ABSTRACT
The failure of the Second Crusade had induced a deep mood of pessimism about crusading and its prospects. It did not last long, but it produced bitter criticism of St Bernard. Gerhoh of Reichersberg went as far as to suggest that Antichrist was at liberty in the world, seducing men whose greed vitiated the gallantry of the crusaders. The failure of the Third Crusade was not absolute and its achievements gave promise of recovery in the future. The emotional force of the defeat at Hattin served as a real impulse for the crescendo of crusades which followed: the Third Crusade, 1187-92, the Fourth Crusade in 1202-04, the Fifth Crusade 1217-21, the Crusades of Theobald of Champagne and Richard of Cornwall in 1239-41 and the Crusades of St Louis, 1249-50 and 1270. There were also minor expeditions and such popular manifestations of the desire to liberate Jerusalem as the ‘Children’s Crusade’ of 1212. There were far more crusades in the thirteenth century than ever before and they went, far more often, to different places. The special regard for Jerusalem continued and crusades there were very frequent despite all the disasters and failures.
