History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 80, meanwhile back in the Holy Land.

Hello again.

The past 10 episodes have been focused on events in Europe and the Byzantine Empire.

This week we turn our attention back to the Middle East.

What has been happening in the Holy Land while we have been away on the Fourth Crusade? Keep

listening to find out.

When we last looked at events in the Middle East back in episode 69, the German

Crusade had managed to secure the coastal cities of Saigon and Beirut for the Latin

Christians. So the Crusader states consisted of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem, a long narrow strip of land stretching from Jaffa in the south up past Beirut to the north, the county of Tripoli,

with its two main cities of Tripoli and Tortosa, and the Principality of Antioch which extended from the city of Antioch to the coast.

Now I'm going to follow the lead of Stephen Runtzman here. In his trilogy on the history of the Crusades,

he refers to the Kingdom of Jerusalem as the Kingdom of Acre from this point on, and I'm going to do the same.

Jerusalem itself isn't part of the kingdom anymore, and the royal Seat of Power at this stage is in the City of Acre.

So, Kingdom of Acre it is.

Right, now the Kingdom of Acre and the County of Tripoli are neighbours thanks to the German

Crusade, which saw the territory controlled by the Kingdom of Acre extend right up to the border of the county of Tripoli.

However, the Principality of Antioch is in an isolated patch all on its own, surrounded by often hostile neighbors.

Now we need to bring ourselves up to speed and catch up with what has been happening in each of the three Latin Christian territories.

When we last looked at the Kingdom of Acre, it was January 1198.

Princess Isabella had just married husband number four, King Amaric of Cyprus, who was King Gee's brother and they had been crowned king and queen of their

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