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• 1100: The Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem is founded.
• Islamic rule is weakened because of power struggles among Islamic leaders and the Christian crusades.
• Bohemund of Taranto is captured by the Seljuks. His nephew, Tancred of Hauteville, becomes regent of Antioch.
• With the support of Pisan merchants, Daimbert, the Archbishop of Pisa forces Godfrey of Bouillon to (..........) Arnulf and make Daimbert himself the first official Patriarch of Jerusalem.
• Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus launches new attacks on the Seljuk Turks.
• 1100: June, Godfrey of Bouillon attempts to negotiate a deal with the Venetians: they could take a third of any city they help capture plus trading rights throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem if they support him against his political rivals.
• 1100, July 18: Godfrey of Bouillon dies while attempting to conquer Egypt.
• 1100, December 11: Baldwin of Boulogne (also Baldwin of Edessa) is crowned King of Jerusalem (Baldwin I). The position is grander in name than in practice. The "kingdom" is divided into four feudal principalities over which Baldwin has limited control. His power is further checked by an ecclesiastical hierarchy which is subject only to the pope in Rome. Finally, several port cities are controlled by Italian city-states like Venice and Genoa as the price for the naval aid and sea trade upon which the Latin Kingdom depends for survival.
• 1100: December 25, Baldwin I is actually crowned King of Jerusalem on Christmas Day.
• 1100-18: Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem.
• 1101: Raymond IV of Toulouse, count of Tripoli, captures Ankara from the Seljuk Turks.
• 1101: March, Milan archbishop Anselm of Buis and Count Albert of Biandrate arrive at Constantinople with a Lombard army in order to launch attacks on Muslims in the Holy Land.
• 1101, April: Baldwin I negotiates a deal with Genoese merchants similar to that attempted by Godfrey de Bouillon with Venetians the previous year: they could take a third of any city they help capture plus trading rights throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem if they support him against political rivals. With the Genoese aid, Baldwin is able to capture the cities of Arsuf and Caesarea.
• 1101, May: An Egyptian army marches towards Ascalon in order to drive out the Crusading invaders from the Holy Land.
• 1101: August, Battle of Heraclia: Turks under Kilij Arslan I are able to halt the advance of the final waves of Crusading armies from Europe travelling to reinforce the new Crusader States in Syria.
• 1101: September, First Battle of Ramleh: An Egyptian army under emir Sa'ad ed-Daula al-Qawasi is defeated by Baldwin I, though at the cost of nearly half his knights. The two forces had spent the entire summer facing off against each other, neither side willing to initiate action. Only after more reinforcements arrived from Egypt did Baldwin decide to act. With around 260 knights and fewer than 1000 infantry he charged Muslim positions defended by around 10,000 soldiers. Gripped by panic the Egyptians fled after they nearly won and Baldwin chased them all the way back to Ascalon.
• 1101 (Aug-Sep): Final wave of armies of the First Crusade defeated by the Turks in Asia Minor. Robert II duke of Normandy invades England, but retreats when Henry I of England promises him a pension and military aid.
• 1102: Henry I of England quells a revolt of nobles, who then flee to Normandy.
• 1102: Valencia is captured by the Almoravids, Berbers from the Sahara. Crusaders capture Caesarea Palaestina.
• 1102: April, Second Battle of Ramleh: Thinking that they would face an Egyptian scouting party, Baldwin I rides out with Stephen of Blois and Stephen of Burgundy. This time, though, they faced an Egyptian army twice the size of the previous. With a mere 500 knights or so, the Christian Crusaders are unable to achieve victory a second time. Most are killed and a few escape, including Baldwin who manages to reach Arsulf.
• 1102: May, Ships bearing English and German Crusaders arrive at Jaffa. With these additional forces, Baldwin I is once again able to mount effective cavalry charges against the Muslims who had been besieging the city and, once again, drove the Egyptians back as far as Ascalon.
• 1103: Bohemund I of Antioch is released from imprisonment among the Turks. Baldwin I lays siege to Acre, but an Egyptian fleet is able to rescue them.
• 1104: Alfonso I becomes king of Aragon and Navarre. Islamic victory at Harran. Battle of Harran stops Christian expansion eastwards: Baldwin II, count of Edessa, is taken captive and Tancred of Hauteville assumes control of the County of Edessa in his place. At the same time King Baldwin I of Jerusalem is able to capture Acre with the aid of a fleet from Genoa.
• 1104: September, Bohemond surrenders to the Greeks.
• 1105: Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire is taken prisoner by his son and forced to abdicate.
• 1105: August 27, Third Battle of Ramleh: The Egyptians try one more time to wrest control of Jerusalem from the Crusaders but fail. This time Egyptian forces are better able to stand up to the cavalry charges of mounted knights, but an effective defense had not been perfected, allowing the smaller numbers of Crusaders to defeat much larger Muslim forces. After this, no more large invasions were launched from Egypt - raids, yes, but no concerted attempts to conquer the Crusaders states.
• 1106: Henry I of England defeats Robert II of Normandy in France, and he wins Normandy. Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire dies while trying to reform an army. Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire (son of Henry IV) becomes Emperor. Lothair (soon to be Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire) is granted the duchy of Saxony by Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1107: Alexander I (called the Fierce) of Scotland becomes king when his brother Edgar of Scotland dies unmarried. Baldwin Le Bourg, later Baldwin II, is released by the Turks and has to fight Tancred of Hauteville to regain control of Edessa. Death of Pisa archbishop Daimbert in Messina. Daimbert had been chosen by Pope Urban II to replace Adhémar as spiritual leader of the Crusades.
• 1107-08: Crusade of Bohemond of Taranto.
• 1108: Louis VI (of France) is crowned. Battle of Tel Basher, where two Islamic-French coalitions clash.
• 1108: September, Bohemond of Taranto surrenders to the Greeks (Byzantines).
• 1108: December 04, The armies of the First Crusade conquer Sidon.
• 1109: Louis VI (of France) starts fighting the English (for the next twenty years).
• 1109: May 05, Moors under the command of Masdali re-capture Valencia and it would not return to Christian hands for another 225 years.
• 1109: July 01, Death of Alfonso VI of Castile. Alfonso was known for his attempts to drive the Moors out of Spain.
• 1109: July 12, Crusaders capture the harbor city of Tripoli, located along the coast of Palestine.
• 1109: July 25, Birth of Alfonso I Henriques of Portugal at Guimares. The first king of Portugal, Alfonso would create the nation of Portugal by liberating it from Muslim invaders and attempts at dominance from Castile in Spain.
• 1110: Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire agrees to abide by Pope Paschal II's degrees, in return that he would be crowned. When, at the day of the coronation Henry V places more demands the Pope refuses, and Henry V takes him prisoner. The Pope agrees with his demands. Capture of Beirut and Saida. Tancred of Hauteville retakes the Krak des Chevaliers.
• 1110: May, The Franks overrun Muslim defenses in Beirut.
• 1111: Ibn al-Khashab, Quadi of Aleppo, organizes a riot against the Caliph of Baghdad to force an intervention against the Christian occupation of Palestine.
• 1111: February 17, The Sultan's Minbar in Baghdad is destroyed by Ibn Al-Khashshab.
• 1111: March 11, Death of Bohemond I (Bohemond Of Otranto, French Bohémond De Tarente), prince of Otranto (1089–1111) in Canossa, Apulia. One of the leaders of the First Crusade, Bohemond had been largely responsible for the capture of Antioch and he had secured the title Prince of Antioch (1098–1101, 1103–04).
• 1112: The Pope Paschal II retracts the concessions he made to Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. Death of Tancred of Hauteville, a grandson of Robert Guiscard and nephew of Bohemund of Taranto, in Antioch while using the name Bohemund II.
• 1113: February 5 or 15 -- check, 'The Knights Hospitaller, of Saint John of Jerusalem’ receive formal recognition in a Papal Bull (first papal privilege) as a separate and independent monastic order. The Hospitallers would play an important role in the security of the Crusader states in the Middle East. Their church is the ‘Church of Saint John the Baptist’.
• 1114: Many German princes rebel against Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire (1114 - 1121). Catalan Crusade to the Balearic Islands.
• 1115: Matilda countess of Tuscany dies leaving a lot of territory to the papacy. Conrad (later Conrad III of Germany) is given duchy of Franconia by his uncle Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. Islamic and Christian princes in Syria unite against an army sent by the Sultan. A Muslim army is dispatched by Sultan Mohammed to fight European Crusaders in Syria. Baldwin I, Latin King of Jerusalem. builds the Krak de Montreal in the Negev desert. This would become one of the strongest and most heavily fortified of all the Crusader castles.
• 1115: July 08, Death of Peter the Hermit. According to tradition, Peter was one of those primarily responsible for spreading the fervor which helped launch the First Crusade.
• 1116: Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire invades Italy to seize the territories left to the papacy by Matilda. Conrad (later to be Conrad III of Germany) is made one of the regents of Germany.
• 1117: Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire has Pope Paschal II driven out of Rome.
• 1118: Pope Paschal II dies, and is succeeded by Gelasius II. Crusade of Pope Gelasius II in Spain. Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire establishes Gregory VIII as the antipope. Gelasius II excommunicates Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. Anna Comnena, a Byzantine princess and historian, retires to a convent after unsuccessfully conspiring to make her husband emperor instead of her brother, Emperor John II Comnenus. Baldwin I, Latin King of Jerusalem, leads expedition against Muslim forces in Egypt. No Egyptian leader is willing to challenge Baldwin, even though his force comprises of around 200 knights and 600 soldiers. He is able to advance as far as the Nile river until he is forced to turn back due to illness.
• 1118(-1143) John II Comnenus serves as Byzantine emperor. Also known as Kalo Ioannes (John the Beautiful), John has a very mild reign marked by personal piety and efforts to restore the former extent of the Empire before the Turks captured so much territory through Asia Minor.
• 1118: April 02, Death of Baldwin I; Baldwin Le Bourg is named his successor. King Baldwin II. Baldwin I had been the real founder of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and the real force behind its expansion. Baldwin the second is his cousin and the choice of the various barons.
• 1118: April 14, Baldwin II is crowned King of Jerusalem. Baldwin would support the religious military orders, expands the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. and holds firm against the attacks of Seljuk Turks.
• 1118: August 15, Death of Alexius I Comnenus, Byzantine emperor.
• 1118: December 19, Sargossa in Spain falls to the Crusaders.
• 1118-9: Hugh of Payns (Champagne) and Godfrey of Saint-Omer (Picardy) form a religious community to protect pilgrims. Taking monastic vows nine knights place themselves under the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Warmund of Picquigny. Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem, provides them with quarters in part of his palace, (al-Aqsa Mosque) thought to be remains of Solomon’s Temple. The King charges them with maintaining, "... as far as they could, the roads and highways against the ambush of thieves and attackers, especially in regard to the safety of pilgrims." They become known as: The Knights of the Temple.
• 1118-31: Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem.
• 1119: Hugues de Payens founds the Order of Knights Templar in Jerusalem. The name came from the fact that their headquarters was on the site of Solomon's Temple.
• 1119: June 27, Battle of the Field of Blood (Ager Sanguinis): Muslim forces defeat Roger of Antioch and a Frankish army at Aleppo. Baldwin II comes to try to save as many as he can.
• 1119: July, A Muslim army is assembled under the command of Ilghazi, Turkish Emir of Mardin, and the Emir of Damascus.
• 1119: August 01, Forces of the First Crusade are defeated in the battle of Sarmada.
• 1119: August 14, Crusaders under Baldwin II are able to stop the advances of Turks under Tel-Danith.
• 1120-25: Crusade of Pope Calixtus II to the East and in Spain.
• 1121: Diet of Würzburg establishes peace between Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire and his German enemies.
• 1122: The Concordat of Worms establishes peace with the Catholic Church. Antipope Gregory VIII is abandoned. Balak, nephew of Ilghazi, Turkish Emir of Mardin, captures Joscelin, the cousin of King Baldwin II.
• 1123: Balak, nephew of Ilghazi, Turkish Emir of Mardin, takes King Baldwin II prisoner.
• 1123 (Mar-Apr): Crusade decree of First Lateran Council. Vital Michaele, the Doge of Venice, leads a Crusade to the Holy Land. Many of his soldiers afterwards settle in Cyprus.
• 1123: May, A Venetian fleet defeats an Egyptian fleet at Ascalon.
• 1124: February 14, Crusaders, mostly Franks and Venetians, begin a siege of Tyre.
• 1124: June, After the death of Balak, nephew of Ilghazi, Turkish Emir of Mardin, King Baldwin II is released by Timurtash, son of Balak.
• 1124: July 7, Tyre is starved into submission with the aid of a Venetian sea blockade. This means that most of the Mediterranean coast is now in the hands of the Crusaders and under the control of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire and his father-in-law Henry I of England unsuccessfully attack Louis VI of France. David I of Scotland (called The Saint) becomes king of Scotland after his brother Alexander I dies childless. During his reign he strengthens the church and encourages Normans to settle in Scotland.
• 1124: October, King Baldwin II reneges on the conditions of his release, forms alliances with Arab enemies of Timurtash, and attacks his positions around Aleppo. Baldwin is only stopped when il-Bursuqi, atabeg of Mosul, intervenes.
• 1125: Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire dies. He is succeeded by Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire. Conrad (soon to be Conrad III of Germany) and his brother Frederick II, duke of Swabia dispute Lothair II's succession to the throne of Germany. Ibn al-Khashab is murdered by the Assassins.
• 1125: June 11, Battle of Azaz: Crusaders under Baldwin II, Joscelin I, and Pons of Tripoli defeat the Seljuk Turks under il-Bursuqi, atabeg of Mosul. This battle involves what might be the largest collection of Crusader knights assembled: at least 1,100.
• 1125-26: Raid of Alfonso I of Aragon into Andalusia.
• 1126: With a delegation of knights and Baldwin II, Hugh of Payns travels to France, seeking aid from the Cistercian abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux, in obtaining papal recognition and in developing a "rule of life."
• 1126: November, Il-Bursuqi, atabeg of Mosul, is assassinated.
• 1127: Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire arranges the marriage of his daughter Gertrude to Henry X, duke of Bavaria. Conrad (soon to be Conrad III of Germany) is elected king or anti-king of Germany, and a war breaks out between him and his rival, Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire. Imad ad-Din Zengi becomes the Seljuk Atabeg (Governor) of Mosul. Founder of the Zengid Dynasty, Zengi would play a key role in the launching of the Second Crusade.
• 1128: January 13, At the Council of Troyes, the Templars receive the formal rules of their order, originally commissioned by St. Bernard, and are granted official recognition.
• 1128-29: Crusade to the East recruited by Hugh of Payns (Hugues de Payens).
• 1128: Conrad (soon to be Conrad III of Germany) is crowned king of Italy. Zengi arises as lord of Aleppo.
• 1129 (Jan): The Council of Troyes recognises the Templars and formally adopts the Templars into the Church. The Latin Rule of the Order (replaces their Augustinian rule with a Benedictine rule; it contains 76 articles) is approved, written under the guidance of Bernard. The Council also brings the new Order into line by prohibiting certain semi-heretical practices of the Order (i.e. baptism of infants, etc.). The white mantle of the Cistercians is adopted to be worn by the professed knights as symbolic of loyalty and purity of life. Pope Honorius II (1124-30) approves the recognition. Hugh of Payns (Hugues de Payens) is chosen as the first Grand Master. The Order of the Temple rapidly spreads throughout Europe. Nov __: Crusaders attack Damascus.
• 1129: May, Fulk V, Count of Anjou, marries Melisende, daughter and heir of Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem.
• 1129: November, Crusaders launch attacks on Damascus but Baldwin is unable to achieve his goal of capturing the city.
• 1130 (early): Bernard of Clairvaux writes 'In Praise of The New Knighthood'. (Bernard wrote 'De laude novae militae' in which he describes the Templars as "a new type of order in the Holy Places": a mix of knightly and monastic life.) The Order of St. Lazarus is founded in Jerusalem with links to the Templars.
• 1130: The Almohad (al-Muwahhidun) Dynasty rises to power. Taking the name "the Unitarians," this group of Berber Muslims would supplant the Almoravid (al-Murabitun) Dynasty and is inspired by the teachings of reformist Berber scholar Ibn Tumart who dies this same year.
• 1131-43: Fulk of Anjou, King of Jerusalem.
• 1131: August 21, Death of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Count Fulk of Anjoy is named his successor. With this, the first generation of Crusaders effectively ends.
• 1131: September, Count Fulk of Anjoy is crowned the third king of Jerusalem.
• 1133-43: Victorious campaigns of John I in Cilicia and Syria.
• 1133: Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire is crowned by Pope Innocence II. Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre is defeated by the Moors at Braga.
• 1133: March 05, Birth of Henry II Plantagenet. As king of England Henry would answer the call to join the Third Crusade but he would die before being able to do anything. His son, Richard I Lionheart, would become one of the leaders of the Third Crusade.
• 1134: Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre dies of wounds he had received the previous year.
• 1135: Henry I of England dies. Henry's nephew Steven of Blois usurps the throne. Conrad (soon to be Conrad III of Germany) acknowledges Lothair II as the Holy Roman Emperor. The Seljuk Turk domination of Baghdad ends.
• 1135: March 30, Medieval Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides was born.
• 1135: May, The Council of Pisa. Crusade indulgencies offered to those taking up arms against the anti-pope and the Normans in southern Italy.
• 1136: King David I of Scotland attacks England either to help his niece Matilda get the English throne, or to recapture three countries on the Northern border of England, or both. The death of Hugh of Payns (Hugues de Payens). Robert of Craon (Burgundy) becomes the second Grand Master.
• 1136-37 (circa): The Templars for the first time establish themselves in the Amanus Marshes north of Antioch.
• 1137: Louis VII of France succeeds his father, and marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire gives Henry X, duke of Bavaria the duchy of Saxony. Lothair II of the Holy Roman Empire dies, and Conrad III of Germany succeeds him as king of Germany. Zengi captures King Fulk of Jerusalem, and releases him. John II Comnenus, successor to Alexius I Comnenus as Byzantine Emperor, leads a military campaign against Armenia and Antioch.
• 1137: July, An army under the command of Count Fulk of Anjoy, King of Jerusalem. is ambushed by Muslim forces commanded by Imad ad-Din Zengi. Count Raymond of Tripoli is killed, but Count Fulk is able to escape to the Crusader castle of Montferrand which Zengi had been besieging. Unable to get help in time, Fulk surrenders Montferrand to Zengi in return for the freedom of all the Crusaders there.
• 1138, Mar 29: Omne Datum Optimum (All Good Things), the first Papal Bull granting privileges to the Templars, is issued by Pope Innocent II. Milites Templi (Soldiers of the Temple) and Militia Dei (Soldiers of God) follow in 1144 and 1145.
• 1138: Birth of Salah-al-Din Yusuf ib-Ayyub (Salah al-Din, Saladin), one of the greatest heroes of Islamic history because of his success in stopping the European Crusaders and recapturing much of the land they had conquered from Muslims. Saladin is a Kurd who acquires a strong reputation in Europe both for his fighting skills and his honorable diplomacy.
• 1138: March, Conrad III (first German king of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and uncle of Frederick I Barbarossa, an early leader of the Third Crusade) is elected king of the Romans and ruler of Germany. Conrad would help lead the Second Crusade.
• 1139: Pope Innocent II (1130-43) in the bull, Omne datum optimum brings the Templars under papal authority, providing them with privileges and exemptions that makes the Templars an autonomous corporate body and allows them to secure an economic base for financing their military activities. They are charged with defending the Church against all enemies of the Cross. Ten year old Henry the Lion inherits the duchy of Saxony, which his mother and grandmother rule for him. Imad ad-Din Zengi attacks Damascus which, in turn, asks Count Fulk for aid. Fulk agrees and takes a Crusader army north, forcing Zengi to withdraw. Christian Crusaders arriving from Europe were unable to comprehend how or why a Christian leader would ally himself in this fashion with a Muslim leader. The fact of the matter was, keeping the Muslims divided served the Christian cause; moreover, the Crusader states were too weak to stand on their own and depended upon such alliances.
• 1139: July 26, Battle of Ourique: Afonso I Henriques defeats a large Almoravid force and is crowned king of Portugal. Alfonso creates the nation of Portugal by liberating it from Muslim invaders and attempts at dominance from Castile in Spain.
• 1139-40: Crusade to the East, initiated by ___ and led by ___.
• 1140: Pope Callistus II launches a Crusade against Spain and eastern regions controlled by Muslims.
• 1142: Louis VII of France captures Champagne. Malcolm IV, (called "the Maiden"), grandson of David I inherits the throne of Scotland. Raymond II, count of Tripoli, gives the Krak des Chevalier to the Knights Hospitaller. Here they establish their headquarters and make it the largest Crusader fortress in the Holy Land. It would later prove to be a significant problem for Saladin's efforts to reconquer the region.
• 1143-63: Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem.
• 1143: The eldest son of Fulk of Jerusalem becomes Baldwin III, king of Jerusalem (under the regency of his mother, which lasted until 1152). Baldwin III is the first king of Jerusalem actually born in Palestine.
• 1143: April 08, Death of John II Comnenus, Byzantine emperor. John was evidently poisoned by accident by one of his own arrows during a hunt.
• 1143: November 04, While out riding, Count Fulk's horse throws him and he strikes his head hard. The king of Jerusalem would die three days later.
• 1143: November 07, Count Fulk of Anjou, king of Jerusalem and leader of the Christian Crusaders in the Holy Land, dies after having been thrown from his horse three days earlier. Fulk's wife, Melisende, becomes regent.
• 1144: Pope Celestine II (1143-1144) issues the bull: Milites Templi (perhaps originally c. 1135), adding more privileges, allowing the Templars to collect their own funds.
• 1144: December 24, Muslim forces under the command of Imad ad-Din Zengi re-capture Edessa, originally taken by Crusaders under Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098. This event makes Zengi a hero among Muslims and leads to a call for a Second Crusade in Europe.
• 1145, Mar 31: St. Bernard of Clairvaux persuasive preaches for Louis VII and his then wife Eleanor, 'The Rose of Aquitaine'. Dec 1: Pope Eugenius III (1145-53) issues Quantum praedecessores to initiate the Second Crusade. He issues the bull: Militia Dei, allowing the Templars to have their own churches and priests exempt from Episcopal control. Subsequent popes would reissue these bulls, adding further privileges.
• 1145: December 01, In the Bull Quantum Praedecessores, Pope Eugene III proclaims the Second Crusade in an effort to retake territory once again coming under the control of Muslim forces. This Bull was sent directly to the French King, Louis VII, and although he had been contemplating a Crusade on his own, he chose to ignore the pope's call to action at first.
• 1146: Pope Eugenius III authorises the Templars to add the red cross on the left breast of their tunics and the shoulder of their mantles, symbolising willingness to shed their blood and die for the Faith. Henry the Lion begins to rule the duchy of Saxony for himself. Death of Zengi. His son Nur al-Din replaces him in Aleppo.
• 1146-47: St. Bernard of Clairvaux active in preaching the Second Crusade.
• 1146: The Allmohads drive the Almoravids out of Andalusia. The descendants of the Amoravids can still be found in Mauretania.
• 1146: March 13, Saxon nobles meeting in Frankfurt ask Bernard of Clairvaux for permission to launch a Crusade on pagan Slavs in the east. Bernard would pass the request along to Pope Eugene III who gives his authorization for a Crusade against the Wends.
• 1146: March 31, St. Bernard or Clairvaux preaches the merits and necessity of the Second Crusade at VÈzelay. Bernard writes in a letter to the Templars: "The Christian who slays the unbeliever in the Holy War is sure of his reward, the more sure if he himself is slain.The Christian glories in the death of the pagan, because Christ is thereby glorified." King Louis VII of France is particularly taken by Bernard's preaching and is among the first to agree to go, along with his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• 1146: May 01, Conrad III (first German king of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and uncle of Frederick I Barbarossa, an early leader of the Third Crusade) personally leads German forces into the Second Crusade, but his army would be almost completely destroyed during their crossing of the plains of Anatolia.
• 1146: June 01, King Louis VII announces that France will join in the Second Crusade.
• 1146: September 15, Imad ad-Din Zengi, founder of the Zengid Dynasty, is assassinated by a servant he had threatened to punish. Zengi's capture of Edessa from the Crusaders in 1144 had made him a hero among Muslims and led to the launching of the Second Crusade.
• 1146: December, Conrad III arrives at Constantinople with the remnants of his army of German Crusaders.
1147-49: The Second Crusade is launched to recapture territory recently lost to Muslim forces, but in the end only a few Greek islands are actually taken.
• 1147: The Almoravid (al-Murabitun) Dynasty falls from power. Taking the name "those who line up in defense of the faith," this group of fanatical Berber Muslims had ruled North Africa and Spain since 1056.
• 1147: April 13, In the papal bull "Divina dispensation" Pope Eugene III approves of the Crusading into Spain and beyond the northeastern frontier of Germany. Bernard Clairvaux writes "We expressly forbid that for any reason whatsoever they should make a truce with these people [the Wends] ... until such time as ... either their religion or their nation be destroyed." Normans capture Corfu, Corinth and Thebes. Henry the Lion demands the duchy of Bavaria be given to him, when refused, he fights against Conrad III of Germany.
• 1147: June, German Crusaders travel through Hungary on their way to the Holy Land. On the way they would raid and pillage widely, causing a great deal of resentment.
• 1147: October 24, Lisbon is captured by Crusaders and Portuguese forces under the command of Don Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal, and Crusader Gilbert of Hastings, who becomes the first Bishop of Lisbon. In the same year the city of Almeria falls to the Spanish.
• 1147: October 25, Second Battle of Dorylaeum: German Crusaders under Conrad III stop at Dorylaeum to rest and are destroyed by Saracens. So much treasure is captured that the market price of precious metals throughout the Muslim world drops.
• 1148: Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, with the aid of an English fleet, captures the Moor city of Tortosa.
• 1148: February, German Crusaders under Conrad III who had survived the Second Battle of Dorylaeum the previous year are massacred by the Turks.
• 1148: March, French forces are left in Attalia by King Louis VII who purchases passage on ships for himself and a few nobles to Antioch. Muslims quickly descend upon Attalia and kill nearly every Frenchman there.
• 1148: May 25, Crusaders set out to capture Damascus. The army consists of forces under the command of Baldwin III, survivors of Conrad III's trip across Anatolia, and the cavalry of Louis VII which had sailed directly to Jerusalem (his infantry was supposed to march to Palestine, but they were all killed along the way).
• 1148, July: Louis VII of France, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Emperor Conrad III in the East on the Second Crusade.
• 1148: July 24-28, Crusaders are forced to withdraw from their siege of Damascus after only a week, partly as a result of the three leaders (Baldwin III, Conrad III, and Louis VII) being unable to agree on almost anything. The political divisions among the Crusaders stand in sharp contrast to the greater unity among the Muslims in the region - a unity that would only increase later under the dynamic and successful leadership of Saladin. With this, the Second Crusade is effectively finished.
• 1149: The Second Crusade ends in failure. King Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany return from the Crusade.
• 1149: A Crusading army under Raymond of Antioch is destroyed by Nur ad-Din Mahmud bin Zengi (son of Imad ad-Din Zengi, founder of the Zengid Dynasty) near the Fountain of Murad. Raymond is among those killed, reportedly fighting until the very end. One of Nur ad-Din's lieutenants, Saladin (Kurdish nephew of Nur al-Din's best general, Shirkuh), would rise to prominence in the coming conflicts.
• 1149, July 15: Dedication of the new Crusader Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
• 1149-50: Gaza is granted to the Templars. 1150: The Templars acquire their first castle at Gaza.

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