Third Crusade

The Third Crusade was a major Western Christian campaign to recover Jerusalem after Saladin's victories in the Holy Land. It did not retake the city, but it preserved a Crusader presence on the Mediterranean coast for another century and produced one of the most celebrated rivalries in medieval history, between Richard I of England and Saladin. The dates given here, 1190 to 1204, stretch beyond the usual dating: the main expedition is normally placed between about 1189 and 1192, while 1204 points to the later Fourth Crusade, which diverted to Constantinople.

The background lay in the collapse of Crusader power in 1187. Saladin, who had united Egypt and Syria under his rule, crushed the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin in July of that year and then captured Jerusalem in October. The news shocked Western Europe, and Pope Gregory VIII called for a new crusade. Three of the continent's most powerful rulers responded: Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor; Philip II of France; and Richard I of England.

Frederick led a large army overland through Anatolia, but he drowned in the Saleph River in 1190, and most of his force dissolved or went home. Philip and Richard travelled by sea, with Richard conquering Cyprus on the way, a move that gave the Crusaders a lasting base. They joined the long siege of Acre, which fell in 1191. Philip soon returned to France, partly because of tensions with Richard and disputes over succession in the Crusader kingdom. Richard remained as the senior commander, and his reputation as a soldier grew.

Richard defeated Saladin's army at Arsuf in 1191 and advanced to within sight of Jerusalem, but he never attacked it. Historians generally attribute this to the difficulty of holding the city, even if captured, given supply problems, divided leadership, and Saladin's strong position. Meanwhile, news of political trouble at home pressed on him. In 1192 the two leaders agreed to the Treaty of Jaffa, which left Jerusalem in Muslim hands but allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims to visit it, and which left the Crusaders with a strip of coast from Tyre to Jaffa.

Saladin died in 1193, and Richard, captured and held for ransom by Duke Leopold of Austria and Emperor Henry VI on his way home, spent over a year in captivity. The Crusader states survived, but Jerusalem remained out of reach. The Fourth Crusade, launched soon after, ended in 1204 with the sack of Constantinople rather than any campaign in the Holy Land. Later tradition, in both Europe and the Islamic world, remembered Richard and Saladin as mutually respected opponents, though much of that image owes more to legend than to documented fact.