«In 1144 Zengi appeared outside Edessa with troops, siege towers, and professional diggers. The miners tunneled beneath the city walls while artillerymen used giant catapults known as mangonels to bombard the citizens from above. It did not take long for the Turks to break Edessa’s resistance. When they broke in, civilians panicked and women and children were crushed to death in a stampede to flee. For Zengi this was a useful victory. But for the crusaders it was a disaster. The territorial loss was one thing. Much worse was the sense that nearly half a century on from the victories of 1096–99, God had ceased to smile on them.

When news of Edessa’s capitulation filtered back to Europe, it prompted general dismay. Yet it also presented an opportunity. Pope Eugene III was not enjoying a peaceful papacy. He was struggling with a continuing schism and attempts to set up antipopes against him. Communards had been rioting in the streets of Rome.» (Emphasis mine.)

This stuff goes way back.

Powers and Thrones Dan Jones https://bookshop.org/p/books/powers-and-thrones-a-new-history-of-the-middle-ages-dan-jones/2251acba6dca3057?ean=9781984880888&next=t