Lecture 11: 1187 Hattin—Crusader Desert Disaster

1187 Hattin—Crusader Desert Disaster ...........................................

Lecture 11

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hirty years after the Battle of Hastings, Pope Urban II gave one of

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years and involved all the major powers of Europe and the Near East. This

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kingdoms of the Near East by the Christian kingdoms of Europe. Although

the Crusades extended over a 200-year span, the turning point was the Battle

of Hattin in 1187. The opposing forces seem evenly matched, but squabbling

among their leadership and a series of poor decisions ultimately doomed the

European army to a miserable and dusty death.

The Crusades up to Hattin

x The enthusiastic response to the Pope’s call for an expedition to

free the Holy Land from the “pagans” was probably much greater

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number of countries volunteered.

x Enlisting was called “taking the cross” because strips of cloth in

the shape of a cross were sewn onto enlistees’ clothes or painted on

their shields. It was from this practice that they became known as

Crusaders and the entire movement was called the Crusades.

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1097. After a siege, Antioch fell, and the Crusaders marched
      down the coast, winning a string of victories. Eventually, they
      reached Jerusalem itself, and after another siege, in July of 1099,
      the Crusaders burst into the holy city and massacred many of
      the inhabitants.

x A number of small Crusader kingdoms were established along the

eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the most important of which

was the Kingdom of Jerusalem.