Second Crusade

   The Second Crusade (1147-1149) was launched in response to the fall of Edessa (q.v.) to Zangi in 1146. The threat to Constantinople (q.v.) posed by the First Crusade (q.v.) was renewed during this Crusade, as the armies of Conrad III and Louis VII (qq.v.) passed through the city in 1147. Manuel I viewed the approaching armies with justifiable apprehension. Conrad's army committed acts of violence at Adrianople (q.v.) and outside the walls of Constantinople. Odo of Deuil (q.v.) reports that some in Louis VII's army called for an attack on Constantinople. Manuel I (q.v.) was forced to remain in Constantinople in order to protect the city. He tried to persuade Louis VII to join him in an alliance against Roger II of Sicily (q.v.). This attempt not only failed but Roger II used Manuel I's preoccupation with the Crusade to occupy Kerkyra (q.v.) and to attack Corinth and Thebes (qq.v.) in 1147. As soon as the Second Crusade was on its way, Manuel I opened hostilities against Roger II, regaining Kerkyra (q.v.) in 1149. Thus, the Second Crusade was as fraught with danger for Byzantium (q.v.) as the First Crusade had been.