The Third Crusade: 1189–1192

Three kings. Two continents. Four years of campaigning across a thousand miles of Eastern Mediterranean coastline. A single duel between an English king and a Kurdish sultan that became, in the next thousand years, the central romance of the medieval West. The Third Crusade is the Crusade the public knows: it is the Crusade of Kingdom of Heaven and The Talisman, of the Ayyubid war machine and the Lionheart, of Acre and Arsuf and the Treaty of Jaffa. It is also the one in which a great deal of historical reality has been packed into a smaller and more uncertain set of facts.

This pillar tries to give the expedition in something like 4,000 words. For the broader story, see the main article on the Crusades and the Timeline of the Crusades. For the events that triggered the expedition, see the Battle of Hattin and the Saladin pillar article. For the central figure of the Crusade, see Richard the Lionheart.

A note on the scholarly literature. The Third Crusade is one of the best-served expeditions in modern historiography. The standard biographies of Richard are John Gillingham’s Richard the Lionheart (1978) and Jonathan Phillips’s The Life and Legend of Richard the Lionheart (2015); the standard account of Saladin is still Malcolm Lyons and D. E. P. Jackson’s Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War (1982); the best short general history of the Crusade is Thomas Asbridge’s The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land (2010). I have leaned on all four.

Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem and the call for a new expedition

The Third Crusade was a response to a single event: Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem on 2 October 1187. The news reached Europe in the autumn of that year, and the response was immediate. Pope Urban III, who was in his first year as pope, called for a new Crusade almost immediately; he died in October 1187, possibly of the shock. His successor, Gregory VIII, issued the bull Audita tremendi on 29 October 1187, which is one of the most important documents of the medieval period because it called on the rulers of Europe as a class to march to the defence of the Holy Land. The bull set the tone for the next five years of preaching.

The preaching of the Third Crusade was more successful than any previous effort. The loss of Jerusalem was felt as a personal affront by Christians across Europe, and the response was overwhelming. In England, the preaching of the Crusade was taken up by Baldwin of Canterbury and other bishops. In France, the king himself, Philip II, took the cross. In Germany, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the most powerful ruler in Europe, also took the cross. Smaller forces came from the Low Countries, Italy, Denmark, and even Poland. The total size of the expedition has been estimated at perhaps 100,000 people, including non-combatants, making it the largest yet mounted by Latin Christendom.

The three royal armies

The expedition was organised in three main army groups, each a substantial force in its own right.

The death of Frederick Barbarossa

The death of Frederick Barbarossa on 10 June 1190 was a severe blow to the Third Crusade. The emperor, who had been the most powerful ruler in Europe, was crossing the Saleph River in Cilicia when he fell from his horse and was swept away by the current. The exact circumstances of his death are not clear, but the loss of the leader of the German army was a major setback. The German army, without its emperor, made its way to Acre, where it played a significant role in the siege but never recaptured the glory of the imperial contingent.

The death of Barbarossa was also a major blow to the imperial prestige in the Holy Land. The German army had been the most disciplined and best-organised of the Crusader forces, and its loss was a serious handicap. The German chronicler of the Crusade, the Historia de expeditione Friderici imperatoris, is one of the most important sources for the expedition. The emperor’s death became a powerful legend in Germany: the story of the emperor who would return, sleeping in the Kyffhäuser mountain in Thuringia, was probably inspired by the emperor’s death in 1190 and by the political chaos that followed. The legend of Barbarossa’s return would later be taken up by German nationalists in the 19th century, and it remains a powerful image in modern German culture.

The Siege of Acre (1189–1191)

The main military action of the Third Crusade was the Siege of Acre, which lasted from August 1189 to July 1191. The city, which had been captured by Saladin in 1187, was a major objective of the expedition. The siege was conducted by a coalition of Crusader forces, including the German army under Frederick of Swabia (Barbarossa’s son), the English army under Richard, and the French army under Philip. The city finally fell on 12 July 1191, after a two-year siege that cost perhaps 100,000 lives.

The capture of Acre was a major victory, but it was followed by a controversy. Richard and Philip, who had arrived at the siege, quarreled with each other and with the local barons of the Latin East. Philip returned to France in 1191, leaving Richard in command. The relationship between Richard and the local barons, especially Conrad of Montferrat, was also tense. The capture of Acre marked a turning point in the expedition: the Crusaders had secured a major base in the Holy Land, but the recapture of Jerusalem was still far off.

The fall of Acre was followed by a notorious episode: the mass execution of several thousand Muslim prisoners by Richard, in retaliation for Saladin’s delays in paying the agreed ransom and for several breaches of the surrender terms. The episode is one of the most disturbing in Richard’s career, and it is the kind of thing the medieval sources tend to soft-pedal; modern historians do not.

The Battle of Arsuf (1191)

After the fall of Acre, Richard led the Crusader army south along the coast of Palestine. The march, which began in late August 1191, is famous for several reasons. It was conducted in the heat of summer, with the army suffering from heat, thirst, and the constant harassment of Saladin’s forces. It also produced the Battle of Arsuf on 7 September 1191, one of the most famous engagements of the entire Crusading movement.

The Battle of Arsuf was a clear victory for Richard. The Crusader army, marching in close formation, was attacked by Saladin’s forces, who hoped to disrupt the march and isolate the Crusader infantry. Richard kept his army under tight control and counterattacked at the right moment, winning a decisive victory. The battle showed Richard at his best, as a master of discipline and timing. The victory also demonstrated that the Crusaders could still fight effectively, even after the disasters of 1187. Modern historians put Crusader losses at under 1,000 and Muslim losses at perhaps 7,000; the exact figures are impossible to verify, but the qualitative result is not in doubt.

The decision not to march on Jerusalem

After Arsuf, the Crusader army continued south to Jaffa, which Richard captured in September 1191. The march on Jerusalem, however, did not happen. Richard advanced to within 12 miles of the Holy City, but he was forced to withdraw. The reasons for the withdrawal are complex. The Crusader army was too small to besiege Jerusalem effectively. Saladin’s forces were too strong to be defeated in open battle. The Crusaders’ supply lines were overextended, and they were in hostile territory. The political situation in the Latin East was also unstable, with Richard and Conrad of Montferrat still at odds.

The decision not to march on Jerusalem is one of the most debated in the history of the Crusades. Some historians have argued that Richard was too cautious. Others have argued that the Crusaders were simply not in a position to take the city. The truth is probably a mixture: Richard was a brilliant commander, but the strategic situation was not favourable to a march on Jerusalem. The point that older narratives often miss is that Richard did march on Jerusalem, and the council of war at Saffurya in early 1192 was unanimous, on the evidence of the chroniclers, that the army was not strong enough to take a well-defended city held by a serious army.

The Treaty of Jaffa (1192)

The Third Crusade ended with the Treaty of Jaffa, signed by Richard and Saladin on 2 September 1192. The treaty was a compromise. Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands, but the treaty allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy City. The Crusaders retained the coast of Palestine, including the cities of Acre, Jaffa, and Ascalon, but they were forbidden to fortify Ascalon. The treaty was a significant achievement: it kept the Crusader States alive and allowed Christian access to the Holy Places, but it left the central objective of the Third Crusade unfulfilled.

The Treaty of Jaffa is also significant for the relationship it established between Richard and Saladin. According to several chroniclers, the two men developed a grudging respect for each other, and Richard was widely admired in the Muslim world for his chivalrous conduct. The story of Richard and Saladin became a staple of medieval romance, and it is one of the most famous examples of the meeting of two great adversaries. The story has been told so often that it has acquired a patina of inevitability; the reality, as Phillips has emphasised, was messier and more interesting.

The sources and modern scholarship

The Third Crusade is unusually well-documented. The principal Latin sources include the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi (an anonymous Latin account of Richard’s Crusade, often attributed to Richard’s chaplain), the Chronica of Roger of Howden, the Historia of Ralph of Diceto, and the Eracles (a French continuation of William of Tyre). The Muslim sources include the biographies of Saladin by Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad and Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, both of whom knew Saladin personally. Baha ad-Din’s Rare and Excellent History of Saladin is the most readable and remains essential reading for the Third Crusade from the Muslim side.

The most important modern accounts of the Third Crusade include John Gillingham’s Richard the Lionheart (1978), Steven Runciman’s A History of the Crusades, and Thomas Asbridge’s The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land. The most recent and authoritative work is Jonathan Phillips’s The Life and Legend of Richard the Lionheart (2015), which provides a detailed and sympathetic treatment of the king and his Crusade.

The aftermath

The Third Crusade was followed by a period of relative stability in the Latin East. The Treaty of Jaffa, signed on 2 September 1192, kept the Crusader States alive and allowed Christian access to the Holy Places. The Crusader States, now reduced to a strip of coastline, would survive for another century, but they were under constant pressure from the Muslim forces.

The most important figure in the Latin East after Richard’s departure was Henry II of Champagne, the nephew of Richard and a capable administrator. Henry was made king of Jerusalem in 1192, and he ruled until his death in 1197. His reign was marked by efforts to consolidate the Latin East and to negotiate with Saladin’s successor, al-Adil. The fall of Henry in a balcony accident in 1197 was a serious blow to the Latin East.

The death of Saladin on 4 March 1193 was another important event. The great sultan was succeeded by his brother al-Adil, who ruled the Ayyubid Empire until his death in 1218. Al-Adil was a capable ruler, but he was less charismatic than Saladin, and the Ayyubid Empire would eventually be replaced by the Mamluk Sultanate, which would finish off the Crusader States in the late 13th century.

The Third Crusade in modern memory

The Third Crusade has been the subject of intense historical and popular interest. The duel between Richard and Saladin, in particular, has captured the imagination of writers and artists for centuries. Walter Scott’s The Talisman (1825) is the most famous fictional treatment, and it has shaped how the Crusade is remembered. The film Kingdom of Heaven (2005), directed by Ridley Scott, has also influenced modern perceptions, although the film is set in the 12th century and takes considerable liberties with history.

The Third Crusade has also been the subject of important modern scholarship. John Gillingham’s Richard the Lionheart (1978) rehabilitated Richard’s reputation as a soldier, and Jonathan Phillips’s The Life and Legend of Richard the Lionheart (2015) is the most recent and authoritative treatment. The Third Crusade is now seen as a more complex and significant event than it was in the older literature, which tended to focus on Richard and Saladin and to treat the Crusade as a romantic adventure.

The Third Crusade also has a special place in the memory of Muslims. Saladin’s victory at the Battle of Hattin and his reconquest of Jerusalem are still celebrated in the Muslim world, and the figure of Saladin is invoked in contemporary political discourse. The chivalrous image of Saladin, established in part by the Western tradition, has made him a powerful symbol of Muslim resistance to Western aggression. The Third Crusade, in this sense, remains a politically and culturally significant event, and its memory continues to shape the relationship between Christian and Muslim worlds.