§ 53. THE THIRD CRUSADE. 257
For Saladin : BAHA-ED-DIX, a member of Saladin's court, 1145-1234, the best Arabic Life, in the Recueil, Histt. Orientaux, etc., III., 1884, and in Palestine, Pilgrim's Text Soc., ed. by Sir C. W. Wilson, London, 1897. — MARIN : Hist.de iSaladin, sulthan d'Egypte et de Syne, Paris, 1758. — LANE-POOLE : Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem, New York, 1898, a full list and an estimate of Arab authorities are given, pp. iii-xvi. See also the general Histories of the Crusades and RANKE : Weltgesch., VIII.
The Third Crusade was undertaken to regain Jerusalem, which had been lost to Saladin, 1187. It enjoys the distinc tion of having had for its leaders the three most powerful princes of Western Europe, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Philip Augustus, king of France, and the English king Richard I., surnamed Cceur de Lion, or the Lion-hearted.1 It brought together the chivalry of the East and the West at the time of its highest development and called forth the heroism of two of the bravest soldiers of any age, Saladin and Richard. It has been more widely celebrated in romance than any of the other Crusades, from the songs of the mediae val minstrels to Lessing in his Nathan the Wise and Walter Scott in Talisman. But in spite of the splendid armaments, the expedition was almost a complete failure.
On the news of Saladin's victories, Urban III. is alleged to have died of grief.2 An official summons was hardly nec essary to stir the crusading ardor of Europe from one end to the other. Danes, Swedes, and Frisians joined with Welsh men, Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Germans in readiness for a new expedition. A hundred years had elapsed since the First Crusade, and its leaders were already invested with
1 The story of Richard's seizing a lion and tearing out its throbbing heart was a subject of English romance in the fourteenth century and probably of French romance in the thirteenth century.
2 It required at least fifteen days for a ship to go from Acre to Marseilles, and about the same time for news to reach Rome from Jerusalem. The indulgences offered to Crusaders by Alexander III., on the news of Saladin's conquests in Egypt and his defeat of the Christians at Banias, 1181, are quoted by Gottlob, 119 sq. Alexander appealed to the examples of Urban II. and Eugenius III.
258 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1040-1294.
a lialo of romance and glory. The aged Gregory VIII., whose reign lasted less than two months, 1187, spent his expiring breath in an appeal to the princes to desist from their feuds. Under the influence of William, archbishop of Tyre, and the archbishop of Rouen, Philip Augustus of France and Henry II. of England laid aside their quarrels and took the cross. At Henry's death his son Richard, then thirtytwo years of age, set about with impassioned zeal to make preparations for the Crusade. The treasure which Henry had left, Richard augmented by sums secured from the sale of castles and bishoprics.1 For ten thousand marks he released William of Scotland from homage, and he would have sold London itself, so he said, if a purchaser rich enough had offered himself.2 Baldwin, archbishop of Can terbury, supported his sovereign, preaching the Crusade in England and Wales, and accompanied the expedition.3 The famous Saladin tax was levied in England, and perhaps also in France, requiring the payment of a tithe by all not join ing the Crusade.
Richard and Philip met at Vezelai. Among the great lords who joined them were Hugh, duke of Burgundy, Henry II., count of Champagne, and Philip of Flanders. As a badge for himself and his men, the French king chose a red cross, Richard a white cross, and the duke of Flanders a green cross.
In the meantime Frederick Barbarossa, who was on the verge of seventy, had reached the Bosphorus. Mindful of his experiences with Konrad III., whom he accompanied on the Second Crusade, he avoided the mixed character of Konrad's army by admitting to the ranks only those who were physically strong and had at least three marks. The army
1 He sold the archbishopric of York for 3,000 pounds. Henry is reported to have left 900,000 pounds in gold and silver. Rog. of Wendover, an. 1180.
2 Richard of Devizes, X.
3 Giraldus Cambrensis accompanied the archbishop and gathered the materials for his Itinerary on the way.