ENGLAND IN THE CRUSADES
most important event since the enemies or a Knight’s effigy Tunis and then making his way to
Resurrection of Christ. There was a reputation This monument to a crusader Palestine in 1271. He again achieved
good response to the first preaching of for violence. knight is still to be found in little, save the reinforcement of the
a crusade in England when the founder The Crusade Temple Church, London—the garrison at Acre.
of the Templar Order of knights, Hugh itself, whose aim headquarters of the crusading
de Payens, visited England in 1128. had been the order of the Templars. Lasting effects
Henry I gave money and soon the recovery of the If the military importance of English
Templars and the Hospitallers (the strategic city of his son Richard I crusading was largely spent by
other military monastic order) were Edessa in Syria, to lead the English 1192, its cultural effects were more
receiving widespread grants of land seized by the contingent. long-standing. Many knights sold their
and other property in England. Muslim emir Zengi The German lands to raise money for the long
in 1144, was largely Emperor Frederick journey to Palestine and the Church,
The Second Crusade a failure. Its one Barbarossa drowned and in particular monasteries, which
The Second Crusade (1147–49) saw a lasting result came on the way to the possessed the largest source of ready
large contingent of English crusaders. in October 1147, with Holy Land, leaving cash, benefited by greatly extending
The motives of men such as Waleran, the capture of Lisbon the Third Crusade their landed properties when many
Earl of Worcester, William of Warenne, by a crusading force as an Anglo-French failed to return to redeem their estates.
Henry of Glanville, and William en route to the Holy venture, with Those who did come back had
Peverel of Dover were varied. Some Land, prominent command shared experienced a lifestyle with which
felt a genuine religious desire for the among whom were between Richard Europe had long been unfamiliar.
recovery of Jerusalem, others sought the English crusaders. and Philippe II. A taste for luxuries such as silk and
glory or coveted the lands which Between the Second Richard got to Syria spices, which could only be obtained
might be won, while some, such and Third Crusades, in June 1191, and through Muslim intermediaries, came
as Peverel, found it Englishmen took the was present when back with the returning crusaders. This
a convenient means to Cross and made their way to Acre fell in July. Philippe left soon helped promote an interest in trade
escape their political “Outremer” (the term for the Christian after, leaving Richard in command, with the area which long outlasted the
states established in Palestine). In 1169, a challenge he took up with resounding fall of Acre, the last Christian outpost
Saladin came to power in Egypt and success by defeating the previously in Palestine, in 1291.
between then and 1187 he chipped invincible Saladin at Arsuf in
away at the crusader kingdoms. In September. Despite this, the war then
1185 Heraclius, the Latin patriarch of settled in to stalemate, and in August AF TER
1192 Richard agreed a three-year truce
5,023 The amount in pounds
spent by Henry of
Cornhill in acquiring ships for Richard for
with Saladin. Two months later Richard
set sail from Acre, ending the campaign
of England’s only crusader king.
The loss of Acre in 1291 did not mark the
final end of European attempts to retake
the Third Crusade (at a time the average This was the only crusade in England lands in Palestine and elsewhere from
daily wage for a sailor was two pence). with something like mass participation; their Muslim rulers.
Richard’s army was at least 6,000 strong
Jerusalem, traveled west to appeal and included magnates, citizens, and RISE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
for aid, but the response was muted. groups of archers. Edward III “took the Cross” in 1312, but he was
Henry II of England made a donation, the last English king to do. Minor crusades were
but no further promises. Later crusades launched in an effort to stop Constantinople,
The crusades of the early 13th century the capital of the Byzantine Empire, falling into
The fall of Jerusalem attracted a much lower level of English Muslim hands, but the Crusades of Nicopolis
A few English crusaders, such as Hugh participation, as the Anglo-Norman (1396) and Varna (1444) were all crushed by
of Beauchamp, made their way to the aristocracy was preoccupied with the a newly rising Muslim power, the Ottoman
Holy Land, arriving just in time to die civil war that only ended in 1217 (see Empire. Crusading taxes—such as one of £1,000
at the Battle of Hattin in July 1187, pp.84–85). Richard of Cornwall, the raised in 1446—were levied in England, and the
when Saladin overwhelmed the army younger son of King John, launched proceeds were sent to help finance the fight
of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, leaving his own crusade to Syria in 1240 and, against the Turks, but even the fall of
the Holy City defenseless. When it fell while Henry III took the cross three Constantinople to them in 1453 did not
in October, shock waves reverberated times (in 1216, 1250, and 1271) he prompt a new crusade.
throughout Europe and a new crusade never actually went to the Holy Land.
was launched. Henry II of England took His eldest son Edward (the future
the Cross, but died before he could Edward I) did do so in 1270, joining the
leave for Palestine, and it was left to expedition of Louis IX of France against
“We have not come seeking
wealth… we have come for
the sake of God and for the
salvation of our souls.”
FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 1453
KING PHILIP OF FRANCE AT THE SIEGE OF ACRE (IN WHICH RICHARD I OF ENGLAND
WAS TAKING PART), 1191
83
