The Principal Crusades

The Third Crusade, also known as the Crusade of the Three Kings, was led by King Richard the Lionheart of England, Holy Roman Emperor Barbarossa of Germany and King Philip II of France. The Third Crusade was born out of a catastrophe for Christendom. This crusade was to prevent the Muslim armies from ruling over Jerusalem and to crush the Kurdish emperor Saladin so that he could not take any more land from the Crusaders. The Third crusade was to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims. It was also caused because after capturing the Christian held coastal ports and Jerusalem in 1187, Saladin invaded Syria in 1188 and took one Crusader castle after another and captured the city of Latakia. The Third Crusade were two campaigns which were the Siege of Acre and the Battle of Arsuf

The Crusades were great military missions developed by Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the hands of the Moslems. Jerusalem was extremely important to the Moslems and Christians at this time. Many religious events happened there, and many landmarks of both religions were located in Jerusalem. There were many Crusades some more significant than others, but in general the Crusades were very important to the spread of Christianity and religious based knowledge. The Crusades are an example of religious rebellion that is timeless and universal throughout the world.

A major turning point in Medieval history were the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars fought between the Christian Europeans and the Muslim Turks, which occurred between the years of 1096 to 1272. In this Holy War the Christians goal was to obtain the Holy Land from the Turks, in which they did not succeed. Although the Christians did not meet their goal, many positives did come out of their attempt. Due to the reason that they did not meet their goal, yet numerous positives came out of their effort, many refer to this as a successful failure.

The Christian had a weak hold on the holy land for nearly a century when Saladin began uniting the Muslim armies. When the Christians and Muslims met at the battle of Hattin, the Muslims were able to win because of Saladin. This was the turning point for the crusades because three months later the Muslims conquered the city of Jerusalem.

The Crusades were an important part of World History during the post classical era. Between 1096 and 1270, the Europeans attempted to acquire Christian sacred areas from the Muslims ("The Crusades"). Supported by Western Europe, Christian armies were sent to take over the Holy Land and other surrounding areas ("Crusades"). The Holy Land surrounds Jerusalem and, to this day, contains sacred sites to Christians, Jews, and Muslims ("Crusades"). These sacred sites were very important to people of these religions and many pilgrimages occurred there ("Crusades"). During the eleventh century, Muslims acquired the Holy Land and expanded their empire ("Crusades"). This prompted Alexius Comnenus, the Byztantine emperor, to write to Pope Urban II in need of trying to reacquire this sacred land ("The Crusades"). This prompted the start of the Crusades. There were four major Crusades and several others that occurred ("Crusades"). The first was probably the most significant out of all of them. The First Crusade allowed for the capture of The Holy Land and also prompted an influence of Middle Eastern culture and ideas to Western Europe.

he subject of the crusades is still a very controversial topic that spans across various time periods and has religious, social, and political implications. The first crusade started off as a widespread pilgrimage that ended as a military expedition resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099. The crusades initiated from a call from help from Alexius for the protection of Constantinople and the recovery of Anatolia. For centuries textbooks have repeated with routine regularity, that the immediate cause, of the Crusades was the Turkish conquest of the Near East, which apparently was a very real threat to Christendom, that had to be countered by military action. With this in mind, the primary purpose of this essay is to identify the various reasons that contributed to the start of the first crusade, while disproving the fact that the first Crusade was a response to a military threat. In discovering the true cause of the first crusades it is necessary to examine it from all aspects from the start to the finish.

Every society in every age long for order, beauty, and truth. The crusades were a series of several military campaigns, usually sanctioned by the Papacy. The Crusades were an age that longed truth. They were originally, the Roman Catholic endeavors to re-capture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The violent and often ruthless conflicts propelled the status of European Christians, making them major players in the fight for land in the Middle East. The movement is best remembered for the causes that the participants and routes of major crusades, last the effects of the crusades and the highlights of the major of the crusades.

The First Crusades was a military group that was started by Christians in Europe who wanted to gain back the Holy Land that was being occupied by the Muslims. Pope Urban II preached a sermon at Clermont Ferrand on November 1095. Most histories consider this speech to be the spark the fueled a wave of military campaigns to gain back the Holy Land. This speech was meant to unite the Europeans and to gain back what was taken from them. The holy land was a small area on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The First Crusades was a very successful military expedition that was driven by religious faith to reclaim Jerusalem and other holy places that fell under Muslim control. driven by religious faith. They wanted to gain back the Holy Land that was once theirs. Arabs and the Muslim Turks otherwise known as the Seljuk Turks were the Muslims that invaded and conquered land rightfully occupied by the Christian’s. Many European men, women, and children joined the Crusades and fought in the Middle East. Pope Urban II granted forgiveness of all sins to those who died in battle thus assuring them ascendancy into heaven. Which gave those who volunteered to fight assurance. Nobles and peasants responded in great numbers to the call and marched across Europe to the capital of the Byzantine empire. Having the support of the Byzantine emperor helped make them a stronger army. The Crusaders took over many of the cities on the Mediterranean coast and built a large number of fortified castles across the Holy Land to protect their newly established territories. Soon after seizing power the Seljuks face a very different challenge to Islamic civilization. It came from Christian Crusaders. Knights from western Europe who were determined to capture portions of the Islamic world that made up the holy land of biblical times. Muslim political division and element of surprise made the first of the Crusaders assaults, between 1096 and 1099, by far the most successful. Much of

The Muslim ruler at that time Zangi had attacked and was capture on Christmas Eve 1144.We see that this second crusade was led by European king against Islam. Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany went across Europe separately and were defeated by the Seljuq Turks. What was left of the two armies marched on to Jerusalem and joined the attacked on Damascus. The Europeans crusade was unsuccessful, but a great victory for the Muslims. The Muslims continued to attack and capture land. However like the first Crusade the second crusade left a bloody

The crusades were a bunch of wars in the Middle Ages when the Christians and Europeans tried to retake control of Jerusalem from the Muslims. Jerusalem was important to Muslims during the Middle Ages because it was believed to be where Muhammad ascended to heaven. The Christians found it important because it was believed to be where Jesus Christ was crucified and rose again.

The First Crusade (1096 - 1099) played a very important part in Medieval Europe .the First Crusade was an attempt to re-capture Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem by the Muslims in 1076, any Christian who wanted to pay a pilgrimage to the city faced a very hard time. When the pope urban 2 made his speech he made lots and lots of people listen and got to war he machined that a lot of people were slaughterer and that this is what god wanted. Muslim soldiers made life very difficult for the Christians and trying to get to Jerusalem was filled with danger for a Christian.

The Crusades were Christian military expeditions undertaken between the 11th and the 14th century to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The word crusade, which is derived from the

They battled Turk forces and took over Edessa, which became the first Crusader State which was set up by Baldwin, and Antioch. In 1098, the crusaders finally reached Jerusalem, where they fought for more that a month before the keepers surrendered Jerusalem. Godfrey dies soon after the siege of the Holy Land, his brother Baldwin became the King of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem.

- Saladin recaptured Jerusalem from the Christians. This led to the Third crusade which was led by a leader from Germany, France, and England.

These troops reached Constantinople in 1097 CE.  They advanced on Jerusalem on July 15, 1099 killing Muslims, Jews, and Christians as they toppled the city. The goal of capturing Jerusalem was met and the Latin Christian states of Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and Jerusalem were set up. Muslims in the region wanted to regain control and promised to wage a jihad.