Timeline for the Crusades and Christian Holy War
(Feel free to use this document for academic purposes, but please provide proper citation)
 
 
Historical definition of ï¿½crusadeï¿½:
The crusades were a series of holy wars called by popes with the promise of indulgences for those who fought in them and directed against external and internal enemies of Christendom for the recovery of Christian property or in defense of the Church or Christian people.ï¿½ Crusades were characterized by the taking of vows and the granting of indulgences to those who participated.ï¿½ Like going on pilgrimage, to which they were often likened, crusading was an act of Christian love and piety that compensated for and paid the penalties earned by sin.ï¿½ It marked a break in earlier Christian medieval conceptions of warfare in that crusades were penitential warfare. Crusades combined the ideas of: a) Holy War and b) and Pilgrimage to produce the concept of "indulgence" (remission of penance and/or sin granted by papacy for participation in sacred activity).
 
Where were crusades fought? This is a matter of dispute among historians. ï¿½Traditionalistsï¿½ would limit true crusades to expeditions aimed at recovering or protecting
Jerusalem
. ï¿½Pluralistsï¿½ (and I count myself as one)ï¿½ regard any expedition preached as a crusade in which the participants took crusading vows and received crusading privileges should be regarded as crusades. If so, crusades were fought not only in
Syria
(on the northern coast of present-day
Israel
). ï¿½Pluralistsï¿½ disagree, but one good candidate would be the Spanish Armada of 1588.
 
Difference between Augustinian ï¿½just warï¿½ and ï¿½crusadeï¿½:
The standard for a Christian ï¿½just warï¿½ as developed by Augustine (c. A.D. 400) is: ï¿½rightful intention on the part of the participants, which should always be expressed through love of God and neighbour; a just cause; and legitimate proclamation by a qualified authority.ï¿½ (Quoted from J. Riley-Smith, The Crusades, Yale University, 1987.)ï¿½ The doctrine of holy war/crusade added two further assumptions: 1) Violence and its consequencesï¿½death and injuryï¿½are morally neutral rather than intrinsically evil, and whether violence is good or bad is a matter of intention. (The analogy is to a surgeon, who cuts into the body, thus injuring it, in order to make it better/healthier.)ï¿½ 2) Christ is concerned with the political order of man, and intends for his agents on earth, kings, popes, bishops, to establish on earth a Christian Republic that was a ï¿½single, universal, transcendental stateï¿½ ruled by Christ through the lay and clerical magistrates he endowed with authority.
It follows from this that the defense of the
Christian
Republic
against Godï¿½s enemies, whether foreign infidel (e.g. Turks) or domestic heretics and Jews was a moral imperative for those qualified to fight. A Crusade was a holy war fought against external or internal enemies for the recovery of Christian property or defense of the Church or the Christian people. It could be wages against Turks in
Palestine
, pagan Slavs in the Baltic, or heretics in southern
France
, all of whom were enemies or rebels against God.
 
c.950-1300ï¿½ï¿½ Period of steady demographic and economic growth in
Western  Europe
.ï¿½ The population of Europe (excluding Russia) more than doubled, growing from about 30 million people in A.D. 1000 to about 70-80 million in 1250, after which population growth leveled off until it began to decline in the fourteenth century.ï¿½ The greatest population growth occurred in western and southern
Europe
.ï¿½ Demographic growth was supported by (and, in turn, supported) an expansion of food resources.ï¿½ European agricultural production increased markedly between c. 900-1300, especially between 1050 and 1250.ï¿½ This represented both extensive and intensive agricultural growth. Most of the increase in grain production came from expanding the acreage under cultivation. (There is little good evidence for a significant increase in the crop yield to seed ratio, which for wheat remained between 3.5:1 and 4:1.) The increase in arable acreage under cultivation was the result of both natural and human action.ï¿½ The climate of northern
Europe
between c.950 and c.1300 climate was warmer than in the early Middle Ages. This Medieval Climate Optimum meant longer growing seasons and the ability to cultivate lands further north and expand the repertoire of crops. Human activity took the form of extensive woodland clearance (assarting) and draining of marshes, both encouraged and funded by nobles who granted freedom to serfs willing to establish new villages in woodland clearances. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries marked the period of the greatest deforestation in Western European history. By 1250 there were few trees left in
France
large enough for ship masts and cathedral beams. New farming practices also resulted in higher crop yields. The most important of these was the shift from a two field system, in which half the land always lay fallow, to a three-field system of crop rotation.ï¿½ Closer integration of animal husbandry and cereal agriculture led to more efficient manuring (animal and human manure were the main sources of fertilizer).ï¿½ More extensive cultivation of beans and peas, nitrogen-fixing crops, not only improved peasant diets but also helped restore the soilï¿½s fertility. Technology also played a role, especially the widespread use of the heavy plow with iron coulter and plowshare and moldboard, which allowed cultivation of the fertile heavy clay lands of northern
Europe
.ï¿½ The invention of the horse collar and horseshoes made possible the replacement of oxen with horses for plowing and transport; the latter was especially important in reducing transportation costs for marketing. Underlying all these innovations were improvements in mining and metallurgy that increased the supply and reduced the cost of iron.ï¿½ The period 950-1300 also witnessed the widespread use of watermills and vertical (post) windmills (introduced, c.1180), not only for grinding grain but for the production of iron, textiles, paper, and beer.
The expansion of agricultural production encouraged and made possible the growth of towns, increased trade, and an integrated European-wide monetized commodity economy. Flourishing textile industries arose in the towns of Flanders (
Bruges
, andï¿½
Genoa
successfully confront Arab pirates; long-distance trade routes began to be dominated by Italian and Jewish merchants. Development of merchant guilds as sworn associations/confraternities of merchants to protect, avenge, bury members (artificial kindred).
1130s-1170sï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Fairs of
Champagne
become meeting place of merchants from
Italy
with those of
Flanders
(wholesale trade: Italian cloth, swords, warhorses; silks, sugar, spices from east/Flemish cloth and English tin); cycle of 6 trade fairs in four cities. The
Champagne
fairs remain central to the European commercial economy until the late thirteenth century.
 
1256-1270ï¿½ï¿½ Crusades: War of Saint Sabas. a commercial war between the Mediterranean maritime republics of
Genoa
(aided by Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre; John of Arsuf; and the Knights Hospitaller) and
Venice
(aided by the Count of Jaffa and the Knights Templar). The war began with the murder of a Genoese by a Venetian in a dispute over land owned by the monastery of Saint Sabas in the city of
Acre
form a commercial alliance that dominates the salt-cod and herring fishing trade of the
North  Sea
and the Baltic. This is the beginning of what will be called the ï¿½
Hanseatic League
.ï¿½ The League would begin regular meetings of its members (Diets of the Hansa) and acquire an official structure and general policies in 1356.
c. 1300ï¿½ï¿½ Decline of
Champagne
fairs (reflects the growing maturity of the European international commercial economy; use of resident agents in foreign cities by merchant houses and rise of professional carter to transport goods make fairs unnecessary). ( Lendit Fair, Saint-Denis . 15th century ms.)
 
Timeline
753ï¿½ï¿½ Pope Stephen II tells the Carolingian ruler of the Franks Pepin the Short that St. Peter will remit sins of those who fight for his Church. This is directed against the Lombards who threatened the popeï¿½s control over
Rome
. In doing so, they burnt the churches of St. Peter and
St. Paul
. The new pope Leo IV (r.847-855) ordered
Rome
ï¿½s walls to be rebuilt and refurbished, and had them extended to protect the
Vatican
hill. He also formed a naval alliance with the cities of Amalfi,
Naples
, and
Gaeta
, which drove off a Saracen fleet in 849. Three years later Pope Leo IV issued a call to the Franks, declaring "Whoever meets death steadfastly in this fight [against Moslem raiders of
Italy
Heavenly
Kingdom
will not be closed to him." This becomes a much quoted text among canonists of the High Middle Ages.
886-908ï¿½ï¿½ Ten German bishops killed in battles. Theologically, the Church was opposed to clerics getting involved in warfare. Canon law forbade priests from shedding blood, and the Council of Chalcedon of 451 prohibited priests from joining armies, which was repeated (with an interesting escape clause) in a capitulary (edict) issued by Charlemagne in 769: priests may not carry weapons or going to war, except to celebrate mass, pray for Christian victory, or carry relics of saints. The Council of Tribur forbade prayers being offered for clerics killed in wars of brawls. Nonethless, bishops and abbots in the early middle ages were men of great wealth and power. German bishops in particular exercised extensive secular power as royal officials and agents. This often entailed them leading troops into battle in the service of the king. In terms of Christian warfare, doctrine and practice were seriously at odds.
989ï¿½ï¿½ Peace of God. Synod of Charroux (at a Benedictine monastery in La
Marche
1027ï¿½ï¿½ Truce of God. Council of Toulouges (in eastern
Pyrenees
) proclaims the ï¿½Truce of God,ï¿½ prohibiting warfare on Sundays and holy days.
1033ï¿½ï¿½ Peace of God.ï¿½ Peace council at
Limoges
adds merchants to list of noncombatants protected by the Peace of God.
1073ï¿½ï¿½ Pope Gregory VII (r. 1073-1085) initiates a new conception of the Church and the role of the papacy within it. According to Gregory, the Church is obligated to create "right order in the world" rather than withdraw from it. Gregory seeks to create a papal monarchy with moral authority over the ï¿½temporal swordï¿½ (secular state) and rule over the clergy. Gregoryï¿½s claims are enunciated in the ï¿½ Dictates of the Pope ï¿½ (Dictatus Papae), a list of 27 assertions recorded in Gregoryï¿½s papal register under 1075: a) the supremacy of the Roman pontiff over the entire Church, including the eastern branch ('That the Roman pontiff alone can with right be called universal/That his name alone shall be spoken in the churches') and rule over the episcopate, which entailed the right of deposing and reinstating bishops (a right that could be exercised even by a legate), the power of organizing diocese, the right to be the ultimate judge in ecclesiastical cases, and a claim to be exempt from human judgment); b. The power to issue canon law; c. the sanctity of the pope qua pope (through the merits of St Peter); d. papal supremacy over the princes of the earth ('That he alone may use the imperial insignia/That of the pope all princes shall kiss the feet'), with the practical and revolutionary claim 'that he may absolve subjects from their fealty to wicked men.' [There is an indication here of Gregory's view of the pope as the final judge over the entire feudal system; in his treatment of Henry IV at
Canossa
there is some indication that he conceived of himself as being the ultimate feudal overlord. The feudal claims of the papacy is a topic that deserves to be explored in more depth.]
ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Upon assuming the papacy in 1073 issued bulls urging Christian princes to recover lands from Muslims in Spain , over which he claimed papal sovereignty on the basis of ancient right. Gregoryï¿½s ideas about Christian war, which were extended to fighting against domestic enemies of the papacy and Church (the Emperor Henry IV), were adopted by his successors in the papacy. Gregory VIIï¿½s idea that popes were responsible for the right order in the world, which could only be obtained through righteous Christian violence directed by the papacy, forms the basis for the Crusades.
1095   Council of Clermont. The First Crusade is initiated when Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus requests help in reconquering from the Seljuk Turks the lost
territory
of
Asia Minor
. Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont calls upon the princes of Christendom for an armed ï¿½pilgrimageï¿½ to recover
Jerusalem
from the Muslims. Among his goals is the strengthening of the Gregorian papacy by bringing the Greek Orthodox Church under papal authority. The response is dramatic with two waves of ï¿½crusadersï¿½ answering the Popeï¿½s call.ï¿½ War continues between Pope Urban II and the German Emperor Henry IV, who is forced to flee
Italy
1096‑1099: Phases and major events of the First Crusade.
1096: Peopleï¿½s Crusade. About 20,000 lesser nobles and peasants from northern
France
and
Germany
, led in part by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sansavoir. Peasants massacred Jews of Rhineland along the way. Many of the crusaders were killed by Hungarians in retaliation for their looting of the countryside. Those that made it to Constantinople were slaughtered by the Turks in
Anatolia
. Remnant, about 3,000 strong, including Peter the Hermit, joined up with Prince's Crusade. Probably the greatest significance of the Peopleï¿½s Crusade was that it revealed the wide-spread popular appeal of Urbanï¿½s call to crusade and that the poor military showing it made against the Turks lulled the Sultan Kilij Arslan to underestimating the threat of the Princesï¿½ Crusade that followed.
1096‑1099: Princes' Crusade. Force of about 50-60,000 (including noncombatants), of which about 7,000 were knights. Led by dukes and counts: Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin of Boulogne, Raymond IV of Toulouse, Stephen of Blois, Robert Curthose of Normandy, Hugh of Vermandois, Bohemond of Taranto (Norman of southern Italy), and Robert of Flanders. The crusade did not have a military commander or a chain of command. Its moral leader was Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, the papal legate.ï¿½ Results:
Jerusalem
1097-1098   Siege of
Antioch
. The crusaders, after swearing oaths of allegiance to Emperor Alexius and promising to restore to him formerly held Byzantine territory, crossed into
Anatolia
, the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum ruled by Kilij Arslan. They laid siege to the Seljuq capital city of
Nicaea
and defeated a relief army led by Kilij Arslan, but were deprived of plunder when the city surrendered to Alexius after secret negotiations. In compliance with their oaths, the crusaders ceded
Nicaea
to Alexius and marched southeast, but this was the beginning of bad blood between the crusader leaders and the Byzantines. Kilij Arslanï¿½s forces intercepted the army (which was marching in two divisions separated by mile) at Dorylaeum but the crusaders managed to defeat it. They continued marching south through
Anatolia
meeting little opposition. Baldwin of Boulogne broke off from the main army to take control of the
county
, while the main crusader army marched on to
Antioch
. The Siege of Antioch (20 Oct 1097-3 June 1098) proved a turning point. This long siege turned into a competitive starving match during which many hungry crusaders deserted.ï¿½ After beating off several relief attempts from local Turkish rulers, the crusaders took the city by treachery. Bohemond, who wanted
Antioch
for himself, contacted a disaffected Armenian warden of one of the cityï¿½s towers. After forcing the other leaders to agree to give him
Antioch
(in breach of their agreement with Alexius), Bohemond had his confederate permit the crusaders to enter the city through his now unguarded tower. The crusaders now found themselves starving within the cityï¿½s walls and caught between the still untaken city citadel and a large advancing Turkish army commanded by the atabeg (governor) of
Mosul
, Kerbogha. Stephen of Blois, who had left the crusade just before the city was taken and was on his way back to his mortified wife Adela, convinced Alexius that the crusadersï¿½ situation was hopeless and that there was no point in coming to their rescue. When all seemed lost, a simple soldier in Count Raymondï¿½s southern French army, Peter Bartholomew, had visions in which St. Andrew told him where to find the Holy Lance. The discovery of the ï¿½Holy Lanceï¿½ was greeted with skepticism by Bohemond and Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, but it raised morale in the ranks and was an important factor in the Crusaders victory over Kerboghaï¿½s relief army. (In the following year Peter Bartholomew was to die in an ordeal by fire to prove the authenticity of the Lance.) The Fatimids of Egypt, enemies of the Seljuqs, entered into negotiations with the crusaders, whom they understood to be a Byzantine mercenary army, facilitating their capture of Turkish held towns in
Syria
and the Levant as they marched south toward
Jerusalem
.ï¿½
1099   The crusaders of the First Crusade, numbering now around 20,000, capture Jerusalem , massacring its inhabitants (Muslims, Jews , and Christians alike). The Crusaders divide their new territories into four principalities. Godfrey of Bouillon is named ï¿½defender of the Holy Sepulcherï¿½ and ruler of
Jerusalem
.
1101-1102: the Crusade of the Faint-hearted (coda to the First Crusade). Pope Paschal II, taking up where his predecessor Pope Urban II left off, preached another crusade to aid the fledgling
Kingdom
of
Jerusalem
. He called in particular upon those who had taken but failed to fulfill the crusader vow but had not fulfilled it, whom he threatened with excommunication, and those who had left the First Crusade before it reached Jerusalem (the ï¿½faint-heartedï¿½).ï¿½ The result was another large, disorganized crusade, even more heterogeneous and far less successful than the First. The largest contingent was townspeople and peasants from Lombardy (northern
Italy
). Others came from various parts of
France
.ï¿½ Among the Crusadesï¿½ leaders were Count Stephen of
Blois
and Count Hugh of Vermandois, both seeking to restore the honor they had lost by leaving the First Crusade prematurely. (Stephenï¿½s ignominious flight from the Crusade during the dark days of the siege of Antioch mortified his wife Countess Adela, the daughter of King William the Conqueror; she nagged him into going back to restore her honor.]ï¿½ The crusade of 1101 was almost annihilated in
Asia Minor
by the Seljuqs.
ï¿½c.1100ï¿½ï¿½ The Song of Roland , the oldest chanson de geste (medieval epic poem) is composed by an anonymous poet in Anglo-Norman French. The poem is set in northern
Spain
during the reign of Charlemagne and is (loosely) based on an historical event, the massacre of Charlemagne's rearguard at
Roncesvalles
in 778. The poem praises knightly martial values of prowess, courage, and loyalty. The poet uses the story of Ganelonï¿½s plot to kill his stepson Roland by betraying him and Charlemagneï¿½s rearguard to the Saracens to promote the idea that a knightï¿½s loyalty to his lord ought to take precedence over loyalty to kinsmen and even over slights to oneï¿½s honor. Roland reveals no knowledge of Islam, representing Muslims as pagans who worship three stone idols and Islam as the inverse of Christianity, as represented by the mantra: ï¿½Christians are right and pagans are wrong!ï¿½ 12th century illustration of Song of Roland
1114ï¿½ï¿½ Catalan crusade to recover the
Balearic Islands
from Saracen pirates.
ï¿½1119/1129: First Crusading Military Orders founded. ï¿½Military Ordersï¿½ were a hybrid creation combining knighthood and monasticism. The Brother Knights lived under a monastic rule modeled in the case of the Primitive Rule of the Templars upon the Cistercian rule. Their monastic ï¿½workï¿½ was prayer and warfare. Like the Cistercians, the Military Orders only accepted adults into their ranks.
Knights Hospitaller (ï¿½Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalemï¿½), founded in 1099 but recognized by papacy as a religious order in 1113. Although founded earlier than the Templars, the Hospitallers became a ï¿½military orderï¿½ later, c. 1126.
Knights Templar (ï¿½Poor Knights of Christ and the
Temple
of
Solomon
ï¿½) established c.1119 to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem and confirmed by papacy as a religious order in 1129. Cistercian abbot St. Bernard of Clairvauxï¿½ popularized the Templarsï¿½ in his treatise the New Knighthood ï¿½ ( Manuscript illumination of Bernard of Clairvaux writing .) ( Great Seal of the Master of the Knights Templar .)
1146‑1174ï¿½ï¿½ Nur‑al‑Din, Turkish ruler of
Mosul
Aleppo
, unites Moslem Syria under his rule. Reintroduces idea of Jihad. Coin of Nur al-Din
ï¿½1147-1148 ï¿½ï¿½ Second Crusade called by Pope Eugene II, preached by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and led by King Louis VII of France and King Conrad of Germany, to recover the city of
Edessa
, which had been taken by the Muslims in 1144. Accomplishes nothing.ï¿½
1147ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade: capture of
Lisbon
. A fleet filled with English, Flemish, Frisian, and Scottish crusaders bound for the East were forced by storms to put into port in Portugal, where King Alfonso of Portugal persuaded them to aid him besiege Moorish held Lisbon. They took the city and expelled the Moors from it.
Lisbon
became part of the Christian
kingdom
itself. News of the fall of
Jerusalem
leads to the pope calling for the Third Crusade . The call will be answered by the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, French King Philip Augustus and English King Richard the Lionheart.
1188ï¿½ï¿½ Saladin Tithe. Upon hearing of the fall of
Jerusalem
to Saladin, King Henry II of
England
and King Philip Augustus of
France
both took the Cross and vowed to liberate the
Holy
City
.ï¿½ To raise money for the expedition, they devised what might be the first national income tax. The Saladin Tithe was, as its name implies, a tax of a tenth of the value of all moveable properties and revenues upon all those not going on crusade. The edict issued by Henry and Philip declared: "This year each man shall give in alms a tenth of his revenues and movables with the exception of the arms, horses and garments of the knights, and likewise with the exception of the horses, books, garments and vestments, and all appurtenances of whatever sort used by clerks in divine service, and the precious stones belonging to both clerks and laymen." In
France
the resistance to the Tithe was so great that King Philip was not only forced to suspend it but apologized for having proposed it. In
England
, where royal power was stronger, the Tithe was collected and raised ï¿½70,000 from Christians and approximately another ï¿½10,000 from the Jews. In
England
, the Saladin Tithe was collected with ruthless efficiency. Because it was a ï¿½titheï¿½ rather than a royal secular exaction, the money was collected by parish priests, bishops, deans of the local churches, local barons, and royal sergeants rather than by sheriffs, and turned over to a special office with ten tellers set up in Salisbury rather than to the Exchequer. Henry II used the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller to help organize the collection.ï¿½ Anyone who joined the crusade was exempt from the Tithe. This was meant to encourage participation, and many did indeed join in order to avoid the tallage. All other landowners, both clerics and laymen, had to pay; if anyone disagreed with the assessment of their property, they were imprisoned or excommunicated. The procedures established for the Saladin Tithe formed a model for future English royal exactions, such as those used to ransom Richard in 1194 and to pay for Johnï¿½s Continental wars in 1207.
1189-1192ï¿½ï¿½ Third Crusade: Crusade to recapture
Jerusalem
from Saladin. Call to crusade answered by German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, French King Philip Augustus and English King Richard the Lionheart.
Frederick
drowned in Cilicia; Philip returned after the capture of Acre (1191), and Richard campaigned until 1192, when he made peace with Saladin, a compromise which left the Christians in control of the coast down to Ascalon and Saladin as ruler of
Jerusalem
, with Christian pilgrims allowed free access to the
Holy
1190ï¿½ï¿½ Massacre of the Jews of
York
. ï¿½Richard the Lionheartï¿½s preparations for going on crusade entailed demanding money from the Jews, who were officially serfs of the Crown. Jewish moneylenders, in turn, raised the required money by calling in debts.ï¿½ This exacerbated the Christian hostility toward the Jews which had already been stirred up by crusading fervor. In 1189-1190 there were a series of attacks upon Jewish communities across
England
, including the massacre of thirty Jews who tried to bring gifts to Richard during his coronation at
Westminster
by a mob responding to a (false) rumor that the new king had ordered the extermination of the Jews.ï¿½ The new king responded by having the ringleaders hanged. The most notorious event was the massacre of the Jewish community of
York
.ï¿½ A local noble Richard Malebrisse, who was deeply in debt to the wealthy banker Aaron of York, took advantage of a fire that broke out in town to incite the local population against the Jews. A mob broke into the home of a recently deceased agent of Aaron, sacked the premisses and killed his widow and children. The townï¿½s Jews, about 150 men, women, and children, sought refuge with the royal warden of Cliffordï¿½s Tower. He agreed, but when the Jews refused to readmit him after he had left the castle, the warden asked the sheriff of
Yorkshire
to raise the forces of the shire to evict the Jews. This swelled into a mob that set fire to the castle. Rather than surrender, the Jews inside decided to kill themselves. The rioters then went to the cathedral of
York
, where the records of debt owed to Jewish moneylenders were kept, and burned the accounts. The kingï¿½s chancellor William de Longchamp, bishop of Ely, regarded this as an attack upon the royal dignity and fired the sheriff and constable for dereliction of duty and confiscated the estates of the instigator, Richard Malebrisse.
1191-1192ï¿½ï¿½ Richard the Lionheart leads the Third Crusade. The arrival at Acre of King Philip II Augustus of France in April and King Richard I of
England
in early June with about 18,000 soldiers between them proved decisive in the siege of
Acre
, which fell to the crusaders in early July after a siege of two years. In the aftermath of the victory Richard made a mortal enemy of Duke Leopold of
Austria
when he ordered the Dukeï¿½s banner, which had been raised beside his and King Philipï¿½s, removed from the cityï¿½s walls. When Philip Augustus decided to return to
France
because of illness and political concerns, Richard assumed sole command of the crusading army, including the French and German contingents. After massacring 2,700 Muslim captives when Saladin missed the deadline for ransom, Richard began a march down the coast. Richard secured the coast by marching from Acre to
Jaffa
, taking each port city along the way. This march was among Richardï¿½s most impressive military feats. The crusaders marching in close formation were under constant attack, as Saladin tried to lure Richard into a set battle. Richard, intent on securing the port cities as a necessary prelude to taking
Jerusalem
, refused to get drawn into battle. Using
Cyprus
(which he had taken on his way to the Holy Land in 1191) as a supply depot and
Acre
as a logistical base, Richard ordered his fleet to follow along the coast, so that they could bring supplies and reinforcements to the troops and take away the wounded and sick. When the crusadersï¿½ patience finally gave out near Arsuf, just shy of
Jaffa
, and the Hospitallers in the rearguard decided to charge the Saracens, Richard quickly deployed his troops from line of march to line of battle using prearranged trumpet signals, and attacked. Although victorious in the battle, Richard chose not to pursue Saladinï¿½s army but instead continued his march to
Jaffa
. Richard, however, came to recognize that although he could take
Jerusalem
, because it was inland he would not be able to hold it. His best chance was to attack the capital of Saladinï¿½s empire,
Egypt
, but the army balked and insisted on marching to
Jerusalem
. Faced with news that his brother Prince John with the support of Philip Augustus was attempting to seize the English throne (the historical setting for most modern versions of the Robin Hood story), Richard negotiated a three year truce with Saladin and a settlement that allowed Christian pilgrims access to
Jerusalem
, although the city remained under Muslim control. Saladin, fearful of the threat posed to
Egypt
, required also that the walls of Ascalon, the southern most port in
Palestine
, be leveled. Richard was unsuccessful as well in his attempt to preserve the kingship of
Jerusalem
for his Poitevin vassal King Guy of Lusignan.ï¿½ Faced with an unanimous vote by the barons of the Kingdom, Richard reluctantly accepted Conrad of Montferrat, a supporter of Philip Augustus, as King of Jerusalem. He sold Guy the lordship of
Cyprus
as a consolation prize. Before he could be crowned Conrad was assassinated by two members of the Ismali Shiite sect the Hashshashins. Suspicion immediately fell on Richard. Conrad belonged to a well connected family, having been a cousin of the Emperor Henry VI of
Germany
of
Sicily
. Markward was a supporter of Innocentï¿½s enemy the Hohenstaufen claimant to the German throne Philip of Swabia, and posed a threat both to the Papal States and to the popeï¿½s claim to supremacy over Sicily. This was the first ï¿½political crusade.ï¿½
 
1203-1204   Fourth Crusade : Innocent III calls for a crusade to liberate
Jerusalem
. The Fourth Crusade starts with Venetians diverting crusaders to Yugoslav city of
Zara
, which they take for Venetians to pay for ships to take them to the
Holy Land
. Crusade is then diverted to
Constantinople
, where crusaders support pretender to the imperial throne. When their candidate is killed, they sack Constantinople and found
Latin
. The Byzantines retain control over the Despotate of Epirus (western
Greece
) and the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond in
Anatolia
.
Innocent III establishes new German Military Order, the Brothers of the Sword, to aid in the establishment of Christian rule in
Livonia
and the pagan Baltic.
 
ï¿½1209-1229   Albigensian Crusade against the ï¿½Catharï¿½ heretics of southern France/Cathar heresy. After the murder of the Cistercian monk and papal legate (St) Peter of Castelnau following a stormy meeting with Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (1156-1222) over the countï¿½s supposed protection of heretics, Pope Innocent III calls for the Albigensian Crusade against the dualist Cathar heretics (Albigensians) and their supporters in Languedoc (ï¿½land of the language of ï¿½ocï¿½ [yes]ï¿½=southern France, as opposed to ï¿½Langedoï¿½l,ï¿½ northern France where people used ï¿½oï¿½lï¿½/oui to say yes). Although King Philip II Augustus of
France
, faced with enemies to his west (King John) and east (Emperor Otto IV) showed no interest in leading this crusade, he gave permission to his barons in the
Ile-de-France
to answer the summons. The northern French crusading army was led by the pious, sanctimonious, and brutal Count Simon de Montfort (c.1165-1218), lord of Montfort lï¿½Amaury in the Ile-de-France, and father of the English Earl Simon de Montfort (see below 128/1259). Montfort had gone on the Fourth Crusade but had left in disgust when the crusaders attacked Christian Zara to pay the Venetians for transport to the
Holy Land
. This ferociously brutal war began with a massacre in the southern French city of Bï¿½ziers in 1209, after which crusaders and southern French defenders exchanged atrocities. Montfortï¿½s army of northern French crusaders proved initially successful, and apparently ï¿½wonï¿½ the war when they defeated King Pere II of Aragon in the Battle of Muret in 1213, after which Montfort styled himself Count of Toulouse and
Narbonne
. Montfortï¿½s brutality, however, led to renewed support for Count Raymond VI of
Toulouse
. Montfort died besieging
Toulouse
in 1218, crushed by a rock thrown by a mangonel. Count Raymond VI died in 1222, and his capable son Count Raymond VII took up the fight. The turning point in the war came in 1226 when King Louis VIII of
France
(r.1223-1226) brought the full military weight of the French Crown to bear against the southern French. In 1229 the Albigensian Crusade came to an end. Count Raymond VII was allowed to retain his county, but it was to pass after his death to his daughter and her husband, Alphonse of Artois, the younger brother of King (St) Louis IX. The ultimate political consequence of the Albigensian Crusade was that
Languedoc
became part of the French kingï¿½s royal domain.ï¿½ Siege of Carcassonne, early 13th-century carving . Walls of Carcassonne
The Cathars were dualists who believed that there were two gods, the good god of the New Testament who created the world of spirit and the evil god of the Old Testament who created the material world. They believed that the evil god had imprisoned the souls of men into prisons of flesh, and that unless released by the sacrament of the Consolamentum (akin to baptism but without the use of water), the soul upon the physical death of a person would transmigrate to a new ï¿½prison of flesh.ï¿½ ï¿½The Cathar clergy, known as ï¿½Perfectsï¿½ (also as the Good Men and the Good Women), lived lives of purity, abstaining from meat, fish, sex, or any worldly pleasures or luxuries, and conceived of themselves to be living vessels of the Holy Spirit. Upon death their souls would be released to go back to heaven. There were few Perfects. There were many more who were ï¿½Believers,ï¿½ Cathar laity, who lived lives much like their Catholic neighbors but hoped to receive the Consolamentum upon their deathbeds. Of course, the Cathars rejected completely the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its sacraments. Even in southern France Cathar believers made up only a small minority of the population. But they were disproportionately well represented among the lesser nobility and were toleratedï¿½and sometimes protectedï¿½by Catholic nobles, including the count of
Toulouse
, Raymond VI. The religion originated in the East, perhaps
Bulgaria
, and spread to the West in the middle of the twelfth century via
Constantinople
. It took root in southern
France
, in part because of the weakness of the institutional church in that region. In the first decade of the thirteenth century (
St.
) Dominic de Guzman, a Spanish Augustinian canon, and the Diego, bishop of Osma, conducted a preaching mission against the Cathars, debating them in public. The failure of this preaching movement led to the Albigensian Crusade and, later, to the Papal Inquisition. The Church regarded the Cathars as the most serious of the various heretical movements of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
1212ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. Combined army of the Christian kingdoms of Spain led by King Alfonso VIII of Leon/Castile and King Pere II of Aragon-Catalonia decisively defeats the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa (northeast of Cordoba), driving the Almohads back to Morocco. Turning point in the Christian Reconquista of
Spain
.
1212ï¿½ï¿½ Childrenï¿½s Crusadeï¿½ï¿½ ï¿½This actually refers to two separate peasant movements. One was led by a German shepherd who led about 7,000 peasants of all ages across the Alps to
Genoa
, believing that the sea would part so that they could walk to
Jerusalem
. It didnï¿½t, and the ï¿½crusadeï¿½ evaporated.ï¿½ The other wasnï¿½t a crusade at all. A twelve year old peasant boy named Stephen of Cloyes claimed to have a letter from Jesus to King Philip Augustus of
France
. Thousands followed him to St. Denis, where he supposedly worked miracles. King Philip, after consulting with the faculty of the
University
of
Paris
, dispersed the crowds and sent them home. The idea of an actual popular ï¿½crusadeï¿½ of children was the result of medieval chroniclers writing several decades after these events misinterpreting the characterization of the crowds as pueri, a Latin word that literally means ï¿½boysï¿½ but which was also slang for peasants of all ages.
1213ï¿½ï¿½
Battle
of Muret. Decisive victory in southern France by Simon de Montfort, leader of the Crusading army in the Albigensian Crusade, over (ironically) King Pere II of Aragon-Catalonia, hero of the Christian victory at Las Navas de Tolosa a year earlier.
1218‑1221ï¿½ï¿½ Fifth Crusade directed against
Egypt
. Gets bogged down in a siege of port city of
Damietta
and ends in complete failure.
1225ï¿½ï¿½ Frederick II, who had taken crusader vows in 1215 and 1220, married (by proxy) Yolande (aka Isabella) daughter of John of Brienne, the nominal ruler of the
kingdom
. By right of his wife, Frederick II claimed the
kingdom
Jerusalem
.
1227ï¿½ï¿½ Emperor Frederick II excommunicated for failing to fulfill crusader vow. Frederick II set sails from
Brindisi
to Acre, but is forced to return to
Italy
when an epidemic breaks out in the fleet. The new pope Gregory IX excommunicates
Frederick
ostensibly for his persistent failure to fulfill his crusade vow but probably really because of
Frederick
ï¿½s political designs over
Italy
which threatens the popeï¿½s control over the papal states.
1228-29ï¿½ Crusade of Emperor Frederick II.ï¿½ Ignoring his excommunication, Frederick II leads a crusade to
Palestine
. In 1239 Count Thibault of
Champagne
crusaded in the East with a minimum of military action. After two small engagements, one a victory and the other a defeat, Thibault arranged a treaty with the Sultan of Egypt that increased the territory of the
Latin
. He left in 1240 just as Earl Richard of
Cornwall
, the younger brother of King Henry III of
England
arrived. His crusade also involved little actual warfare, and he too negotiated a favorable settlement with the Sultan of Egypt (who was more concerned with his Muslim rival in
Damascus
than with the Franks in the
Latin
Kingdom
). This nearly forgotten crusade was ironically the most successful with the exceptions of the First Crusade and the Emperor Frederick IIï¿½s ï¿½crusadeï¿½ of 1228-1229.
1244ï¿½ï¿½
Jerusalem
is lost by the West and is not recaptured again until 1917.
1244ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Montsegur , the last Cathar stronghold, surrenders. 220 Cathar perfects are burnt. Marks the effective end of organized Catharism in
Languedoc
.
1245ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ ï¿½ Pope Innocent IV at the Council of Lyons declares Emperor Frederick II deposed and absolves his subjects from their oaths of fidelity, charging him with oath breaking, committing sacrilege by imprisoning cardinals and bishops, violating the peace between himself and the Church, showing contempt for the papacy, sacrilege, heresy, and ï¿½joining in odious friendship with the Saracens.ï¿½ The German princes elect an ï¿½anti-kingï¿½ and
Frederick
finds himself fighting rebels in
Germany
Order of the Teutonic Knights allowed to wage a permanent crusade in
Prussia
.
1248‑1254ï¿½ï¿½ Seventh Crusade . (St.) King Louis IX of France, having organized the best funded crusade to date and having taken the Egyptian port city of Damietta without opposition, gets himself and his entire army captured as he marches down the Nile in hope of taking Cairo. Louis agrees to a ransom for himself and his army of 50,000 gold bezants, about the same amount as the annual royal revenue of
France
1256-1270ï¿½ï¿½ Crusades: War of Saint Sabas. a commercial war between the Mediterranean maritime republics of
Genoa
(aided by Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre; John of Arsuf; and the Knights Hospitaller) and
Venice
(aided by the Count of Jaffa and the Knights Templar). The war began with the murder of a Genoese by a Venetian in a dispute over land owned by the monastery of Saint Sabas in the city of
Acre
Venice
.
1258ï¿½ï¿½ Mongols destroy Baghdad and end the Abbasid caliphate. The Mongol Ilkhanate ruler Hulagu Khan, leading a massive composite army of Mongol, Turkic, Persian, Chinese, and Georgian troops, took the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a two week siege and destroyed it. Among the casualties was the Grand Library of Baghdad. The sacked city lay depopulated and in ruins. The economic impact of the Mongol invasion has been debated among historians . Some think that the Mongols destroyed the irrigation infrastructure of
Mesopotamia
by cutting channels for military purposes and by driving away the labor required to maintain the canal system. As a result, the irrigation canals silted up.
1260ï¿½ï¿½ Battle of Ain Jalut , 3 September 1260. Victory of the Egyptian Mamluks over the Mongols in
Palestine
, just south of the sea of Galilee. Receiving news of the death of the Great Khan Mongke and a summoned to a gathering of Mongol khans to select his successor, the Mongol Ilkhanate leader Hulagu Khan withdrew from
Syria
with the majority of his army, leaving his designated commander the Armenian Christian Kitburqa Noyan to continue the invasion of
Palestine
with an army of about 20,000 men. The Egyptian Mamluk sultan Qutuz and the Mamluk emir Baybars. This battle proved to be decisive, marking the end of the Mongol expansion into the Mamluk sultanate of
Egypt
and
Sicily
by the pope, conquers it militarily, signaling the final papal victory over the dynasty of Frederick I and Frederick II.
1269-1270ï¿½ï¿½ [St] King Louis IXï¿½s second crusade. Louis dies from dysentery while on crusade in
Tunis
1271ï¿½ï¿½ Lord Edward (soon to be Edward I of
England
) leads a crusade to the East.
1284ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade: Papacy calls for a crusade against King Peter of
Aragon
in response to King Peterï¿½s support of the Sicilian rebels against King Charles of
Anjou
.
1291ï¿½ï¿½ The fall of Acre to the Muslim Mamluks marks the end of the Crusader States in the
Levant
1306ï¿½ï¿½ Hospitallers take control of the
island
Rhodes
.
1307-1312ï¿½ï¿½ Suppression of the Knights Templar . In 1307 King Philip IV ordered the arrest of all the Knights Templar in
France
, charging them with heresy (including rites of spitting on the cross and worshipping the head of an idol called ï¿½Baphometï¿½), sodomy, and witchcraft. Under torture, Templars confessed, which King Philip used to pressure the pope to suppress the Order.ï¿½ Philipï¿½s motivation was probably financial. Threatened with military force by King Philip, Pope Clement VI dissolved the order in 1312. In 1314 the last Grand Master of the order, Jacques de Molay, and Geoffrey de Charny, Preceptor of Normandy, faced with life imprisonment, recanted their confessions and were burnt at the stake.
1314ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade in
Hungary
against Mongols and Lithuanians. This will be renewed by the papacy in 1325, 1332, 1335, 1352, and 1354.
1321ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade in
Italy
against political opponents of the papacy.
1325ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade in
Poland
against Mongols and Lithuanians. This crusade was renewed by papal order in 1340, 1343, 1351, 1354, 1355, 1363, 1369).
1328ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade against King Louis IV of
Germany
1340ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade against heretics in
Bohemia
1348ï¿½ï¿½ Crusade of King Magnus of
Sweden