Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph

June 10, 1190

On the overland crusade, the old emperor rode his horse into a small river in Cilicia to cool off and either suffered a heart attack or was pulled under by the current in his heavy mail. His army collapsed in mourning. Only a few thousand Germans ever reached Palestine. The death of Christendom's most experienced military commander deprived the Third Crusade of its largest contingent and devastated German morale.