrad of Montferrat, arriving at Tyre by sea a few days after Hattin, took over its defence. Saladin's siege, begun in November 1187, failed when Conrad's ships defeated the Muslim fleet at the end of December, and Tyre remained the most important coastal city still in Latin hands.

Open record →27 March 1188 · Mainz

Assembly of Mainz and the Third Crusade vow

At the imperial assembly held in Mainz on 27 March 1188, known as the “Court of Christ” (Curia Christi), Frederick Barbarossa, his son Frederick and many German nobles took the cross. The assembly decided that the German army would march overland through Hungary and Byzantium and set a financial qualification for participation.

Open record →1189–1192 · Anatolia and Levant

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade, launched after the loss of Jerusalem in 1187, was joined by Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip II Augustus of France and King Richard the Lionheart of England. Barbarossa died on the way; the crusade took Acre and recovered the coastal strip, but ended with the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192 without taking Jerusalem.

Open record →28 August 1189 – 12 July 1191 · Acre

Siege of Acre

The siege of Acre, begun by King Guy of Lusignan in August 1189, became a two-year war of attrition as Saladin besieged the besiegers from outside. After Philip II and Richard I arrived in 1191, the city surrendered on terms on 12 July 1191.

Open record →10 June 1190 · Seleucia / Göksu

Death of Frederick Barbarossa

After taking Konya in May 1190, the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa crossed the Taurus and came down into Cilicia. On 10 June 1190 he drowned while crossing the Saleph (Göksu) river near Silifke; most of his army dispersed and only a small contingent reached Acre.

Open record →May – June 1191 · Limassol – Nicosia

Richard's conquest of Cyprus

In May 1191, some of Richard's ships, caught in a storm on the way to Acre, were driven onto the coast of Cyprus. When the island's self-proclaimed emperor Isaac Komnenos mistreated the shipwrecked, Richard conquered the island within weeks; Cyprus later became a lasting Latin kingdom.

Open record →20 August 1191 · Ayyadiya / Acre

Killing of the Acre prisoners

Because of delays in fulfilling the terms of Acre's surrender, Richard ordered on 20 August 1191 that some 2,600–3,000 Muslim prisoners be killed near the hill of Ayyadiya before the crusader army. The episode became one of the most controversial treatments of prisoners in the crusades.

Open record →7 September 1191 · Arsuf

Battle of Arsuf

Richard's army, advancing south along the coast from Acre toward Jaffa, came under Saladin's great attack near Arsuf on 7 September 1191. Keeping its tight formation, the army, after an early charge by the Hospitallers, forced Saladin to withdraw with a general counterattack.

Open record →1192 · Cyprus

Foundation of the Latin Kingdom of Cyprus

Cyprus, conquered by Richard the Lionheart in 1191, was handed in 1192 to Guy of Lusignan, who had lost the throne of Jerusalem. Guy's brother Aimery took the title of king in 1197, giving birth to the Latin Kingdom of Cyprus, ruled by the Lusignan dynasty until 1489.

Open record →July – 2 September 1192 · Jaffa

Battle of Jaffa and peace treaty

In July 1192 Saladin took Jaffa in a surprise attack; Richard arrived by sea, retook the city and on 5 August defended his camp with very few knights. On 2 September 1192 the two sides signed the Treaty of Jaffa: the coastal strip stayed with the Franks, Jerusalem stayed under Muslim rule, and pilgrims were granted free access.

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