1190-1209 Fourth Crusade Captures Constantinople

This twenty year period covers the reign of Richard the Lionheart (pictured) a year after the start of the 3rd Crusade to the Holy Land. Richard died in 1199 and was succeeded by his brother John.

In 1191 King Philip of France landed at Acre, followed seven weeks later by the king of England, Richard the Lionheart, and Acre surrendered to the two kings, ending Saladin's prestige.

Richard stayed and defeated the Muslims, recovering much of the Palestine coast, but was unable to take Jerusalem.

The Third Crusade was called off 1192 and on his return to England Richard was held to ransom for two years by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI for an extortionate sum which his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, worked tirelessly to raise.

In the meantime, Saladin had died in 1193 and the Fourth Crusade was underway in 1202 with the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 -- the year that Eleanor of Aquitaine died, aged 82.

In contrast to 1099, when the first crusaders had captured Jerusalem, massacring Jews and Muslims who lived there, treating the city as exclusively theirs, Saladin never denied access to Jerusalem to other creeds -- the Jews were allowed to return, and four Christian priests were allowed to hold services in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In 1200 the University of Paris established.