The Crusades in Outremer

DBA Tournament Theme

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These theme covers the Crusader and Islamic armies from the First Crusade (1096 AD) through the founding of the Crusader States of Outremer, until the fall of Acre in 1291 AD.  It encompasses numerous "Crusades" although the most famous battles occur during the First and Third Crusades.  The following timeline gives a general overview:

  • First Crusade, 1096–1099, 1101.  Byzantinium seeks help against the Seljuk Turks.  Pope Urban II preaches Crusade.  Turks defeated at Dorylaeum, Antioch and Jerusalme.  Kingdom of Jerusalem founded.  Second wave of Crusaders arrived in 1101.
  • Second Crusade, 1147–1148.  Muslims take Edessa.  Crusading armies under King Louis VII (French) and Conrad III (German) relieve Jerusalem and attack Damascus.
  • Third Crusade 1189–1192.  Saladin destroys Crusader army at Hattin and recaptures Jerusalem (1187 AD).  Pope Gregory VIII calls for Crusade.  Phillip II (France), Richard I (England) and Frederick I Barbarossa (Holy Roman Emperor) lead armies to Outremer.  Barbarossa drowns in Cilicia.  Crusaders retake Acre.  Philip departs in 1191 AD.  Crusaders defeat Saladin at Arsuf, but fail to take Jerusalem.  Richard makes peace with Saladin and departs.
  • Fourth Crusade 1200–1204.  Initiated by Pope Innocent III, with goal of invading Egypt.  Due to lack of funds for Venetian ships and supplies, Crusaders sack Constantinople instead and found Latin Kingdom in Greece (i.e., the Romanian Franks).
  • Children's Crusade, 1212.   Stephen (France) and Nicholas (Germany) lead armies of 37,000 children to the Holy Land.  Children never actually reach the Holy Land, many dying on route or sold into slavery.
  • Fifth Crusade 1217–1221.  Crusaders from Hungary and Austria join the King of Jerusalem and the Prince of Antioch in campaign to recover Jerusalem.  They go on to capture Damietta in Egypt (1219 AD), but are nearly destroyed at Cairo.
  • Sixth Crusade 1228–1229.  Holy Roman Emperer Frederick II lands in Palestine, and negotiates peaceful occupation of Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem for 10 years.
  • Seventh Crusade 1248–1254.  Templars in conflict with Egypt in 1243.  Khwarezmian exiles in Ayyubid service take Jerusalem.  Crusaders defeated at La Forbie.  Louis IX of Franch leads French army against Egypt (1248-1254 AD), but fails. 
  • Eighth Crusade 1270.  Louis IX leads army with intent to aid Crusader states in Syria, but is diverted to Tunis where he dies two months later.
  • Ninth Crusade 1271–1272.  Edward I (England) leads expedition but accomplishes little in Syria.  Retires the following year.  Fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli (1289) and Acre (1291) mark end of Outremer.

For this theme, the following armies are eligible:

III/53 Dynastic Bedouin
III/57(c) Buyid Others
III/60 Dynastic Kurdish
III/65 Fatamid Egyptian
III/70(abc) Georgian
III/73(ab) Seljuk Turk
III/75 Konstantinian Byzantine
IV/1(ab) Komnenan Byzantine
IV/2 Cilician Armenian
IV/4(b) Feudal French (special rule 1)
IV/6 Syrian
IV/7 Early Crusader (special rule 2)
IV/17 Later Crusader
IV/20 Ayyubid Egyptian
IV/24 Khwarizmian
IV/26 Lusignan Cypriot
IV/31 Nikaian Byzantine
IV/32 Romanian Frank
IV/34 Trapezuntine Byzantine
IV/42 Islamic Persian
IV/45 Mamluk Egyptian
IV/46 Ilkhanid
IV/49 Anatolian Turkoman
IV/50 Palaiologan Byzantine
IV/55(a) Ottoman Turk
IV/56(a) Order of St. John of Rhodes

Special Rules:

(1) Crusade of St. Louis: Feudal French (IV/4b) are aggression 4 for this Theme.

(2) Unhorsed Crusaders: Early Crusader (IV/7) may only take 4Bd elements before 1100 AD.

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Last Updated: 10 August 2007

Comments and feedback welcome.
Input to Chris Brantley.