Saladin ultimately brought both the Egyptian and Syrian forces under his own control, and employed them to reduce the Crusader states and to recapture Jerusalem in 1187.

On 2 September 1192 Richard and Saladin finalized the Treaty of Jaffa, which recognised Muslim control over Jerusalem but allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims and merchants to visit the city.

The military successes of the Third Crusade allowed the Christians to maintain considerable states in Cyprus and on the Syrian coast, restoring the Kingdom of Jerusalem on a narrow strip from Tyre to Jaffa.

This final act of outrage by Raynald gave Saladin the opportunity he needed to take the offensive against the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and in 1187 he laid siege to the city of Tiberias.

[18] The new pope, Gregory VIII, in the bull Audita tremendi dated 29 October 1187, interpreted the capture of Jerusalem as punishment for the sins of Christians across Europe.

According to Rabbi Moses ha-Cohen of Mainz,[d] there were minor incidents from the moment people began arriving for the Court of Christ on 9 March.

[28] Shortly after the Strasbourg assembly, Frederick dispatched legates to negotiate the passage of his army through their lands: Archbishop Conrad of Mainz to Hungary, Godfrey of Wiesenbach to the Seljuk sultanate of Rûm and an unnamed ambassador to the Byzantine Empire.

The sultan was ordered to withdraw from the lands he had conquered, to return the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and to make satisfaction for those Christians who had been killed in his conquests, otherwise Frederick would abrogate their treaty.

An agreement was reached with the Byzantine envoy, John Kamateros, but it required Godfrey of Würzburg, Frederick of Swabia and Leopold of Austria to swear oaths for the crusaders' good behaviour.

[32] At the Strasbourg assembly in December 1187, Bishop Godfrey of Würzburg urged Frederick to sail his army to the Holy Land rather than proceed overland.

[3][39][40][41] After leaving Germany, Frederick's army was increased by the addition of a contingent of 2,000 men led by the Hungarian prince Géza, the younger brother of the King Béla III of Hungary, and Bishop Ugrin Csák.

The vanguard of Swabians and Bavarians was put under the command of the Duke of Swabia assisted by Herman IV of Baden and Berthold III of Vohburg.

On 25 August, Lectoforus' report was confirmed: Hermann of Münster, Rupert of Nassau, Henry of Dietz and Markward von Neuenburg had been stripped of their possessions and openly mocked in presence of the Ayyubid ambassador.

He nonetheless offered to fulfill the agreement of December 1188 to ferry the crusaders across the Dardanelles if he received hostages (including Duke Frederick and six bishops) in addition to the envoys he had arrested.

At this point, the local Armenian and Bulgarian population swore oaths to Frederick to supply the market in Philippopolis as long as the crusaders stayed.

There, the Emperor's body was boiled to remove the flesh, which was interred in the Church of Saint Peter; his bones were put in a bag to continue the crusade.

[57] Young Frederick had to ask the assistance of his kinsman Conrad of Montferrat to lead him safely to Acre, by way of Tyre, where his father's bones were buried.

[70] According to the Narratio de primordiis ordinis theutonici, wood and sail from its cogs was used to construct a field hospital, which ultimately became the Teutonic Order.

[71] According to the Bayān of Ibn Idhari, a northern fleet fought a naval battle with the Almohad navy near the Strait of Gibraltar in the spring of 1190 and was defeated, with its men being either killed or captured.

Richard made camp at Limassol, where he received a visit from Guy of Lusignan, the King of Jerusalem, and married Berengaria, who was crowned queen.

[80] The anonymous chronicler of Béthune, however, offers the intriguing suggestion that Richard attacked Cyprus because Isaac was diverting the food supply from the Latin army at Acre.

Guy attempted to take command of the Christian forces at Tyre, but Conrad of Montferrat held power there after his successful defence of the city from Muslim attacks.

[83] Richard arrived at Acre on 8 June 1191 and immediately began supervising the construction of siege weapons to assault the city, which was captured on 12 July.

Appallingly bad weather, cold with heavy rain and hailstorms, combined with fear that if the Crusader army besieged Jerusalem, it might be trapped by a relieving force, led to the decision to retreat back to the coast.

In particular, Richard and the majority of the army council wanted to force Saladin to relinquish Jerusalem by attacking the basis of his power through an invasion of Egypt.

[95] On 2 September 1192, following his defeat at Jaffa, Saladin was forced to finalize a treaty with Richard providing that Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control, while allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and traders to visit the city.

Inland, parts of Galilee were regained by the Crusaders and further south, control of Ramla and Lydda were to be divided between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid Sultanate.

Though Richard's victories had deprived the Muslims of important coastal territories and re-established a viable Frankish state in Palestine, many Christians in the Latin West felt disappointed that he had elected not to pursue the recapture of Jerusalem.

He was later transferred to the custody of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and it took a ransom of one hundred and fifty thousand marks to obtain his release.

the Itinerarium Regis Ricardi), the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (parts of which are attributed to Ernoul), and by Ambroise, Roger of Howden, Ralph of Diceto, and Giraldus Cambrensis.