Louis and the Second Crusade, Part 1

The Second Crusade was the first to be led by European kings. It was announced by Pope Eugene III, preached widely by Bernard of Clairvaux, and brought Louis VII of France together with Conrad III of Germany and other European nobles, like Frederick "Barbarossa."

The French army reached Hungary, where they were hosted by King Géza II of Hungary. Conrad was already there. Géza asked Louis to be godfather to his son, Stephen. Relations between France and Hungary remained cordial for a long time, and later on Louis' daughter Margaret would marry Géza's son Béla III of Hungary.

Eleanor of Aquitaine accompanied her husband on this journey—well, they traveled separately: Louis had taken a vow of chastity during the Crusade, and did not want to be tempted. She brought 1000 knights from Aquitaine and equipped a large retinue of women with horses and armor, dressed as Amazons. When they reached Constantinople, the men camped outside, while the women were entertained in palaces the likes of which Europe could not offer.

Constantinople had recently negotiated a treaty with the Seljuk Turks, and was now hosting a Crusading army that was going to enter Turkish territory and cause trouble. Some speculate that what happened next was due to interference by Emperor Manuel I Comnenos, who may have tipped off the Turks.

The European armies marched separately, Conrad going first. The French army encountered remnants of the Germans who warned that they had been attacked and defeated by Turks. Shortly after, Louis caught up with Conrad (who was wounded in the head) and the remains of his army. They reached Ephesus at Christmas, where Conrad decided he was too injured to continue. His foot soldiers stayed with Louis while the German nobles all went home.

The French army was then struck with four days of torrential rain that smashed their tents and washed away supplies. Louis chose to cross the mountains to get to Antioch as soon as possible. This put them in the path of Turkish raiders who threw rocks down and shot arrows at them. The parade-and-party atmosphere had faded for Eleanor and the ladies who followed her.

Another disaster arose, this one of Eleanor's making, and it almost destroyed the army. I'll tell you more tomorrow.

Barbarossa!

Born about 1122-23, Frederick (Friedrich) was born in France to the Duke of Swabia. He grew up learning the noble arts of hunting and riding and martial activity, but not the less-necessary arts of reading and writing.

In 1147, as his father lay dying, Frederick decided to accompany his uncle, Conrad III (who was King of Germany) on the Second Crusade. Frederick's father was angry at his brother for taking Frederick away when soon the Duke's widow would need support. The Duke died in the first week of April, and (now Duke) Frederick departed on Crusade at the end of May.

A few months later, Frederick was "tested" by his uncle. A Crusader was robbed and killed in a monastery outside Adrianople in Turkey, and Conrad ordered Frederick to avenge the death. Frederick destroyed the monastery and killed the perpetrators. His military training served him well on Crusade, and he was noted for being victorious "before all others," even though the Crusade itself failed.

In 1152, Conrad died, and the only two people at his deathbed—Frederick and the bishop of Bamberg—agreed that he wished Frederick to be named king, rather than Conrad's own son (who was only six years old at the time). A few days after being crowned King of the Germans, Frederick was crowned "King of the Romans," a title used to by kings of Germany from 1002CE onward to denote they considered themselves Holy Roman Emperor. 

He made it his goal to truly restore the wide-reaching boundaries enjoyed by Charlemagne, and the first step was to unite all the various princes of territories in German lands, and then to extend his authority to Italy. After making concessions in Germany to get everyone on his side, he began a total of six expeditions to Italy, beginning with Sicily, under Norman control by King William I of Sicily. From 1154 until the 1170s, he managed to conquer parts of Italy, but stirred up a great deal of anti-German sentiment and rebellion. An alliance with Constantinople helped the Italian city-states in northern Italy to defeat Frederick, a shock to Europe. It was his time in Italy that gave him the nickname Barbarossa, which means "red beard" in Italian. This nickname became so entwined with his career that it was carried back to Germany, where he was referred to some times as Kaiser Rotbart, "Emperor Red Beard."

In 1187, the aging emperor received letters from the European rulers in some Crusader states in the East to come to their aid. Frederick declined to join this Third Crusade, and urged Philip II of France to go, but later changed his mind and chose to "take up the cross."

This change of heart regarding the Third Crusade involved the Archbishop of Cologne and the Jews of Strasbourg, which I will explain next time.