The second crusade began in 1147. It was launched by Pope Eugene III after the fall of Edessa in 1144, and ended in 1149 with a total failure for the Crusaders, who returned to Europe without having won a military victory in the East. .
Fall of the county of Edessa
The Christians had achieved the impossible by retaking the city of Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099. After the battle of Ascalon, where they repelled the Egyptian relief army, they founded four Latin states, which quickly found themselves isolated in the East. Faced with the Turks on one side and the Byzantines on the other, the Crusaders were in an almost permanent state of war. In addition, many pilgrims had decided to return to Europe after the crusade, satisfied to have fulfilled their oaths and in a hurry to find their lands and their families.
The prosperity of the kingdom of Jerusalem having weakened its warrior spirit, and the internal quarrels reducing its resources, when the border fortress of Edessa fell into the hands of Zengi of Mosul, on December 24, 1144, the situation of the Christian kingdom became critical. P>
On hearing the news, Pope Eugene III issued, on December 1, 1145, the papal bull Quantum praedecessores, calling for a new crusade. This appeal remains unanswered at first, although the King of France, Louis VII is considering launching a crusade himself. In December 1146, Bernard of Clairvaux, preaching that the crusade was a way to obtain grace and absolution from sins, tried to convince the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Conrad III of Hohenstaufen. Meanwhile, other Germanic princes spread the idea of a crusade among the Slavic peoples in the northeast of the empire. They are authorized to launch the Baltic Crusades. The pope also authorizes a crusade in Spain against the Moors, although a war has already been going on for some time. In 1147, an English fleet going to the Mediterranean took Lisbon, then in the hands of the Moors, and Tortosa in 1148. However, this fleet never reached Syria.
Bernard of Clairvaux preaches the crusade
There was no popular enthusiasm for the crusade as had been observed in 1095 and 1096. the idea of promising absolution for all sins committed to those who take up the cross. On March 31, 1146, in the presence of King Louis VII, he preached the crusade to an immense crowd at Vézelay. Following his sermon, the audience began to ask for crosses, so much so that it is said that the fabric ran out and that Bernard of Clairvaux himself gave his habit to have crosses cut out of it. cross. Unlike the First Crusade, the new enterprise attracted sovereigns from all over Europe, like Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was then Queen of France, but also Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders; Henri, future Count of Champagne; Robert I of Dreux, brother of Louis VII; Alfonso I of Toulouse; William II of Nevers; William III de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey; Hugh VII of Lusignan, and many other nobles and bishops. But the crusade received even greater support from the people.
The crusade in Spain and Portugal
In mid-May 1147, the first contingents left England; they were Flemings, Frisians, Normans, English, Scots, as well as some Germans. Neither prince nor king took part in the crusade at this stage; in fact, England was at this time experiencing a period of anarchy. They arrived in Porto in June, and the local bishop convinced them to continue on to Lisbon, where King Alfonso I of Portugal had gone when he learned that a crusade was on the way. The Spanish crusade having already received the approval of the pope, and since it was also a question of fighting the Muslims, the crusaders agreed to join Alfonso. The siege of Lisbon began on July 1; the city fell on October 24, and the Crusaders pillaged before handing the city over to the King of Portugal. Some settled in Lisbon, including Gilbert de Hastings, who was elected bishop; but the greater part of the fleet resumed its course towards the East in February 1148. Almost at the same time, under the leadership of Alfonso VII of Castile and Raimond-Berenger IV, Count of Barcelona, the Spaniards took Almeria; in 1148 and 1149 it was the turn of Tortosa, Fraga and Lérida
Rupture with Byzantium
The French and Germanic crusaders left in May 1147. The indiscipline of the popular element, especially in the Germanic crusade, caused incidents when the army passed through the Balkans.
The French army, which leaves from Metz, is also considerably slowed down by the wives, Aliénor of Aquitaine in the lead (but also Sybille of Anjou, Faydide of Toulouse, Florine of Burgundy), and by their luggage. Passing after the Germanic army, and on a single road, it has difficulty getting supplies in Hungary. The presence of a large number of servants causes many distractions at the camp, and diverts the spirit of pilgrimage (castra non casta, camps that have nothing chaste about them). Thus slowed down, the convoy took five months to reach Constantinople on October 4.
The basileus, Manuel I Komnenos, feared that the Crusader troops would strengthen the principality of Antioch, where he wanted to restore his sovereignty, and that they would weaken the German-Byzantine alliance against Roger II of Sicily. Indeed, while Conrad III and Louis VII refused to pay homage to the basileus in the fall, and thus held back the Byzantine troops, Roger II seized Corfu and Cephalonia, plundered Corinth and Thebes. Manuel I Comnenus must conclude a treaty with Sultan Mas'ud I of Rum.
Defeats against the Seljuks
Conrad III's army arrives first in Constantinople, but relations between the German Emperor and the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel I Comnenus, are strained. The Germans, wishing to cross Asia Minor as quickly as possible, did not wait for the French and left for Edessa. Conrad III divides his army into two units. One of them was annihilated by the Seljuks during the battle of Dorylaeum on October 25, 1147. The other division was also massacred at the beginning of the year 1148, and returned to meet the army French.
The Byzantine emperor's relations with the French army were better than with the Germanic army, but he nevertheless refused to provide reinforcements and even promised to return to the Byzantine Empire any territory taken from the enemy. The French army meets the survivors of the German army at Nicaea. To avoid having to cross the Anatolian deserts like the Germanic army, the King of France chose a longer route. But, on Epiphany 1148, in the defiles of Mount Cadmos, the vanguard was separated from the convoy, and the Turks inflicted a defeat on the French army.
The survivors of the two armies finally arrived in Syria by sea. King Louis VII followed the coast, but harassed in the valley of the Meander, had to abandon the non-combatants in Antalya (Attaleia) and embarked for Antioch with his knights. Conrad III, reconciled with Manuel Comnène, wins Acre on Byzantine ships. Bad relations between the crusaders and Byzantium, as well as between themselves, reduced the forces of the crusade by three-quarters.
Failure of the siege of Damascus
In Jerusalem, Conrad III convinces Baldwin III to attack Damascus, despite the truce between the Crusader kingdom and the city. The other Crusaders wanted to attack Aleppo, which was less well defended, which would allow easier access to Edessa and limit Nur ad-Din's takeover of the region. The siege of Damascus began on July 11, 1148 and lasted less than a week. The crusaders, installed on a plain without water point in full sun, must withdraw. Conrad III and Louis VII return to the West without any military victory.
Unfortunate consequences for the Crusaders
After the attempted siege of Damascus, the city refuses any dealings with the Crusaders and Nur ad-Din takes control of it in 1154. Baldwin III of Jerusalem makes the mistake of taking Ascalon in 1153, which brings the extent of the conflict to Egypt which will later lead to the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin.
Bernard of Clairvaux emerges humiliated from the failure of the crusade and suffers in terms of credibility. He blames it on the sins committed by the Crusaders. From this failure, the crown of France also lost a lot in financial, political, military and strategic terms (cf. article Louis VII, assessment of the second crusade).