FREDERICK I BARBAROSSA

Frederick was born in 1122, and succeeded his uncle Conrad as German King in 1152. He was crowned as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Adrian IV in 1155.

His major goal at home was to restore stability to Germany, which he did by declaring a general land peace in the year he was made king. The bulk of his reign, however, was taken up with expeditions to Italy in an attempt to enforce his rule over the growing power of the cities there. At the Battle of Legnano in 1176, he was defeated by the cities of the Lombard League, effectively ending his bid for power on the Italian peninsula.

He was more successful with domestic affairs on returing toGemany, where he defeated his enemy Henry the Lion (who had failed to support Frederick at Legnano) in 1180.

In 1189 he set out on the Crusade; he was the only European monarch who perished during the event.

PHILIP II AUGUSTUS

One of the greatest of the French Kings, Philip was largely responsible for the rounding out of modern geographical France (his modern name is a corruption of the Latin AUGERE, to increase.)

He was born in 1165, and reigned from 1180 to his death in 1223. His major achievement was the centralization of the French monarchy at the cost of the feudality, and the establishment of a larger France at the cost of the continental English fiefs.

He was not as impressive a figure to his Muslim antagonists as Richard, for Philip was a more austere man. Unscrupulous and cunning in achieving his objectives, he was a Machiavellian in the age of chivalry: his austerity was only a lack of pretension.

RICHARD I, THE LION HEARTED

AIthough rarely in England, Richard I built a legend around himself in the Levant that made him the symbol of English chivalry. Born in 1157, he ruled from 1189 to 1199 as king.

Richard was above all a fighting man: he was fighting his father before the Crusade, the Muslims during it, and was killed fighting the French. If his rule did not help England, it at least makes good reading.

His personal successes against the Muslims were due to several factors. Technically speaking, the metal-ring body armor he could afford to wear made him almost invincible in combat; physically speaking, he was of a very athletic stature; but finally, it was his reputation ( a reputation that grew with his every success) that preceded him in combat: after Arsouf, Saladin himself made efforts to abstain from engaging Richard and his army in open battle.

On his return from the Crusade, Richard (traveling with only a few companions) was made prisoner by a Duke whom he had dishonored at Acre; the Duke turned him over to the Holy Roman Emperor. in whose possession he stayed until he was ransomed at an exorbitant fee.

He died in 1199 of a wound suffered in an inconsequential skirmish in France.

SALADIN

Though not a king (Saladin did not use that title, which is Al-Malik) in the Christian sense of the word, the commander of the Muslim army of the Third Crusade was perhaps the most outstanding figure of the era.

Born about 1137, Saladin first came into prominence in Egypt. His activities from then to the Crusade are discussed elsewhere; a year after the Crusade, in 1193, he died in the city of Damascus.

Perhaps no man was as well known in medieval history during his own life time as he, for his name was given to the tax that was levied on Europe to support the Third Crusade. To the Muslim world, he was not only known for his military exploits, but also for his reform of Islamic administration and his great love of learning.

As Richard was to English chivalry, so Saladin was to its Muslim counterpart; as Richard left a legend, so too did Salah-al-Din, the "rectitude of the faith."

A Military History of the Third Crusade

Introduction
Jihad
Battle of Arsouf 1191
Conclusion and Bibliography
The Crusader Army
The Muslim Army
Ordnance of Siege Warfare
Crusader Kings