A series of wars fought mainly between Christians and Muslims, the Crusades occurred between 1095 and 1291. The following offerings relate a wide array of facts and trivia about the medieval Crusades.

The majority of the crusaders hailed from England, Italy, France, Austria, and Germany. It was not only soldiers who joined the Pope-sanctioned crusades, but people from all walks of life who wanted to bring Christianity back the Holy Land.

All in all, the Popes sanctioned eight major Crusades into the Holy Land. Other military conflicts occurred during this period as well as after, although Popes did not sanction all the Crusades.

The Holy Land had been controlled by the Muslims since the middle of the seventh century. Although the Arabs had been tolerant of Christian pilgrimages to the city of Jerusalem, the Turks, who conquered the city, had taken to murdering Christian pilgrims.

The Seljuq Turks had conquered the city of Jerusalem in 1071.

The Byzantium branch of Christianity was based in Constantinople—too close to the Turks for comfort. The Byzantine emperor requested assistance from Rome. Pope Urban II responded with enough forces to transform the conflict into a holy war.

Pope Urban II made the initial call for a Crusade at the Council of Clermont.

The First Crusade was a considerable success. Christians conquered a big portion of the Holy Land and built many castles in the area. However, by the last conflicts, the Christians would be nearly completely driven out of the Holy Land by the Muslims.

In 1098, the crusaders were able to capture both Antioch and Edessa. They gained control of Jerusalem in 1099 after a siege of about one month. It is thought that roughly seventy thousand Jews and Muslims were massacred by the crusaders during the week of Jerusalem’s capture.

The Pope offered anyone willing to go to the Holy Land to fight for Jerusalem remission from sin. This remission was known as an indulgence.

The First Crusade took place between 1096 and 1102. Four armies set out from Europe to meet in Constantinople. Collectively, this group comprised thousands of people.

While the main goal of the Crusades was to regain Holy Lands—Jerusalem, in particular, there were also other secondary goals. Crusaders wanted to protect Byzantium from the Turks. They also believed the Crusades could reunite the east and west Christian churches. They also believed they could settle the newly-acquired lands with the second and third sons of noble families.

The Crusaders depended greatly on knightly warfare and the cavalry charge. Archers and lances were two common weapons of choice. Crusaders took advantage of disunity among Muslim leaders to achieve early objectives.

Despite great initial success, one reason the Crusades failed was due to a lack of strong central leadership and conflicts between various factions of crusaders.

During later Crusades, the Christians captured Tripoli (1109), Tyre (1124), and Cypress (1191).

During the Second Crusade (1147-1149), a considerable number of lands were recaptured by the Muslims under the notable leadership of Saladin including Damascus, Aleppo, and Mosul.

The Third Crusade took place between 1189 and 1192. Along with Cypress, the crusaders managed to capture Acre.

The Fifth Crusade saw attempts by Christians to capture Muslim ports in Egypt. It was the lack of clear leadership among the Crusaders that prevented them from having great success capturing territories along the Nile River.

The Crusades lost popular support once the crusaders sacked and massacred the inhabitants of Constantinople—a Christian city they had previously sworn to defend against the Turks.

During the last Crusade, King Louis IX died at Tunis of the plague.

Throughout the crusades, a major difficulty was attempting to supply armies so far from their home bases.

Italian cities like Genoa and Venice were able to become wealthy commercial centers based upon their ability to supply crusaders on their trek to the Holy Land. It was Venice, for financial reasons, which persuaded the crusading armies to attack Constantinople.

By J. A. Young