The disparate forces of the Muslims could not resist the onslaught of the crusaders. Capturing fortresses, they passed through Syria and moved to Palestine, where in the summer of 1099 they took Jerusalem by storm. In the captured city, the crusaders committed a brutal massacre. The killing of civilians was interrupted for the time of prayer, and then began again. The streets of the "holy city" were littered with dead bodies and covered in blood, and the defenders of the "Holy Sepulcher" prowled, taking away everything that could be carried away.
Shortly after the capture of Jerusalem, the crusaders took possession of most of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. In the occupied territory at the beginning of the XII century. four states were created by the knights: the kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Tripoli, the principality of Antioch and the county of Edessa - the lords began to equip their lives in new places. Power in these states was based on the feudal hierarchy. It was headed by the king of Jerusalem, the other three rulers were considered his vassals, but in fact they were independent. The church had a huge influence in the states of the crusaders. She also owned large land holdings. Church hierarchs were among the most influential lords in the new states. On the lands of the crusaders in the XI century. spiritual and knightly orders, which later became famous, arose: the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutons (see Art. "Knightly Orders").
In the XII century. under pressure from Muslims who began to rally, the crusaders began to lose their possessions. In an effort to resist the onslaught of the infidels, the European knights in 1147 undertook the 2nd crusade, which ended in failure. The 3rd crusade that followed (1189-1192) ended just as ingloriously, although it was led by three warrior kings: the German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French king Philip II Augustus and the English king Richard I the Lionheart. The reason for the performance of European seniors was the capture in 1187 of Jerusalem by Sultan Salah ad-Din (see article “Richard I the Lionheart”). The campaign was accompanied by continuous troubles: at the very beginning, while crossing a mountain stream, Barbarossa drowned; the French and English knights were tirelessly at enmity with each other; and in the end, it was not possible to free Jerusalem. True, Richard the Lionheart made some concessions from the Sultan - the crusaders were left with a piece of the Mediterranean coast, and Christian pilgrims were allowed to visit Jerusalem for three years. Of course, it was difficult to call it a victory.
https://www.google.com.vn/url?sa=t&source=web&url=https://all-andorra.com/hotels-apartments-hostels/
Next to these unsuccessful enterprises of the European knights, the 4th Crusade (1202-1204) stands completely apart, which equalized the Byzantine Orthodox Christians with the infidels and led to the death of “noble and beautiful Constantinople”. It was initiated by Pope Innocent III. In 1198, he launched a grand campaign for another campaign in the name of the liberation of Jerusalem. Papal letters were sent to all European states, but, in addition, Innocent III did not ignore another Christian ruler - the Byzantine emperor Alexei III. He, too, according to the Pope, had to move troops into the Holy Land. In addition to reproaches to the emperor for indifference to the cause of the liberation of Christian shrines, the Roman high priest in his message raised an important and old question - about the union (unification of the divided in
1054 church). In fact, Innocent III dreamed not so much of restoring the unity of the Christian Church, but of subordinating the Byzantine Greek Church to the Roman Catholic. Emperor Alexei understood this perfectly well - as a result, neither an agreement nor even negotiations came out. Dad was angry. He diplomatically but unequivocally hinted to the emperor that in the event of the intractability of the Byzantines in the West, there would be forces ready to oppose them. Innokenty III did not frighten - indeed, European monarchs looked at Byzantium with greedy interest.
The 4th crusade began in 1202, and Egypt was originally planned as its final destination. The way there lay through the Mediterranean Sea, and the crusaders, despite all the thoroughness of the preparation of the "holy pilgrimage", did not have a fleet and therefore were forced to turn to the Venetian Republic for help. From that moment on, the route of the crusade changed dramatically. The Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, demanded a huge sum for his services, and the crusaders turned out to be insolvent. Dandolo was not embarrassed by this: he offered the "holy army" to compensate for the arrears by capturing the Dalmatian city of Zadar, whose merchants competed with the Venetian ones. In 1202, Zadar was taken, the crusader army embarked on ships, but ... did not go to Egypt at all, but ended up under the walls of Constantinople. The reason for this turn of events was the struggle for the throne in Byzantium itself. Doge Dandolo, who liked to settle scores with competitors (Byzantium competed with Venice in trade with eastern countries) with the hands of the crusaders, conspired with the leader of the "army of Christ" Boniface of Montferrat. Pope Innocent III supported the enterprise - and the route of the crusade was changed for the second time. Having laid siege to Constantinople in 1203, the Crusaders achieved the restoration of Emperor Isaac II to the throne, who promised to pay generously for support, but turned out to be not so rich as to keep his word. Enraged by this turn of affairs, the "liberators of the Holy Land" in April 1204 stormed Constantinople and subjected it to pogrom and plunder. The capital of the Great Empire and Orthodox Christianity was devastated and put on fire. After the fall of Constantinople, part of the Byzantine Empire was captured. On its ruins, a new state arose - the Latin Empire, created by the crusaders. It did not last long, until 1261, until it collapsed under the blows of the conquerors.
