The Crusades - Timeline Index Timeline Index 1095 - 1291 196 years The Crusades The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century. The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes. Crusaders took vows and were granted penance for past sins, often called an indulgence. The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from the Christian Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia.

More on this Website The Crusades 1000 - 1400 AD - The Age of Chivalry - The St. Petersburg Collection® AeroArt The Age of Chivalry The Crusades 1000 - 1400 AD The Crusades 1000 - 1400 AD Additional Categories The Crusades 1000 - 1400 AD The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century. The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, and political enemies of the popes. Crusaders took vows and were granted penance for past sins, often called an indulgence.

The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from Pope Urban II. Rivalries among both Christian and Muslim powers also led to alliances between religious factions against their opponents, such as the Christian alliance with the Sultanate of Rum during the Fifth Crusade. The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Because of internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim, such as the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the sack of Christian Constantinople and the partition of the Byzantine Empire between Venice and the Crusaders. The Sixth Crusade was the first crusade to set sail without the official blessing of the Pope. The Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Crusades resulted in Mamluk and Hafsid victories, as the Ninth Crusade marked the end of the Crusades in the Middle East.

Item(s) 1 to 25 of 54 total Page(s): The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned - GENERAL KN - mba780 The crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned SCHOOL View Full Document The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particu- larly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire.  The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE French Emperor Charlamagne (768-814) built a large Roman empire after fighting not less than fifty battles with his enemies. On a Christmas day in 800 A.D., Pope Leo III crowned Charlamagne as the Emperor and thereby indicating he was the natural successor to the extinct Roman Empire. Thus the Holy Roman Empire had its beginning. It may be said that the relation between the Pope, the leader of spiritual power and the emperor, head of temporal power, came to be established on a sound footing. This preview has intentionally blurred sections.

Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century.  Crusades resulted in the spread of Islam to Europe.  Between 1000 and 1300 A.D. Europe witnessed agricultural prosperity, growth of towns and universities, strong monarchies and the supremacy of the papal authority.  Between 1300 and 1500 A.D. famous wars like the ‘Hundred Years’ War and Ottoman inva- sions, famines and plague (the Black Death), and the decline of the papacy took place.  A few intellectuals began to challenge the doctrines and practices of the Catholic church. The Byzantine empire  The Byzantine Empire was the product of the most fateful de- cision taken by the Roman Em- peror Diocletian in 293 A.D., to divide his vast empire into two parts for administrative and mili- tary reasons.

 The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, the eastern Ro- man Empire or Byzantine empire remained in existence for an- other thousand years i.e., up to 1453 A.D.  It was under Justinian the Great (482-565 A.D.) that the empire attained the zenith of glory. He was a great general, brilliant ad- ministrator and a famous builder.  Constantinople became the “Queen of cities” with a popu- lation of about a million and en- joying a most flourishing trade in the world.  Constantine converted to Chris- tianity in 312 A.D. He not only declared Christianity as the of- ficial religion in 325 A.D., but also dedicated Constantinople to the Virgin Mary.  Guilds were the merchant organisations of Europe in the Middle Ages.  The University of Italy founded in 825 A.D was the first Univer- sity in Europe.  Paris University was the first University in France.  Oxford University was founded in 1163 AD and Cambridge in 1284 in England.

 Christianity was responsible for making the Barbarians a civilised people.  The Monastery of Monte Ca- sino was founded by St. Benedict. This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TERM GENERAL KN mba780 - Spring 2012 First World War (1914-1918) Germany had become a great industrial country and wanted 1103181300442538WORLD WAR - 5 Crusades | Classle Crusades Posted: 7 years 12 weeks ago Crusades The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century. The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, although campaigns were also waged against pagan...

All terms: Crusades - History on DocuWatch - free streaming documentaries Crusades Episode One The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century. The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs, pagan Balts, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemies of the popes. Crusaders took vows and were granted penance for past sins, often called an indulgence. The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from the Christian Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia.

The term is also used to describe contemporaneous and subsequent campaigns conducted through to the 16th century in territories outside the Levant usually against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons. Rivalries among both Christian and Muslim powers led also to alliances between religious factions against their opponents, such as the Christian alliance with the Sultanate of Rum during the Fifth Crusade. The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Because of internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim, such as the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the sack of Christian Constantinople and the partition of the Byzantine Empire between Venice and the Crusaders. The Sixth Crusade was the first crusade to set sail without the official blessing of the Pope. The Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Crusades resulted in Mamluk and Hafsid victories, as the Ninth Crusade marked the end of the Crusades in the Middle East.

Show less The Military Workshop - MK000 Information - Crusaders MK000 Information - Crusaders Description Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims. In 1187, Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, conquered Jerusalem after nearly a century under Christian rule, following the Battle of Hattin. After the Christians surrendered the city, Saladin spared the civilians and for the most part left churches and shrines untouched to be able to collect ransom money from the Franks. Several thousand apparently were not redeemed and probably were sold into slavery. Saladin is remembered respectfully in both European and Islamic sources as a man who "always stuck to his promise and was loyal.The reports of Saladin's victories shocked Europe.

Pope Gregory VIII called for a crusade, which was led by several of Europe's most important leaders: Philip II of France, Richard I of England (aka Richard the Lionheart), and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick drowned in Cilicia in 1190, leaving an unstable alliance between the English and the French. Before his arrival in the Holy Land, Richard captured the island of Cyprus from the Byzantines in 1191. Cyprus would serve as a Crusader base for centuries to come, and would remain in Western European hands until the Ottoman Empire conquered the island from Venice in 1571. After a long siege, Richard the Lionheart recaptured the city of Acre and took the entire Muslim garrison under captivity, which was executed after a series of failed negotiations. Philip left, in 1191, after the Crusaders had recaptured Acre from the Muslims. The Crusader army headed south along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They defeated the Muslims near Arsuf, recaptured the port city of Jaffa, and were in sight of Jerusalem.

However, Richard did not believe he would be able to hold Jerusalem once it was captured, as the majority of Crusaders would then return to Europe, and the crusade ended without the taking of Jerusalem. Richard left the following year after negotiating a treaty with Saladin. The treaty allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land (Jerusalem), while it remained under Muslim control. On Richard's way home, his ship was wrecked and he ended up in Austria, where his enemy, Duke Leopold, captured him. The Duke delivered Richard to the Emperor Henry VI, who held the King for ransom. By 1197, Henry felt ready for a crusade, but he died in the same year of malaria. Richard I died during fighting in Europe and never returned to the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is sometimes referred to as the Kings' Crusade.

Reviews Crusades - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google The Crusades: Background By the end of the 11th century, Western Europe had emerged as a significant power in its own right, though it still lagged far other Mediterranean civilization such as that of the Byzantine Empire (formerly the eastern half of the Roman Empire) and the Islamic empire of the Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, Byzantium was losing considerable territory to the invading Seljuk Turks, who defeated the Byzantine Army at the battle of Manzikirt in 1071 and went on to gain control over much of Anatolia. After years of chaos and civil war, the general Alexius Comnenus seized the Byzantine throne in 1081 and consolidated control over the remaining empire as Emperor Alexius I. Did You Know? In a popular movement known as the Children's Crusade (1212), a motley crew including children, adolescents, women, the elderly and the poor marched all the way from the Rhineland to Italy behind a young man named Nicholas, who said he had received divine instruction to march toward the Holy Land.

In 1095, Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. Though relations between Christians in East and West had long been fractious, Alexius’ request came at a time when the situation was improving. In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the pope called on Western Christians to take up arms in order to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. Pope Urban’s plea met with a tremendous response, both among lower levels of the military elite (who would form a new class of knights) as well as ordinary citizens; it was determined that those who joined the armed pilgrimage would wear a cross as a symbol of the Church. The First Crusade (1096-99) Four armies of Crusaders were formed from troops of different Western European regions, led by Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois and Bohemond of Taranto (with his nephew Tancred); they were set to depart for Byzantium in August 1096.

A less organized band of knights and commoners known as the “People’s Crusade” set off before the others under the command of a popular preacher known as Peter the Hermit. Peter’s army traipsed through the Byzantine Empire, leaving destruction in their wake. Resisting Alexius’ advice to wait for the rest of the Crusaders, they crossed the Bosporus in early August. In the first major clash between the Crusaders and the Muslims, Turkish forces crushed the invading Europeans at Cibotus. Another group of Crusaders, led by the notorious Count Emicho, carried out a series of massacres of Jews in various towns in the Rhineland in 1096, drawing widespread outrage and causing a major crisis in Jewish-Christian relations. When the four main armies of Crusaders arrived in Constantinople, Alexius insisted that their leaders swear an oath of loyalty to him and recognize his authority over any land regained from the Turks, as well as any other territory they might conquer; all but Bohemond resisted taking the oath.

In May 1097, the Crusaders and their Byzantine allies attacked Nicea (now Iznik, Turkey), the Seljuk capital in Anatolia; the city surrendered in late June. Despite deteriorating relations between the Crusaders and Byzantine leaders, the combined force continued its march through Anatolia, capturing the great Syrian city of Antioch in June 1098. After various internal struggles over control of Antioch, the Crusaders began their march toward Jerusalem, then occupied by Egyptian Fatimids (who as Shi’ite Muslims were enemies of the Sunni Seljuks). Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July. Despite Tancred’s promise of protection, the Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of men, women and children in their victorious entrance into the city. The Crusader States and the Second Crusade (1147-49) Having achieved their goal in an unexpectedly short period of time, many of the Crusaders departed for home. To govern the conquered territory, those who remained established four large western settlements, or Crusader states, in Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli.

Guarded by formidable castles, the Crusader states retained the upper hand in the region until around 1130, when Muslim forces began gaining ground in their own holy war (or jihad) against the Christians, whom they called “Franks.” In 1144, the Seljuk general Zangi, governor of Mosul, captured Edessa, leading to the loss of the northernmost Crusader state. News of Edessa’s fall stunned Europe, and led Christian authorities in the West to call for another Crusade. Led by two great rulers, King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany, the Second Crusade began in 1147. That October, the Turks crushed Conrad’s forces at Dorylaeum, site of a great victory during the First Crusade. After Louis and Conrad managed to assemble their armies at Jerusalem, they decided to attack the Syrian stronghold of Damascus with an army of some 50,000 (the largest Crusader force yet). Previously well disposed towards the Franks, Damascus’ ruler was forced to call on Nur al-Din, Zangi’s successor in Mosul, for aid.

The combined Muslim forces dealt a humiliating defeat to the Crusaders, decisively ending the Second Crusade; Nur al-Din would add Damascus to his expanding empire in 1154. The Third Crusade (1189-92) After numerous attempts by the Crusaders of Jerusalem to capture Egypt, Nur al-Din’s forces (led by the general Shirkuh and his nephew, Saladin ) seized Cairo in 1169 and forced the Crusader army to evacuate. Upon Shirkuh’s subsequent death, Saladin assumed control and began a campaign of conquests that accelerated after Nur al-Din’s death in 1174. In 1187, Saladin began a major campaign against the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. His troops virtually destroyed the Christian army at the battle of Hattin, taking the city along with a large amount of territory. Outrage over these defeats inspired the Third Crusade, led by rulers such as the aging Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (who was drowned at Anatolia before his entire army reached Syria), King Philip II of France and King Richard I of England (known as Richard the Lionheart).

In September 1191, Richard’s forces defeated those of Saladin in the battle of Arsuf; it would be the only true battle of the Third Crusade. From the recaptured city of Jaffa, Richard reestablished Christian control over some of the region and approached Jerusalem, though he refused to lay siege to the city. In September 1192, Richard and Saladin signed a peace treaty that reestablished the Kingdom of Jerusalem (though without the city of Jerusalem) and ended the Third Crusade. From the Fourth to the Sixth Crusade (1198-1229) Though the powerful Pope Innocent III called for a new Crusade in 1198, power struggles in and between Europe and Byzantium drove the Crusaders to divert their mission in order to topple the reigning Byzantine emperor, Alexius III, in favor of his nephew, who became Alexius IV in mid-1203. The new emperor’s attempts to submit the Byzantine church to Rome met with stiff resistance, and Alexius IV was strangled after a palace coup in early 1204.

In response, the Crusaders declared war on Constantinople, and the Fourth Crusade ended with the conquest and looting of the magnificent Byzantine capital later that year. The remainder of the 13th century saw a variety of Crusades aimed not so much at toppling Muslim forces in the Holy Land as at combating any and all of those seen as enemies of the Christian faith. The Albigensian Crusade (1208-29) aimed to root out the heretical Cathari or Albigensian sect of Christianity in France, while the Baltic Crusades (1211-25) sought to subdue pagans in Transylvania. In the Fifth Crusade, put in motion by Pope Innocent III before his death in 1216, the Crusaders attacked Egypt from both land and sea, but were forced to surrender to Muslim defenders led by Saladin’s nephew, Al-Malik al-Kamil, in 1221. In 1229, in what became known as the Sixth Crusade, Emperor Frederick II achieved the peaceful transfer of Jerusalem to Crusader control through negotiation with al-Kamil. The peace treaty expired a decade later, and Muslims easily regained control of Jerusalem.

End of the Crusades Through the end of the 13th century, groups of Crusaders sought to gain ground in the Holy Land through short-lived raids that proved little more than an annoyance to Muslim rulers in the region. The Seventh Crusade (1239-41), led by Thibault IV of Champagne, briefly recaptured Jerusalem, though it was lost again in 1244 to Khwarazmian forces enlisted by the sultan of Egypt. In 1249, King Louis IX of France led the Eighth Crusade against Egypt, which ended in defeat at Mansura (site of a similar defeat in the Fifth Crusade) the following year. As the Crusaders struggled, a new dynasty known as the Mamluks–descended from former slaves of the sultan–took power in Egypt. In 1260, Mamluk forces in Palestine managed to halt the advance of the Mongols, an invading force led by Genghis Khan and his descendants that had emerged as a potential ally for the Christians in the region.

Under the ruthless Sultan Baybars, the Mamluks demolished Antioch in 1268, prompting Louis IX to set out on another Crusade, which ended in his death in North Africa (he was later canonized). A new Mamluk sultan, Qalawan, had defeated the Mongols by the end of 1281 and turned his attention back to the Crusaders, capturing Tripoli in 1289. In what was considered the last Crusade, a fleet of warships from Venice and Aragon arrived to defend what remained of the Crusader states in 1290. The following year, Qalawan’s son and successor, al-Ashraf Khalil, marched with a huge army against the coastal port of Acre, the effective capital of the Crusaders in the region since the end of the Third Crusade. After only seven weeks under siege, Acre fell, effectively ending the Crusades in the Holy Land after nearly two centuries.

Though the Church organized minor Crusades with limited goals after 1291–mainly military campaigns aimed at pushing Muslims from conquered territory or conquering pagan regions–support for such efforts disappeared in the 16th century, with the rise of the Reformation and the corresponding decline of papal authority. Tags Crusades | Religion-wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia This article is about the XI, XII and XIII century religious military campaigns in the Middle East. For other uses, see Crusade (disambiguation) . The Siege of Antioch , from a medieval miniature painting, during the First Crusade . The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe , particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire . The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century.

The Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims , although campaigns were also waged against pagan Slavs , Jews , Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians , Mongols , Cathars , Hussites , Waldensians , Old Prussians , and political enemies of the popes . [1] [ page needed ] Crusaders took vows and were granted penance for past sins , often called an indulgence . [1] [ page needed ] [2] [ page needed ] The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from the Christian Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia . The term is also used to describe contemporaneous and subsequent campaigns conducted through to the 16th century in territories outside the Levant [3] usually against pagans, heretics , and peoples under the ban of excommunication [4] for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons. [5] Rivalries among both Christian and Muslim powers led also to alliances between religious factions against their opponents, such as the Christian alliance with the Sultanate of Rum during the Fifth Crusade .

The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Because of internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim, such as the Fourth Crusade , which resulted in the sack of Christian Constantinople and the partition of the Byzantine Empire between Venice and the Crusaders. The Sixth Crusade was the first crusade to set sail without the official blessing of the Pope. [6] The Seventh , Eighth and Ninth Crusades resulted in Mamluk and Hafsid victories, as the Ninth Crusade marked the end of the Crusades in the Middle East . [7] Contents Historical context “ It is necessary to look for the origin of a crusading ideal in the struggle between Christians and Muslims in Spain and consider how the idea of a holy war emerged from this background. ” — Norman F. Cantor Middle Eastern situation The Holy Land is significant in Christianity because of the land's association as the place of birth, ministry, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth , who Christians regard as the Saviour or Messiah .

By the end of the 4th century, following Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity (313) and the founding of the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Land had become a predominantly Christian country. [8] [9] Churches commemorating various events in the life of Jesus, had been erected at key sites. The Muslim presence in the Holy Land began with the initial Arab conquest of Palestine in the 7th century. The Muslim armies' successes put increasing pressure on the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire. Another factor that contributed to the change in Western attitudes towards the East came in the year 1009, when the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . In 1039 his successor, after requiring large sums be paid for the right, permitted the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it. [10] Pilgrimages were allowed to the Holy Lands before and after the Sepulchre was rebuilt, but for a time pilgrims were captured and some of the clergy were killed. The Muslim conquerors eventually realized that the wealth of Jerusalem came from the pilgrims; with this realization the persecution of pilgrims stopped.

[11] However, the damage was already done, and the violence of the Seljuk Turks became part of the concern that spread the passion for the Crusades. [12] Western European situation The origins of the Crusades lie in developments in Western Europe earlier in the Middle Ages , as well as the deteriorating situation of the Byzantine Empire in the east caused by a new wave of Turkish Muslim attacks . The breakdown of the Carolingian Empire in the late 9th century, combined with the relative stabilization of local European borders after the Christianization of the Vikings , Slavs , and Magyars , had produced a large class of armed warriors whose energies were misplaced fighting one another and terrorizing the local populace. The Church tried to stem this violence with the Peace and Truce of God movements, which was somewhat successful, but trained warriors always sought an outlet for their skills, and opportunities for territorial expansion were becoming less attractive for large segments of the nobility. One exception was the Reconquista in Spain and Portugal , which at times occupied Iberian knights and some mercenaries from elsewhere in Europe in the fight against the Islamic Moors .

In 1063, Pope Alexander II had given his blessing to Iberian Christians in their wars against the Muslims, granting both a papal standard (the vexillum sancti Petri) and an indulgence to those who were killed in battle. Pleas from the Byzantine Emperors, now threatened by the Seljuks , thus fell on ready ears. These occurred in 1074, from Emperor Michael VII to Pope Gregory VII and in 1095, from Emperor Alexios I Komnenos to Pope Urban II . One source identifies Michael VII in Chinese records as a ruler of Byzantium (Fulin) who sent an envoy to Song Dynasty China in 1081. [13] [14] A Chinese scholar suggests that this and further Byzantine envoys in 1091 were pleas for China to aid in the fight against the Turks.

[15] Map of the Iberian Peninsula at the time of the Almoravid arrival in the 11th century- Christian Kingdoms included Aragón, Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Portugal The Crusades were, in part, an outlet for an intense religious piety which rose up in the late 11th century among the lay public. A crusader would, after pronouncing a solemn vow, receive a cross from the hands of the pope or his legates , and was thenceforth considered a "soldier of the Church". This was partly because of the Investiture Controversy , which had started around 1075 and was still on-going during the First Crusade. As both sides of the Investiture Controversy tried to marshal public opinion in their favor, people became personally engaged in a dramatic religious controversy. The result was an awakening of intense Christian piety and public interest in religious affairs, and was further strengthened by religious propaganda, which advocated Just War in order to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Holy Land included Jerusalem (where the death , resurrection and ascension into heaven of Jesus took place according to Christian theology) and Antioch (the first Christian city).

Further, the remission of sin was a driving factor and provided any God-fearing man who had committed sins with an irresistible way out of eternal damnation in Hell . It was a hotly debated issue throughout the Crusades as what exactly "remission of sin" meant. Most believed that by retaking Jerusalem they would go straight to heaven after death. However, much controversy surrounds exactly what was promised by the popes of the time. One theory was that one had to die fighting for Jerusalem for the remission to apply, which would hew more closely to what Pope Urban II said in his speeches. This meant that if the crusaders were successful, and retook Jerusalem, the survivors would not be given remission. Another theory was that if one reached Jerusalem, one would be relieved of the sins one had committed before the Crusade. Therefore one could still be sentenced to Hell for sins committed afterwards. All of these factors were manifested in the overwhelming popular support for the First Crusade and the religious vitality of the 12th century. Immediate cause 15th century painting of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont , where he preached an impassioned sermon to take back the Holy Land.

The immediate cause of the First Crusade was the Byzantine emperor Alexios I 's appeal to Pope Urban II for mercenaries to help him resist Muslim advances into territory of the Byzantine Empire. In 1071, at the Battle of Manzikert , the Byzantine Empire was defeated, which led to the loss of all of Asia Minor (modern Turkey ) save the coastlands. Although attempts at reconciliation after the East-West Schism between the Catholic Western Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church had failed, Alexius I hoped for a positive response from Urban II and got it, although it turned out to be more expansive and less helpful than he had expected. When the First Crusade was preached in 1095, the Christian princes of northern Iberia had been fighting their way out of the mountains of Galicia and Asturias , the Basque Country and Navarre , with increasing success, for about a hundred years. The fall of Moorish Toledo to the Kingdom of León in 1085 was a major victory, but the turning points of the Reconquista still lay in the future. The disunity of Muslim emirs was an essential factor.

While the Reconquista was the most prominent example of European reactions against Muslim conquests, it is not the only such example. The Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard had conquered Calabria in 1057 and was holding what had traditionally been Byzantine territory against the Muslims of Sicily . The maritime states of Pisa , Genoa and Catalonia were all actively fighting Islamic strongholds in Majorca and Sardinia , freeing the coasts of Italy and Catalonia from Muslim raids. Much earlier, the Christian homelands of Syria , Lebanon , Palestine, Egypt , and so on had been conquered by Muslim armies. This long history of losing territories to a religious enemy created a powerful motive to respond to Byzantine Emperor Alexius I's call for holy war to defend Christendom, and to recapture the lost lands starting with Jerusalem. The papacy of Pope Gregory VII had struggled with reservations about the doctrinal validity of a holy war and the shedding of blood for the Lord and had, with difficulty, resolved the question in favour of justified violence. More importantly to the Pope, the Christians who made pilgrimages to the Holy Land were being persecuted.

Saint Augustine of Hippo , Gregory's intellectual model, had justified the use of force in the service of Christ in The City of God , and a Christian " just war " might enhance the wider standing of an aggressively ambitious leader of Europe, as Gregory saw himself. The northerners would be cemented to Rome , and their troublesome knights could see the only kind of action that suited them. Previous attempts by the church to stem such violence, such as the concept of the "Peace of God", were not as successful as hoped. To the south of Rome, Normans were showing how such energies might be unleashed against both Arabs (in Sicily) and Byzantines (on the mainland). A Latin hegemony in the Levant would provide leverage in resolving the Papacy's claims of supremacy over the Patriarch of Constantinople , which had resulted in the Great Schism of 1054, a rift that might yet be resolved through the force of Frankish arms. In the Byzantine homelands, the Eastern Emperor's weakness was revealed by the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, which reduced the Empire's Asian territory to a region in western Anatolia and around Constantinople .

A sure sign of Byzantine desperation was the appeal of Alexios I to his enemy, the Pope, for aid. But Gregory was occupied with the Investiture Controversy and could not call on the German emperor, so a crusade never took shape. For Gregory's more moderate successor, Pope Urban II , a crusade would serve to reunite Christendom, bolster the Papacy, and perhaps bring the East under his control. The disaffected Germans and the Normans were not to be counted on, but the heart and backbone of a crusade could be found in Urban's own homeland among the northern French. After the First Crusade On a popular level, the first crusades unleashed a wave of impassioned, personally felt pious Christian fury that was expressed in the massacres of Jews that accompanied the movement of the Crusader mobs through Europe, as well as the violent treatment of " schismatic " Orthodox Christians of the east. During many of the attacks on Jews, local Bishops and Christians made attempts to protect Jews from the mobs that were passing through. Jews were often offered sanctuary in churches and other Christian buildings.

In the 13th century, Crusades never expressed such a popular fever, and after Acre fell for the last time in 1291 and the Occitan Cathars were exterminated during the Albigensian Crusade , the crusading ideal became devalued by Papal justifications of political and territorial aggressions within Catholic Europe. The last crusading order of knights to hold territory were the Knights Hospitaller . After the final fall of Acre, they took control of the island of Rhodes , and in the sixteenth century, were driven to Malta , before being finally unseated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. List A traditional numbering scheme for the crusades totals nine during the 11th to 13th centuries. This division is arbitrary and excludes many important expeditions, among them those of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. In reality, the crusades continued until the end of the 17th century, the crusade of Lepanto occurring in 1571, that of Hungary in 1664 , and the crusade to Candia in 1669.

[16] The Knights Hospitaller continued to crusade in the Mediterranean Sea around Malta until their defeat by Napoleon in 1798. There were frequent "minor" Crusades throughout this period, not only in Palestine but also in the Iberian Peninsula and central Europe, against Muslims and also Christian heretics and personal enemies of the Papacy or other powerful monarchs. First Crusade 1095-1099 The neutrality of this section is disputed . Please see the discussion on the talk page . Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2009) Main article: First Crusade A medieval image of Peter the Hermit leading knights, soldiers and women toward Jerusalem during the First Crusade In March 1095 at the Council of Piacenza , ambassadors sent by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I called for help with defending his empire against the Seljuk Turks . Later that year, at the Council of Clermont , Pope Urban II called upon all Christians to join a war against the Turks, promising those who died in the endeavor would receive immediate remission of their sins.

[17] Following abortive popular crusades in early 1096, the official crusader armies set off from France and Italy on the papally-ordained date of 15 August 1096. The armies journeyed eastward by land toward Constantinople, where they received a wary welcome from the Byzantine Emperor. Pledging to restore lost territories to the empire, the Crusaders were supplied and transported to Anatolia where they laid siege to Seljuk-occupied Nicaea . The city fell on 19 June 1097. [18] The Crusader armies fought further battles against the Turks, facing grave deprivation of both food and water in their summer crossing of Anatolia. The lengthy Siege of Antioch began in October 1097 and endured until June of 1098. The ruler of Antioch was not sure how the Christians living within his city would react, so he forced them to live outside the citadel. The siege only ended when one of the gates to the city was betrayed by an Armenian dissident.

Once inside the city, as was standard military practice at the time, [19] the Crusaders massacred the Muslim inhabitants, destroyed mosques and pillaged the city. [20] Local Christians assassinated Yaghisiyan, former ruler of the city. However a large Muslim relief army under Kerbogha immediately besieged the victorious Crusaders within Antioch. Bohemund of Taranto led a successful break-out and defeat of Kerbogha's army on the 28th of June. The starving crusader army marched south, moving from town to town along the coast, finally reaching the walls of Jerusalem on 7 June 1099 with only a fraction of their original forces. [21] Siege of Jerusalem Main article: Siege of Jerusalem (1099) The Jews and Muslims fought together to defend Jerusalem against the invading Franks. They were unsuccessful though and on 15 July 1099 the crusaders entered the city. [20] They proceeded to massacre the remaining Jewish and Muslim civilians and pillaged or destroyed mosques and the city itself.

[22] One historian has written that the "isolation, alienation and fear" [1] [ page needed ] felt by the Franks so far from home helps to explain the atrocities they committed, including the cannibalism which was recorded after the Siege of Maarat in 1098. [23] As a result of the First Crusade, several small Crusader states were created, notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem . In the Kingdom of Jerusalem at most 120,000 Franks (predominantly French -speaking Western Christians) ruled over 350,000 Muslims, Jews, and native Eastern Christians. [24] The Crusaders also tried to gain control of the city of Tyre , but were defeated by the Muslims. The people of Tyre asked Zahir al-Din Atabek , the leader of Damascus , for help defending their city from the Franks with the promise to surrender Tyre to him.

When the Franks were defeated the people of Tyre did not surrender the city, but Zahir al-Din simply said “What I have done I have done only for the sake of God and the Muslims, nor out of desire for wealth and kingdom.” [25] After gaining control of Jerusalem the Crusaders created four Crusader states: the kingdom of Jerusalem , the County of Edessa , the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli . [22] Initially, Muslims did very little about the Crusader states due to internal conflicts. [26] Eventually, the Muslims began to reunite under the leadership of Imad al-Din Zangi . He began by re-taking Edessa in 1144. It was the first city to fall to the Crusaders, and became the first to be recaptured by the Muslims. This led the Pope to call for a second Crusade. Crusade of 1101 Main article: Crusade of 1101 Following this crusade there was a second, less successful wave of crusaders, in which Turks led by Kilij Arslan defeated the Crusaders in three separate battles in a well-managed response to the First Crusade .

[27] This is known as the Crusade of 1101 and may be considered an adjunct of the First Crusade. Norwegian Crusade 1107-1110 Main article: Norwegian Crusade Sigurd I of Norway was the first European king who went on a crusade and his crusader armies defeated Muslims in Spain, the Baleares, and in Palestine where they joined the king of Jerusalem in the Siege of Sidon . Second Crusade 1147–1149 Main article: Second Crusade After a period of relative peace in which Christians and Muslims co-existed in the Holy Land, Muslims conquered the town of Edessa . A new crusade was called for by various preachers, most notably by Bernard of Clairvaux . French and South German armies, under the Kings Louis VII and Conrad III respectively, marched to Jerusalem in 1147 but failed to win any major victories, launching a failed pre-emptive siege of Damascus, an independent city that would soon fall into the hands of Nur ad-Din , the main enemy of the Crusaders.

[28] On the other side of the Mediterranean, however, the Second Crusade met with great success as a group of Northern European Crusaders stopped in Portugal , allied with the Portuguese King , Afonso I of Portugal , and retook Lisbon from the Muslims in 1147. [28] A detachment from this group of crusaders helped Count Raymond Berenguer IV of Barcelona conquer the city of Tortosa the following year. [29] In the Holy Land by 1150, both the kings of France and Germany had returned to their countries without any result. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who in his preachings had encouraged the Second Crusade, was upset with the amount of misdirected violence and slaughter of the Jewish population of the Rhineland. [4] North Germans and Danes attacked the Wends during the 1147 Wendish Crusade , which was unsuccessful as well. Third Crusade 1187–1192 A statue of king Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart), outside Westminster Palace in London .

In 1187 , Saladin , Sultan of Egypt , conquered Jerusalem after nearly a century under Christian rule, following the Battle of Hattin . After the Christians surrendered the city, Saladin spared the civilians and for the most part left churches and shrines untouched to be able to collect ransom money from the Franks. [30] Several thousand apparently were not redeemed and probably were sold into slavery . [31] Saladin is remembered respectfully in both European and Islamic sources as a man who "always stuck to his promise and was loyal." [32] The reports of Saladin's victories shocked Europe. Pope Gregory VIII called for a crusade, which was led by several of Europe's most important leaders: Philip II of France , Richard I of England (aka Richard the Lionheart), and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor . Frederick drowned in Cilicia in 1190 , leaving an unstable alliance between the English and the French. Before his arrival in the Holy Land, Richard captured the island of Cyprus from the Byzantines in 1191.

[28] Cyprus would serve as a Crusader base for centuries to come, and would remain in Western European hands until the Ottoman Empire conquered the island from Venice in 1571 . [28] After a long siege , Richard the Lionheart recaptured the city of Acre and took the entire Muslim garrison under captivity, which was executed after a series of failed negotiations. Philip left, in 1191 , after the Crusaders had recaptured Acre from the Muslims. The Crusader army headed south along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea . They defeated the Muslims near Arsuf , recaptured the port city of Jaffa , and were in sight of Jerusalem. [28] However, Richard did not believe he would be able to hold Jerusalem once it was captured, as the majority of Crusaders would then return to Europe, and the crusade ended without the taking of Jerusalem. [28] Richard left the following year after negotiating a treaty with Saladin. The treaty allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land (Jerusalem), while it remained under Muslim control.

On Richard's way home, his ship was wrecked and he ended up in Austria , where his enemy, Duke Leopold , captured him. The Duke delivered Richard to the Emperor Henry VI , who held the King for ransom. By 1197, Henry felt ready for a crusade, but he died in the same year of malaria . Richard I died during fighting in Europe and never returned to the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is sometimes referred to as the Kings' Crusade. Fourth Crusade 1202–1204 Main article: Fourth Crusade The Crusader states established in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. The Fourth Crusade was initiated in 1202 by Pope Innocent III , with the intention of invading the Holy Land through Egypt. Because the Crusaders lacked the funds to pay for the fleet and provisions that they had contracted from the Venetians , Doge Enrico Dandolo enlisted the crusaders to restore the Christian city of Zara ( Zadar ) to obedience. Because they subsequently lacked provisions and time on their vessel lease, the leaders decided to go to Constantinople , where they attempted to place a Byzantine exile on the throne.

After a series of misunderstandings and outbreaks of violence, the Crusaders sacked the city in 1204, and established the so-called Latin Empire and a series of other Crusader states throughout the territories of the Greek Byzantine Empire. This is often seen as the final breaking point of the Great Schism between the Eastern Orthodox Church and (Western) Roman Catholic Church . Albigensian Crusade Main article: Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1209 to eliminate the heretical Cathars of Occitania (the south of modern-day France ). It was a decade-long struggle that had as much to do with the concerns of northern France to extend its control southwards as it did with heresy. In the end, both the Cathars and the independence of southern France were exterminated. [33] Children's Crusade Main article: Children's Crusade The Children's Crusade is a series of possibly fictitious or misinterpreted events of 1212. The story is that an outburst of the old popular enthusiasm led a gathering of children in France and Germany, which Pope Innocent III interpreted as a reproof from heaven to their unworthy elders.

The leader of the French army, Stephen, led 30,000 children. The leader of the German army, Nicholas, led 7,000 children. None of the children actually reached the Holy Land: those who did not return home or settle along the route to Jerusalem either died from shipwreck or hunger , or were sold into slavery in Egypt or North Africa . Fifth Crusade 1217–1221 Main article: Fifth Crusade By processions, prayers, and preaching, the Church attempted to set another crusade afoot, and the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) formulated a plan for the recovery of the Holy Land. In the first phase, a crusading force from Austria and Hungary joined the forces of the king of Jerusalem and the prince of Antioch to take back Jerusalem. In the second phase, crusader forces achieved a remarkable feat in the capture of Damietta in Egypt in 1219, but under the urgent insistence of the papal legate , Pelagius , they then launched a foolhardy attack on Cairo in July of 1221.

The crusaders were turned back after their dwindling supplies led to a forced retreat. A night-time attack by the ruler of Egypt, the powerful Ayubid Sultan Al-Kamil , resulted in a great number of crusader losses and eventually in the surrender of the army. Al-Kamil agreed to an eight-year peace agreement with Europe. Al-Kamil had put a bounty of a Byzantine gold piece for every Christian head brought to him during the war. During 1219, St. Francis of Assisi crossed the battle lines at Damietta in order to speak with Al-Kamil. He and his companion Illuminatus were captured and beaten and brought before the Sultan. St. Bonaventure, in his Major Life of St. Francis, says that the Sultan was impressed by Francis and spent some time with him. Francis was given safe passage and although he was offered many gifts, all he accepted was a horn for calling the faithful to prayer. This act eventually led to the establishment of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land .

Sixth Crusade 1228–1229 Main article: Sixth Crusade Emperor Frederick II had repeatedly vowed a crusade but failed to live up to his words, for which he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX in 1228. He nonetheless set sail from Brindisi , landed in Palestine, and through diplomacy he achieved unexpected success: Jerusalem, Nazareth , and Bethlehem were delivered to the crusaders for a period of ten years. 19th century depiction of a victorious Saladin . In 1229 after failing to conquer Egypt, Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire , made a peace treaty with Al-Kamil , the ruler of Egypt. This treaty allowed Christians to rule over most of Jerusalem, while the Muslims were given control of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa mosque. The peace brought about by this treaty lasted for about ten years. [34] Many of the Muslims though were not happy with Al-Kamil for giving up control of Jerusalem and in 1244, following a siege , the Muslims regained control of the city.

[26] Seventh Crusade 1248–1254 Main article: Seventh Crusade The papal interests represented by the Templars brought on a conflict with Egypt in 1243, and in the following year a Khwarezmian force summoned by the latter stormed Jerusalem. The crusaders were drawn into battle at La Forbie in Gaza . The crusader army and its Bedouin mercenaries were completely defeated within forty-eight hours by Baibars ' force of Khwarezmian tribesmen. This battle is considered by many historians to have been the death knell to the Kingdom of Outremer. Although this provoked no widespread outrage in Europe as the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 had done, Louis IX of France organized a crusade against Egypt from 1248 to 1254, leaving from the newly constructed port of Aigues-Mortes in southern France. It was a failure, and Louis spent much of the crusade living at the court of the crusader kingdom in Acre. In the midst of this crusade was the first Shepherds' Crusade in 1251.

Eighth Crusade 1270 Main article: Eighth Crusade The eighth Crusade was organized by Louis IX in 1270, again sailing from Aigues-Mortes, initially to come to the aid of the remnants of the crusader states in Syria . However, the crusade was diverted to Tunis , where Louis spent only two months before dying. For his efforts, Louis was later canonised. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades are counted as a single crusade. The Ninth Crusade is sometimes also counted as part of the Eighth. Ninth Crusade 1271–1272 Main article: Ninth Crusade The future Edward I of England undertook another expedition against Baibars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis on the Eighth Crusade. Louis died in Tunisia. The Ninth Crusade was deemed a failure and ended the Crusades in the Middle East. [35] In their later years, faced with the threat of the Egyptian Mamluks , the Crusaders' hopes rested with a Franco-Mongol alliance .

The Ilkhanate 's Mongols were thought to be sympathetic to Christianity, and the Frankish princes were most effective in gathering their help, engineering their invasions of the Middle East on several occasions. Although the Mongols successfully attacked as far south as Damascus on these campaigns, the ability to effectively coordinate with Crusades from the west was repeatedly frustrated most notably at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks, led by Baibars , eventually made good their pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the Franks. With the fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli (1289), and Acre (1291), those Christians unable to leave the cities were massacred or enslaved and the last traces of Christian rule in the Levant disappeared. [36] [37] Aftermath The island of Ruad , three kilometers from the Syrian shore, was occupied for several years by the Knights Templar but was ultimately lost to the Mamluks in the Siege of Ruad on September 26, 1302.

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , which was not itself a crusader state, and was not Latin Christian, but was closely associated with the crusader states and was ruled by the Latin Christian Lusignan dynasty for its last 34 years, survived until 1375. Other echoes of the crusader states survived for longer, but well away from the Holy Land itself. The Knights of St John carved out a new territory based on the Aegean island of Rhodes, which they ruled until 1522 . Cyprus remained under the rule of the House of Lusignan until 1474/89 (the precise date depends on how Venice's highly unusual takeover is interpreted - see Caterina Cornaro ) and subsequently that of Venice until 1570. By this time the Knights of St John had moved to Malta - even further from the Holy Land - which they ruled until 1798. Northern Crusades (Baltic and Germany) Main article: Northern Crusades The Crusades in the Baltic Sea area and in Central Europe were efforts by (mostly German) Christians to subjugate and convert the peoples of these areas to Christianity.

These Crusades ranged from the 12th century, contemporaneous with the Second Crusade, to the 16th century. Contemporaneous with the Second Crusade, Saxons and Danes fought against Polabian Slavs in the 1147 Wendish Crusade . In the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights led Germans , Poles , and Pomeranians against the Old Prussians during the Prussian Crusade . In 1198 German Crusaders started Livonian Crusade . Despite numerous setbacks and rebellions, by 1290 Livonians , Latgalians , Selonians , Estonians (including Oeselians ), Curonians and Semigallians had been all gradually subjugated. Denmark and Sweden also participated in fight against Estonians. Between 1232 and 1234, there was a crusade against the Stedingers . This crusade was special, because the Stedingers were not heathens or heretics, but fellow Roman Catholics.

They were free Frisian farmers who resented attempts of the count of Oldenburg and the archbishop Bremen-Hamburg to make an end to their freedoms. The archbishop excommunicated them, and Pope Gregory IX declared a crusade in 1232. The Stedingers were defeated in 1234. The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer Orthodox Russia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod ), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX , can also be considered as a part of the Northern Crusades. One of the major blows for the idea of the conquest of Russia was the Battle of the Ice in 1242. With or without the Pope's blessing, Sweden also undertook several crusades against Orthodox Novgorod . Other Crusade against the Tatars In 1259 Mongols led by Burundai and Nogai Khan ravaged the principality of Halych-Volynia , Lithuania and Poland . After that Pope Alexander IV tried without success to create a crusade against the Blue Horde (see Mongol invasion of Poland ). In the 14th century, Khan Tokhtamysh combined the Blue and White Hordes forming the Golden Horde .

It seemed that the power of the Golden Horde had begun to rise, but in 1389, Tokhtamysh made the disastrous decision of waging war on his former master, the great Tamerlane . Tamerlane's hordes rampaged through southern Russia , crippling the Golden Horde's economy and practically wiping out its defenses in those lands. After losing the war, Tokhtamysh was then dethroned by the party of Khan Temur Kutlugh and Emir Edigu, supported by Tamerlane. When Tokhtamysh asked Vytautas the Great for assistance in retaking the Horde, the latter readily gathered a huge army which included Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Russians, Mongols , Moldavians , Poles, Romanians and Teutonic Knights . In 1398, the huge army moved from Moldavia and conquered the southern steppe all the way to the Dnieper River and northern Crimea . Inspired by their great successes, Vytautas declared a 'Crusade against the Tatars' with Papal backing. Thus, in 1399, the army of Vytautas once again moved on the Horde.

His army met the Horde's at the Vorskla River , slightly inside Lithuanian territory. Although the Lithuanian army was well equipped with cannon , it could not resist a rear attack from Edigu's reserve units. Vytautas hardly escaped alive. Many princes of his kin—possibly as many as 20—were killed (for example, Stefan Musat , Prince of Moldavia and two of his brothers, while a fourth was badly injured ), and the victorious Tatars besieged Kiev . "And the Christian blood flowed like water, up to the Kievan walls," as one chronicler put it. Meanwhile, Temur Kutlugh died from the wounds received in the battle, and Tokhtamysh was killed by one of his own men. Crusades in the Balkans To counter the expanding Ottoman Empire , several crusades were launched in the 15th century.

The most notable are: the Crusade of Nicopolis (1396) organized by Sigismund of Luxemburg king of Hungary culminated in the Battle of Nicopolis and the Crusade of 1456 organized to lift the Siege of Belgrade led by John Hunyadi and Giovanni da Capistrano Aragonese Crusade The Aragonese Crusade , or Crusade of Aragón, was declared by Pope Martin IV against the King of Aragón, Peter III the Great , in 1284 and 1285. Alexandrian Crusade The Alexandrian Crusade of October 1365 was a minor seaborne crusade against Muslim Alexandria led by Peter I of Cyprus . His motivation was at least as commercial as religious. Hussite Crusade The Hussite Crusade(s), also known as the " Hussite Wars ," or the "Bohemian Wars," involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were arguably the first European war in which hand-held gunpowder weapons such as muskets made a decisive contribution.

The Taborite faction of the Hussite warriors were basically infantry, and their many defeats of larger armies with heavily armoured knights helped affect the infantry revolution. In the end, it was an inconclusive war. Swedish Crusades The Swedish conquest of Finland in the Middle Ages has traditionally been divided into three "crusades": the First Swedish Crusade around 1155 AD, the Second Swedish Crusade about 1249 AD and the Third Swedish Crusade in 1293 AD. The First Swedish Crusade is purely legendary, and according to most historians today, never took place as described in the legend and did not result in any ties between Finland and Sweden. For the most part, it was made up in the late 13th century to date the Swedish rule in Finland further back in time. No historical record has also survived describing the second one, but it probably did take place and ended up in the concrete conquest of southwestern Finland. The third one was against Novgorod , and is properly documented by both parties of the conflict. According to archaeological finds, Finland was largely Christian already before the said crusades.

Thus the "crusades" can rather be seen as ordinary expeditions of conquest whose main target was territorial gain. The expeditions were dubbed as actual crusades only in the 19th century by the national-romanticist Swedish and Finnish historians. Criticisms Elements of the Crusades were criticized by some from the time of their inception in 1095. For example, Roger Bacon felt the Crusades were not effective because, "those who survive, together with their children, are more and more embittered against the Christian faith." [38] In spite of such criticism, the movement was widely supported in Europe long after the fall of Acre in 1291. Historians agree that St. Francis of Assisi crossed enemy lines to meet the Sultan of Egypt. Hoeberichts cast doubt on the intentions most Christian historians assign to Francis. From the fall of Acre forward, the Crusades to recover Jerusalem and the Christian East were largely lost. Later, 18th century Enlightenment thinkers judged the Crusaders harshly. Likewise, some modern historians in the West expressed moral outrage.

In the 1950s, Sir Steven Runciman wrote a resounding condemnation: "High ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed … the Holy War was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God". [38] Historical perspective Western and Eastern historiography present variously different views on the crusades, in large part because "crusade" invokes dramatically opposed sets of associations—"crusade" as a valiant struggle for a supreme cause, and "crusade" as a byword for barbarism and aggression. Legacy Politics and culture The Crusades had an enormous influence on the European Middle Ages . At times, much of the continent was united under a powerful Papacy , but by the 14th century, the development of centralized bureaucracies (the foundation of the modern nation-state ) was well on its way in France, England, Spain, Burgundy , and Portugal , and partly because of the dominance of the church at the beginning of the crusading era.

Although Europe had been exposed to Islamic culture for centuries through contacts in Iberian Peninsula and Sicily , much knowledge in areas such as science, medicine, and architecture was transferred from the Islamic to the western world during the crusade era. The military experiences of the crusades also had a limited degree of influence on European castle design; for example, Caernarfon Castle , in Wales , begun in 1283, directly reflects the style of fortresses Edward I had observed while fighting in the Crusades. [39] In addition, the Crusades are seen as having opened up European culture to the world, especially Asia: “ The Crusades brought about results of which the popes had never dreamed, and which were perhaps the most, important of all. They re-established traffic between the East and West, which, after having been suspended for several centuries, was then resumed with even greater energy; they were the means of bringing from the depths of their respective provinces and introducing into the most civilized Asiatic countries Western knights, to whom a new world was thus revealed, and who returned to their native land filled with novel ideas...

If, indeed, the Christian civilization of Europe has become universal culture, in the highest sense, the glory redounds, in no small measure, to the Crusades." [4] ” Along with trade, new scientific discoveries and inventions made their way east or west. Arab advances (including the development of algebra , optics, and refinement of engineering) made their way west and sped the course of advancement in European universities that led to the Renaissance in later centuries The invasions of German crusaders prevented formation of the large Lithuanian state incorporating all Baltic nations and tribes. Lithuania was destined to become a small country and forced to expand to the East looking for resources to combat the crusaders. [40] The Northern Crusades caused great loss of life among the pagan Polabian Slavs , and they consequently offered little opposition to German colonization (known as Ostsiedlung ) of the Elbe-Oder region and were gradually assimilated by the Germans , with the exception of Sorbs . [41] The First Crusade ignited a long tradition of organized violence against Jews in European culture. [42] Trade The need to raise, transport and supply large armies led to a flourishing of trade throughout Europe .

Roads largely unused since the days of Rome saw significant increases in traffic as local merchants began to expand their horizons. This was not only because the Crusades prepared Europe for travel, but also because many wanted to travel after being reacquainted with the products of the Middle East. This also aided in the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy, as various Italian city-states from the very beginning had important and profitable trading colonies in the crusader states, both in the Holy Land and later in captured Byzantine territory. Increased trade brought many things to Europeans that were once unknown or extremely rare and costly. These goods included a variety of spices, ivory, jade, diamonds, improved glass-manufacturing techniques, early forms of gun powder, oranges, apples, and other Asian crops, and many other products. From a larger perspective, and certainly from that of noted naval/maritime historian Archibald Lewis , the Crusades must be viewed as part of a massive macrohistorical event during which Western Europe, primarily by its ability in naval warfare, amphibious siege, and maritime trade, was able to advance in all spheres of civilization.

[28] Recovering from the Dark Ages of AD 700-1000, throughout the 11th century Western Europe began to push the boundaries of its civilization. [28] Prior to the First Crusade the Italian city-state of Venice , along with the Byzantine Empire , had cleared the Adriatic Sea of Islamic pirates, and loosened the Islamic hold on the Mediterranean Sea (Byzantine-Muslim War of 1030-1035). [28] The Normans , with the assistance of the Italian city-states of Genoa and Pisa , had retaken Sicily from the Muslims from 1061-1091. [28] These conflicts prior to the First Crusade had both retaken Western European territory and weakened the Islamic hold on the Mediterranean, allowing for the rise of Western European Mediterranean trading and naval powers such as the Sicilian Normans and the Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa. [28] During the Middle Ages, the key trading region of Western Europe was the Black Sea - Mediterranean Sea - Red Sea .

[28] It was the aforementioned pre-First Crusade actions, along with the Crusades themselves, which allowed Western Europe to contest the trade of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, for a period which began in the 1000s and would only be ended by the Turkish Ottoman Empire beginning in the mid-to-late 1400s. [28] This Western European contestation of vital sea lanes allowed the economy of Western Europe to advance to previously unknown degrees, most obviously as regards the Maritime Republics of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa. [28] Indeed, it is no coincidence that the Renaissance began in Italy, as the Maritime Republics, through their control of the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas, were able to return to Italy the ancient knowledge of the Greeks and Romans, as well as the products of distant East Asia. [28] Combined with the Mongol Empire, Western Europe traded extensively with East Asia, the security of the Mongol Empire allowing the products of Asia to be brought to such Western European controlled ports as Acre , Antioch , Kaffa (on the Black Sea) and even, for a time, Constantinople itself.

[28] The Fifth Crusade of 1217-1221 and the Seventh Crusade of 1248-1254 were largely attempts to secure Western European control of the Red Sea trade region, as both Crusades were directed against Egypt, the power base of the Ayyubid , and then Mameluke , Sultanates . [28] It was only in the 1300s, as the stability of trade with Asia collapsed with the Mongol Empire, the Mamelukes destroyed the Middle Eastern Crusader States, and the rising Ottoman Empire impeded further Western European trade with Asia, that Western Europeans sought alternate trade routes to Asia, ultimately leading to Columbus 's voyage of 1492. [28] Caucasus In the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia , in the remote highland region of Khevsureti , a tribe called the Khevsurs are thought to possibly be direct descendants of a party of crusaders who got separated from a larger army and have remained in isolation with some of the crusader culture intact. Into the 20th century, relics of armor, weaponry and chain mail were still being used and passed down in such communities.

Russian serviceman and ethnographer Arnold Zisserman who spent 25 years (1842–67) in the Caucasus, believed the exotic group of Georgian highlanders were descendants of the last Crusaders based on their customs, language, art and other evidence. [43] American traveler Richard Halliburton saw and recorded the customs of the tribe in 1935. [44] Etymology and usage For other uses of crusade, see Crusade (disambiguation) . Look up Crusade in Wiktionary , the free dictionary. The crusades were never referred to as such by their participants. The original crusaders were known by various terms, including fideles Sancti Petri (the faithful of Saint Peter ) or milites Christi (knights of Christ). They saw themselves as undertaking an iter, a journey, or a peregrinatio, a pilgrimage , though pilgrims were usually forbidden from carrying arms. Like pilgrims, each crusader swore a vow (a votus), to be fulfilled on successfully reaching Jerusalem, and they were granted a cloth cross (crux) to be sewn into their clothes.

This "taking of the cross", the crux, eventually became associated with the entire journey; the word "crusade" (coming into English from the Medieval French croisade and Spanish cruzada) [45] developed from this. See also

Question: What was the name of the series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns between 1095 and 1291 waged by much of Latin Christian Europe to restore Christian control of the Holy Land?
Answer: The Crusades