Good intentions couldn't stop Innocent III's crusade from going horribly wrong.
Steven Gertz | posted 4/01/2004 12:00AM
The band of knights who gathered at Count Thibaut of Champaigne's castle in November 1199 intended simply to enjoy their host's hospitality and impress their ladies in jousting tournaments. But when the electric preacher Fulk of Neuilly gained entrance to the castle and publicly lamented the success of Saladin's Muslim forces in the Holy Land, frivolity left the hall. Wearing crosses of cloth across their shoulders, Count Thibaut and a company of knights marched to Pope Innocent III and pledged their lives to war.
Innocent was delighted with Thibaut's offer. For over a year, he'd worked among the monastic orders to inflame crusader wrath over the losses Saladin had inflicted—to little effect. Finally, a new leader had emerged to challenge the Muslims. Rome could now answer the frantic calls for help coming from besieged crusaders in the coastal city of Tyre.
Innocent and Thibaut decided to strike first at Egypt, the vulnerable underbelly of Saladin's forces. In 1201, Thibaut sent envoys ...
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