The Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE) was a military campaign organised by the Pope and European nobles to recapture the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia which had fallen in 1144 CE to the Muslim Seljuk Turks. Despite an army of 60,000 and the presence of two western kings, the crusade was not successful in the Levant and caused further tension between the Byzantine Empire and the west. The Second Crusade also included significant campaigns in the Iberian peninsula and the Baltic against the Muslim Moors and pagan Europeans respectively. Both secondary campaigns were largely successful but the main objective, to free the Latin East from the threat of Muslim occupation, would remain unfulfilled, and so further crusades over the next two centuries would be called, all with only marginal successes.
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Definition
Timeline
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1143 - 1180Reign of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
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1 Dec 1145Pope Eugenius III calls for the Second Crusade.
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Sep 1146Joscelin II's attempt to retake Edessa fails and the city is sacked by Nur ad-Din.
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1147 - 1148Campaigns against pagans in the Baltic are led by Germanic and Danish nobles during the Second Crusade.
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1147 - 1149The Second Crusade is launched to recapture Edessa for Christendom. It is not successful.
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Jun 1147 - Oct 1147The siege of Lisbon during the Second Crusade.
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Jun 1147 - Sep 1147Dobin and Malchow in northeast Germany are captured during the Second Crusade.
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Sep 1147 - Oct 1147The armies of the Second Crusade arrive in Constantinople.
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17 Oct 1147Almeria in northern Spain is captured from the Moors during the Second Crusade.
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21 Oct 1147The capture of Lisbon by the Second Crusaders.
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25 Oct 1147At Dorylaion a force of Muslim Seljuk Turks attacks an army led by Conrad III during the Second Crusade.
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Dec 1147An army led by Louis VII defeats a Seljuk army in Asia Minor during the Second Crusade.
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7 Jan 1148An army led by Louis VII is defeated by the Seljuks as it crosses the Cadmus Mountains during the Second Crusade.
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24 Jul 1148 - 28 Jul 1148The unsuccessful siege of Damascus during the Second Crusade.
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Sep 1148Conrad III, one of the leaders of the Second Crusade, returns to Europe.
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30 Dec 1148Tortosa in eastern Spain is captured from the Moors during the Second Crusade.
