Chronology of the Crusades

Please place in this forum a copy of the information from your proforma about your Crusades topic.

This is to provide a reference for later work, so you can look back at all the information.

Thank you,

Mr Farndon.

1st

breif description:
count fulk v of anjou became king of jerusalem after the death of balwin 2 in 1131 - he married melisende who was baldwins daughter. king falk then died in 1143, which his son baldwin should have taken over, instead queen melisende took over as baldwin was not of age.

when baldwin reached the age of 18, melisende was still queen, so baldwin took action. this resulted in an armed conflict of which baldwin won. she forced the queen ( his mother ) to surrender land. this caused problems as muslims were still a threat and instead of fighting each other they should have been fighting the muslims.


KING OF THE SITE, I CAN TARMAC YOUR DRIVE ( ASK ME IF U ACTUALLY WANT A BIT OF TARMAC ON IT COS IM PROPA GOOD AT IT....

Brief description - Crusaders arrived near Antioch on October 20th 1097, it was one of the first battles of the 1st crusade. Initially the Crusaders attempted to siege Antioch and once they took it over the city changed hands (between the crusaders & the Turks) until Jan 1099 when the crusaders (still in control of Antioch set off South to travel to Jerusalem.

Ran outta time; rest soon come.

After taking Nicea and Baldwins venture east to Edessa, Antioch was the next and second major city (after Jerusalem) to be taken. the crusaders besieged the city for 8 months before they finally breeched the city walls and took over. Influencing the crusaders decision to breech the walls was a closing muslim army responding to a plea for help. (the besieged messaged them through a bird). Once inside the city ironically, 1 day later, they then became the besieged by the other muslim army.
During this siege a priest discovered 'the holy Lance' which was said to have speared Jesus Christ himself when he was dying on the crucifix. This acted as a form of Propaganda and a sign from god, therefore resulting in high morale for the crusaders. They then charged the muslims and a high numbers of crusaders resulted in the muslims fleeing.
The purpose of capturing Antioch was:
-Vital link in supply line to support crusaders carrying on to Jerusalem.
-A massive, economically strong city.
Nature:
-Much anguish and violence
-

Nature:
- Much anguish and violence between both armies.
- Hunger, thirst and disease resulting in death.
- Crusaders had to win otherwise they would have all died due to the above. (same could be argued for the muslims)

Source References:
-Volume 3: p 764, Encyclopedia, Britannica (2003) 0-85229-961-3
-Volume 16: p 822-40, Encyclopedia, Britannica (2003) 0-85229-961-3
These are both mahusive texts and could take a while to find specific knowledge

- Documentary: Crescent and the Cross, History Channel (2009)
This source material can be criticised as it is used for entertainment purposes more than for historical facts, so facts and opinons may be bias and exagerated

Event: The Battle of Hattin (sometimes spelt Hittin)
Dates: 1187 (July 4)

Brief Description of event: the battle was the culmination of build up of tension between Muslim and Christian forces in the region. The battle was fought in the Tiberias region of the holy land between a force of Crusaders led by Guy de Lusignan, the King of Jerusalem (by marriage) and Saladin leader of the Muslim forces. The crusading forces moved to attack the Muslims following reports of them attacking the city of Tiberias. The crusaders lacked adequate supplies of water and marched into an area of desert which lacked any. The Muslims set fires which caused smoke to worsen the thirst of the Christian army. Raymond of Tripoli was freed through the tight lines of the Muslims, this only but confirmed the presence of the relationship between Raymond and Saladin. The Frankish army was defeated, but not before king Guy launched one final attack. Following the battle, the true cross was taken by the Muslims. Reynald of Chatillon and the King were taken prisoner. Reynald was killed. The king was freed.

Nature: The Battle was fought with the Muslims on the offensive. It was a major defeat for the Franks, who lost most of their army, this left Jerusalem defenceless. The Crusaders marched in an effort to relieve the city.

Purpose: The purpose of the crusaders was to relieve the city of Tiberias from Muslim assault. They aimed to prevent its capture by Saladin.

Critique of Source material: It was quite brief, but reasonably good at telling the narrative of the event clearly. It tended to focus on the people involved rather than the events taking place. It provide a good overview for people starting out giving a good basis for further more in depth research.

References:
Jonathan Phillips
The Crusades
Pearson Education Limited
2002
978-0-582-32822-8
Pages 135-136

Johnny,

When talking about nature and purpose can you demonstrate that you understand that you are putting forward an argument about the significance of the siege, not an interpretation.

Show that you are arguing by using provisional language - why might the events of the siege of Antioch have caused change to either the nature or purpose of crusading? What evidence do you have? Have you looked forward to future events to test your theories?

You make a good analysis of your sources - what evidence do you have from the TV programme about its lack of reliability?

Well done,
Mr Farndon

Brief Description:
In 11867 the Muslim Leader Saladin was successfully invading the Kingdom of Jerusalem, taking many towns and castles. In the aftermath of the Battle of Hattin Saladin attacked the city of Jerusalem with superior numbers than its Christian defenders. Saladin was soon victorious and inserted his control over Jerusalem, capturing and killing many of its inhabitants.

Purpose:
The purpose from the Muslim perspective was to capture Jerusalem whilst the Crusaders had to try their best to defend it.

Nature:
The Crusaders where vastly unsuccessful in defending Jerusalem, their plans to push back the Muslims from the city walls was foiled after Saladin’s horsemen attacked swiftly. After a few days only a few men could be mustered to defend the city, making Saladin’s conquest successful.
This event marks a change in the nature of Crusading as beforehand the Crusaders were mostly on the offensive, attempting to take cities in Jerusalem for themselves. By the end of the Second Crusade it had been reversed and the Muslims were beginning to fight back.
The fall of Jerusalem also caused the Third Crusade, as Pope Gregory VIII called for more Crusaders to recapture the city.

Source References:
• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1187saladin.html

• Christopher Tyerman, The Crusades; A very short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2005, 978–0-19-280655-0

Critique of Source Material:
The website was very helpful in content about the Fall of Jerusalem as it features a lot of information. It is also a excellent source as it is rewritten from actual extracts from the event.
Christopher Tyerman’s book was more of a analytical response about the Crusades and had little on the specific event I was focussing on. It is helpful for building argument on the Crusades but not about the content.