The Second Crusade - Saint Bernard
Bernard himself preached the so-called "Second Crusade." An extraordinary
pervasive man, he induced thousands of fighting men to put on the cross. Inspired by the
reforming monk over the loss of Edessa, he aroused enormous enthusiasm, and for the first
time western Monarchs, namely King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany,
came to the east.
As the German and French armies passed through Constantinople, relations with the
Byzantines were worse than ever. The Crusade proved to be a shattering failure. The main
force of this expedition was cut to pieces as it moved across Asia Minor. The western
armies were almost wiped out in Asia Minor. At first St. Bernard had boasted his success
in recruiting, "Because of my preaching, towns and castles are empty of
inhabitants". Afterward he laments "We have fallen on evil days in which the
Lord, provoked by our sins, has judged the world, with justice, indeed, but not with his
wonted mercy." Bernard, convinced that his cause was just, concluded that the failure
must have been due to the sinfulness of the crusaders. Bernard had to encounter the storm
of public indignation; he was stigmatized as a lying prophet, who, by pretended
inspiration and false miracles, had lured myriads to a miserable doom.. pointing out the
true causes of the failure, the follies and vices of the crusaders themselves, he asserted
that a new expedition, under-taken in a spirit of piety, would be crowned with success and
urged the states of Christendom to combine in one great effort for securing the kingdom of
Jerusalem.
The siege of Damascus failed, and the princes returned home having effected nothing.
Bernard was charged by his former pupil, Pope Eugenius III, to stir up enthusiasm for a
new Crusade. Again Constantinople was chose as the meeting point, but there was even less
mutual cooperation this time than there had been before between the newcomers and the
Byzantines. The Crusaders accused the latter of having deliberately misguided and betrayed
them into the hands of the Turks. Germans thoroughly defeated in Asia Minor and obliged to
retreat to the coast. The French who arrived somewhat later, were also hard pressed,
prompting St. Bernard to describe the campaign as "an abyss so deep that I must call
him blessed who is not scandalized thereby."
1147-1149. Beginning in the late 1120's,
Sangi, governor of Mosul on the Tigris, succeeded in unifying the local Moslem rulers of
the region. Christians suffered great losses and in 1144, he took Edessa, the first of the
Crusader cities to fall. Sangi was assassinated 2 years later but the re-conquest had
already begun. The dangerous concentration of power in the hands of Nureddin (sultan of
Aleppo and Damascus) & the capture of Edessa caused the preaching of the second
Crusade to relieve the pressure of Frankish states before they were swept away
completely...
[03, 07, 08, 14, 26, 41]
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