Bernard of Clairvaux
But first, The Second Crusade. Which was an ignoble failure, by the way. Not only did it fail to make any significant gains in territory for the Frankish kingdoms, but it was also tarred by sordid rumours about the shenanigans of the nobles who led the army.

The Second Crusade began in 1145, when Pope Eugenius III issued a papal bull authorising a new crusade. This was in response to the loss of Edessa, the Frankish kingdom established in the First Crusade, to Turkish troops in December 1144. However, his call was widely ignored by the French and German nobles, until an influential Cistercian monk known as Bernard of Clairvaux began to preach to the people, encouraging them to participate in The Second Crusade. 50,000 answered the call to “take on the cross” (and also the remission of sins), most prominently Louis VII of France, his wife Eleanor of Aquitane, and Conrad III of Germany. The Second Crusade was born.

And yet, it seemed the Crusaders hadn’t learnt much from the First Crusade, even though they were well aware of why it failed. The Second Crusade was fragmented like the first one. Not only did The French and German Crusader kings hate each other; they were also under-supplied and continually ambushed all the way to Antioch (a city captured in the First Crusade). Upon their arrival in Antoich, they were sucked into the factionalism and ambitions of the various Christian lords already there, and ended up attempting an ill-fated siege of Damascus. Trouble was, Damascus was a politically neutral Muslim city which had forged a peace treaty with Jerusalem. Being a powerful city with some powerful friends, they were able to send for help from neighbouring Muslim states. Due to poor tactics, the Crusader army had to retreat within a week. They returned to Europe with their numbers depleted and humiliated. To top it all off, Eleanor of Aquitane (wife of Louis VII), was rumoured to have had a torrid affair with Raymond of Toulous, the ruler of Antioch (also her uncle).

The Second Crusade tarnished the reputation of Bernard of Clairvaux, it’s instigator, for the final few years of his life. However, he was more successful in another venture of his: the establishment of the Knights Templar in 1118 AD.

 

Knights Templar
The First Crusade created an image that was new to Europe – that of the fighting monk. Can Men of God kill others in his name? Apparently so, as the Knights Templar were as aggressive as they were enterprising. A Cistercian military order who answered only to the Pope, they were originally created to make the routes to the Holy Lands safe for Christian Pilgrims. However, they soon expanded into trading with the Islamic Empire, and their numbers swelled along with their wealth. This was eventually to lead to their downfall.

The Knights Templar has often been accredited with the invention of the Banking System, namely the concept of the note of credit. This is not true. Paper money had existed in China since the 9th Century AD, and banks were already in existence across China, India and the Islamic Empire in 10th Century AD. By the time of the First Crusade, a letter of credit can be drawn up in Islamic Spain, then later cashed in India along the Silk Road. What the Knights Templar did was merely extend this system into Europe, along with all the luxuries from the Silk Road, unseen before by the European nobles.

Unfortunately, there was never enough gold in Europe to pay for all the luxury items the Knights Templar traded, and soon many nobles had run up enormous debts. The Knights Templar also became tremendously wealthy and influential, and as resentment grew among the European kings, they schemed to destroy the organisation. They succeeded in 1307, when the French Crown accused the Knights Templar of heresy. The result was the persecution of the order and its annihilation in 1314.

However, similar organisations such as the Hospitalers and Teutonic Knights soon filled the void left by the Knights Templar. And this time the monarchs of Europe ensured that they were under the control of the kings rather than the Pope or the order’s leader.

 

To Be Continued…