Editing Fourth Crusade (section)

=== Loss of Jerusalem to the truce of 1198 ===
In 1187, the [[Ayyubid Sultanate]] under [[Saladin]] conquered most of the [[Crusader states]] in the Levant. Jerusalem was lost to the Ayyubids as a result of the [[Siege of Jerusalem (1187)|siege of Jerusalem]] in 1187 leading to the calling of the [[Third Crusade]].<ref>[[John Julius Norwich]], ''Byzantium: The Decline and Fall'', (1995; repr., London: Folio Society, 2003), 169</ref> The Crusader states were then reduced by Saladin to little more than three cities along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea: [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] and [[Antioch]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Hans Eberhard |last=Mayer |page=136 |title=The Crusades |year=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-873097-7}}</ref>

The [[Third Crusade]] (1189–1193) was launched in response to the fall of Jerusalem, with the goal of recovering the city. It successfully reclaimed an extensive territory, effectively reestablishing the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]. Although Jerusalem itself was not recovered, the important coastal towns of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and [[Jaffa]] were. On 2 September 1192, the [[Treaty of Jaffa (1192)|Treaty of Jaffa]] was signed with Saladin, bringing the crusade to an end. The truce would last for three years and eight months.<ref name=Kedar>{{citation |author=[[Benjamin Z. Kedar]] |chapter=The Fourth Crusade's Second Front |editor1=A. Laiou |title=Urbs Capta: The Fourth Crusade and its Consequences |location=Paris |year=2005 |pages=89–101 |publisher=Lethielleux}}.</ref>

The crusade had also been marked by a significant escalation in longstanding tensions between the feudal states of western Europe and the Byzantine Empire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haldon |first=John |title=Byzantium at War |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantiumatwarad00hald_817 |url-access=limited |publisher=Osprey |location=Oxford |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/byzantiumatwarad00hald_817/page/n84 87]}}</ref>{{sfn|Phillips|2004|p=4}} During the crusade, [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa]] had almost besieged Constantinople because of the failure of the Byzantine government and Emperor, [[Isaac II Angelos]], to provide him with safe passage across the [[Dardanelles]] because Isaac was busy fighting a pretender named [[Theodore Mangaphas]]. The Byzantines for their part suspected him of conspiring with the breakaway Byzantine provinces of [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Serbia]] and [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] as Frederick Barbarossa was on friendly terms with Grand Prince [[Stefan Nemanja]] of Serbia and also got a letter getting support and fealty from Tsar [[Ivan Asen I]] of Bulgaria. King [[Richard I of England|Richard I Lionheart of England]] also seized the breakaway Eastern Roman [[Theme of Cyprus|province of Cyprus]]. Rather than return it to the Empire (and realizing his inability to govern it), he gave the island to [[Guy of Lusignan]], the former king of Jerusalem, who lost the crown to a former Eastern Roman ally, [[Conrad of Montferrat]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Templar Rule on Cyprus 1191–1192 |url=http://defenderofjerusalem.com/templar-rule-on-cyprus-.html |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=HeSchrader}}</ref>

Saladin died on 4 March 1193, before the expiration of the truces, and his empire was contested and divided between three of his sons and two of his brothers. The new ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, [[Henry II of Champagne]], signed an extension of the truce with Egyptian Sultan [[al-Aziz Uthman]]. In 1197, the peace was interrupted by the arrival of the [[German Crusade]] of 1197. Without the permission of Henry, the Germans attacked the territory of [[al-Adil I]] of Damascus, who responded by attacking Jaffa. The sudden death of Henry prevented the relief of the port and the city was taken by force. The Germans did, however, succeed in capturing [[Beirut]] in the north.<ref name=Kedar />

Henry was succeeded by [[Aimery of Cyprus]], who signed a truce with al-Adil of five years and eight months on 1 July 1198. The truce preserved the status quo: Jaffa remained in Ayyubid hands, but its destroyed fortifications could not be rebuilt; Beirut was left to the crusaders; and [[Sidon]] was placed under a revenue-sharing condominium. Before the expiration of the new truce on 1 March 1204, al-Adil succeeded in uniting the former empire of Saladin, acquiring Egypt in 1200 and [[Aleppo]] in 1202. As a result, his domains almost completely surrounded the diminished Crusader states.<ref name=Kedar />