In the aftermath of the First Crusade, the first monarch of the newly established Crusader state of Jerusalem, Baldwin I,

spent his days tirelessly campaigning against the various independent cities that

still spanned the coastline. The Levant was home to a wealth of rich and ancient fortresses,

most of which was still occupied by the Egyptian Fatimids and could still be supplied by sea,

leading to little hope of capture by the Crusader states.

The Italian maritime powers often provided naval support to the kingdom in return for trade rights,

yet manpower remained a real issue.

Multitudes of Europeans had attempted to emulate the successes of the First Crusade in the years

immediately following it. Yet most, like the expedition of 1101, met with catastrophic failure

and total defeat by the Turks of Anatolia, who were unwilling to make the same mistakes that they

had between 1096 and 1099. Nevertheless, by 1110, after a decade of campaigning, and despite a lack of manpower, Baldwin's tireless work had met with some real genuine success.

Arsouf and Caesarea fell in 1101, thanks to Genoa and support, and the important city of Acre fell in 1104.

In 1109, the important city of Tripoli finally fell after a siege of

seven long years and was established as the capital of a final fourth crusader state,

the county of Tripoli. Yet despite these victories, many of the knights and soldiers that had

initially conquered Jerusalem in 1099 were now getting old.

Fresh warriors were needed from Western Europe in order to consolidate the kingdom.

It was then, in the summer of 1110, as the defenders on the walls of Acre gazed out into the blue waters of the Mediterranean,

that they saw the unmistakable dragonheads of Norse longboats,

ploughing through the waters at full speed, sails resplendent in the heat of the day.

Finally, after a decade of attempted and failed expeditions, a crusader army had made it to the

Holy Land from Europe. Unlike the other expeditions and had attempted to emulate the near

...