Overview of the Crusades

• 1st Crusade (1095-1099): called by Pope Urban II in 1095 - led by Alexios I Komnenos, Peter the Hermit, Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert II of Normandy - most successful in terms of achieving stated goals - established Crusader States (Outremer)

  Crusader States:

  • County of Edessa (1098-1150)
  • Principality of Antioch (1098-1268)
  • Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291)
  • County of Tripoli (1109-1289)
• 2nd Crusade (1145-1149): led by Louis VII of France, Conrad III of Germany - called in response to fall of Edessa in 1144
• 3rd Crusade (1187-1192): led by Richard the Lionheart of England, Frederick Barbarossa of Germany (Holy Roman Empire), Philip II Augustus of France - called in response to Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187
• 4th Crusade (1202-1204): Crusaders diverted to Constantinople, where they sacked city & established Latin Empire of Constantinople
• 6th Crusade (1228-1229): led by Emperor Frederick II - made treaty with Muslims allowing Christian control of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, & Jerusalem for ten years
• four other Crusades: 5th (1217-1221), 7th-9th - crusading era ended about 1272 - all Crusader States fell back into Muslim hands
• Children's Crusade: probably about 1212 - not an official Crusade, but effort led by at least two different children, Nicholas, a shepherd from Germany, and Stephen, a young man from France, to lead children to Holy Land, where it was believed their innocence would defeat the Muslims - ended in death or slavery for many children involved, none of which made it to the Holy Land

Crusades overlap other Christian attempts to retake Muslim lands: the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula and the capture of Sicily

Results of Crusades:

• goal of preserving Byzantine Empire from conquest by Turks partially successful, since some territories captured & held for decades or up to two centuries, & Constantinople kept in Christian hands until 1453
• these successes overshadowed by wanton destruction & slaughter experienced by inhabitants of E, Jews in W, & even crusaders themselves—probably hundreds of thousands died of disease or killed in combat
• rift between E & W church pushed beyond breaking by sack of Constantinople
• animosity between Christians & Muslims increased & persist to present day
• exposure of Christians in W to arts & scholarship of Christians & Muslims of E
• opening of new trade routes to E, which in turn led to rise of merchant class, cities, & middle class in late Middle Ages
• contact with E also led to Black Death of 1348 & spread of other plagues
• rediscovery of classical heritage, esp. Aristotle, whose works influenced high & late Middle Ages