11 Facts About Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi.

Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles.

Second Crusade did not pursue an attack on the remaining territory of Edessa, or the Principality of Antioch, as was feared.

Eugene did not control Rome and lived instead at Viterbo, but nevertheless the Second Crusade was meant to be more organized and centrally controlled than the First: the armies would be led by the strongest kings of Europe and a route would be planned beforehand.

Pope commissioned French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to preach the Second Crusade, and granted the same indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade.

Related searches

Second Crusade authorized Alfonso VII of Leon and Castile to equate his campaigns against the Moors with the rest of the Second Crusade.

Since the original negotiations between Louis and Manuel I, Manuel had broken off his military campaign against Rum, signing a truce with his enemy Sultan Mesud I Manuel did this to give himself a free hand to concentrate on defending his empire from the Crusaders, who had gained a reputation for theft and treachery since the First Crusade and were widely suspected of harbouring sinister designs on Constantinople.

Second Crusade'storians have long seen the decision to besiege Damascus rather than Edessa as "an act of inexplicable folly".

Cultural impact of the Second Crusade was even greater in France, with many troubadours fascinated by the alleged affair between Eleanor and Raymond, which helped to feed the theme of courtly love.

The memory of the Second Crusade was to colour French views of the Byzantines for the rest of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Second Crusade was able to deal with his enemies with enviable skill, playing off one against the other with the aim of bringing peace and tranquility.