Plantagenet Chronicles

Voyage to Jerusalem

THERE were two possible routes for westerners who wished to visit Jerusalem. The quickest and safest way was by sea, but the resources necessary to transport whole armies were available to only a few commanders. As a result, until the end of the 12th century most crusaders took the land route.

As far as Constantinople, they travelled through lands which were Christian and, at least nominally, friendly. Once in Asia Minor they were in hostile territory; this area, which had once been the powerhouse of the Byzantine Empire, had been overrun by the Turks in the 12th century. The crusaders had to fight their way through Anatolia against such powerful enemies as the Seldjuk Sultan of Iconium (modern Konya) before they reached the safe haven of the Chrisitian principalities.

The First Crusade had been lucky, for the Turks did not take the Christian threat seriously at first, but those who followed in 1100 were cut to pieces and only a pitiful remnant struggled on to Syria. The Second Crusade also suffered grievous losses on the march through Asia Minor in the winter of 1147-8.

In 1174 Saladin became the new ruler of Syria. He came from a Kurdish military family, but received a political education at the court in Damascus and learned the value of Holy War in uniting the forces of Islam.

Above The legendary Saladin defeats the
Christians and then seizes the Cross.

Widely respected by friend and foe, Saladin became a legend even in his own lifetime. Pious and honest, he could be cunning and utterly ruthless when necessary: after Hattin, he ordered the execution of the captured knights of the Hospital and Temple, the elite troops of Christendom. Although he was not a great warrior, he was a masterful politician, and an honourable man who was admired even by his Christian enemies.

Nevertheless, his success in forging alliances with Egypt and neighboring rulers was watched with mounting horror in the kingdom of Jerusalem, which addressed increasingly frequent appeals for help to the West. These were answered only when the Third Crusade in 1189 brought Richard the Lionheart and Saladin face to face.

The Turks were not the only enemies of the Christian army. Drought and famine were constant problems, and much of the land was rugged and mountainous, laced with torrents that had to be forded. When Frederick Barbarossa drowned in one of these in 1190, the German contingent to the Third Crusade dispersed, and most of its members returned to Germany. Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France had taken their forces by sea, and the success of this strategy set the pattern for future crusaders.