Timeline

1144	Dec 24	Capture of Edessa
		The county of Edessa, a Crusader state, was captured by Zengi, ruler of Mosul. This triggered the Second Crusade in 1148.
1145	Dec 1	First formal bull of crusade
		First formal bull of crusade (‘Bulla cruciata’ - calling on France to restore the Holy Land to Christendom) issued by Eugenius III, together with ‘Quantum prædecessors’ (reissued 1.3.1146).
1146	Mar 1	Pope reissues Papal Bull for a Crusade
		Pope Eugenius III reissued an amended Bull proclaiming the Second Crusade.
	Mar 31	Sermon at Vezelay
		St. Bernard's sermon at Vezelay so moved Eleanor of Aquitaine that she vowed to go on Crusade.
	Dec 25	Diet of Spires
		Diet of Spires; the emperor Conrad III took the cross and secured the election of his son, Henry, as his successor in Germany.
1147	May	The start of the Second Crusade
		The crusaders left Regensburg to march across land to Constantinople.
	Jun	Louis VII joins the Crusade
		Declaring Abbot Suger regent of France, Louis VII and Eleanor began their Crusade.
1148	Jun 24	Damascus attacked
		The decision was made to attack Damascus. The armies were assembled in Acre. Present were Baldwin, the Patriarch Fulcher, Kings Louis and Conrad, Archbishops of Caesarea and Nazareth, Masters of the Knights Temple and Hospital.
	Sep	Conrad III leaves the Holy Land
		Conrad III of Germany again returned to Constantinople.