#FRENCH RULERS SERIES#

This was probably the best force that was on the road. With him went the armies of Germany and Italy, including many seasoned veterans. Frederick, the Holy Roman emperor, was regarded as one of the greatest warriors of all time. The other important monarch in Western Europe who was eager to go on Crusade was Frederick Barbarossa, who may have been close to 70 years old at this point. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (Image: By Christian Siedentop/Public Domain) The English and French Kings Respond to the Call for Crusade

#FRENCH RULERS SERIES#

This is a transcript from the video series The Era of the Crusades. Nonetheless, this humiliation could not be left unavenged. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the most holy spot in the Christian world, and the King of Jerusalem, Guy, was in captivity-probably the best option of what to do with King Guy. It had been in Christian hands for nearly 100 years. The new pope, Clement III, was immediately committed to preaching a new Crusade. He was ailing, and the news of Jerusalem’s surrender just did him in. According to some reports, Pope Gregory VIII died instantly of a heart attack.

The news of Saladin’s victory at Hattin in July 1187 hit them like a thunderbolt. Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty (Image: By Cristofano dell’Altissimo/Public Domain)Īll three of these kings led great armies east to fight Saladin, whose reputation now, by 1190, when this Crusade set out, was that of the greatest conqueror of the Islamic world. For well over a generation, Western Europeans really had very little inkling that there was a crisis brewing in the Near East.

French rulers