Crusade of 1197

The Crusade of 1197, also known as the Crusade of Henry VI (German: Kreuzzug Heinrichs VI.) or the German Crusade (Deutscher Kreuzzug) was a crusade launched by the Hohenstaufen emperor Henry VI in response to the aborted attempt of his father, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa during the Third Crusade in 1189–90. Thus the military campaign is also known as the "Emperor's Crusade."

While his forces were already on their way to the Holy Land, Henry VI died before his departure in Messina on 28 September 1197. The emerging throne conflict between his brother Philip of Swabia and the Welf rival Otto of Brunswick made many higher-ranking crusaders return to Germany in order to protect their interests in the next imperial election. The nobles remaining on the campaign captured the Levant coast between Tyre and Tripoli before returning to Germany. The Crusade ended abruptly after the fall of Sidon and Beirut in 1198.

Background

On 2 October 1187 the Ayyubid sultan Saladin captured Jerusalem and large parts of the Crusader states. In an effort to reclaim the Outremer estates, the Third Crusade was launched by King Philip Augustus of France, the English king Richard Coeur de Lion of England, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1189. Frederick departed with a huge army, defeated a Seljuk contingent near Philomelion and captured Iconium, but then drowned in the Göksu River near Silifke in Cilicia.