The Holy City of Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Muslims after being in Christian control for almost nine decades. When the news of the defeat at the Battle of the Horns of Hattin and the capture of Jerusalem arrived in Europe in the fall, Pope Urban III was extremely devastated that he died shortly after from shock and grief (Hindley 121). On October 29, 1187, his successor, Pope Gregory VIII, pronounced an appeal for a military journey to the Holy Land (Phillips 124), infamously known as the Third Crusade.
The Third Crusade was called when Pope Gregory VIII released a papal encyclical called Audita Tremendi. The encyclical outlined the purpose behind the call. The Battle of Hattin was described as “a great mourning for the Christian…show more content… He fought in the previous crusade as the Duke of Swabia (Philipps 136). The Emperor was present at a sermon in Strasbourg and was evidently moved when the speaker portrayed Christ as a feudal lord mistreated by his enemies and abandoned by his liegemen. A total of 13,000 princes, dukes, counts, nobles, margraves, bishops, and knights took up the cross beside him. Frederick offered himself up as leader of the imperial army (Philipps 138). The Holy Roman Emperor contacted the rulers of Hungary, Byzantium, and the Muslim ruler of Seljuk to ensure an easy journey (Asbridge 382). Frederick I and his German army were the first to depart, leaving on 11 May 1189, and they set sail for Rogensburg with no delay (Philipps 138). Frederick’s army were recognized as one of the biggest to ever leave Europe, with approximately 100-150,000 soldiers. The reason for such an enormous support was because of the current situation in the Holy Land threatened trade in the Western World. Italian cities (Venice, Pisa, and Genoa) relied greatly on trade with Middle Eastern cities (Jaffa, Tyre, Acre, Beirut, Ascalon). The German army was so huge that they needed to go through Asia Minor by land. This was a route no Christian army was able to victoriously negotiate since the First Crusade (Williams…show more content… The heir to the throne, Richard I, was extremely liked by his people and was called “good king Richard” by them (Williams 179). Richard was also known as Coeur de Lion, which translates to the Lionheart. Strangely enough, he was brought up in France, not England. Richard continuously expressed his disinterest towards England, even offering to sell London if anyone wanted to buy it. The Lionheart was already enlisted in the crusade before the death of his father. In 1187, Richard took up the cross at Tours (Asbridge 374). Just as he heard about Saladin’s conquest of the Holy Land, Richard promised to reconquer Jerusalem back for the Christians (Williams 180). When Henry died, Richard continued to impose the Saladin Tithe on his subjects and began to organize his plan for the crusade (Phillips 138). The Lionheart sold everything he could to raise money, including offices, earldoms, castles, lordships, towns, lands, and sheriffdoms (Asbridge 386). He rummaged through the terrains for all the pennies until England was on the brink of bankruptcy and even set all the prisoners free (Williams 180). Richard spent about €14,000 from 1189-90 which is equivalent to over half of England’s crown income (Asbridge 386). Unfortunately for Philip, his implement on the Saladin Tithe was unsuccessful compared to Richard’s. One of the reasons why the tithe was so ineffective in France was because of its barons. Considering
