1095-1096 (April) The Peasants or Peoples' Crusade: The popular reaction to Pope Urban's call for armed assistance for the Byzantine Emporer. A French preacher, Peter the Hermit (circa 1050-1115), and Walter the Penniless lead thousands of peasants on what becomes known as the People’s Crusade. Emperor Alexus Comnenus asked for mercenaries to defend Constantinople. Instead he receives perhaps 12,000 commoners intent on liberating Jerusalem. |Links| August 1096: When they reach Asia Minor (many perished on the way), the poorly armed followers of Peter the Hermit are attacked and destroyed by Turkish Muslim armies.
1096-1099: The First Crusade: The European nobility marches from Le Puy in France on Jerusalem. Army commanders: Raymond IV of St Gilles (Count of Toulouse), Bohemond (Duke of Taranto), Godfrey of Bouillon |Text|Pics|Maps|Coat of arms|Links|, Hugh (Count of Vermandois), Robert (Duke of Normandy). The army fights its way through Asia Minor, taking Antioch in 1098. June 1099: After a perilous overland journey that takes nearly three years, the Crusaders reach the outskirts of Jerusalem. July 1099: After a short siege, the Crusaders capture Jerusalem. They slaughter the city’s inhabitants, Jews and Muslims alike. Jews sheltering in their synagogue are burned alive. |Text|Pics|Maps|Links|. A Christian kingdom is established, with Godfrey as its first head, his brother Baldwin as Count of Edessa (Upper Mesopotamia), and Bohemond ruling at Antioch. Godfrey died in 1100 and was succeeded by Baldwin as the first King of Jerusalem.
Henry IV, German Emperor (1056-1106)
... refused to take the Cross ...
Baltic Crusades: start in the
early 12th century, not as a planned and proclaimed Holy War but only
as a general expansionist movement, as Denmark and various German states
move aggressively into the lands of the pagan, Slavic Wends (what is now
the Baltic coast of Germany). Beyond the Wends, they encounter other peoples:
Prussians, Livonians, Lithuanians, and Estonians (reading west to east
along the southern shore of the Baltic). (more) |Text|Pics|Maps|Links|
1119:
The
Crusaders set up new Christian states in the Holy Land. The new orders
of knights, Templars and the Hospitallers, are founded. These knights
are also monks. They defend the Crusaders’ states against Muslim
attacks and protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land.
1142:
Some Crusaders settle in the Holy Land. They begin constructing Krak
des Chevaliers
(Castle of the Knights) in Syria. The underground storerooms of this magnificent
castle contain enough supplies of food and arms to withstand a five-year
siege.
1147-1149:
The Second CrusadeOriginally preached by Bernard de Clairvaux,
Bernard
de Clairvaux, 13th century (Handschrift des Skriptoriums von Altzelle).
Led by King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany, sets off for the Holy Land.
After failing to take the Muslim city of Damascus, the Second Crusade ends. Only a few Greek islands were taken.
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