The Third Crusade 1191

An extract from 'The Campaign: Events Gather Pace'

In Western Europe the shock caused by the loss of Jerusalem was rapidly followed by the preaching of a Crusade for its recovery. One of the most enthusiastic supporters of this effort was King Henry II of England, ruler of the huge Angevin feudal empire. He was soon followed by his son and soon to be successor, Richard of Poitou, while King Philip Augustus was more considered in his response. Yet he too joined Henry II in taking the cross in January 1188 and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa did the same in March. King William II of Sicily was amongst the first to do something concrete and in spring 1188 the Sicilian fleet sailed to support Tyre, Tripoli and Antioch. In May fleets from Denmark, northern Germany, Flanders and southern England also set sail for the Middle East; helping the Portuguese capture the city of Silves from the Moors on the way. This was one of the few permanent achievements of the Third Crusade and would have an as yet unexpected impact on European history. Silves was the main centre of Arab-Islamic geographical and nautical lore concerning the Atlantic, and this astonishingly advanced knowledge gave the Portuguese a head start in the great European Age of Discovery in the 15th century.