They say the current Pope died of a stroke when he heard about the loss of Jerusalem and the True Cross relic. The new Pope Gregory VIII of course began his tenure by proclaiming a new Crusade. Loss of the Holy City had been punishment for their sins; Hebrew prophets like Jeremiah could be borrowed for sermons on repentance. Christendom must repent of their luxurious, worldly ways and give an extra tithe to raise a new army.
In Constantinople, the dynasty of the Komnenoi had been overthrown by members of its extended family. The Emperor was now Isaac Angelos, and the plain fact was that Isaac did not want a new Crusade. He wanted to stabilize the local status quo, push back the Seljuk Turks on his eastern side, and accept Saladin. It was hard enough to maintain his own power against palace coups and revolts. He married his sister to a Norman knight to gain European alliances, and that knight (Conrad of Montferrat) then became the guy who took over Tyre in its time of refugee chaos. So his brother in law ruled Tyre (and by extension, Tripoli), and Greek rites were back in Jerusalem’s churches. Things were pretty good for the Byzantine Empire. No need for a new Crusade.
The aging Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa, set out on Crusade in 1189. He had been a young man during the Second Crusade, going with his uncle King Conrad. Now he was the veteran of many campaigns in Italy and power struggles against the Pope. Frederick took pre-emptive action to protect the Jews from experiencing pogroms, as they had during the First Crusade’s gathering. He took military action against mobs who were ready to riot against Jews, rode in a public parade next to the Chief Rabbi, and proclaimed an edict promising death for death, maiming for maiming.
Frederick’s large army crossed Hungary, where he stopped to visit with its king. He persuaded the king’s brother to join him on Crusade, so they went on with Prince Bela and a large contingent of Hungarian knights.
The German army camped in Bulgaria for the winter. There, they heard from Queen Sybilla of Jerusalem (now in exile) that the Byzantine Emperor had made an alliance with Saladin against them. In spring, as they crossed into Asia at Constantinople, they made a deal with Emperor Isaac by exchanging hostages as a promise that they would not sack any Byzantine cities, the way the earlier Crusaders had done. Then they proceeded into Anatolia itself, heading for Jerusalem.
Frederick had some early success, capturing the town of Iconium, which the Seljuk Sultan was using as his capital city. Seljuk records state that it was the heavy cavalry of the Europeans that won the battle. Holding this city, the Crusaders could rest and replenish food stores. They also commandeered horses to make up for those lost in the battle. Taking high-ranking hostages, they continued south.
But Frederick himself did not see the Holy Land. In June 1190, the Holy Roman Emperor’s horse slipped on a rock while crossing a river in Turkey. Or, in alternative accounts, he was suffering from the heat and went swimming, washed away by a current. He died, but they retrieved the body, and here we get those horrible royal burial details again. His son had the flesh boiled off his bones, so that the bones could go on with them to the Holy Land, fulfilling his oath. With difficulty, the German and Hungarian army brought the bones to Tyre, where cousin Conrad helped bury them in Acre.
Meanwhile, the really spectacular part of the Third Crusade was still ramping up, back in England and France. Henry II thought he’d join and started taxing England for the Crusade, but he died. That left Richard being crowned midway through the taxing process, inheriting the mission. Richard was all too happy to leave London as soon as possible and head out on a war adventure. He had been working on overthrowing his father with France’s help; now he joined the Crusade with his dear friend, the French King Philip II.