Editing Frederick Barbarossa (section)

===Death and burials===
[[File:Emporer Frederic I death.jpg|thumb|Barbarossa drowns in the [[Saleph]], from the Gotha Manuscript of the ''[[Saxon World Chronicle]]'']]
[[File:JohannNepomukSepp MeerfahrNachTyros1879 TyreCrusaderCathedralColumns p257.jpg|thumb|A German expedition led by [[Johann Nepomuk Sepp]] to excavate the bones from the ruins of the Cathedral of Tyre, 1879]]
[[File:Gedenkstein_Barbarossa_Göksu02.jpg|thumb|The [[Frederick Barbarossa Memorial (Silifke)|Frederick Barbarossa Memorial]], near [[Silifke]] in Mersin Province, southern [[Turkey]]. The text explains in Turkish and German how Frederick drowned nearby.]]
Barbarossa opted on the local Armenians' advice to follow a shortcut along the [[Saleph]] River. Meanwhile, the army started to traverse the mountain path. On 10 June 1190, he drowned near [[Silifke Castle]] in the Saleph River.<ref>The medieval sources on Fredericks's death are discussed in: Manuel Kamenzin: ''Die Tode der römisch-deutschen Könige und Kaiser (1150–1349).'' Ostfildern 2020, 355–380. ([https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/mf64/0356/image,info online]).</ref> There are several conflicting accounts of the event:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/crusades-frederick-i-barbarossa-2360678|title=Biography of Frederick I Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor|last=Hickman|first=Kennedy|website=ThoughtCo|language=en|access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref>

* According to "[[History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick|Ansbert]]",{{efn|"Ansbert" is an Austrian cleric, who wrote ''The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick'', based on [[Tageno]]'s diary, the dean of [[Passau Cathedral]] who accompanied the crusaders.{{sfn|Freed|2016|p=626}}}} against everyone's advice, the emperor chose to swim across the river and was swept away by the current.{{sfn|Freed|2016|pp=511–512}}
* Another account recorded that Frederick was thrown from his horse while crossing the river, weighed down by his armour, and drowned.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kenneth Onapolis|title=The Knights Templar: The Priceless Treasure Discovered|year=2019|page=74|publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=9780359508723}}</ref>
* According to the chronicler [[Ibn al-Athir]], "the king went down to the river to wash himself and was drowned at a place where the water was not even up to his waist. Thus God saved us from the evil of such a man".<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Child|author2=Martyn John Whittock|author3=Nigel Kelly|title=The Crusades|publisher=Heinemann|year=1992|page=28|isbn=9780435312831}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/Alkamil_Fi_Tarikh/kamilt10#page/n194/mode/2up|title=The Complete History|publisher=[[Ali ibn al-Athir]]|page=194|language=ar}}</ref>
* The writer of the ''[[Letter on the Death of the Emperor Frederick]]'', a churchman who accompanied the crusader forces,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thehaskinssociety.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Translated%20Sources/Primary%20Sources/Letter%20on%20the%20Death%20of%20Frederick%20Barbarossa.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://thehaskinssociety.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Translated%20Sources/Primary%20Sources/Letter%20on%20the%20Death%20of%20Frederick%20Barbarossa.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Letter on the Sacred Expedition of the Emperor Frederick I}}</ref> reported that "after the many and terrible exertions that he [Frederick I] had undergone in the previous month and more, he decided to bathe in that same river, for he wanted to cool down with a swim. But by the secret judgment of God there was an unexpected and lamentable death and he drowned." Frederick, who liked to swim, as he went to bathe with [[Otto I, Duke of Bavaria|Otto of Wittelsbach]] in the [[Adriatic]], might have been exhausted from weeks of marching, hence he was fatally affected by the very hot summer in Anatolia. If the writer was [[Godfrey of Spitzenberg]], Bishop of Würzburg, who was a close confidant of Frederick, the report would be the most plausible account of what happened, since he might have witnessed the emperor's death.{{sfn|Freed|2016|p=512}}

[[Jacques de Vitry]], a historian of the Crusades, outlined Frederick's endeavors and Saladin's dilemma, in which he reported:

{{cquote|While these were the varied fortunes of the first in the field, Frederick, the Roman emperor, set out on his journey by land with great power and a countless host of warriors. Passing over the borders of Germany, he crossed Hungary, Macedonia, and Greece and marched through the land of the Saracens with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. He took Iconium, Philomena, and many other cities, and reached Armenia, where, during great heat, he went into the river, which the natives call the Iron River, to bathe, and therein for our sins was miserably drowned, and so died to the loss of all Christendom. Saladin so greatly feared his approach that he ordered the walls of [[Latakia|Laodicia]], [[Jableh|Gibelet]], [[Tartus|Tortosa]], [[Byblos|Biblium]] and [[Beirut|Beyrout]], to be pulled down, sparing only the fortresses, that is the citadels and towers.|source={{sfn|Jacques de Vitry|2013|pp=110–111}}}}

Frederick's death caused several thousand German soldiers to leave the force and return home through the Cilician and Syrian ports.{{sfn|Loud|2010|p=181}} The German-Hungarian army was struck with an onset of disease near [[Antioch]], weakening it further.{{sfn|Loud|2010|p=181}} Only 5,000 soldiers, a third of the original force, arrived in [[Akko|Acre]]. Barbarossa's son, [[Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia|Frederick VI]] of Swabia, carried on with the remnants of the German army, along with the Hungarian army under the command of Prince Géza, with the aim of burying the emperor in [[Jerusalem]], but efforts to preserve his body in vinegar failed. Hence, his flesh was interred in the [[church of Cassian|Cathedral of Saint Peter]] in Antioch, his bones in the Cathedral of Tyre, and his heart and inner organs in [[Saint Paul's Church, Tarsus|Saint Paul's Church]], [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]].{{sfn|Freed|2016|p=512}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goethe.de/ins/lb/de/kul/sup/spu/20928357.html|title=Deutsche Spuren im Libanon: Auf den Spuren Barbarossas – Deutsche Kaiser-Gebeine in Tyros?|last=Altaner|first=Jan|date=2019|website=Goethe-Institut Libanon|language=de|access-date=24 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://stauferstelen.net/texts/staufergraeber-d.htm#2012|title=Staufergräber – Anlagen|website=stauferstelen.net|language=de}}</ref>

The unexpected demise of Frederick left the Crusader army under the command of the rivals Philip II and [[Richard I of England|Richard]], who had traveled to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] separately by sea, and ultimately led to its dissolution. Richard continued to the East where he fought Saladin, winning territories along the shores of Palestine, but ultimately failed to win the war by conquering Jerusalem itself before he was forced to return to his own territories in north-western Europe, known to modern historians as the [[Angevin Empire]]. He returned home after he signed the [[Treaty of Ramla]] agreeing that Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control while allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and traders to visit the city. The treaty also reduced the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Latin Kingdom]] to a geopolitical coastal strip extending from Tyre to Jaffa.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}