Lecture 31: The Crusades
The Third Crusade
• The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was led by three Christian kings
of Europe: the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1122–
1190), Richard I of England (1157–1199), and Philip II of France
(1165–1223).• The kings demanded financial support from bishops to finance the
Crusade—the “Saladin tithe.”• The crusaders, especially Richard of England, managed to recover
territory along the coast from the Saracens, but Jerusalem itself
remained in Muslim hands. King Richard negotiated the right of
pilgrims to visit Jerusalem.The Fourth Crusade
• The Fourth Crusade in 1202 was stimulated by Pope Innocent III,
who assured the Byzantine emperor Alexius III that he would be
safe from crusader attack.• The Crusade was, however, hijacked by the Venetians, the emerging
commercial force in Italy that was intensely hostile toward its rival
Byzantium, and the crusaders attacked Constantinople in 1203.
o The Venetians established in Byzantium a Latin empire ruled
by the pretender Alexius IV.o Deep local resentment led to the assassination of Alexius;
the crusaders responded by sacking the city and establishing
Baldwin of Flanders as the Latin emperor. This Latin version
of the Byzantine Empire lasted until 1261.• The Fourth Crusade represented a low point in the collapse of the
initial ideal of freeing the Holy Land by pitting parts of the Christian
world against each other; the incident only hardened the resentment
Eastern Christians felt toward the West.