SOURCE: “Chapter X” in The History of Chivalry, Harper & Brothers, 1854, pp. 214–32.

In the following essay, James offers an overview of the history of the Second Crusade, which began in 1145. James notes the societal developments that occurred between the First and Second Crusades, and provides an account of the martial developments and ultimate failure of the Second Crusade.

The loss of Edessa shook the kingdom of Jerusalem; not so much from the importance of the city or its territory, as from the exposed state in which it left the frontier of the newly established monarchy. The activity, the perseverance, the power of the Moslems had been too often felt not to be dreaded; and there is every reason to believe, that the clergy spoke but the wishes of the whole people, when in their letters to Europe they pressed their Christian brethren to come once more to the succour...