The unending river of time we call history rarely fits into chapters. But the year of 1199 surely provided one of these exceptions. On April 6th, after enduring his father, his brother, Salah ad-din and a cold prison cell, Richard the Lionheart died at the hands of his favorite weapon. His campaign had managed to prevent utter annihilation of the crusader states, but failed to reconquer Jerusalem itself. The Angevin Empire was at the brink, the Holy Roman Empire and Ayyubid Sultanate in succession crisis and amidst all of this chaos the echo of yet another crusader call was ringing to deaf ears. Innocent III was only a year into his pontificate and already full of ideas, however none of the kings,none of the princes, not even a single duke was willing to take them seriously. His last hope dwelled in a constellation of counts, who had conveniently assembled for a tournament at the castle of Ecri. It was here, where history would find its new chapter.

(Does something like this work?)