Outremer
The Second Crusade
This was the situation in the summer of 1148 when the armies of the Second Crusade began arriving in Jerusalem. Nuradin was in the north, but could come south if needed. Unur of Damascus was trying to be the ally both of Nuradin and of Jerusalem. One faction of the Palestinian barons wished to keep the Damascus alliance, arguing that now was not the time to break it; another faction, though, argued that now was exactly the right time because of the presence of the Second Crusade.
The failure of the Second Crusade is recounted elsewhere. The young king had staked his reputation on the attack, but its failure was blamed more on the newcomers than on the locals. The German king Conrad went home almost immediately. King Louis stayed around for a few months, but by 1149 the Second Crusade was gone, having accomplished nothing. Even the attack on Damascus had not completely severed the link between it and Jerusalem.
Events were now increasingly dominated by Nuradin. In 1149 he defeated and killed Raymond of Antioch. In 1150, he defeated and captured Joscelin of Edessa, whom he blinded and kept prisoner until his death ten years later. King Baldwin hurried to Antioch's rescue and managed to save the city itself, but all of the Antiochene fortresses and towns were now in Muslim hands. Joscelin's widow held out at Turbessel and King Baldwin marched to her rescue. She sold the remaining Edessan fortresses (six of them) to Emperor Manuel and withdrew to Antioch, King Baldwin providing protection.