Editing Second Crusade (section)

== Background ==

=== Fall of Edessa ===
{{Main|Siege of Edessa (1144)}} After the [[First Crusade]] and the minor [[Crusade of 1101]], there were three [[crusader states]] established in the east: the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], the [[Principality of Antioch]] and the [[County of Edessa]]. A fourth, the [[County of Tripoli]], was established in 1109. Edessa was the most northerly of these, and also the weakest and least populated; as such, it was subject to frequent attacks from the surrounding Muslim states ruled by the [[Artuqids]], [[Danishmendids]] and [[Seljuk Turks]].{{sfn|Riley-Smith|2005|pp=50–53}} [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem|Baldwin II]], then count of Edessa, and future count [[Joscelin I of Edessa|Joscelin of Courtenay]] were taken captive after their defeat at the [[Battle of Harran]] in 1104. Baldwin and Joscelin were both captured a second time in 1122, and although Edessa recovered somewhat after the [[Battle of Azaz (1125)|Battle of Azaz]] in 1125, Joscelin was killed in battle in 1131. His successor [[Joscelin II]] was forced into an alliance with the [[Byzantine Empire]], but in 1143 both Byzantine Emperor [[John II Komnenos]] and [[King Fulk of Jerusalem]] died. Joscelin had also quarreled with the Count of Tripoli and the Prince of Antioch, leaving Edessa with no powerful allies.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=185–189}}

Meanwhile, [[Imad ad-Din Zengi|Zengi]], [[List of rulers of Mosul#Zengid emirs|''atabeg'' of Mosul]], had added [[List of rulers of Aleppo#Zengid Dynasty|Aleppo]] to his rule in 1128, the key to power in Syria, contested between Mosul and [[Damascus]]. Both Zengi and [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem]] turned their attention towards Damascus; Baldwin was defeated outside the great city in 1129.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=185–189}} Damascus, ruled by the [[Burid dynasty]], later allied with King Fulk when Zengi besieged the city in 1139 and 1140;{{sfn|Runciman|1952|pp=227–228}} the alliance was negotiated by the chronicler [[Usama ibn Munqidh]].<ref>[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5440995n.image.r=Ous%C3%A2ma+ibn+Mounkidh.f203.langEN Ousâma ibn Mounkidh, un émir syrien au premier siècle des croisades, p. 182 (in BnF)]</ref>

In late 1144, Joscelin II allied with the Artuqids and marched out of [[Edessa]] with almost his entire army to support the Artuqid army against Aleppo. Zengi, already seeking to take advantage of Fulk's death in 1143, hurried north to [[Siege of Edessa (1144)|besiege Edessa]], which fell to him after a month on 24 December 1144. [[Manasses of Hierges]], [[Philip of Milly]] and others were sent from Jerusalem to assist, but arrived too late. Joscelin II continued to rule the remnants of the county from [[Turbessel]], but little by little the rest of the territory was captured by Muslims or sold to the Byzantines. Zengi himself was praised throughout the Muslim world as "defender of the faith" and ''al-Malik al-Mansur'', "the victorious king". He did not pursue an attack on the remaining territory of Edessa, or the Principality of Antioch, as was feared. Events in Mosul compelled him to return home, and he once again set his sights on Damascus. However, he was assassinated by a slave in 1146 and was succeeded in Aleppo by his son [[Nur ad-Din Zangi|Nur ad-Din]].{{sfn|Runciman|1952|pp=225–244}}

=== Papal bull and French plans ===
The news of the fall of Edessa was brought back to Europe first by pilgrims early in 1145, and then by embassies from Antioch, Jerusalem and Armenia. Bishop [[Hugh of Jabala]] reported the news to [[Pope Eugene III]], who issued the bull ''{{lang|la|[[Quantum praedecessores]]}}'' on 1 December, calling for a second crusade.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=273–275}} Hugh also told the Pope of an eastern Christian king, who, it was hoped, would bring relief to the crusader states: this is the first documented mention of [[Prester John]].{{sfn|Runciman|1952|p=247}} Eugene did not control Rome and lived instead at [[Viterbo]],{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=289}} but nevertheless the Second Crusade was meant to be more organized and centrally controlled than the First: the armies would be led by the strongest kings of Europe and a route would be planned.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=298}}

=== Saint Bernard of Clairvaux ===
[[File:Stained glass St Bernard MNMA Cl3273.jpg|upright=0.7|thumb|left|St Bernard in stained glass, from the Upper Rhine, {{Circa|1450}}|alt=Stained glass image of a kneeling man with a halo holding an open book and a staff]]
The Pope commissioned French abbot [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] to preach the Second Crusade, and granted the same [[indulgence]]s for it which [[Pope Urban II]] had accorded to the First Crusade.<ref>Father Marie Gildas (1907). "[[s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Bernard of Clairvaux|St. Bernard of Clairvaux]]". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. '''2.''' New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref> A [[Council of Vézelay (1146)|parliament]] was convoked at [[Vezelay]] in Burgundy in 1146, and Bernard preached before the assembly on 31 March. [[Louis VII of France]], his wife, [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]], and the princes and lords present prostrated themselves at the feet of Bernard to receive the pilgrims' cross. Bernard then passed into Germany, and the reported miracles which multiplied almost at his every step undoubtedly contributed to the success of his mission. At Speyer, [[Conrad III of Germany]] and his nephew, later Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]], received the cross from the hand of Bernard.{{sfn|Riley-Smith|1991|p=48}} Pope Eugene came in person to France to encourage the enterprise.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=275–281}}

For all his overmastering zeal, Bernard was by nature neither a bigot nor a persecutor. As in the First Crusade, the preaching inadvertently led to attacks on Jews; a fanatical French monk named [[Radulf the Cistercian|Rudolf]] was apparently inspiring massacres of Jews in the [[Rhineland]], [[Cologne]], [[Mainz]], [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] and [[Speyer]], with Rudolf claiming Jews were not contributing financially to the rescue of the Holy Land. Bernard; [[Arnold I of Cologne|Arnold I]], the [[Archbishop of Cologne]]; and [[Henry I (archbishop of Mainz)|Henry I]], the [[Archbishop of Mainz]], were vehemently opposed to these attacks, and so Bernard traveled from Flanders to Germany to deal with the problem and quiet the mobs. Bernard then found Rudolf in Mainz and was able to silence him, returning him to his monastery.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=281–288}}