The Crusaded

The Crusades were military expeditions organised from the 11th century to the 13th, under the banner of the Cross for the recovery of the Holy Land from the hands of the Saracens, to the number of eight.

The First (1096-1099), preached by Peter the Hermit, and sanctioned by the Council of Clermont (1095), consisted of two divisions: one, broken into two hordes, under Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless respectively, arrived decimated in Syria, and was cut to pieces at Nicæa by the sultan; while the other, better equipped and more efficiently organised, laid siege to and captured in succession Nicæa, Antioch, and Jerusalem, where Godfrey of Bouillon was proclaimed king.

The Second (1147-1149), preached by St. Bernard, consisting of two armies under Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France, laid siege in a shattered state to Damascus, and was compelled to raise the siege and return a mere remnant to Europe.

The Third (1189-1193), preached by William, archbishop of Tyre, and provoked by Saladin's capture of Jerusalem, of which one division was headed by Barbarossa, who, after taking Iconium, was drowned while bathing in the Orontes, and the other, headed by Philippe Augustus and Richard Coeur de Lion, who jointly captured Acre and made peace with Saladin.

The Fourth (1202-1204), under sanction of Pope Innocent III., and undertaken by Baldwin, count of Flanders, having got the length of Venice, was preparing to start for Asia, when it was called aside to Constantinople to restore the emperor to his throne, when, upon his death immediately afterwards, the Crusaders elected Baldwin in his place, pillaged the city, and left, having added it to the domain of the Pope.

The Fifth (1217-1221), on the part of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem, and Andrew II., king of Hungary, who made a raid upon Egypt against the Saracens there, but without any result.

The Sixth (1228-1229), under conduct of Frederick II. of Germany, as heir through John of Brienne to the throne of Jerusalem, who made a treaty with the sultan of Egypt, whereby the holy city, with the exception of the Mosque of Omar, was made over to him as king of Jerusalem.

The Seventh (1248-1254), conducted by St. Louis in the fulfilment of a vow, in which Louis was defeated and taken prisoner, and only recovered his liberty by payment of a heavy ransom.

The Eighth (1270), also undertaken by St.Louis, who lay dying at Tunis as the towns of Palestine fell one after another into the hands of the Saracens. The Crusades terminated with the fall of Ptolemaïs in 1291.

Nearby pages
The Danube, The Dark Ages, The Dead Sea, The Decretals, The defeat of the Athenians, The Delhi Sultanate