The Third Crusade-An English Tragedy
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It was the year 1125. The English had conquered all of Britain and Ireland, the Antwerpen and Brussels and a major part of France. 2 English armies were on their ways to besiege the French towns of Toulouse and Paris and the French forces were on retreat to their last save stronghold in Marseille when news reached the English king that the Pope had called for a crusade against the Spanish which had been excommunicated and that the Pope asked the king to send his son Prince Jasper to join the crusade.
Preparations for the expedition began immediately.The prince left the capitol London to join the troops which would accompany him on this dangerous journey near the fortress of Caen. In the meantime English knights and the famous longbow archers were training in Caen and other strongholds on the continent for this glorious adventure.
Just as Prince Jasper had landed near Caen bad news reached him. His father, the king, had died. He was crowned King of England in Caen but this didn't keep him from fullfilling his oath and lead the crusade in person although some people told him that his fathers unsuspected death was a bad sign for the future expedition.
The army, which had been joined by various crusader knights and mercenaries by now, left Caen in the spring of 1126 and went aboard a small fleet which was supposed to take the crusaders to their destination...the Spanish capitol of Leon.
This was another bad decision which nearly cost the lifes of the king and his fellow soldiers. Close to the Spanish coast they were attacked by a large Spanish fleet and after some fighting had to retreat. Luckily the fleet managed to regroup and the king decided to travel the rest of the way by land. So the English army landed near Bordeaux and marched towards Spain.
Spies had already reported a Milanese crusade was on its way to the Leon a few months ahead of the English. The Spies further reported that Leon was heavily guarded by the Spanish king himself commanding a huge force within the city.News reached King Jasper that the council thought it would be a good idea to take the Spanish castle at Pamplona first to have a strong position for future operations and the nobles offered a great reward to the King for taking said castle.
It was in the beginning of 1127 when the English forces arrived near Pamplona and laid siege to the castle. As they took the garrison by surprise and the majority of the Spanish forces was concentrated near Leon the English managed to storm the castle with a few ladders, leave a small garrison and continue their way to Leon.
They managed to arrive near Leon before the Milanese got their because the Italians got lost somewhere on the way and couldn't find a place where they could cross the river for about a year. In the meantime a crusader army sent by the HRE had landed near Nottingham in England and started to devastate the English countryside until a german speaking farmer was able to convince them that this was not Spain. A bit disappointed the Germans went back on their ships and sailed away again.
In the meantime the English had laid siege to Leon but decided to wait with attacking the heavily guarded town until the Milanese army had arrived and the besieged would lose some of their strenght by famine and disease, when a 2nd Spanish army appeared and blocked the bridge leading to the city. In a fierce battle on said bridge the Milanese army was defeated losing most of their men. The Milanese retreated and tried to gather fresh troops to take revenge for what had happened while the Spanish army which had defeated them was nearly intact.
Now the English were left alone and the situation got even worse when a third Spanish army consisting of the elite of the Spanish footknights appeared near the city as well. The enemies forces were commanded by their king, two of his sons and a high ranking Spanish baron. The situation for the English was desperate. They wouldn't be able to take the town in a direct assault against the elite of Spanish troops guarding the walls and the huge armies waiting outside so they could destroy the English as soon as they were busy attacking Leon.
The only hope was that the Milanese or the Germans would arrive in time to help them.
But luck was not on the side of the English king. Reports reached him that the Milanese hadn't learned anything from their first mistakes and were marching along the river again not being able to find the bridge where they were defeated in their first atempt, but things got even worse... The German crusaders, lost in the fogs of the atlantic ocean had landed in Nottingham again and, after some discussions realized that it wouldn't be too bad to buy a map and try again.
After the bad signs at the beginning of the campaign and the defeat of the fleet which nearly cost the life of the king and his men everything seemed to turn out well after the surprise attack on Pamplona but now the army was trapped deep behind enemy lines when things got even worse.
King Jasper died totally unexpected at the age of 34 outside of Leon leaving his troops without a leader. Moral sank and it was clear that everyone would leave the army and try to make it back to England on their own after being left in Spain without their great commander.
It was the noble knight Sir Thomas who once more reminded the men of the oath they had taken. In a great speech he managed to convince the troops that not one of them would make it home on their own being surrounded by hostile Spanish troops on all sides and that it was their duty to fullfill the oath their king had taken and rather die fighting the Spanish heretics than to rott in a Spanish prison.
The troops cheered, lifted the siege and moved out to meet the enemy in the field.
....more about the last stand of the English crusaders and the outcome of the Third Crusade tomorrow.
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Originally Posted by Rapax
