title: James Gang

text: James Gang is an American rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. The band went through a variety of line-up changes until they recorded their first album as a power trio consisting of Joe Walsh (guitars, lead vocals), Tom Kriss (bass), and Jim Fox (drums). Dale Peters replaced Kriss on bass for the band's second and third albums. Two of the band's songs, "Funk #49" and "Walk Away", continue to be popular on classic rock and AOR stations.


title: James Gang

text: In late 1971, Walsh left to pursue a solo career and would later join the Eagles. The band carried on with a number of other guitarists and lead singers to replace Walsh, but it failed to produce a hit song over the course of six more studio albums. It broke up in 1977. Several incarnations have reformed for reunions since then. On September 3, 2022, the band's power trio returned for a performance at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert held in Wembley Stadium.


title: James Gang

text: Drummer Jim Fox first played with the Cleveland-area band the Outsiders but left them in 1965 to attend college. After they had a national hit the following year with "Time Won't Let Me", Fox returned temporarily to play with them after their drummer was drafted. After leaving them again to return to school, Fox, heavily influenced by the sound of British Invasion bands such as the Beatles, the Who and the Yardbirds, began to think about forming his own band and teamed up with schoolmate Ronnie Silverman (guitar), bassist Tom Kriss and keyboardist Phil Giallombardo in 1966.


title: James Gang

text: The James Gang's earliest lineup consisted of Fox (drums), Kriss (bass), Silverman (guitar), Giallombardo (vocals, keyboards), and after auditioning some 25 candidates for lead guitar, the band decided to go with Greg Grandillo, who later played with another popular Cleveland band, Rainbow Canyon. He was soon replaced by Dennis Chandler, who was then succeeded by John "Mouse" Michalski who, with the Count Five, had just enjoyed a national hit with "Psychotic Reaction".


title: James Gang

text: A short time later, Fox was invited to audition for a nine-piece rhythm and blues band that was being assembled. Fox initially declined the offer but changed his mind when he heard that local guitar legend Glenn Schwartz, who was fresh out of the army, was to be in attendance. After hearing Schwartz play, and hearing that two of his influences were the Spencer Davis Group and Jeff Beck, Fox was impressed and invited Schwartz to join the James Gang. However, Michalski was not as enthused by Glenn's playing as Fox and left the band immediately. Ronnie Silverman soon departed as well to enter the military. Bill Jeric was then brought in to play alongside Schwartz. No recordings were ever released by these early lineups of the band.


title: James Gang

text: Around Christmastime of 1967, Schwartz, who was found to be AWOL from the army and was breaking up with his wife, decided to leave the band and move to California, where he ended up forming the band Pacific Gas & Electric.


title: James Gang

text: Just days later, shortly after the new year of 1968, a friend of Schwartz's, Joe Walsh (from a band called The Measles), knocked on Fox's door and asked to be given a tryout as Glenn's replacement. Walsh was accepted and the band continued as a five piece for a short time until Giallombardo, who was still in high school at the time, left. Jeric and Walsh worked together on guitar parts but, in the spring of 1968, Jeric ended up leaving as well. He was replaced by a returning Ronnie Silverman, who had been discharged from the military.


title: James Gang

text: On Sunday June 9, 1968, the group played a concert in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom opening for Cream. At the last minute, Silverman informed the others that he would not be joining them at the show. The band, desperately in need of the money, took to the stage as a trio. They liked their sound as a threesome and decided to remain that way.


title: James Gang

text: In 1968, the band signed with manager Mark Barger, who was handling the career of a fellow Ohio band, the Lemon Pipers, who had just scored a big hit with "Green Tambourine". Barger put the Gang in touch with ABC Records staff producer Bill Szymczyk, who got them signed to ABC's new Bluesway Records subsidiary in January 1969.


title: James Gang

text: In March 1969, the band, now consisting of Fox, Kriss and Walsh and produced by Szymczyk, released its debut LP, "Yer' Album".


title: James Gang

text: Later in 1969, Szymczyk was music coordinator for the George Englund movie "Zachariah" (which was released in 1971), based on the 1922 novel "Siddhartha" by writer Hermann Hesse. Szymczyk arranged for the band to appear in the movie, with two James Gang songs, "Laguna Salada" and "Country Fever", also being used. For the recording of these two songs, vocalist Kenny Weiss, a friend of Fox's, was brought in to allow Walsh to focus on his guitar playing. However, Weiss was gone by the time the group arrived in Mexico to film their scenes in the movie. "Laguna Salada" and "Country Fever" later reappeared as bonus tracks on the 2000 re-release of "The James Gang Greatest Hits".


title: James Gang

text: In November 1969, bassist Tom Kriss left the band after his father, George, was diagnosed with lung cancer after he had worked for Alcoa for years, where he was likely exposed to various industrial carcinogens involved in the production of aluminium. Kriss was replaced by Dale Peters, who was brought in from another group called Case of E.T. Hooley. Kriss also died from cancer on May 6, 2013, at age 63.


title: James Gang

text: In 1969, Roger Abramson went to JB's, a small club in Kent, Ohio, and advised Belkin Productions to start a Management division with the James Gang and the band Silk, which included Michael Stanley.


title: James Gang

text: In July 1970, the band released its second album, "James Gang Rides Again", which included the popular single "Funk #49."


title: James Gang

text: In the spring of 1970, Belkin Productions arranged for the band to open for the Who for six dates during a US tour and their guitarist Pete Townshend was so impressed with them he invited the band to open for him on their fall tour of the United Kingdom. Townshend and Joe Walsh then started a long friendship with Pete telling Rolling Stone that Joe was the best American guitar player. In January 1971 they appeared on Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom.


title: James Gang

text: In July 1971, the Gang returned to tour Europe. During their heyday, the band also shared the stage with artists like Grand Funk Railroad, Kinks, Humble Pie, Three Dog Night and Led Zeppelin.


title: James Gang

text: But after two more albums, 1971's "Thirds," and the live album "James Gang Live in Concert" released later that same year, Walsh, who was tired of the pressure of doing most of the writing and singing and being the only melodic instrument in the trio, left the band in December 1971. He relocated to the mountains of Colorado and eventually formed Barnstorm.


title: James Gang

text: Peters and Fox carried on with vocalist Roy Kenner and guitarist Domenic Troiano (both ex-members of the Canadian band Bush) for two albums, "Straight Shooter" and "Passin' Thru", both released in 1972. But in recent interviews, Fox stated that things did not work out musically with Troiano as hoped, so Troiano left the band in 1973 and would subsequently join the Guess Who.


title: James Gang

text: Troiano was replaced by future Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolin after Joe Walsh called to recommend him to the band. Bolin joined the band in August 1973 and appeared on two albums, "Bang!" and "Miami", that saw the band moving from ABC Records over to Atlantic Records' Atco label.


title: James Gang

text: During the recording of "Miami" in 1974, Kenner ran into legal troubles after a drug bust and was not available initially for recording. Other singers were reportedly auditioned but eventually Kenner was able to return to complete the album. Not happy with the musical direction, and frustrated with the indifference from Bolin concerning new material, Kenner gave notice, telling Fox and Peters he would stay on until a replacement was found. Aware of this development, a disillusioned Bolin decided to leave as well, albeit in a slightly different manner: no notice, and simply not showing up for the gig. Bolin went on to work with Dr. John and Alphonse Mouzon and attempted to form another group with future Crosby, Stills and Nash keyboardist Mike Finnigan before accepting the offer from Deep Purple in 1975.


title: James Gang

text: After Kenner's departure he later joined Ohio based band "LAW", followed by a stint with Troiano, then some solo projects, and many years doing voice-over sessions. After Kenner and Bolin's exit, the band went over to England to look for a new guitar player. Jimmy McCulloch (ex-Thunderclap Newman) expressed interest in joining but was committed to Paul McCartney's Wings. The group returned home dejected.


title: James Gang

text: By early 1975, Fox and Peters decided to try again with a new lineup that included Fox's old friends, vocalist Bubba Keith, who had been playing out in LA with a band called Uncle Tom and guitarist Richard Shack who had previously played in the band Case of E.T. Hooley with Peters. This lineup recorded the album "Newborn", which featured a cover of the Elvis Presley staple "Heartbreak Hotel".


title: James Gang

text: The band released a final recording, "Jesse Come Home", in February 1976, which featured the return of early member Phil Giallombardo, who rejoined along with new guitarist/vocalist Bob Webb (who, like Joe Walsh, had played in the group The Measles).


title: James Gang

text: Ultimately, none of the post-Walsh lineups achieved the level of success enjoyed in their early 1970s heyday. Drummer Fox was the only remaining member of the original band when James Gang finally disbanded early in 1977.


title: James Gang

text: In a 1998 Chris Welch interview, Fox talks of the Gang's final years and the breakup: "It became a quest to find a suitable replacement for Joe Walsh. We'd try some guys and do an album or two, but it wasn't quite what we wanted and so we'd move on to something else in the hope of recapturing the old spirit. Some of the albums were good but we were always looking to find that particular thing we had with Joe and I don't think we ever found it again. So, after all those changes, Dale and I just talked one day and said 'Enough's enough'. That's when we decided to let it go. I never aspired to start another band. Instead I decided to take six months off and see what happened. If John Lennon called I'd see about it. That was my attitude. I wasn't looking to start up again."


title: James Gang

text: After James Gang broke up, Fox was involved for a time with the Belkin management firm, who handled the affairs for artists like Michael Stanley Band, Wild Cherry and Donnie Iris. As for other latter day Gang members, Bubba Keith went on to play for England Dan & John Ford Coley and was later the lead vocalist for Point Blank, while Bob Webb played in Jay Ferguson's band.


title: James Gang

text: The "classic" lineup of the band consisting of Walsh, Peters and Fox first reunited in July 1991 at Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland when Fox and Peters took to the stage during a Walsh concert to play three songs. The trio then gathered together again to perform at an election rally for President Bill Clinton at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center on November 4, 1996. They also appeared on "The Drew Carey Show" in the 1998–99 season and at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Allen Theater in Cleveland for three shows in February 2001, joined by keyboardist Mark Avsec (ex-Wild Cherry and Donnie Iris & the Cruisers). And in the summer of 2005, the group performed another handful of shows (joined again by Avsec) in the Cleveland area.


title: James Gang

text: As of May 2004, Glenn Schwartz was playing guitar and singing Thursday nights at "Major Hooples" in the Flats, Cleveland. And as of 2014, Schwartz continued to perform at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. Schwartz died on November 3, 2018, at the age of 77.


title: James Gang

text: In April 2006, it was announced that the Walsh/Peters/Fox lineup of the group would be touring the United States later that summer, supported by keyboardist Bill Appleberry and backing vocalists Gia Ciambetti, Robbyn Kirmsse and Stacy Michelle. During this summer tour, the band appeared in August performing live on "The Howard Stern Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio.


title: James Gang

text: In March 2012, it was stated on ultimateclassicrock.com that Walsh was in the Cleveland-area Lava Room Recording Studios with Fox and Peters, working on new recordings of their well-known James Gang tracks, with longtime friends Joe Vitale and Michael Stanley contributing. Since this time, however, nothing more has been heard about this, probably due to Walsh's ongoing busy schedule with the Eagles.


title: James Gang

text: In August 2022, it was announced that the band would play two shows for the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts. The shows were scheduled for September 3 at Wembley Stadium and September 27 at the Kia Forum


title: James Gang

text: The James Gang participated in their first in-store signing event in over 50 years on November 8, 2022, at Used Kids Records in Columbus, Ohio. After a brief interview, Jimmy Fox, Joe Walsh and Dale Peters signed autographs at the store, which is located just a few blocks from Walsh’s childhood home. Proceeds from the event raised funds for various veterans-related organizations via Walsh’s VetsAid charity.


title: James Gang

text: On November 13, 2022, the group performed at the VetsAid concert in Columbus, Ohio. There were early reports that VetsAid would be a final gig for the James Gang, but Joe Walsh said that may not be the case. “Glenn Frey used to say never say never, so I’m not,” Walsh explained. “We played the concerts for Taylor Hawkins and it worked really good; we got in front of an audience and we were able to do what we used to do. I haven’t played loud on 11 in a long time; I play in a vocal group, so I have small amps. It’s different to turn it up and go for it, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until we started cookin’ with the James Gang. I can’t wait to play again.”


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1882 or 1884 or 1885 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industry's most prestigious movie studio, accumulating the largest concentration of leading writers, directors, and stars in Hollywood.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer was born in the Russian Empire and grew up poor in Saint John, New Brunswick. He quit school at 12 to support his family and later moved to Boston and purchased a small vaudeville theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts, called the "Garlic Box" because it catered to poorer Italian immigrants. He renovated and expanded several other theaters in the Boston area catering to audiences of higher social classes. After expanding and moving to Los Angeles, he teamed with film producer Irving Thalberg and they developed hundreds of high-quality story-based films, known for their wholesome and lush entertainment. Mayer handled the business of running the studio, such as setting budgets and approving new productions, while Thalberg, still in his twenties, supervised all MGM productions.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: During his long reign at MGM, Mayer acquired many enemies as well as admirers. Some stars did not appreciate his attempts to control their private lives, while others saw him as a solicitous father figure. He believed in wholesome entertainment and went to great lengths to discover new actors and develop them into major stars. He also forced compliance from female stars by threatening their livelihoods, and sexually abused Judy Garland, whom he forced to go on diets, take drugs, and work punishing schedules.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer was forced to resign as MGM's vice president in 1951, when the studio's parent company, Loew's, Inc., wanted to improve declining profits. A staunch conservative, Mayer at one time was the chairman of the California Republican Party. In 1927 he was one of the founders of AMPAS, famous for its annual Academy Awards.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: The exact date and location of Mayer's birth remain highly disputed. According to Bosley Crowther, Mayer was born "in a little town near Minsk" according to Samuel Marx in "Demre", according to Gary Carey in "Dmra, a village between Minsk and Vilnius" while Charles Higham and Scott Eyman believed that Mayer was born in Dymer near Kyiv in Ukraine. In addition, Andrzej Krakowski suggested that the birthplace has been misinterpreted and Mayer was in fact from the town of Mińsk Mazowiecki in eastern Poland, which at the time was subjugated by the Russian Empire.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: According to his personal details in the U.S. immigration documents, the date was July 4, 1885. In addition he gave his birth year as 1882 in his marriage certificate while the April 1910 census states his age as 26 (b.1883). His parents were Jacob Meir and Sarah Meltzer (both Jewish) and he had two sisters — Yetta, born in c. 1878 and Ida, born in c. 1883. Mayer first moved with his family to Long Island, where they lived from 1887 to 1892 and where his two brothers were born—Rubin, in April 1888 and Jeremiah, in April 1891. Then, they moved to Saint John, New Brunswick, where Mayer attended school.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: His father started a scrap metal business, J. Mayer & Son. An immigrant unskilled in any trade, he struggled to earn a living. Young Louis quit school at age twelve to work with his father and help support his family. He roamed the streets with a cart that said "Junk Dealer" and collected any scrap metal he came across. When the owner of a tin business, John Wilson, saw him with his cart, he began giving him copper trimmings which were of no use and Mayer considered Wilson to be his first partner and his best friend. Wilson remembered that he was impressed with the boy's good manners and bright personality. Whenever Mayer visited Saint John in later years, he placed flowers on Wilson's grave, just as he did on his mother's.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: "It was a crappy childhood", said Mayer's nephew Gerald. His family was poor and Mayer's father spoke little English and had no valuable skills. It thus became young Mayer's ambition and drive which supported the family. With his family speaking mostly Yiddish at home, his goal of self-education when he quit school was made more difficult.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In his spare time, he hung around the York Theater, sometimes paying to watch the live vaudeville shows. He became enamored of the entertainment business. Then in 1904 the 20-year-old Mayer left Saint John for Boston, where he continued for a time in the scrap metal business, got married and took a variety of odd jobs to support his new family when his junk business lagged.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which he reopened on November 28, 1907, as the Orpheum, his first movie theater. To overcome an unfavorable reputation that the building had, Mayer opened with a religious film at his new Orpheum, "From the Manger to the Cross", in 1912. Within a few years, he owned all five of Haverhill's theaters, and, with Nathan H. Gordon, created the Gordon-Mayer partnership that controlled the largest theater chain in New England. During his years in Haverhill, Mayer lived at 16 Middlesex St. in the city's Bradford section, closer to city center at Temple Street and at 2 1/2 Merrimac St. Mayer also lived in a house he built at 27 Hamilton Ave.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In 1914, the partners organized their own film distribution agency in Boston. Mayer paid D.W. Griffith $25,000 for the exclusive rights to show "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) in New England. Mayer made the bid on a film that one of his scouts had seen, but he had not, although he was well aware of the plot surrounding the Ku Klux Klan; his decision netted him over $100,000. Using earnings from the popularity of "The Birth of a Nation", Mayer partnered with Richard A. Rowland in 1916 to create Metro Pictures Corporation, a talent booking agency, in New York City.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Two years later, Mayer moved to Los Angeles and formed his own production company, Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. The first production was 1918's "Virtuous Wives". A partnership was set up with B. P. Schulberg to make the Mayer-Schulberg Studio


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In late 1922, Mayer was introduced to Irving Thalberg, then working for Universal Pictures. Mayer was searching for someone to help him manage his small, but dynamic and fast-growing studio. At that first meeting, Thalberg made an immediate positive impression on Mayer, writes biographer Roland Flamini. Later that evening, after Thalberg had left, Mayer told the studio's attorney, Edwin Loeb, to let Thalberg know that if he wanted to work for Mayer, he would be treated like a son.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Although their personalities were in many ways opposite, Mayer being more outspoken and nearly twice the younger man's age, Thalberg was hired as vice president in charge of production at Louis B. Mayer Productions. Years later, Mayer's daughter, Irene Mayer Selznick, found it hard to believe that anyone "so boyish could be so important". According to Flamini, Thalberg was hired because, although Mayer was an astute businessman, he lacked Thalberg's strong ability to combine making films of quality with gaining commercial success.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer's big breakthrough was in April 1924 when his company subsequently merged with two others to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The 24-year-old Thalberg was made part-owner and accorded the same position as vice president in charge of production.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Marcus Loew, owner of the Loew's chain, merged Metro Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn's Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, and Mayer Pictures into Metro-Goldwyn. Loew had bought Metro and Goldwyn some months before, but could not find anyone to oversee his new holdings on the West Coast. Mayer, with his proven success as a producer, was an obvious choice. He was named head of studio operations and a Loew's vice president, based in Los Angeles, reporting to Loew's longtime right-hand man Nicholas Schenck. He would hold this post for the next 27 years. Before the year was out, Mayer added his name to the studio with Loew's blessing, renaming it Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Three years after the merger, MGM became the most successful studio in Hollywood.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Loew died in 1927, and Schenck became president of Loew's. Mayer and Schenck hated each other intensely; Mayer reportedly referred to his boss, whose name was pronounced "Skenk", as "Mr. Skunk" in private. Two years later, Schenck agreed to sell Loew's – and MGM – to William Fox, which angered Mayer. But despite his important role in MGM, Mayer was not a shareholder, and had no standing to challenge the sale. So he instead used his Washington connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay the merger on antitrust grounds. During the summer of 1929, Fox was severely injured in an auto accident. By the time he recovered, the stock market crash had wiped out his fortune, destroying any chance of the deal going through even if the Justice Department had lifted its objections. Nonetheless, Schenck believed Mayer had cost him a fortune and never forgave him, causing an already frigid relationship to become even worse.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer and Thalberg were a brilliant team that worked well together. They relied on each other, and neither operated unilaterally. Mayer took charge of the business part of running the studio, such as setting budgets and approving new productions. Thalberg, eventually called the "boy wonder", took charge of all MGM productions. Director Joseph M. Newman said that their skills complemented each other well, with Thalberg having a great story mind, and Mayer having superior business acumen.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: They shared a guiding philosophy, to make the best motion pictures they could at any cost, even if it meant reshooting the entire picture. More important than showing a consistent profit with their films was, for them, to see MGM become a high-quality studio. That goal began with their early silent films, when stars such as Greta Garbo, Mayer's discovery, acted in lush settings with spectacular camera work.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Although they initially got along well, their relationship frayed over philosophical differences. Thalberg preferred literary works over the crowd-pleasers Mayer wanted. He ousted Thalberg as production chief in 1932, while Thalberg was recovering from a heart attack, and replaced him with producer David O. Selznick.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: But MGM received a serious blow when Thalberg died suddenly on September 14, 1936, at age 37. His death came as a shock to Mayer and everyone at MGM and the other studios. Mayer issued statements to the press, calling Thalberg "the finest friend a man could ever have ... the guiding inspiration behind the artistic progress on the screen." His funeral was a major news event in Los Angeles. All the studios observed five minutes of silence, while MGM closed its studio for the entire day.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer dedicated MGM's front office building and christened it the Thalberg Building. He had the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences establish the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, given to producers to recognize their exceptional careers, now considered one of the most prestigious awards in the Hollywood film industry.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: After Thalberg died, many in Hollywood expected Mayer to "stumble and fall". Director Joseph M. Newman saw the studio start to change for the worse. Some actors were affected, such as Luise Rainer, winner of Hollywood's first back-to-back Oscars, who felt that the death of Thalberg marked the death of her career: "Had it not been that he died, I think I may have stayed much longer in films." Joan Crawford was also concerned, feeling that with Thalberg gone, the concept of the quality "big" picture "pretty much went out the window".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: However, MGM under Mayer's leadership continued to produce successful movies. Mayer was made head of production as well as studio chief. For the next ten years, MGM grew and thrived. 1939 was an especially "golden" year: besides distributing "Gone with the Wind," MGM released "The Wizard of Oz," "Babes in Arms," "At the Circus," and "The Women". Garbo laughed in "Ninotchka;" "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" won an Oscar (it was nominated for seven); and Hedy Lamarr, another of Mayer's personal discoveries, made her film debut.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer became the first person in American history to earn a million-dollar salary. For nine years from 1937, when he earned $1,300,000—equivalent to $ today,Mayer was the highest-paid man in the United States.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In his overall management skills, Mayer was considered a great executive, someone who could have run General Motors equally as well as a large studio like MGM, said producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz. He worked at the studio all the time, and decisively, without any fixed schedule, but didn't like paperwork. Some said Mayer had a lot in common with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Hearst had financed multiple MGM pictures, while MGM benefited by having film reviews included nationwide in the Hearst newspapers.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Hearst, 20 years Mayer's senior, affectionately referred to Mayer as "son" and they became good friends. Mayer took Hearst's suggestion to build himself an office bungalow on the MGM lot, something Hearst said was appropriate for a studio head: "Everybody of distinction from all over the world comes to Los Angeles and everybody who comes wants to see your studio and they all want to meet you and do meet you, so put on a few airs son, and provide the atmosphere." Director Clarence Brown pointed out that overall, Mayer's skill was similar to Hearst's in that they both learned by doing. What Mayer couldn't do on his own, he hired the best talent he could find to do for him. "Like Hearst and Henry Ford," said Brown, "he was an executive genius".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer's temper was widely known, but most people knew that his sudden bursts of anger faded quickly. With those working underneath him, he was usually patient and preferred to leave department heads alone, and would fire executives if they failed to produce successful films over a long period.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: At its peak in the 1940s, MGM employed six thousand people, had three entrances, and covered 185 acres in Culver City, California, outside of Los Angeles. It had forty cameras and sixty sound machines, used on its six separate lots, and connected with its own rail line. About 2,700 people ate in the commissary every day. Power was supplied by an in-house electrical plant which could light a town of 25,000. In addition, MGM maintained a police force of fifty officers—larger than that of Culver City itself. "Anywhere from sixteen to eighteen pictures were being shot at one time", remembers actress Ann Rutherford. "They were either shooting or preparing to shoot on every sound stage."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer helped create what is termed the "star system". At one point he explained the process he went through in creating a star:


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: During MGM's growth period, Mayer traveled often, and among his personal discoveries were Greta Garbo, Hedy Lamarr, Norma Shearer and Greer Garson. He also signed up dancing team Marge and Gower Champion and discovered Mario Lanza, then a young tenor from Philadelphia, who Mayer hoped to turn into a "singing Clark Gable".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: When hiring new actors, he typically wanted them to agree to stay with the studio for either three or seven years, during which time they would become one of the MGM "family". The studio usually succeeded in hiring those it wanted since they offered the highest salaries. With executives, Mayer took more time before taking them, wanting to know them first on a personal level. He respected intelligence and talent overall, said manager Joe Cohn: "One time he said to me, 'Never be afraid of hiring a fellow smarter than you are. You'll only learn from them.'"


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer took pride in his ability to hire good people, and once hired, he left them alone to do their job without interference. That policy held true whether the person was a producer, a department head or simply a janitor. As a result, while other studios went through continuous upheavals or reorganizations, Mayer's hands-off policy kept MGM stable and sound, where employees felt their jobs were secure."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: When meeting a new employee, he always told them to come to him personally for help with any problems. Some, like Barbara Stanwyck, considered this attitude to be "pompous" however, since he used his position to meddle in people's lives. Others, such as actor Edward G. Robinson, after his first meeting Mayer, said "I found him to be a man of truth ... Behind his gutta-percha face and roly-poly figure, it was evident there was a man of steel—but well-mannered steel." British director Victor Saville remembered him as being "the best listener. He wanted to know. He was the devil's advocate. He would prod you and question you and suck you dry of any knowledge."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: His attitude and conversational style were both professional and animated, sometimes "theatrical", observed June Caldwell, secretary to Eddie Mannix, Mayer's assistant. "Bombastic and colorful, but I never heard him use nasty language ... he had a great loyalty to everybody, and everybody respected him. And he would listen ... You could work with him." His manners were considered "impeccable".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: With MGM's film output as high as one film each week, he never panicked over a bad picture. If somebody suggested canceling a movie and cutting the studio's losses, when a film had consistent production problems, Mayer would typically refuse. He relied on his instinct and intuition, said actress Esther Williams. Although he didn't read full scripts, if he was given the framework of a story, he could assemble the pieces needed to see if it could be a successful film.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Occasionally, when producers, directors, writers or actors were deadlocked over how to handle a problem in a film, he would mediate. On "Rosalie", for instance, when Nelson Eddy refused to sing a song he thought was too melodramatic, its songwriter, Cole Porter, went to Mayer and played it for him. Mayer was moved to tears by the song, and told Eddy to sing it. "Imagine making Louis B. Mayer cry," Porter later told friends.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: With regard to any technical issues with productions, Mayer left the details and solutions to MGM's engineers. He, though, like other top film executives and Hollywood stars in the 1920s and early 1930s, was often too quick to dismiss news of inventions and major innovations on the horizon that might profoundly change the movie industry or possibly challenge in the future the growing dominance of films in the realm of American entertainment. Beyond the well-entrenched aspect of sound by 1932, other technologies being discussed at that time in newspapers and on studio lots included color features, widescreen formatting, and even early television. In August 1932, after an "exclusive" interview with Mayer in New York, "The Film Daily" reported the movie mogul's assertions that such potential developments would never impact motion pictures in substantial, meaningful ways:


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: With many of his actors, Mayer was like an overprotective father. In some cases, especially with child actors, he could become closely involved in managing their everyday life, telling them where to shop, where to dine, or what doctor to visit. He liked giving suggestions about how they could take better care of themselves. He sometimes arranged marriages, and coping with occupational hazards such as alcoholism, suicide, and eccentric sexual habits were as much a part of his job as negotiating contracts with stars and directors. When he learned that June Allyson was dating David Rose, for instance, he told her to stop seeing him: "If you care about your reputation, you cannot be seen with a married man."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Stories about his sobbing or rages have often been repeated in books, but few employees ever saw that part of him. "Mr. Mayer was to me like a father", said Ricardo Montalbán. "He really thought of the people under contract as his boys and girls." Mayer's paternalism could extend to productions; for example, he revised the "Dr. Kildare" stories in order to keep an ailing Lionel Barrymore, who became wheelchair-bound with arthritis, on the job.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Some, such as young starlet Elizabeth Taylor, disliked Mayer overseeing their lives; Taylor called him a "monster", while Mickey Rooney, another young actor who co-starred with Taylor when she was 12, formed the opposite impression: "He was the daddy of everybody and vitally interested in everybody. They always talk badly about Mayer, but he was really a wonderful guy ... he listened and you listened." Rooney spoke from experience, as he himself had some confrontations with Mayer, observed film historian Jane Ellen Wayne:


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: One of Rooney's repeat costars in "Andy Hardy" and other films was Judy Garland, with whom he made nine films. Garland stated in her unfinished autobiography that Mayer molested her. In the late 1940s, she began having personal problems which affected her acting, and Mayer tried his best to protect her star reputation while continuing to have her overworked and making money for MGM. She suffered from addictions to prescription drugs, severely disordered eating and domestic strains, as well as a multitude of issues with her mental health. This was largely the result of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, her mother, and the era's ignorance of diet and drugs. When her absences caused the production of "Summer Stock" to go far over budget, producer Joe Pasternak suggested that Mayer cut his losses and cancel the picture. Mayer refused, telling him, "Judy Garland has made this studio a fortune in the good days, and the least we can do is to give her one more chance. If you stop production now, it'll finish her." in what some consider to be his last attempt at holding on to her fame for the benefit of the studio. She completed the film, but during her next picture, "Annie Get Your Gun", the studio finally ran out of patience. Costar Howard Keel recalls that "she began to fall apart".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer wanted the studio to nurture child stars for MGM's family-oriented productions. The studio provided all the essential services, such as formal education and medical care. They were given acting or dancing tutors. Mayer loved children, wrote biographer Kitty Kelley: "They provided the magic that brought millions of people stampeding into theaters every week ... They were the good, clean, wholesome elements of the folksy entertainment that was MGM's specialty."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Jackie Coogan, then 11, marked the studio's debut using child stars with his role in "The Rag Man" in 1925. During Hollywood's golden age, MGM had more child actors than any other studio, including Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, and Roddy McDowall.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: While MGM's films during the 1920s and 1930s were often known for containing adult themes and strong female stars, such as Greta Garbo, after Thalberg's early death in 1936, Mayer promoted a change in emphasis to more male leads, family themes, and child stars. And unusual for a movie mogul, he took moral positions in his movies, especially when it came to portraying family values—as in the "Andy Hardy" series. One of Mayer's proudest moments came when Mickey Rooney, who starred as Andy Hardy, was given a special award by the Academy in 1942 for "furthering the American way of life."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer tried to express an idealized vision of men, women, and families in the real world they lived in. He also believed in beauty, glamour, and the "star system". In MGM films, "marriage was sacrosanct and mothers were objects of veneration". Author Peter Hay states that Mayer "cherished the Puritan values of family and hard work." When he hired writers, he made those objectives clear at the outset, once telling screenwriter Frances Marion that he never wanted his own daughters or his wife to be embarrassed when watching an MGM movie. "I worship good women, honorable men, and saintly mothers", he told her. Mayer was serious about that, once coming from behind his desk and knocking director Erich von Stroheim to the floor when he said that all women were whores.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer knew that formula in his themes and stories usually works. He felt that the general public, especially Americans, like to see stars, spectacle, and optimism on screen, and if possible, with a little sentiment attached. They don't like to be challenged or instructed, but comforted and entertained.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Therefore, having messages was less important to Mayer than giving his audience pure entertainment and escapism. In his screen dramas, he wanted them to be melodramatic, whereas in comedies, he often laced them with strong doses of sentimentality. "He loved swaggering, charismatic hams like Lionel Barrymore and Marie Dressler", wrote Eyman.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Musicals were high on his list of preferred genres. Anxious to make more of them, on a hunch, he asked songwriter Arthur Freed to be associate producer for "The Wizard of Oz". As Mayer hoped, Freed's unit at MGM produced many films considered among the best musicals ever made: "For Me and My Gal", "Girl Crazy", "Meet Me in St. Louis", "The Harvey Girls", "The Pirate", "Easter Parade", "The Barkleys of Broadway", "On the Town", "An American in Paris", "Singin' in the Rain", "The Band Wagon", and "Gigi". Mayer's greatest contributions to posterity are said to be his musicals. Both "An American in Paris" and "Gigi" won the Academy Award for Best Picture.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Unlike Charlie Chaplin, who produced "The Great Dictator", the other, much larger Hollywood studios lacked the freedom to make such independent films. Mayer understood that the Germans could ban or boycott Hollywood films throughout much of Europe, with serious economic implications, since 30 to 40 percent of Hollywood's income came from European audiences. Nevertheless, MGM produced "Three Comrades" in 1938, despite movie censor Joseph Breen warning Mayer that the film was "a serious indictment of the German nation and people and is certain to be violently resented by the present government in that country."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: After the Second World War began in Europe in September 1939, Mayer authorized the production of two anti-Nazi films, "The Mortal Storm" and "Escape." At the same time, Warner Brothers produced "Confessions of a Nazi Spy." The German government informed the studios that "those films would be remembered by Germany "when" — not "if" — they won the war", writes Eyman. Warners had to post guards to protect the family of actor Edward G. Robinson, and the Germans threatened Mayer with a boycott of all MGM films.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: From September 1939 until January 1940, all films that could be considered anti-Nazi were banned by the Hays Office. The U.S. ambassador to England, Joseph Kennedy, told the studios to stop making pro-British and anti-German films. Kennedy felt that "British defeat was imminent and there was no point in America holding out alone: 'With England licked, the party's over,' said Kennedy."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Defying those pleadings, MGM produced "Mrs. Miniver", a simple story about a family in rural England trying to get by during the early years of the war. Eddie Mannix agreed that "someone should salute England. And even if we lose $100,000, that'll be okay."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer wanted British actress Greer Garson, his personal discovery, to star, but she refused to play a matronly role. Mayer implored her "to have the same faith in me" that he had in her. He read from the script, having her visualize the image she would present to the world, "a woman who survives and endures. She was London. No, more than that, she was ... England!" Garson accepted the role, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. "Mrs. Miniver" won six Academy Awards and became the top box office hit of 1942.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill both loved the film, said historian Emily Yellin, and Roosevelt wanted prints rushed to theaters nationwide. The Voice of America radio network broadcast the minister's speech from the film, magazines reprinted it, and it was copied onto leaflets and dropped over German-occupied countries. Churchill sent Mayer a telegram claiming that ""Mrs. Miniver" is propaganda worth 100 battleships." Bosley Crowther (1960 biographer of Mayer, below), wrote in his "New York Times" review that "Mrs. Miniver" was the finest film yet made about the war, "and a most exalting tribute to the British."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: The following year, 1943, saw the release of another Oscar-winning film, this one aimed at supporting the home front, titled "The Human Comedy." It was Mayer's personal favorite and the favorite of its director, Clarence Brown. Mayer assisted the U.S. government by producing a number of short films related to the war, and helped produce pro-American films such as "Joe Smith, American," in 1942.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: The post-war years saw a gradual decline in profits for MGM and the other studios. The number of high-grossing films in 1947 dwindled to six, compared to twenty-two a year earlier. MGM had to let go many of its top producers and other executives. Mayer was pressured to tighten expenses by the studio's parent company, although Mayer's reputation as a "big-picture man" would make that difficult. They began looking for someone, another Thalberg, to redo the studio system.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In the interim, Mayer kept making "big pictures". When RKO turned down financing of Frank Capra's "State of the Union" in 1948 because of its expensive budget, Mayer took on the project. He filled the cast with MGM stars including Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Adolphe Menjou and Angela Lansbury, but the film only broke even. Nicholas Schenck called Mayer and insisted that he "cut, cut", recalls director George Sidney. Mayer replied, "A studio isn't salami, Nick." "L.B. would ask only one question: 'Can you make it better?' It was all he cared about", said Sidney.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: As pressure built to find a new Thalberg-style manager to handle production, Dore Schary was brought in from RKO, and began work on July 14, 1948, as vice president in charge of production, working under Mayer's direction.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Some long-time studio executives saw this change as a sign of the eventual downfall of MGM. When she heard the news, Lillian Burns Sidney, George Sidney's wife, marched into Mayer's office and announced, "Now you've done it. You've ruined everything." She told Mayer that she was afraid Schary would eliminate all future musicals, comedies and adventure movies, and replace them with the "message" movies that he preferred. She expressed her fear: "They won't have need for anybody around here. Even you! You'll see."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: By mutual consent with Loew's, Mayer resigned from MGM in August 1951. On his final day, as he walked down a red carpet laid out in front of the Thalberg Building, executives, actors and staff lined the path and applauded him for his contributions. "He was so respected," said June Caldwell, Eddie Mannix's secretary. Many assumed that his leaving meant the end of an era. Actor Turhan Bey said, "In every meaningful way, it was the end of Hollywood."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer, for a period after he left MGM, tried to finance and assemble a new group of film stars and directors to produce his own films as an independent. He told the press that his films would carry on in the tradition of MGM's previous style of film subjects.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In 1952, he became chairman of the board and the single largest shareholder in Cinerama, and had hoped to produce a property he owned, "Paint Your Wagon", in the widescreen process, but without success. He left Cinerama in 1954 when the company was sold.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Louis B. Mayer has been accused of sexual abuse, including having groped a then-teenage Judy Garland. According to Gerald Clarke's book "Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland", Mayer "held meetings with the young woman seated on his lap, his hands on her chest". The fallout of his alleged abuse is claimed to have affected other people's professional careers as well:


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer reportedly was in love with Jean Howard and pursued her energetically but without success. Cari Beauchamp, author of "Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood", observed: "Mayer chased actress Jean Howard around the room. When she said, 'No way', and went off and married Charles K. Feldman, the agent, Mayer banned Charlie from the lot. For a long time after, he wouldn't allow any of Feldman's clients to work at MGM."Esther Ralston in her autobiography recorded that her career was sabotaged by Mayer when she refused to sleep with him.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer had two daughters from his first marriage to Margaret Shenberg (1883–1955), which ended in divorce in 1947. The elder of these, Edith (Edie) Mayer (1905–1988), whom he would later become estranged from and disinherit, married producer William Goetz (who served as vice president for Twentieth-Century Fox and later became president of Universal-International). The younger, Irene (1907–1990), was the first wife of producer David O. Selznick and became a successful theatrical producer. In 1948, Mayer married former actress Lorena Layson Danker (1907–1985).


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: At home, Mayer was boss. "In our family, all the basic decisions were made by him", remembers his nephew, Gerald Mayer. "He was a giant. ... Were we afraid of him? Jesus Christ, yes!" And although he never spoke Yiddish at the office, he sometimes spoke Yiddish with "some of the relatives", said his daughter Irene.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer's activities for the Jewish Home for the Aged led to a strong friendship with Edgar Magnin, the rabbi at the Wilshire Temple in Los Angeles. "Edgar and Louis B. virtually built that temple", said Herbert Brin.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: At his home on Saint Cloud Road in the East Gate Bel Air neighborhood, Sundays were reserved for brunches in what was an open house, which often included visiting statesmen or former U.S. presidents, along with various producers, directors or stars. There would be a buffet supper, drinks, and later a movie. Mayer drank almost no alcohol, cared nothing for fine cuisine, and did not gamble, but might play penny-ante card games for fun.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: For leisure activities, he liked going to the Hollywood Bowl, especially the annual John Philip Sousa concert. Sousa's patriotic-style music built up his pride in America, and he "would be stoked with extra exuberance for days afterward", states Eyman. Mayer also enjoyed ballet and opera, and concerts where violinist Jascha Heifetz or pianist Arthur Rubinstein performed.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: While Mayer seldom discussed his early life, his partiality towards Canada would sometimes be revealed, especially after Canada and the United States entered World War II. On one occasion in 1943, Mary Pickford called to tell him she met a movie-struck Royal Canadian Air Force pilot from New Brunswick, where Mayer grew up. Mayer asked her to have him drop by the studio. The pilot, Charles Foster, recalled his visit: "Mary's driver took me through the gates, and I saw this little man come running down the steps of the Thalberg Building. I thought, 'Oh, he's sent a man to greet me.' And I got out of the car, and this man threw his arms around me and said, 'Welcome to my studio.' "


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer took him on a personal tour of the studio, and Foster remembers that "everybody waved to him and he waved back. He spoke to people and knew them by name. I was shocked." Mayer invited him back for lunch the next day. But before Foster arrived, Mayer had invited every Canadian in Hollywood to meet the flier, including Fay Wray, Walter Pidgeon, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Rod Cameron, Deanna Durbin, Walter Huston, Ann Rutherford, and even his main competitor, Jack Warner. Mayer told him, "When this war is over, if you want to come back here, I'll find a job for you." Foster said "It was like he was the father I never knew."


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Active in Republican Party politics, Mayer served as the vice chairman of the California Republican Party in 1931 and 1932, and as its state chairman in 1932 and 1933. As a delegate to the 1928 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Mayer supported Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover of California. Mayer became friends with California Governor James Rolph, Jr., "Oakland Tribune" publisher Joseph R. Knowland, and Marshall Hale. Joseph M. Schenck was an alternate delegate at the convention. Mayer was a delegate to the 1932 Republican National Convention with fellow Californians Knowland, Rolph, and Earl Warren. Mayer endorsed President Herbert Hoover's failed reelection bid.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer owned or bred a number of successful thoroughbred racehorses at his ranch in Perris, California, near Los Angeles. It was considered one of the finest racing stables in the United States and raised the standards of the California racing business. Among his horses were Your Host, sire of Kelso; the 1945 U.S. Horse of the Year, Busher; and the 1959 Preakness Stakes winner, Royal Orbit. Eventually Mayer sold off the stable, partly to finance his divorce in 1947. His 248 horses brought more than $4.4 million. In 1976, "Thoroughbred of California" magazine named him "California Breeder of the Century".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer died of leukemia on October 29, 1957. He was buried in the Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. His sister, Ida Mayer Cummings, and brothers Jerry and Rubin also are buried there.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer and his lieutenants built a company that was regarded by the public and his peers alike as the pinnacle of the movie industry. "Louis B. Mayer defined MGM, just as MGM defined Hollywood, and Hollywood defined America", writes biographer Scott Eyman.


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: In 1951, he was given an honorary Oscar for heading MGM for over 25 years. At the event, screenwriter Charles Brackett presented the award and thanked him for guiding MGM's "production policy with foresight, aggressiveness and with a real desire for taste and quality". Mayer was also thanked for founding and developing new personalities and for bringing the Hollywood "star system into full flower".


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Although Mayer was often disliked and even feared by many in the studio, editor Sam Marx explains that "his reputation is far worse than it should be. He had to be strong to do his job, and he couldn't do that without making enemies." Director Clarence Brown compared him to newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst:


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: Mayer never wrote or directed movies, and never pretended to tell writers what to write or art directors what to design. But he understood movies and their audience. According to Eyman, "Mayer's view of America became America's view of itself." Because of the stars, the stories, the glamour, the music, and the way they were presented, audiences the world over would often applaud the moment they saw the MGM lion. Mayer was the constant at MGM who set the tone. At Mayer's funeral in 1957, Spencer Tracy expressed Mayer's ambitions:


title: Louis B. Mayer

text: William Saroyan wrote a short story about L. B. Mayer in his 1971 book, "Letters from 74 rue Taitbout or Don't Go But If You Must Say Hello To Everybody".


title: Port Royal

text: Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and commerce in the Caribbean Sea by the latter half of the 17th century. It was destroyed by an earthquake on 7 June 1692, which had an accompanying tsunami, leading to the establishment of Kingston, which is now the largest city in Jamaica. Severe hurricanes have regularly damaged the area. Another severe earthquake occurred in 1907.


title: Port Royal

text: Port Royal was once home to privateers who were encouraged to attack Spanish vessels, at a time when smaller European nations were reluctant to attack Spain directly. As a port city, it was notorious for its gaudy displays of wealth and loose morals. It was a popular homeport for the English and Dutch-sponsored privateers to spend their treasure during the 17th century. When those governments abandoned the practice of issuing letters of marque to privateers against the Spanish treasure fleets and possessions in the later 16th century, many of the crews turned pirate. They continued to use the city as their main base during the 17th century. Pirates from around the world congregated at Port Royal, coming from waters as far away as Madagascar.


title: Port Royal

text: After the 1692 disaster, Port Royal's commercial role was steadily taken over by the nearby town (and later, city) of Kingston. Plans were developed in 1999 to redevelop the small fishing town as a heritage tourism destination to serve cruise ships. Thoughts were that it could capitalize on its unique heritage, with archaeological findings from pre-colonial and privateering years as the basis of possible attractions.


title: Port Royal

text: Port Royal has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification "Aw") with a short dry season from January to April and a lengthy wet season from May to October. Temperatures remain steady throughout the year with the dry season being slightly cooler and range from in January to in May. The average annual precipitation is .


title: Port Royal

text: The Taino historic indigenous people of the Caribbean occupied this area for centuries before European settlement. They used the area, which they called "Caguay" or "Caguaya", during their fishing expeditions. Although it is not known whether they ever settled at the spot, they did inhabit other parts of Jamaica.


title: Port Royal

text: The Spanish first landed in Jamaica in 1494 under the leadership of Christopher Columbus, leading to the destruction of the Taino population. Permanent settlement occurred when Juan de Esquivel brought a group of settlers in 1509. They came in search of new lands and valuable resources, like gold and silver. Instead they began to cultivate and process the sugar cane. Much like the Taino before them, the Spanish did not appear to have much use for the Port Royal area. They did, however, retain its Taino name. Spain kept control of Jamaica mostly so that it could prevent other countries from gaining access to the island, which was strategically situated within the trade routes of the Caribbean. Spain maintained control over the island for 146 years, until the English took control following their invasion of 1655.


title: Port Royal

text: The town was captured by England in 1655 during the invasion of Jamaica. By 1659 two hundred houses, shops and warehouses had been built around the fort; by 1692 five forts defended the port. The English initially called the place "Cagway" but soon renamed it as Port Royal. For much of the period between the English conquest and the 1692 earthquake, Port Royal served as the unofficial capital of Jamaica, while Spanish Town remained the official capital. In 1872 the government designated Kingston, the largest city, as the capital.


title: Port Royal

text: Port Royal provided a safe harbour initially for privateers and subsequently for pirates plying the shipping lanes to and from Spain and Panama. Buccaneers found Port Royal appealing for several reasons. Its proximity to trade routes allowed them easy access to prey, but the most important advantage was the port's proximity to several of the only safe passages or straits giving access to the Spanish Main from the Atlantic. The harbour was large enough to accommodate their ships and provided a place to careen and repair these vessels. It was also ideally situated for launching raids on Spanish settlements. From Port Royal, Christopher Myngs sacked Campeche and Henry Morgan attacked Panama, Portobello, and Maracaibo. Additionally, buccaneers Roche Brasiliano, John Davis and Edward Mansvelt used Port Royal as a base of operations.


title: Port Royal

text: In 1657, as a solution to his defence concerns, Governor Edward D'Oley invited the Brethren of the Coast to come to Port Royal and make it their home port. The Brethren was made up of a group of pirates who were descendants of cattle-hunting "boucaniers" (later anglicized to buccaneers), who had turned to piracy after being robbed by the Spanish (and subsequently thrown out of Hispaniola). These pirates concentrated their attacks on Spanish shipping, whose interests were considered the major threat to the town.


title: Port Royal

text: These pirates later became legal English privateers who were given letters of marque by Jamaica's governor. Around the same time that pirates were invited to Port Royal, England launched a series of attacks against Spanish shipping vessels and coastal towns. By sending the newly appointed privateers after Spanish ships and settlements, England had successfully set up a system of defence for Port Royal. Spain was forced to continually defend their property, and did not have the means with which to retake its land.


title: Port Royal

text: Spain could not retake the island and, due to pirates, could no longer regularly provide their colonies in the New World with manufactured goods. The progressive irregularity of annual Spanish fleets, combined with an increasing demand by colonies for manufactured goods, stimulated the growth of Port Royal. Merchants and privateers worked together in what is now referred to as "forced trade." Merchants would sponsor trading endeavors with the Spanish, while also sponsoring privateers to attack Spanish ships and rob Spanish coastal towns. While the merchants most certainly had the upper hand, the privateers were an integral part of the operation.


title: Port Royal

text: Nuala Zahedieh, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, wrote, "Both opponents and advocates of so-called 'forced trade' declared the town's fortune had the dubious distinction of being founded entirely on the servicing of the privateers' needs and highly lucrative trade in prize commodities." . . . "A report that the 300 men who accompanied Henry Morgan to Portobello in 1668 returned to the town with a prize to spend of at least £60 each (two or three times the usual annual plantation wage) leaves little doubt that they were right".


title: Port Royal

text: The forced trade became almost a way of life in Port Royal. Michael Pawson and David Busseret wrote "...one way or the other nearly all the propertied inhabitants of Port Royal seem to have an interest in privateering." Forced trade was rapidly making Port Royal one of the wealthiest communities in the English territories of North America, far surpassing any profit made from the production of sugar cane. Zahedieh wrote, "The Portobello raid [in 1668] alone produced plunder worth £75,000, more than seven times the annual value of the island’s sugar exports, which at Port Royal prices did not exceed £10,000 at this time."


title: Port Royal

text: Since the English lacked sufficient troops to prevent either the Spanish or French from seizing it, the Jamaican governors eventually turned to the pirates to defend the city. By the 1660s the city had, for some, become a pirate utopia and had gained a reputation as the "Sodom of the New World", where most residents were pirates, cutthroats, or prostitutes. When Charles Leslie wrote his history of Jamaica, he included a description of the pirates of Port Royal:


title: Port Royal

text: The taverns of Port Royal were known for their excessive consumption of alcohol such that records even exist of the wild animals of the area partaking in the debauchery. During a passing visit, famous Dutch explorer Jan van Riebeeck is said to have described the scenes:


title: Port Royal

text: There is even speculation in pirate folklore that the infamous Blackbeard (Edward Teach) met a howler monkey, while at leisure in a Port Royal alehouse, whom he named Jefferson and formed a strong bond with during the expedition to the island of New Providence. Recent genealogical research indicates that Blackbeard and his family moved to Jamaica where Edward Thatch, Jr. is listed as being a mariner in the Royal Navy aboard HMS "Windsor" in 1706. Port Royal benefited from this lively, glamorous infamy and grew to be one of the two largest towns and the most economically important port in the English colonies. At the height of its popularity, the city had one drinking house for every 10 residents. In July 1661 alone, 40 new licenses were granted to taverns. During a 20-year period that ended in 1692, nearly 6,500 people lived in Port Royal. In addition to prostitutes and buccaneers, there were four goldsmiths, 44 tavern keepers, and a variety of artisans and merchants who lived in 2,000 buildings crammed into of real estate. 213 ships visited the seaport in 1688. The city's wealth was so great that coins were preferred for payment over the more common system of bartering goods for services.


title: Port Royal

text: Following Henry Morgan's appointment as lieutenant governor, Port Royal began to change. Pirates were no longer needed to defend the city. The selling of slaves took on greater importance. Upstanding citizens disliked the reputation the city had acquired. In 1687, Jamaica passed anti-piracy laws. Consequently, instead of being a safe haven for pirates, Port Royal became noted as their place of execution. Gallows Point welcomed many to their death, including Charles Vane and Calico Jack, who were hanged in 1720. About five months later, the famous woman pirate Mary Read died in the Jamaican prison in Port Royal. Two years later, 41 pirates met their death in one month.


title: Port Royal

text: Under British rule the Royal Navy made use of a careening wharf at Port Royal and rented a building on the foreshore to serve as a storehouse. From 1675, a resident Naval Officer was appointed to oversee these facilities; however, development was cut short by the 1692 earthquake. After the earthquake, an attempt was made to establish a naval base at Port Antonio instead, but the climate there proved disagreeable. From 1735, Port Royal once more became the focus of the Admiralty's attention. New wharves and storehouses were built at this time, as well as housing for the officers of the Yard. Over the next thirty years, more facilities were added: cooperages, workshops, sawpits, and accommodation (including a canteen) for the crews of ships being careened there. A Royal Naval Hospital was also established on land a little to the west of the Naval Yard; and by the end of the 18th century a small Victualling Yard had been added to the east (prior to this ships had had to go to Kingston and other settlements to take on supplies).


title: Port Royal

text: At the start of the 19th century, a significant amount of rebuilding took place in what was by now a substantial Royal Navy Dockyard serving the fleet in the Caribbean. A sizeable storehouse with a clocktower formed the centrepiece, with a covered way leading from it to the careening wharves. The adjacent Port Admiral's (later Commodore's) House included a watch tower, to counter the threat of privateers. The Yard continued to expand to meet the new requirements of steam-powered vessels: the victualling wharf became a coaling depot in the 1840s, and twenty years later a small engineering complex was built. The Yard continued to expand through to the beginning of the 20th century, but then (with the Admiralty focusing more and more on the situation in Europe) the Navy withdrew from its station in Jamaica and the Dockyard closed in 1905.


title: Port Royal

text: Many of the Dockyard buildings (most of which were of timber construction) were subsequently demolished or destroyed (some in the 1907 Kingston earthquake, others by Hurricane Charlie in 1951). A few remain in place, however, including the Naval Hospital complex, some of the steam engineering buildings and a set of officers' houses. There is also a slipway, completed as late as 1904, which (with its accompanying sheds) was designed for housing and launching torpedo boats, stationed there for the Yard's protection. In 2014, it was announced that some of the Historic Naval Hospital buildings would be restored to house a museum as part of a broader Port Royal Heritage Tourism Project.


title: Port Royal

text: The town grew rapidly, reaching a population of around 6,500 people and approximately 2,000 dwellings, by 1692. As land on which to build diminished, it became common practice to either fill in areas of water and build new infrastructure on top of it, or simply build buildings taller. Buildings gradually became heavier as the residents adopted the brick style homes of their native England. Some urged the population to adopt the low, wooden building style of the previous Spanish inhabitants, but many refused. In the end, all of these separate factors contributed to the impending disaster.


title: Port Royal

text: On 7 June 1692, a devastating earthquake hit the city causing most of its northern section to be lost – and with it many of the town's houses and other buildings. Many of the forts were destroyed, as well; Fort Charles survived, but Forts James and Carlisle sank into the sea, Fort Rupert became a large region of water, and great damage was done to an area known as Morgan's Line.


title: Port Royal

text: Although the earthquake hit the entire island of Jamaica, the citizens of Port Royal were at a greater risk of death due to the perilous sand, falling buildings, and the tsunami that followed. Though the local authorities tried to remove or sink all of the corpses from the water, they were unsuccessful; some simply got away from them, while others were trapped in places that were inaccessible. Improper housing, a lack of medicine or clean water, and the fact that most of the survivors were homeless led to many people dying of malignant fevers. The earthquake and tsunami killed between 1,000 and 3,000 people combined, nearly half the city's population. Disease ran rampant in the next several months, claiming an estimated 2,000 additional lives.


title: Port Royal

text: The historical Jamaica earthquake of 7 June 1692 can be dated closely not only by date, but by time of day as well. This is documented by recovery from the sea floor in the 1960s of a pocket watch stopped at 11:43 a.m., recording the time of the devastating earthquake.


title: Port Royal

text: The earthquake caused the sand under Port Royal to liquefy and flow out into Kingston Harbour. The water table was generally only two feet down before the impact, and the town was built on a layer of some of water-saturated sand. This type of area did not provide a solid foundation on which to build an entire town. Unlike the Spanish before them, the English had decided to settle and develop the small area of land, even while acknowledging that the area was nothing but "hot loose sand".


title: Port Royal

text: According to Mulcahy, "[Modern] scientists and underwater archaeologists now believe that the earthquake was a powerful one and that much of the damage at Port Royal resulted from a process known as liquefaction." Liquefaction occurs when earthquakes strike ground that is loose, sandy, and water-saturated, increasing the water pressure and causing the particles to separate from one another and form a sludge resembling quicksand. Eyewitness accounts attested to buildings sliding into the water, but it is likely some simply sank straight down into the now unstable layer.


title: Port Royal

text: Underwater archeology, some of which can be seen in the National Geographic Channel show "Wicked Pirate City," reveals the foundations of building underwater, showing there was subsidence, as do comparisons of post-earthquake maps and pre-earthquake maps.


title: Port Royal

text: Some attempts were made to rebuild the city, starting with the one third that was not submerged, but these met with mixed success and numerous disasters. An initial attempt at rebuilding was again destroyed in 1703 by fire. Subsequent rebuilding was hampered by several hurricanes in the first half of the 18th century, including flooding from the sea in 1722, a further fire in 1750, and a major hurricane in 1774, and soon Kingston eclipsed Port Royal in importance. In 1815, what repairs were being undertaken were destroyed in another major fire, while the whole island was severely affected by an epidemic of cholera in 1850.


title: Port Royal

text: A devastating earthquake on 14 January 1907 liquefied the sand spit, destroying nearly all of the rebuilt city, submerging additional portions, and tilting The Giddy House, an artillery storage room built c. 1880 that is today a minor tourist attraction.


title: Port Royal

text: Today, the area is a shadow of its former self with a population of less than 2,000 that has little to no commercial or political importance. The area is frequented by tourists, but is in a state of disrepair. The Jamaican government has recently resolved to further develop the area for its historic and tourist value. This is in part a result of abandonment of plans begun in the early 1960s to develop the town as a cruise ship port and destination. The plans stimulated the archaeological explorations on the site which, in turn, led to the suspension of development solely as a port but now included archaeological and other attractions.


title: Port Royal

text: In 1981, the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University began a 10-year underwater archaeological investigation of the portion of Port Royal that sank underwater during the 17th century. The program focused on an area that had sunk directly into the sea and suffered very little damage. Due to very low oxygen levels, a large amount of organic material could be recovered. The efforts made by the program have allowed everyday life in the English colonial port city to be reconstructed in great detail.


title: Port Royal

text: In 1998, the Port Royal Development Company commissioned architectural firm The Jerde Partnership to create a master plan for the redevelopment of Port Royal, which was completed in 2000. The focus of the plan is a 17th-century-themed attraction that reflects the city's heritage. It has two anchor areas: Old Port Royal and the King's Royal Naval Dockyard. Old Port Royal features a cruise ship pier extending from a reconstructed Chocolata Hole harbour and Fisher's Row, a group of cafes and shops on the waterfront. The King's Royal Naval Dockyard features a combination shipbuilding-museum and underwater aquarium with dioramas for views of the native tropical sealife. The Royal Naval Dockyard also includes the headquarters for the Admiral of the Royal Navy. The redevelopment plan also includes a five-star hotel.


title: Port Royal

text: Today, Port Royal is known to post-medieval archaeologists as the "City that Sank". Robert Marx considers it the most important underwater archaeological site in the western hemisphere, yielding 16th–and-17th-century artifacts and many important treasures from indigenous peoples predating its 1518 founding, some from as far away as Guatemala. Several 17th and early 18th century pirate ships sank within Kingston Harbour and are being carefully harvested, under controlled conditions, by various teams of archaeologists. Other "digs" are staked out along various quarters and streets by different teams.


title: Port Royal

text: By 2019, a floating pier where a cruise ship could dock had been built; the first ship arrived on 20 January 2020. Tourists from a few ships (after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have ended) might be beneficial to the town, but "there’s still much work to be done if the town will become the 'world-class heritage, environmental and cultural attraction'" according to a BBC Travel report published in September 2020. Another report that month discussed the well-funded Living Heritage Programme which was seeking "to transform the town into a SMART, safe and secure community with a vibrant local economy, preserved cultural heritage and protected natural environment".


title: Second Crusade

text: The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade (1096–1099) by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.


title: Second Crusade

text: The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The main Western Christian source, Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the crusaders' progress, particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. However, this alleged sabotage of the Crusade by the Byzantines was likely fabricated by Odo, who saw the Empire as an obstacle, and moreover Emperor Manuel had no political reason to do so.


title: Second Crusade

text: Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in 1148 in an ill-advised attack on Damascus, which ended in their retreat. In the end, the crusade in the east was a failure for the crusaders and a victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately have a key influence on the fall of Jerusalem and give rise to the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.


title: Second Crusade

text: While the Second Crusade failed to achieve its goals in the Holy Land, crusaders did see victories elsewhere. The most significant of these came to a combined force of 13,000 Flemish, Frisian, Norman, English, Scottish, and German crusaders in 1147. Travelling from England, by ship, to the Holy Land, the army stopped and helped the smaller (7,000) Portuguese army in the capture of Lisbon, expelling its Moorish occupants.


title: Second Crusade

text: After the First Crusade and the minor Crusade of 1101, there were three crusader states established in the east: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa. A fourth, the County of Tripoli, was established in 1109. Edessa was the most northerly of these, and also the weakest and least populated; as such, it was subject to frequent attacks from the surrounding Muslim states ruled by the Ortoqids, Danishmends and Seljuq Turks. Baldwin II, then count of Edessa, and future count Joscelin of Courtenay were taken captive after their defeat at the Battle of Harran in 1104. Baldwin and Joscelin were both captured a second time in 1122, and although Edessa recovered somewhat after the Battle of Azaz in 1125, Joscelin was killed in battle in 1131. His successor Joscelin II was forced into an alliance with the Byzantine Empire, but in 1143 both the Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus and the King of Jerusalem Fulk of Anjou died. Joscelin had also quarreled with the Count of Tripoli and the Prince of Antioch, leaving Edessa with no powerful allies.


title: Second Crusade

text: Meanwhile, Zengi, atabeg of Mosul, had added Aleppo to his rule in 1128, the key to power in Syria, contested between Mosul and Damascus. Both Zengi and Baldwin II of Jerusalem turned their attention towards Damascus; Baldwin was defeated outside the great city in 1129. Damascus, ruled by the Burid Dynasty, later allied with King Fulk when Zengi besieged the city in 1139 and 1140; the alliance was negotiated by the chronicler Usamah ibn Munqidh.


title: Second Crusade

text: In late 1144, Joscelin II allied with the Ortoqids and marched out of Edessa with almost his entire army to support the Ortoqid army against Aleppo. Zengi, already seeking to take advantage of Fulk's death in 1143, hurried north to besiege Edessa, which fell to him after a month on 24 December 1144. Manasses of Hierges, Philip of Milly and others were sent from Jerusalem to assist, but arrived too late. Joscelin II continued to rule the remnants of the county from Turbessel, but little by little the rest of the territory was captured by Muslims or sold to the Byzantines. Zengi himself was praised throughout Islam as "defender of the faith" and "al-Malik al-Mansur", "the victorious king". He did not pursue an attack on the remaining territory of Edessa, or the Principality of Antioch, as was feared. Events in Mosul compelled him to return home, and he once again set his sights on Damascus. However, he was assassinated by a slave in 1146 and was succeeded in Aleppo by his son Nur ad-Din.


title: Second Crusade

text: The news of the fall of Edessa was brought back to Europe first by pilgrims early in 1145, and then by embassies from Antioch, Jerusalem and Armenia. Bishop Hugh of Jabala reported the news to Pope Eugene III, who issued the bull "Quantum praedecessores" on 1 December of that year, calling for a second crusade. Hugh also told the Pope of an eastern Christian king, who, it was hoped, would bring relief to the crusader states: this is the first documented mention of Prester John. Eugene did not control Rome and lived instead at Viterbo, but nevertheless the Second Crusade was meant to be more organized and centrally controlled than the First: the armies would be led by the strongest kings of Europe and a route would be planned beforehand.


title: Second Crusade

text: The initial response to the new crusade bull was poor, and it in fact had to be reissued when it was clear that Louis VII of France would be taking part in the expedition. Louis VII had also been considering a new expedition independently of the Pope, which he announced to his Christmas court at Bourges in 1145. It is debatable whether Louis was planning a crusade of his own or in fact a pilgrimage, as he wanted to fulfill a vow made by his dead brother Philip to go to the Holy Land. It is probable that Louis had made this decision independently of hearing about "Quantum Praedecessores". In any case, Abbot Suger and other nobles were not in favour of Louis's plans, as he would be gone from the kingdom for several years. Louis consulted Bernard of Clairvaux, who referred him back to Eugene. By now Louis would have definitely heard about the papal bull, and Eugene enthusiastically supported Louis's crusade. The bull was reissued on 1 March 1146, and Eugene authorized Bernard to preach the news throughout France.


title: Second Crusade

text: The Pope commissioned French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to preach the Second Crusade, and granted the same indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade. A parliament was convoked at Vezelay in Burgundy in 1146, and Bernard preached before the assembly on 31 March. Louis VII of France, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the princes and lords present prostrated themselves at the feet of Bernard to receive the pilgrims' cross. Bernard then passed into Germany, and the reported miracles which multiplied almost at his every step undoubtedly contributed to the success of his mission. At Speyer, Conrad III of Germany and his nephew, later Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, received the cross from the hand of Bernard. Pope Eugene came in person to France to encourage the enterprise.


title: Second Crusade

text: For all his overmastering zeal, Bernard was by nature neither a bigot nor a persecutor. As in the First Crusade, the preaching inadvertently led to attacks on Jews; a fanatical French monk named Rudolf was apparently inspiring massacres of Jews in the Rhineland, Cologne, Mainz, Worms and Speyer, with Rudolf claiming Jews were not contributing financially to the rescue of the Holy Land. Bernard; Arnold I, the Archbishop of Cologne; and Henry I, the Archbishop of Mainz, were vehemently opposed to these attacks, and so Bernard traveled from Flanders to Germany to deal with the problem and quiet the mobs. Bernard then found Rudolf in Mainz and was able to silence him, returning him to his monastery.


title: Second Crusade

text: When the Second Crusade was called, many south Germans volunteered to crusade in the Holy Land. The north German Saxons were reluctant. They told St Bernard of their desire to campaign against pagan Slavs at an Imperial Diet meeting in Frankfurt on 13 March 1147. Approving of the Saxons' plan, Eugenius issued a papal bull known as the "Divina dispensatione" on 13 April. This bull stated that there was to be no difference between the spiritual rewards of the different crusaders. Those who volunteered to crusade against the pagan Slavs were primarily Danes, Saxons and Poles, although there were also some Bohemians. The Papal legate, Anselm of Havelberg, was placed in overall command. The campaign itself was led by Saxon families such as the Ascanians, Wettin and Schauenburgers.


title: Second Crusade

text: Upset by German participation in the crusade, the Obotrites preemptively invaded Wagria in Holstein in June 1147, leading to the march of the crusaders in late summer 1147. After expelling the Obodrites from Christian territory, the crusaders targeted the Obodrite fort at Dobin and the Liutizian fort at Demmin. The forces attacking Dobin included those of the Danes Canute V and Sweyn III, Adalbert II, Archbishop of Bremen and Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony. When some crusaders advocated ravaging the countryside, others objected by asking, "Is not the land we are devastating our land, and the people we are fighting our people?" The Saxon army under Henry the Lion withdrew after the pagan chief, Niklot, agreed to have Dobin's garrison undergo baptism.


title: Second Crusade

text: After an unsuccessful siege of Demmin, a contingent of crusaders was diverted by the margraves to attack Pomerania instead. They reached the already Christian city Stettin, whereupon the crusaders dispersed after meeting with Bishop Adalbert of Pomerania and Prince Ratibor I of Pomerania. According to Bernard of Clairvaux, the goal of the crusade was to battle the pagan Slavs "until such a time as, by God's help, they shall either be converted or deleted".


title: Second Crusade

text: However, the crusade failed to achieve the conversion of most of the Wends. The Saxons achieved largely token conversions at Dobin, as the Slavs resorted to their pagan beliefs once the Christian armies dispersed. Albert of Pomerania explained, "If they had come to strengthen the Christian faith ... they should do so by preaching, not by arms".


title: Second Crusade

text: By the end of the crusade, the countryside of Mecklenburg and Pomerania was plundered and depopulated with much bloodshed, especially by the troops of Henry the Lion. This was to help bring about more Christian victories in the future decades. The Slavic inhabitants also lost much of their methods of production, limiting their resistance in the future.


title: Second Crusade

text: In the spring of 1147, the Pope authorized the expansion of the crusade into the Iberian peninsula, in the context of the Reconquista. He also authorized Alfonso VII of León and Castile to equate his campaigns against the Moors with the rest of the Second Crusade. In May 1147, the first contingents of crusaders left from Dartmouth in England for the Holy Land. Bad weather forced the ships to stop on the Portuguese coast, at the northern city of Porto on 16 June 1147. There they were convinced to meet with King Afonso I of Portugal.


title: Second Crusade

text: The crusaders agreed to help the King attack Lisbon, with a solemn agreement that offered to them the pillage of the city's goods and the ransom money for expected prisoners. However, some of the crusader forces were hesitant to help, remembering a previous failed attempt on the city by a combined force of Portuguese and northern crusaders during the Siege of Lisbon (1142). The siege of Lisbon of 1147 lasted from 1 July to 25 October when, after four months, the Moorish rulers agreed to surrender, primarily due to hunger within the city. Most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, but some of them set sail and continued to the Holy Land. Some of them, who had departed earlier, helped capture Santarém earlier in the same year. Later they also helped to conquer Sintra, Almada, Palmela and Setúbal, and they were allowed to stay in the conquered lands, where they settled down and had offspring.


title: Second Crusade

text: Elsewhere on the Iberian peninsula, almost at the same time, King Alfonso VII of León, Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, and others led a mixed army of Catalan, Leonese, Castilian and French crusaders against the rich port city of Almería. With support from a Genoese–Pisan navy, the city was occupied in October 1147.


title: Second Crusade

text: Ramon Berenguer then invaded the lands of the Almoravid taifa kingdom of Valencia and Murcia. The fraction of the crusading forces which had aided the Portuguese in the capture of Lisbon were encouraged to participate in the proposed siege of Tortosa (1148) by the Count of Barcelona and the English Papal envoy Nicholas Breakspear. In December 1148, he captured Tortosa after a five-month siege again with the help of French, Rhenish, Flemish, Anglo-Normans and Genoese crusaders. A large number of crusader forces were rewarded with lands inside and in the vicinity of the newly captured city. The next year, Fraga, Lleida and Mequinenza in the confluence of the Segre and Ebro rivers fell to his army.


title: Second Crusade

text: The professional soldiers of the Muslim states, who were usually ethnic Turks, tended to be very well-trained and equipped. The basis of the military system in the Islamic Middle East was the "iqta'" system of fiefs, which supported a certain number of troops in every district. In the event of war, the "ahdath" militias, based in the cities under the command of the "ra’is" (chief), and who were usually ethnic Arabs, were called upon to increase the number of troops. The "ahdath" militia, though less well trained than the Turkish professional troops, were often very strongly motivated by religion, especially the concept of "jihad". Further support came from Turkoman and Kurdish auxiliaries, who could be called upon in times of war, though these forces were prone to indiscipline.


title: Second Crusade

text: The principal Islamic commander was Mu'in al-Din Anur, the "atabeg" of Damascus from 1138 to 1149. Damascus was supposedly ruled by the Burid amirs of Damascus, but Anur, who commanded the military, was the real ruler of the city. The historian David Nicolle described Anur as an able general and diplomat, also well known as a patron of the arts. Because the Burid dynasty was displaced in 1154 by the Zangid dynasty, Anur's role in repulsing the Second Crusade has been largely erased with historians and chroniclers loyal to the Zangids giving the credit to Anur's rival, Nur ad-Din Zangi, the amir of Aleppo.


title: Second Crusade

text: The German contingent comprised about 20,000 knights; the French contingent had about 700 knights from the king's lands while the nobility raised smaller numbers of knights; and the Kingdom of Jerusalem had about 950 knights and 6,000 infantrymen.


title: Second Crusade

text: The French knights preferred to fight on horseback, while the German knights liked to fight on foot. The Byzantine Greek chronicler John Kinnamos wrote "the French are particularly capable of riding horseback in good order and attacking with the spear, and their cavalry surpasses that of the Germans in speed. The Germans, however, are able to fight on foot better than the French and excel in using the great sword".


title: Second Crusade

text: Conrad III was considered to be a brave knight, though often described as indecisive in moments of crisis. Louis VII was a devout Christian with a sensitive side who was often attacked by contemporaries like Bernard of Clairvaux for being more in love with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, than being interested in war or politics.


title: Second Crusade

text: Stephen, King of England did not participate in the second crusade due to internal conflicts in his kingdom. Meanwhile, King David I of Scotland was dissuaded by his subjects from joining the crusade himself.


title: Second Crusade

text: Joscelin II retook the town of Edessa and besieged the citadel following Zengi's murder, but Nur ad-Din defeated him in November 1146. On 16 February 1147, the French crusaders met at Étampes to discuss their route. The Germans had already decided to travel overland through Hungary; they regarded the sea route as politically impractical because Roger II of Sicily was an enemy of Conrad. Many of the French nobles distrusted the land route, which would take them through the Byzantine Empire, the reputation of which still suffered from the accounts of the First Crusaders. Nevertheless, the French decided to follow Conrad, and to set out on 15 June. Roger II took offence and refused to participate any longer. In France, Abbot Suger was elected by a great council at Étampes (and appointed by the Pope) to act as one of the regents during the king's absence on crusade. In Germany, further preaching was done by Adam of Ebrach, and Otto of Freising also took the cross. The Germans planned to set out at Easter, but did not leave until May.


title: Second Crusade

text: The German crusaders, accompanied by the papal legate and cardinal Theodwin, intended to meet the French in Constantinople. Ottokar III of Styria joined Conrad at Vienna, and Conrad's enemy Géza II of Hungary allowed them to pass through unharmed. When the German army of 20,000 men arrived in Byzantine territory, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos feared they were going to attack him, and had Byzantine troops posted to ensure against trouble. A brief skirmish with some of the more unruly Germans occurred near Philippopolis and in Adrianople, where the Byzantine general Prosouch fought with Conrad's nephew, the future emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. To make matters worse, some of the German soldiers were killed in a flood at the beginning of September. On 10 September, however, they arrived at Constantinople, where relations with Manuel were poor, resulting in the Battle of Constantinople, after which the Germans became convinced that they should cross into Asia Minor as quickly as possible. Manuel wanted Conrad to leave some of his troops behind, to assist in defending against attacks from Roger II, who had taken the opportunity to plunder the cities of Greece, but Conrad did not agree, despite being a fellow enemy of Roger.


title: Second Crusade

text: In Asia Minor, Conrad decided not to wait for the French, but marched towards Iconium, capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm. Conrad split his army into two divisions. Much of the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the western provinces of Asia Minor was more nominal than real, with much of the provinces being a no-man's land controlled by Turkish nomads. Conrad underestimated the length of the march against Anatolia, and anyhow assumed that the authority of Emperor Manuel was greater in Anatolia than was in fact the case. Conrad took the knights and the best troops with himself to march overland while sending the camp followers with Otto of Freising to follow the coastal road. The Seljuqs almost totally destroyed King Conrad's party on 25 October 1147 at the second battle of Dorylaeum.


title: Second Crusade

text: In battle, the Turks used their typical tactic of pretending to retreat, and then returning to attack the small force of German cavalry which had separated from the main army to chase them. Conrad began a slow retreat back to Constantinople, his army harassed daily by the Turks, who attacked stragglers and defeated the rearguard. Conrad himself was wounded in a skirmish with them. The other division of the German force, led by the King's half-brother, Bishop Otto of Freising, had marched south to the Mediterranean coast and was similarly defeated early in 1148. The force led by Otto ran out of food while crossing inhospitable countryside and was ambushed by the Seljuq Turks near Laodicea on 16 November 1147. The majority of Otto's force were either killed in battle or captured and sold into slavery.


title: Second Crusade

text: The French crusaders had departed from Metz in June 1147, led by Louis, Thierry of Alsace, Renaut I of Bar, Amadeus III of Savoy and his half-brother William V of Montferrat, William VII of Auvergne, and others, along with armies from Lorraine, Brittany, Burgundy and Aquitaine. A force from Provence, led by Alphonse of Toulouse, chose to wait until August, and to cross by sea. At Worms, Louis joined with crusaders from Normandy and England. They followed Conrad's route fairly peacefully, although Louis came into conflict with king Géza of Hungary when Géza discovered that Louis had allowed a failed Hungarian usurper, Boris Kalamanos, to join his army. Relations within Byzantine territory were also grim, and the Lorrainers, who had marched ahead of the rest of the French, also came into conflict with the slower Germans whom they met on the way.


title: Second Crusade

text: Since the original negotiations between Louis and Manuel I, Manuel had broken off his military campaign against Rûm, signing a truce with his enemy Sultan Mesud I. Manuel did this to give himself a free hand to concentrate on defending his empire from the Crusaders, who had gained a reputation for theft and treachery since the First Crusade and were widely suspected of harbouring sinister designs on Constantinople. Nevertheless, Manuel's relations with the French army were somewhat better than with the Germans, and Louis was entertained lavishly in Constantinople. Some of the French were outraged by Manuel's truce with the Seljuqs and called for an alliance with Roger II and an attack on Constantinople, but Louis restrained them.


title: Second Crusade

text: When the armies from Savoy, Auvergne and Montferrat joined Louis in Constantinople, having taken the land route through Italy and crossing from Brindisi to Durazzo, the entire army took ship across the Bosporus to Asia Minor. The Greeks were encouraged by rumours that the Germans had captured Iconium (Konya), but Manuel refused to give Louis any Byzantine troops. Roger II of Sicily had just invaded Byzantine territory, and Manuel needed all his army in the Peloponnese. Both the Germans and French therefore entered Asia without any Byzantine assistance, unlike the armies of the First Crusade. Following the example set by his grandfather Alexios I, Manuel had the French swear to return to the Empire any territory they captured.