Third Crusade (1189-92)

In 1187 the Muslim leader Saladin captured Jerusalem and Acre from the Franks. A great crusade was launched two years later in 1189. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), King Richard I (Lionheart) of England, and King Philip II (Augustus) of France were its leader. Frederick was drowned on his way to the Holy Land and most German knights returned. In 1191 the Philip II returned to France leaving Richard I alone at his base in Jaffa from where he tried to reconquer Jerusalem. In 1192, he made a truce with Saladin in which the Christians kept Antioch, Tripoli, Cyprus, Jaffa, and what was left of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. When Richard left the Holy Land in 1192, the crusade ended and Jerusalem remained with very short interruptions in Muslim hands until the 20th century.