Antioch
Antioch and the Third Crusade
Saladin's 1187 campaign in the Levant was shockingly swift, but as profoundly bleak as the Latin situation may have seemed after the Latin defeat at Hattin in June, Antioch, which had managed to hold the line at the Upper Orontes, had yet to breathe its last. On October 29, 1187, pope Gregory VIII issued Audita tremendi, his call for the Third Crusade. Frederick I, Richard I, and Philip II all answered the summons. Though Richard and Philip decided to take the sea route, Frederick lacked the necessary ships and chose the land route. After battling his way across Anatolia, upon reaching Christian territory in Lesser Armenia, the emperor drowned at the River Saleph. Most of his troops melted away immediately; the remainder marched to Antioch where, due to an epidemic there, many more died. The emperor was buried at Antioch and the Germans became an insignificant contingent during the crusade. Throughout the Third Crusade both Tripoli and Antioch remained neutral, though upon the conclusion of the crusade (1192) they were included in the treaty made between Richard and Saladin.