The Anatolian campaign and the Third Crusade of the German emperor Friedrich Barbarossa

The Crusades, which began in 1097, led to significant developments and consequences affecting the history of the world. The sacred purpose of the Crusades was to expel both Turks who had settled in Anatolia and Muslims who lived in places to which sanctity is attributed by Christians. People of many classes from all over Europe responded to the call made for the Crusades. However, the distinction of the Third Crusade in 1190 stand outwith the participation of the kings of England and France, as well as the Emperor of Germany. The intention of the leaders to participate in this battle emphasizes the spiritual aspect and historical importance of the Crusade. The failure of Friedrich Barbarossa's Crusade was in favor of Sultan Saladin. Although previous expeditions had made some remarkably successful gains, the army disintegrated and lost its former effective power and grandeur owing to the emperor's death during the campaign. This was a huge frustration on the Western world. As a result, the city of Jerusalem, which Sultan Saladin and three Celestial religions regarded as a sacred land in the East, was freed from great danger. The battle and fierce struggle of King Richard I of England and King Philippe Auguste II of France, who arrived in the East before the German Crusader army, had concluded in failure. Therefore, they could not have concluded the expedition as they had planned. This study, which we have prepared as a master's thesis, consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, a general assessment of the Islamic world is made through brief mention of the events from the Battle of Hattin to the beginning of vii the Third Crusade and of the previous Crusades. In the second chapter, which is the main subject of our thesis, the Anatolian Crusade of the German Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa is expounded. During the Anatolian campaign, the difficulties experienced by the Crusader armies and the circumstances they encountered are explained. The underlying source of this chapteris the Turkish translation of the work titled "Ansbert's Historia de Expeditione Friderici Emperor" (The History of Emperor Friedrich's Expedition), who himself campaigned and witnessed the event. In addition, the work titled "Der Kreuzzug Friedrich Barbarossas: Berichteines Augenzeugen", Stuttgart, 2007 of Arnold Bühler, who translated the same work from Latin to German, was also employed. The work titled "Historia" of Niketas Khoniates, the famous Byzantine historian who witnessed the emperor's campaign and described his experiences while on the Byzantine borders, was used in this chapter. Furthermore, although this subject is explained in detail in numerous Christian chronicles, "Ernoul Chronograph" is the chronicle used for this thesis. Sources providing informationon the German Emperor's expedition do not only stem from the West. There are Muslim writers who provide information about the expedition in their works. Particularly, Ibn'l Esir's "al-Kamil Fi't history" and "The History of Abû'l Farac" by Omer Riza Dogrul, who translated Abû'l Farac's work into Turkish, were also benefited. The third chapter addresses the Christians' experience in the Islamic world by discussing the basic aspects of the third Crusade. The chapter ends when the Crusader army reached an agreement with Sultan Saladin at the end of the battle. The primary source we could make use of in this section is "Ittineraium Peregrinorum Et Gesta Ricardi". Moreover, the works of Muslim writers who witnessed the expeditions and battles in that period were also invoked. The main subject of the master's thesis is the expedition of the German Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, and the other two chapters mentioned arestrived to be explained without digressing from the subject and without going into too much detail. Keywords: Friedrich Barbarossa, German Crusader Army, Third Crusade, King Richard I of England, Saladin Eyyubi.