Frederick Barbarossa's Crusade had failed miserably when the German Emperor accidentally drowned in a river while crossing Turkish-held Anatolia. The Crusaders left in the Middle East were desperately hanging onto Tyre, Tripoli and Antioch. Quarrels between them undermined their hopes of resisting Saladin. But at the moment of despair, there was an unexpected development that would give the Crusades a whole new lease of life.

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