In 1099 the Crusaders took Jerusalem in the bloodiest of battles, wrenching it back from the Muslims for the first time in 400 years.
But, over the decades that followed, the Islamic
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In 1099 the Crusaders took Jerusalem in the bloodiest of battles, wrenching it back from the Muslims for the first time in 400 years.
But, over the decades that followed, the Islamic world dreamed of fighting back. In 1144 the Muslims seized the city of Edessa from the Christians. The news reverberated back to Europe, and the Pope called for a Second Crusade.
But this Crusade was a disaster. It failed to expand the Christian empire, and strengthened the resolve of the Muslims. Under their great leader, Saladin, the Muslim swept through the Christian Kingdom taking town after town. In 2 October 1187 he took Jerusalem.
This shocked the west into responding. Saladin's defeat of the Franks at Hattin and his subsequent conquest of Jerusalem prompted Latin Europe to launch the Third Crusade.
