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The Crusades
The Holy Land had been a popular place for Christian
pilgrimages since the 4th century. The city of Jerusalem held a
Holy significance to the Christian religion. The Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem commemorated the hill of crucifixion and
the tomb of Christ's burial.
In 638 CE, the Muslims overtook Jerusalem. Initially,
relations between Muslims and Christian pilgrims were friendly
but the situation changed in the 11th century. A Muslim tribe, the
Turks, took over control of Jerusalem and prevented Christian
pilgrimages. Their influence grew as they began to conquer
Christian lands in the Middle East.
The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars launched by the
Christian states of Europe against the Saracens. The term
'Saracen' was the word used to describe a Muslim during the time
of the Crusades. The Crusades were great military expeditions
undertaken by the Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of
rescuing the holy places of Palestine from the hands of the ‘infidel’
or Muslim. The word crusade actually means “for the cross”.
There were 7 (to 10) Crusades (depending on how the battle
dates are divided). The first four being sometimes called the
Principal Crusades, and the remaining four the Minor Crusades.
In addition there was a Children's Crusade. There were several
other expeditions which were insignificant in numbers or results.
A Brief Timeline of The Crusades
1096-1099 The First Crusade
The First Crusade was launched by Pope
Urban II in the autumn of 1095 to assist the Eastern Church in Constantinople defend
itself against the Turks and retake the Holy Land. The European nobility who took up
the cross took their time to prepare for war.
In the meantime, the Peasant’s Crusade was launched and is considered part of the
First Crusade. It ran from April until October of 1096 and was led by Peter the Hermit
and Walter the Penniless. This crusade was ill fated and brought to an end by when the
crusaders were destroyed by the army of Kilij Arslan.
The crusading armies of the European nobility departed for the Holy Land at different
times. The crusading army was able to defeat two substantial Turkish forces at
Dorylaeum and at Antioch.
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. Similar to Antioch, they proceeded to massacre the remaining Jewish and Muslim
civilians and pillaged or destroyed mosques and the city itself. Crusaders states were
established: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch
and the country of Tripoli.
1147-1149 The Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was called in 1145
in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the Muslims. This crusade was
led by kings Louis VII of France and Conrad II of Germany who marched into the Holy
Land but were unable to win any major victories and the Muslims remained in control of
Jerusalem.
1189-1192 The Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (often called the Kings
Crusade) was called in response to the devastating loss of Jerusalem to Saladin, the
Sultan of Egypt in October of 1187. Saladin had previously defeated a Christian army
led by the Templars at the Battle of Hattin and proceeded to gain territory along the
Palestinian Coast before turning towards Jerusalem.
Pope Gregory VII formed an alliance with kings Richard I of England (Richard the
Lionheart), Phillip II of France and Frederick I “Barbarossa” the 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. After
the city of Acre surrendered Philip left, in 1191. 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. Richard I died during fighting in Europe and never
returned to the Holy Land.
1202-1204 The Fourth Crusade
Although the Fourth Crusade was called
by Pope Innocent III with the intention to be a campaign against Muslim controlled
Jerusalem, the crusaders turned their attention to their Eastern Christian brethren at
Constantinople. 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
1209-1219 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.
1212 The 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.
1217-1221 The Fifth Crusade
This crusade was called by Pope Honorius III
to recapture the Holy Land by invading and conquering Ayyubid-controlled Egypt.
Although the Christians succeeded in capturing Damietta (an area of Cairo), the crusade
ultimately ended in failure.
1228-1229 The Sixth Crusade
This crusade was largely the work of
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. Although Frederick did not capture Jerusalem, he
managed to establish a truce which allowed Christians to return to the Holy City while
the Muslims retained control over the Temple Mount.
1248-1254 The Seventh Crusade
This was led by Louis IX who organized
a crusade against Egypt. It was a failure, and Louis spent much of the crusade living at
the court of the crusader kingdom in Acre.
By the mid 1200s, the Christians had not suceeded in retaining Jeruslaem nor did the
Roman Catholics help the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Muslim advances.
In the view of some, the Crusades depicted a time of adventure and honour. It is still
used by some denominations as a postive term used when rallies and campaigns are
held for converts. For the Jews and Muslims, it invokes visions of persecutions and
mass mauder. For the Catholic Church, the Crusades are recognized as a mistake that
resulted in actions that are not Christian in nature. It marks a period of darkness for
Christianity.