The Third Crusade

• After the First Crusade, four crusader states were established by the Christians
• The four states were surrounded by enemies, vulnerable to attack and constant bickering between the Christian leaders
• In July 1187, Saladin defeated the main Christian army in the Battle of Hattin in Israel; and attacked Jerusalem, which fell under his control in October 1187
• Pope Gregory VIII sent a papal bull (official letter made by the Pope) that described the horrors of Christian treatment by Muslims, calling upon Christians to launch a new crusade with indulgence for anyone who died
• The English crusading army left for the Holy Land in 1190, accompanied by two other armies, led by Frederick Barabarossa and Philip II
• Richard gathered a force of approximately 17000 men in Sicily 1191 from the English and Angevin Empire