The Second Crusade
The fall of Edessa to Zengi in 1144 removed the northernmost crusader state and prompted a new expedition, preached by Bernard of Clairvaux with an authority no one else in Latin Christendom possessed. Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany both took the cross — the first time reigning kings led a crusade. Both armies chose the land route through Anatolia and both were destroyed there, less by battle than by supply failure, Seljuk harassment and mutual suspicion with Byzantium, whose emperor had a truce with the Seljuks to protect and was blamed by the crusaders for their losses. The remnants reached the Holy Land with a fraction of their strength. At Acre in 1148 the leaders decided to attack Damascus — the one substantial Muslim power in the region still hostile to Zengi's son Nur ad-Din and in loose alliance with Jerusalem. The siege lasted four days before the army withdrew. Damascus turned to Nur ad-Din for protection and was absorbed by him in 1154, uniting Aleppo and Damascus against the crusader states under a single ruler and setting up the consolidation that Saladin would inherit. Bernard spent his remaining years defending having preached it.
- Year: 1147 CE
- Category: Military
