Volta
Conflict1189 – 2 September 1192

Third Crusade

Also called: Kings’ Crusade

After Jerusalem fell, Emperor Frederick I, Philip II of France and Richard I of England went east; they retook Acre but not Jerusalem.

Richard I and Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf — Gustave Doré’s crusade engravings, 19th century
Richard I and Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf — Gustave Doré’s crusade engravings, 19th century

Gustave Doré · Public domain · Source

It is called the Kings’ Crusade. Frederick I came overland and drowned in a river in Anatolia in 1190, after which most of his army dispersed. Philip II and Richard I came by sea and took Acre in 1191, but Philip soon went home.

Richard beat Saladin at Arsuf and twice came near Jerusalem, but judged that he could not hold it and withdrew. The Treaty of Jaffa in 1192 left the coast to the crusaders and Jerusalem to Saladin, with access for Christian pilgrims.

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The map in 1189

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States at the time
England · invader
France · invader
Holy Roman Empire · invader
Ayyubid dynasty · belligerent
Places
Acre, Jerusalem

People

  • Richard I of England1157 – 1199

    commander · King of England (r. 1189–1199), “the Lionheart”, who retook Acre in the Third Crusade and made the Treaty of Jaffa with Saladin

  • Philip II of France1165 – 1223

    commander · King of France (r. 1180–1223), “Augustus”, who went on the Third Crusade, left after Acre fell and seized England’s French lands

  • Frederick I Barbarossa1122 – 1190

    commander · Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1155–1190) who led the Third Crusade overland and drowned in the Saleph River in Anatolia

  • Saladin1137 – 1193

    commander · Sultan and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty who united Egypt and Syria, won at Hattin in 1187 and retook Jerusalem

1 part of this event

  1. 1189 – 1191Siege of Acre

    After a siege of nearly two years Acre surrendered once Richard I and Philip II arrived; it then became the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Before and after

Earlier
1187 Saladin Recaptures Jerusalem
Later
1202 Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople

Themes that include this event

  • The Crusades1095 – 1291

    From the Council of Clermont to the fall of Acre — two centuries of war between Latin Europe and the Islamic world over the Holy Land