.
Philip was resolved to enlarge his narrow dominions at the expense of
Henry. He was Henry's feudal lord, and he was crafty enough to know
that by assisting Henry's sons he might be able to convert his nominal
lordship into a real power. News, however, arrived in the midst of the
strife which for a little time put an end to the discords of men and
peoples. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, which had been established
after the first crusade, had only maintained itself because the
Mahommedan rulers of Egypt were the rivals and enemies of the
Mahommedan rulers of Syria. Yet even with the advantage of divisions
amongst their enemies, the Christians had only defended themselves
with difficulty. A second crusade which had gone out to relieve them
in Stephen's reign, under the Emperor Conrad III. and Louis VII. of
France, had accomplished nothing. Their real defenders were two bodies
of soldiers, known as the Knights Templars and the Knights of St.
John, who were bound, like monks, to vows of celibacy, so that they
might always be free to defend Jerusalem. At last a great Mahommedan
warrior, Saladin, arose, who ruled both Egypt and Syria, and was
therefore able to bring the united forces of the two countries against
the Christian colony. In =1187= he destroyed the Christian army at
Tiberias, and in the same year took Jerusalem and almost every city
still held by the Christians in the East. Tyre alone held out, and
that, too, would be lost unless help came speedily.

26. =The Last Years of Henry II. 1188--1189.=--For a moment the rulers
of the West were shocked at the tidings from the East. In =1188=
Philip, Henry, and Richard had taken the cross as the sign of their
resolution to recover the Holy City from the infidel. To enable him to
meet the expenses of a war in the East, Henry imposed upon England a
new tax of a tenth part of all movable property, which is known as the
Saladin tithe, but in a few months those who were pledged to go on the
crusade were fighting with one another--first Henry and Richard
against Philip, and then Philip and Richard against Henry. At last, in
=1189=, Henry, beaten in war, was forced to submit to Philip's terms,
receiving in return a list of those of his own barons who had engaged
to support Richard against his father. The list reached him when he
was at Chinon, ill and worn out. The first name on it was that of his
favourite son John. The old man turned his face to the wall. "Let
things go now