The second crusade

The second Crusade much like the first, was a responce the a Muslim invasion of the city Edessa. The Muslims presented a greater threat now than before simply because the early Muslims of the first Crusade were not united but isolated weaker Muslim groups. The leader of the attack on Edessa and reunification of the Muslims was Imad ad-Din Zangi (1084-1146), ruler of Mosul and Aleppo. The papacy proclaimed the Second Crusade in 1145. King of France, Louis VII, and Holy Roman Emperor, Conrad III were among the people who chose to march against the Muslims. Conrads German army left in May 1147, the French followed about a month later. In Anatolia the Germans fell into an ambush, many didn't survive. The French suffered the same fate ,however, at least half of the army made it. After consulting with King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, the Crusaders attacked Damascus in July. They couldn't take the city and shorlty after the French king took what was left of his men and returned home.

The success of the Christians in the First Crusade had been largely due to the disunion among their enemies. But the Muslims learned in time the value of united action, and in 1144 A.D. they succeeded in capturing Edessa, one of the principal Christian outposts in the East. The fall of the city of Edessa, followed by the loss of the entire county of Edessa, aroused western Europe to the danger which threatened the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and led to another crusading enterprise. In the interval between the Second and the Third Crusade the two famed religious military orders, known as the Hospitallers and the Templars were formed. A little later during the Third Crusade still another fraternity, known as the Teutonic Knights was established. The objects of all the orders were the care of the sick and wounded crusaders, the entertainment of Christian pilgrims, the guarding of the holy places, and ceaseless battling for the Cross. These fraternities soon acquired a military fame that was spread throughout the Christian world. They were joined by many of the most illustrious knights of the West and through the gifts of the pious acquired great wealth and became possessed of numerous estates and castles in Europe as well as in Asia. The second crusade helped to crystalize Muslim feeling and was of special importance in the long range relations between East and West in the Middle Ages. 

In 1147–49, the Second Crusade, championed by the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, attempted to take Damascus in Syria. The campaign was a dismal failure because the Muslims had regrouped. Led by Salah al-Din (Saladin), Muslim forces advanced across Syria and finally retook Jerusalem in October 1187. By the end of the Third Crusade (1189–92), however, Crusader forces had gained Cyprus and the city of Acre. With each crusade, relations between the Byzantines and the Western forces became more estranged. 

The Second Crusade, though begun under the most favorable auspices, had an unhappy ending. Of the great host that set out from Europe, only a few thousands escaped annihilation in Asia Minor at the hands of the Turks. Louis and Conrad, with the remnants of their armies, made a joint attack on Damascus, but had to raise the siege after a few days. This closed the crusade. As a chronicler of the expedition remarked "having practically accomplished nothing, the inglorious ones returned home." The strength of both the French and the German division of the expedition was wasted in Asia Minor, and the crusade accomplished nothing.

Even more important, perhaps, was the deterioration of relationships between Byzantium and the Crusaders and between the princes of the West and the rulers of the Latin states in the East. Most important of all, in the final analysis, was the effect of the Second Crusade upon the Muslims. The failure of the Crusade to achieve any victories whatever in the East emboldened Muslim military leaders, destroyed the myth of Western prowess in arms, and was to be responsible, at least in part, for causing the Muslim states of the East to draw closer together, to unite for further attacks upon the Latin states .

Charlemange

Charlemagne is the king of the Franks. He journeyed to Rome to help Pope Leo III, head of the Catholic church. On Christmas Day, Charlemagne, his family and a host of visitors crowed into Saint Peter's Basilica to attend mass. Pope Leo placed a crown on Charlemagne's head. "In keeping with ancient tradition, the people in the church shouted, "Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God the great and peace-loving Emperor of the Romans. Charles had become the first Roman emperor since 476. This Roman emperor was actually a German king, and he had been crowned by the head of the Western Christian Church. The coronation if Charlemagne was a sign not of the rebirth of the Roman Empire but of the emergence of a new European civilization that came into being in western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. This new civilization, was formed by the coming together of three major elements. The Germanic peoples moved in and settled the Western Roman Empire, the legacy of the Romans, and the Christian Church. By 800, this new European civilization was taking shape. Increasingly, Europe would become the center of what we call Western civilization. European civilization emerged and developed during a period that historians call the Middle Ages or the medieval period. It lasted who first used the title, the Middle Ages was a middle period between the ancient world and the modern world. 

Charlemagne was a determined and decisive man who was highly intelligent and curious. He was a fierce warrior, a strong statesman, and a pious Christian. Although he was unable to read or write, he was nevertheless a wise patron of learning. During his lengthy rule from 768 to 814, Charlemagne greatly expanded the territory of the Frankish kingdom and created what came to be known as the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne was a hardy warrior who undertook fifty-four military campaigns, which took him to many areas of Europe. His most successful campaigns were in Germany, especially the campaigns against the Saxons between the Elbe River and the North Sea. Charlemagne's empire covered much of western and central Europe. Charlemagne continued the efforts of his father, Pepin, in organizing the Carolingian Kingdom. 

As Charlemagne's power grew, so too did his prestige as the most powerful Christian ruler. In 8oo, Charlemagne acquired a new title, emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne welcomed the new title. After all he was now an emperor on the same level as the Byzantine emperor. Charlemagne's coronation as Roman Emperor demonstrated the strength of the idea of an enduring Roman Empire. His coronation took place 300 years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It also symbolized the coming together of those Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements that made up the basis of European civilization. 

Charlemagne had a strong desire to revive learning in his kingdom, and attitude that stemmed from his own intellectual curiosity as well as from the need to provide educated clergy for the church and literate officials for the government. His efforts led to a revival of learning and culture that some historians have labeled a Carolingian Renaissance, or rebirth of learning. 

Charlemagne died in 814. After his death in the 9th and 10th centuries, western Europe was beset by a wave of invasions. The Muslims raided the southern coasts of Europe and sent raiding parties into southern France. The Magyars, a people from western Asia, moved into central Europe at the end of the ninth century and settled on the plains of Hungary. 

When royal governments could no longer defend their subjects, people turned to the local landed aristocrats or nobles to protect them. It became important to find some powerful lord who could offer protection in return for service. This led to a new political and military system known as feudalism.