Frederick Barbarossa's crusade: from Regensburg to the Saleph, 1189–1190

Frederick Barbarossa's crusade: from Regensburg to the Saleph

The army of the aged Emperor Frederick Barbarossa — probably the largest force any single ruler had led on crusade — set out from Regensburg in May 1189, crossed Hungary and the Byzantine Balkans, wintered at Adrianople, crossed into Asia at Gallipoli and defeated the Seljuks of Rum at Iconium. On 10 June 1190 the emperor drowned in the river Saleph in Cilicia; most of his men turned back, and only a remnant reached Acre.

Date

11 May 1189 – 10 June 1190exact date · duration: ≈ 13 monthsDate in the Julian calendar

Place

The Saleph near Seleuciaapproximate locationtoday: Göksu river near Silifke, Mersin Province, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia

Route

Regensburg → Esztergom → Naissus (Niš) → Philippopolis → Adrianople → Gallipoli → Philomelion → Iconium → The Saleph near Seleucia

Participants

Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Sultanate of Rum, Kingdom of Hungary

Threads

Balkans and Anatolia (11th–12th c.)

Also known as

Death of Frederick Barbarossa; Гибель Фридриха Барбароссы; Battle of Iconium (1190); Битва при Иконии; Battle of Philomelion; Treaty of Adrianople (1190); Saleph; Салеф; Göksu; Гёксу

Frederick took the cross at the "Court of Christ" in Mainz on 27 March 1188 and set out from Regensburg on 11 May 1189; modern estimates of his army range from 12,000 to 26,000 men. He crossed Hungary without serious trouble — King Béla III welcomed him and sent troops to escort the crusaders across the Balkans — and at Niš the Serbian grand župan Stefan Nemanja welcomed him with pomp on 27 July 1189. The Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos, however, proved hostile: Frederick occupied Philippopolis on 26 August and Adrianople on 22 November 1189, exchanged hostages with Isaac as a guarantee that the crusaders would not sack the countryside and wintered at Adrianople, until an agreement of 14 February 1190 let them through. Between 22 and 28 March they crossed the Hellespont at Gallipoli.

In Anatolia the sons of Sultan Kilij Arslan II, among whom he had divided his realm, fought the crusaders. The Germans defeated a Turkish army at Philomelion, and on 18 May 1190 they beat the Turks before Iconium (Konya), the Seljuk capital, stormed the city and took hostages and supplies. They marched on into Cilician Armenia, and on 10 June 1190 Frederick drowned in the river Saleph near the castle of Seleucia. The accounts differ: that he chose to swim across and was swept away by the current, that he was thrown from his horse and dragged down by his armour, or that he drowned while bathing in water not even up to his waist.

Leaderless and demoralized, many of his men went home. His son, Duke Frederick of Swabia, led the remaining 5,000 or so to Antioch and then, by way of Tyre, to Acre, which he reached in October 1190. The emperor's remains were divided: his flesh was buried in the cathedral of St Peter at Antioch, his bones in the cathedral of Tyre, his heart and entrails at Tarsus. The main burden of the crusade passed to the kings of England and France.

Connections

Part of

Third Crusade11 May 1189 – between 1 September and 2 September 1192 · Western and Central Europethe emperor's army, the first to set out, broke up after his death in the Saleph in June 1190

Related events

Battle of Myriokephalon17 September 1176 · Balkans and Anatoliain 1190 the Germans stormed Konya, the Seljuk capital that Manuel I had failed to reach in 1176

Stefan Nemanja unites Serbiabetween 1166 and 1168 – 1196 · Balkans and Anatoliaat Niš on 27 July 1189 Stefan Nemanja welcomed the emperor and his crusaders

Uprising of Asen and Peter: the Second Bulgarian Empire26 October 1185 – between 1187 and 1188 · Balkans and Anatoliain 1189 Peter's envoys met Frederick Barbarossa at Niš and Adrianople and offered help against the Byzantines

Same participants

Frederick Barbarossa's crusade: from Regensburg to the Saleph

Connections

Part of

Related events

Same participants

Meanwhile in the world

Western and Central Europe

Middle East and Egypt

Africa

Central and Northern Asia

South Asia

East Asia

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Latin America

The same period

Sources