The Second Crusade, Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Rise of Saladin

The Second Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Eugenius III through the bull "Quantum praedecessores" (1145) after the County of Edessa fell to Zengi of Mosul in 1144. Bernard of Clairvaux, the most influential ecclesiastical figure in Western Europe of his generation, became its principal preacher, mobilizing the French and German nobility with extraordinary success; his sermon at Vézelay in 1146, before Louis VII of France, provoked a massive response, and he also preached personally in Germany, persuading a reluctant Conrad III to join. The expedition was led by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany — the first time two of Europe's most powerful monarchs personally took part in a crusade — but both armies suffered heavy defeats crossing Anatolia, especially at Dorylaeum in 1147.