ABSTRACT
The years between 1146 and 1148 were signalized in the annals and chronicles of medieval Europe by Christian campaigns on all fronts against the surrounding pagans and Muslims.2 The most important of these was directed towards the Holy Land, against the Muslims, who had recently seized Edessa. It consisted of no less than five expeditions. The two largest armies, commanded by the emperor3 Conrad III and king Louis VII of France, followed the same route overland across the Balkans to Constantinople; both met with crushing defeats in Asia Minor and finally reached the Holy Land, as best they could, by land and sea. A third force, under Amadeus III of Savoy, moved down Italy, crossed from Brindisi to Durazzo, and joined the army of Louis at Constantinople late in 1147. In August of the same year a naval expedition led by Alfonso of Toulouse left the south of France and arrived in Palestine probably in the spring of 1148. At the same time, a joint Anglo-Flemish naval force sailed along the north coast of Europe, assisted the king of Portugal in the capture of Lisbon, proceeded around the peninsula early in 1148, attacked Faro, and presumably reached the Holy Land later that year.
