CONSTANTINOPLE AND CAIRO 121
offers of territory if the price were low enough. Before the
final expulsion of the Franks from Syria at the end of the
thirteenth century, practically the whole of the Christian
possessions were in the hands of the military Orders.
Those pessimists who had prophesied the sweeping of the
Franks into the sea at the end of the truce were confounded.
The Latins often seemed to be on the point of losing every-
thing, but on the whole the balance was in their favour in
the East for nearly fifty years after the peace of 1192.
Saladin died in the year after Coeur de Lion sailed for
Europe, and the empire which he had built up became
involved in civil wars. His three sons, El Afdal, El Aziz
and El Zahir took Damascus, Egypt, and Aleppo respec-
tively, and Saladin's brother, Saphadin, was allotted Kerak.
Saphadin, however, was not satisfied with his portion, and
attempted to seize the territories of his nephews. While
such dissensions continued among the Moslems, there was
safety for the Franks.
When the news of Saladin's death reached Europe, plans
were made for a new Crusade, and the Pope (Celestine III)
preached the holy war as energetically as his eighty-five years
permitted. Neither Richard nor Philip Augustus would
embark on another expedition to the East, where their
experiences had been so unfortunate, but, encouraged by the
news of quarrels in the ranks of the Saracens, men from
England and France as well as Italy, Denmark, and
Scandinavia flocked to the Holy Land. Henry VI, Emperor
of Germany, who had taken the cross in 1195, sent an army
of twenty thousand men, and Margaret, Queen of Hungary,
led several thousand soldiers to Palestine from her kingdom.
These forces collected in 1197 outside Acre, now the
rallying-place for armies from the West, but neither the
Temple—of which Gilbert Horal had become Master two
years previously—nor the Hospital was in favour of
hostilities.