The Church of the Order of St John, located in the Priory in Clerkenwell, was an impressive edifice and one of the largest and most exquisite churches in London.  Its first phase of construction lasted from  1144 to 1160, but work to expand both the crypt and the chancel continued until 1185.  To reconsecrate the church after this last phase of construction a suitably important person would be required…

Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem (1180-91) had left the East in 1184 leading an embassy which included the Master of the Temple and the Master of the Hospital, Roger de Moulins. This dignified group faced the difficult task of convincing European monarchs that the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was in grave danger, and needed urgent support if it was to survive at all.  From the early 1170s the Crusader States of the Levant faced increasing pressure from neighbouring Muslim states.  Throughout the early 12th century the Crusader states had benefited from the disunity of their Muslim neighbours, and had even on numerous occasions found allies amongst them.  From 1179-85, the Kurdish general Saladin used a skillful mixture of diplomacy, propaganda and aggression to ensure the Muslim states were united behind him.  By 1185 he was master of Egypt; controlled the cities of Syria; the city of Mosul and could count on the support of the Seldjuk Sultan of modern day Turkey. Opposing him was the ailing  ‘leper king’, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, who was to die in 1185 leaving only a child as an heir. The most powerful Crusader barons had split into opposing factions and had spent the years preceding Baldwin’s death squabbling over the succession.  Monetary support from Europe was no longer enough to save the situation – the Kingdom of Jerusalem needed a king.

Upon reaching France, the Patriarch was hastily pushed onto England by the King of France, Philip Augustus, and the embassy met King Henry II of England at Reading Abbey in January 1185. It was there that Heraclius offered Henry the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Presenting Henry with the keys to the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre and the banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Heraclius endeavoured to persuade Henry with an emotional appeal. Sources suggest that Henry was deeply moved by the Patriarch’s report but wished to consult his council before reaching a decision.  Henry commanded all his leading prelates, lords and barons to meet him at the Priory of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in Clerkenwell on 10 March to discuss the matter.

It was on this occasion that the Priory Church and Crypt were reconsecrated by Heraclius in a lavish ceremony attended by Henry, his barons and Roger de Moulins, the first Grand Master to visit the Priory of England.  In conversation with the Patriach, Henry was reminded of his pledges which he had made in the 1160s to go on crusade, but he was ultimately persuaded by his council to remain in Europe and attend to his own lands and people before committing himself to a foreign adventure.

Having failed to attract the support the Holy Land so direly needed, Heraclius returned to Jerusalem. In 1187  a Christian army sent to meet Saladin’s invading force was surrounded and annihilated at the Battle of Hattin.  Jerusalem fell shortly after and the kingdom shrank to a coastal belt centred upon the city of Acre. There was no shortage of enthusiasm for the Third Crusade a few years later, but it was too late to turn the tide. The embassy’s intention had not been to inspire this sort of spontaneous, short lived expedition but to attract long term support and a solid commitment from a major European monarch, which it ultimately failed to achieve.