Part four Reviewing History 1
Reviewing History Part Four Third Crusade: King Guy, Conrad of Montferrat & the Re- gency
Order of the Knights Templar The crusader state established in the southern Levant in 1099 after the first Crusade, lasted near- ly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was de- stroyed by the Mamluks. As Jerusalem was sur- rounded by hostile enemies at the time, in 1170 Saladin the Arab leader invaded Jerusalem. Sal- adin, who was set up as Vizier of Egypt, was de- clared Sultan in 1171 upon the death of the last Fatimid caliph. Saladin's rise to Sultan was an un- expected reprieve for Jerusalem, as Nur ad-Din was now preoccupied with reining in his powerful 1 Part four Reviewing History 2
vassal. Nevertheless, in 1171 King Amalric (also Amaury 1136 – 11 July 1174) visited Constan- tinople along with issuing envoys to the Kings of Europe for a second time. No help was received until the Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, which was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb).
Beginning the siege of Acre in anticipation of the arrival of a vanguard of the Third Crusade In 1191 (with a primary goal of reclaiming Jerusalem), Guy of Lusignan (c. 1150 – 18 July 1194) a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the Lusignan dynasty, departed Acre with a small fleet and landed at Limassol to seek support from Richard I of England, whose vassal he had been in Poitou. He swore fealty to King Richard, and had attend- ed his wedding to Berengaria of Navarre. He par- ticipated in the campaign against Isaac Com- nenus of Cyprus thus. In return for this aid, when Richard and his army arrived at Acre, Richard supported Guy entirely while Conrad naturally had the support of his kinsmen Philip II of France Siege of Acre and Leopold V of Austria. When Saladin invaded the kingdom and cap- tured almost everything except the stronghold of Tyre, held by Conrad of Montferrat, Baldwin V's uncle; Guy, after his release from captivity, set had about besieging Acre; however, Sibylla, his wife and their two daughters died of disease in the camp in summer 1190. Despite this Guy contin- ued to call himself King and demanded to be recognised thus, although Isabella, Amalrics daughter, was de jure Queen. Her supporters, no- tably her mother Maria and Balian of Ibelin, re- alised that Isabella needed a suitable king – who at the time was not her current husband. This sit-