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Second Crusade (1147 - 1149 AD)

The Second Crusade was a recruiting coup but little else: Kings now commanded the Latin armies. The objective, however, was gauzy. The Greeks, who had invited the First Crusade to secure the eastern borders of Byzantium, were wary of a second wave of large European armies. Manuel I hurried, first Konrad and then Louis, across the Bosporus into Anatolia. The German contingent soon turned for home, victims of the inhospitable climate and bellicose inhabitants. The French fared little better. Leaving Konrad in Ephesus, Louis was harassed all the way to Adalia where his reduced force sailed for Antioch. Once in the Holy Land, Louis quarreled with the Prince of Antioch, who rightly considered Aleppo as the pressing strategic objective. Louis joined Konrad in Acre and they set their sights on Damascus. The city was subjected to a short-lived siege but quarreling (Thierry, Count of Flanders, was pushed as a candidate to rule of the city) and thirst (the army had shifted its position away from the Barada river) caused interest to wane. When Nur al-Din threatened to take the field, the crusaders decamped for home.

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