The impetus of the Christian crusades was the threat of Muslim expansion and specifically, …show more content…
Saladin, the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt, beat the Christians in the battle of Hattin which allowed him to gain control of Jerusalem. News of the fall of Jerusalem led the Pope to call for the Third Crusade to retake the Holy City. Henry II of England, Richard (Henry's son), Philip II of France, and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I had sworn crusade vows to fight for Christianity to reclaim Jerusalem from Saladin. The threat of Muslim expansion and the restriction of Christian pilgrimages was the primary motive of the Third Crusade. Saladin was regarded as an enemy to Christianity and was denounced in a letter from Sibylla, Ex-Queen of Jerusalem, to Frederick I, in 1189. She wrote, “I tell this, which I am indeed not able to say without tears. Saladin, the aforesaid enemy of Christ and for the slaughter and destruction of the Christians wishing to exalt the name of God”. Saldin and his Muslim tribes successfully held back the Crusaders until Richard and Saladin came to a truce permitting Christian pilgrimages. The inclusion of Christian pilgrimages in the truce was another example that protection of the Christian religion was a primary purpose of