Crusades · 1147
Why did the Second Crusade achieve nothing?
The seminar question: “Why did the Second Crusade fail where the First Crusade had taken Jerusalem?”
In 1144 Zengi of Mosul and Aleppo captured Edessa, the most exposed crusader state, and his son Nur al-Din invoked jihad to unite Syria. The Second Crusade, preached by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1146 and led by Conrad III and Louis VII, was worn down in Anatolia and abandoned its siege of Damascus after four days in 1148.
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The county of Edessa occupied an exposed place among the four crusader states. It lay deep inland, far from the coast where Italian fleets could bring relief, and its security depended heavily on divisions among its Muslim neighbors. When Zengi captured the city on Christmas Eve 1144, the Franks lost a northern stronghold and the emerging Muslim counter-crusade gained a victory to proclaim. The capture of the city and the loss of the county were distinct events, but together they exposed the vulnerability of the northern frontier.
The short answer
- Edessa’s fatal exposure. Edessa stood deepest inland of the four states, far from the coast and relief by the Italian fleets. Divisions among its neighbors had helped protect it. Zengi’s capture in 1144 exposed the weakness of that position and cost the Franks their northernmost county.
- The counter-crusade, constructed. Nur al-Din tied his pursuit of authority in Syria to the defense of Islam. His support for scholars and promotion of Jerusalem and holy war gave people reasons to join a campaign against the Franks and accept his rule. Urban’s crusade had likewise shown the power of sacred purpose, in different circumstances.
- Distrust, Latin and Greek. Conrad and Louis led separate armies without a shared command. Relations with the Byzantines were marked by mutual suspicion, and coordination was poor as the armies crossed Byzantine lands. Seljuk attacks and shortages compounded their difficulties. The First Crusade had benefited from its enemies’ divisions; the second suffered from divisions of its own.
THE TURNING POINT
Edessa, 24 December 1144. Edessa’s capture on 24 December 1144 removed a northern Latin state and supplied a victory around which Muslim rulers could rally. It prompted a new crusade in Europe. Nur al-Din’s consolidation and Saladin’s later rise had other causes, but the fall marked a turn from Frankish advance toward a formidable Muslim counteroffensive.
What it changed
Damascus lost to the enemy. Independent Damascus had helped balance Nur al-Din. After the failed siege it sought his protection, and in 1154 he took the city. His increased power in Syria left Outremer less secure.
Crusading discredited. The failure of an expedition led by kings brought humiliation and recrimination in Europe, and damaged Bernard’s reputation. Some blamed the crusaders’ sins for the defeat; that explanation would return after later failures.
The road to Saladin. Nur al-Din’s Syrian power later sent an expedition to Egypt. A young Kurdish officer, Yusuf, known as Saladin, went with it. The consolidation that followed Edessa, and that the Second Crusade failed to reverse, helped make his rise possible.
The full answer, argued
The First Crusade had benefited from surprise, Byzantine help and divisions among its enemies. The Second faced stronger Muslim opposition and mistrust between crusaders and Byzantines, sharpened by memories of Antioch. Conrad and Louis also failed to coordinate their armies, which suffered heavily in Anatolia. In the Levant the survivors attacked Damascus, whose independence had helped contain Nur al-Din. The reasons for that decision remain disputed, but the failed siege damaged a useful relationship. Some crusaders blamed their sins; the campaign also reveals the costs of divided command and poor knowledge of local alliances.
An interesting fact
Zengi’s victory at Edessa did not give him long to build on it. In September 1146, while he besieged Qalat Jabar, a Euphrates fortress held by fellow Muslims, his servant Yarankash stabbed him in his sleep. Ibn al-Athir says Zengi had caught the servant drinking his wine and threatened to punish him in the morning. The Mosul chronicler’s assessment of Zengi was mixed: he was a tyrant feared by his people, yet his rule brought order and kept the strong from devouring the weak.
This is the study layer of Second Crusade, chapter 5 of The Crusades, 1095–1291; the full index of the atlas is here.
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