1189
Barbarossa launches the German crusade
At sixty-six, Frederick Barbarossa set out from Regensburg at the head of the largest crusader army ever assembled - perhaps fifteen thousand men. He signed treaties with the Hungarians and Byzantines and began the long overland march through the Balkans toward Anatolia. The old emperor's decision to take the cross electrified Europe; his army was so large that Byzantine envoys feared it was an invasion force rather than a pilgrimage.
Siege of Acre begins
Guy of Lusignan, freed by Saladin on his word of honor, promptly broke his parole and laid siege to Acre with a handful of knights. Over two years the camp around Acre swelled into an improvised crusader city as reinforcements arrived from every corner of Europe. Disease killed thousands. The siege became the central theater of the Third Crusade, drawing warriors from England, France, Germany, and the Italian republics.
Death of Henry II
Beaten in war by his son Richard, finding his favored son John's name on the list of rebels against him, the old Plantagenet died at Chinon whispering curses at his children. He had built an empire stretching from the Pyrenees to Scotland; his sons would squander most of it within fifteen years.
Coronation of Richard the Lionheart
Richard I was crowned at Westminster Abbey with a ceremony so elaborate chroniclers ran out of superlatives. When a group of Jewish leaders approached with gifts, the crowd took it as a bad omen, drove them off, and began a London pogrom. Similar massacres followed in Norwich, Lincoln, and York.