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The official crusader armies set off from France and Italy at different times in August and September 1096, with Hugh of Vermandois departing first, and the bulk of the army dividing into four parts travelling separately to Constantinople.[115][116] In all, the western forces may have totaled as many as 100,000 persons, counting both combatants and non-combatants.[117] The armies journeyed eastward by land toward Constantinople, where they received a wary welcome from the Byzantine Emperor.[118] Pledging to restore lost territories to the empire,[119] the main army, mostly French and Norman knights under baronial leadership, marched south through Anatolia.[120][121] The leaders of the First Crusade included Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert Curthose, Hugh of Vermandois, Baldwin of Bouillon, Tancred de Hauteville, Raymond of Toulouse, Bohemond of Taranto, and Robert II, Count of Flanders, and Stephen, Count of Blois. The King of France and Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, were both in conflict with the Papacy and did not take part.[122] When the French crusaders crossed into Germany in spring 1096, units of Crusaders massacred hundreds or thousands of Jews in the cities of Speyer, Worms, Mainz and Cologne, despite the efforts by Catholic bishops to protect the Jews. Major leaders included Emicho and Peter the Hermit.[123] Chazan says "the range of anti-Jewish activity was broad, extending from limited, spontaneous violence to full-scale military attacks on the Jewish communities of Mainz and Cologne."[124] This was the first major outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in Christian Europe and was cited by Zionists in the 19th century as indicating the need for a state of Israel.[125] The Crusader armies initially fought the Turks at the lengthy Siege of Antioch that began in October 1097 and lasted until June 1098. Once inside the city the Crusaders massacred the Muslim inhabitants and pillaged the city.[126] However, a large Muslim relief army under Kerbogha immediately besieged the victorious Crusaders within Antioch. Bohemond of Taranto led a successful rally of the crusader army and defeated Kerbogha's army on 28 June.[127] Bohemond and his men retained control of Antioch,[128] in spite of his pledge to the Byzantine emperor.[129] Most of the surviving crusader army marched south, moving from town to town along the coast, finally reaching the walls of Jerusalem on 7 June 1099 with only a fraction of their original forces.[128] Jews and Muslims fought together to defend Jerusalem against the invading Franks. On 15 July 1099 the crusaders entered the city. They proceeded to massacre the remaining Jewish and Muslim civilians and pillaged or destroyed mosques and the city itself.[130] As a result of the First Crusade, four main Crusader states were created: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[131] ... Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted ... in the temple and the porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies Raymond D'Aguilers in Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem [132] On a popular level, the preaching of the First Crusade unleashed a wave of impassioned, personally felt pious Christian fury that was expressed in the massacres of Jews that accompanied and preceded the movement of the crusaders through Europe,[133] as well as the violent treatment of the "schismatic" Orthodox Christians of the east.[134] Following this crusade was a second, less successful wave of crusaders, known as the Crusade of 1101, in which Turks led by Kilij Arslan defeated the crusaders in three separate battles in a response to the First Crusade.[135] Sigurd I of Norway was the first European king to visit the crusading states, as well as the first European king to take part in a crusading campaign, although his expedition was as much pilgrimage as crusade. His fleet helped at the Siege of Sidon. Also in 1107, Bohemond I of Antioch attacked the Byzantines at Avlona and Dyrrachium, in what is occasionally called Bohemond's Crusade, which ended in September 1108 with a defeat for Bohemond and his retiring to Italy. Further efforts in the 1120s included a crusade preached by Pope Calixtus II around 1120, which became the Venetian Crusade of 1122–1124;[136] a pilgrimage of Count Fulk V of Anjou in 1120; an effort by Conrad III of Germany in 1124, of which few details are known; and the Damascus Crusade of 1129 by Fulk V, which resulted in the recognition of the Knights Templar by Pope Honorius II in January 1129. Some historians have seen Pope Innocent II's grant in 1135 of the same crusading indulgences to those who opposed papal enemies as the first of the politically motivated crusades against papal opponents, but other historians do not agree.[137] The Crusader states were initially secure, but Imad ad-Din Zengi, who was appointed governor of Mosul in 1127, captured Aleppo in 1128 and Edessa in 1144.[138] These defeats led Pope Eugenius III to call for another crusade on 1 March 1145.[136] Second Crusade (1147–1149) Main article: Second Crusade The new crusade was called for by various preachers, most notably by Bernard of Clairvaux.[139] French and South German armies, under the Kings Louis VII and Conrad III respectively, marched to Jerusalem in 1147 but failed to win any major victories, launching a failed pre-emptive siege of Damascus.[140] On the other side of the Mediterranean, however, the Second Crusade met with great success as a group of Northern European Crusaders stopped in Portugal, allied with the Portuguese King, Afonso I of Portugal, and retook Lisbon from the Muslims in 1147.[141] A detachment from this group of crusaders helped Count Raymond Berenguer IV of Barcelona conquer the city of Tortosa the following year.[142][page needed] In the Holy Land by 1150, both the kings of France and Germany had returned to their countries without any result. Bernard of Clairvaux, who in his preachings had encouraged the Second Crusade, was upset with the amount of misdirected violence and slaughter of the Jewish population of the Rhineland.[140] A followup to this crusade was the pilgrimage of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in 1172 that is sometimes labeled a crusade.[143] Wendish (1147–1162) Main article: Wendish Crusade Contemporaneous with the Second Crusade, Saxons and Danes fought against Polabian Slavs in the Wendish Crusade or First Northern Crusade. The Wends defeated the Danes and the Saxons did not contribute much to the crusade.[144] The Wends did acknowledge the overlordship of the Saxon ruler, Henry the Lion. Further crusading actions continued although no papal bulls were issued calling new crusades.[145] Efforts to conquer the Wends began again in 1160 under Henry the Lion,[146] continuing until 1162, when the Wends were defeated at the Battle of Demmin.[147] Third Crusade (1187–1192) Main article: Third Crusade Detail of a miniature of Philip II of France arriving in the Holy Land The Muslims had long fought among themselves, but they were finally united by Saladin, who created a single powerful state.[148] Following his victory at the Battle of Hattin he easily overwhelmed the disunited crusaders in 1187 and retook Jerusalem on 29 September 1187. Terms were arranged and the city surrendered, with Saladin entering the city on 2 October 1187.[149] Saladin's victories shocked Europe. On hearing news of the Siege of Jerusalem (1187), Pope Urban III died of a heart attack on 19 October 1187.[150] On 29 October Pope Gregory VIII issued a papal bull, Audita tremendi, proposing the Third Crusade. To reverse the loss of Jerusalem, Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1152–1190) of Germany, King Philip II of France (r. 1180–1223), and King Richard I (r. 1189–1199) of England all organized forces. Frederick died en route, and few of his men reached the Holy Land. The other two armies arrived but were beset by political quarrels. Philip returned to France, leaving most of his forces behind. Richard captured the island of Cyprus from the Byzantines in 1191. He then recaptured the city of Acre after a long siege. The Crusader army headed south along the Mediterranean coast and defeated the Muslims near Arsuf, recaptured the port city of Jaffa, and were in sight of Jerusalem, but supply problems forced them to end the crusade without taking Jerusalem.[143] Richard left the following year after negotiating a treaty with Saladin. The terms allowed trade for merchants and unarmed Christian pilgrims to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem, while it remained under Muslim control.[151] Northern crusades (1193–1290) Main articles: Northern Crusades, Livonian Crusade and Prussian Crusade Livonian Brothers of the Sword Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against pagans in Northern Europe in 1193. Bishop Berthold of Hanover arrived with a large contingent of crusaders in 1198, but he was killed in battle and his forces were defeated. To avenge Berthold, Pope Innocent III issued a bull declaring a crusade against the Livonians, who were mostly still pagan.[152] Albrecht von Buxthoeven, consecrated as bishop in 1199, arrived the following year with a large force and established Riga as the seat of his bishopric in 1201. In 1202 he formed the Livonian Brothers of the Sword to aid in the conversion of the pagans to Christianity and, more importantly, to protect German trade and secure German control over commerce.[153] The Livonians were conquered and converted between 1202 and 1209.[153] Pope Honorius III called a crusade against the Prussians in 1217.[154] Konrad of Masovia gave Chelmno to the Teutonic Knights in 1226 to serve as a base for the Prussian crusade.[155] In 1236 the Livonian Sword Brothers were defeated by the Lithuanians at Saule, and in 1237 Pope Gregory IX merged the remaining Sword Brothers into the Teutonic Knights.[156] By 1249, the Teutonic Knights had completed their conquest of the Prussians, which they ruled as a fief of the German emperor. The Knights then moved on to conquer and convert the pagan Lithuanians, a process that lasted into the 1380s.[157] The Teutonic Order attempted but failed to conquer Orthodox Russia (particularly the Republics of Pskov and Novgorod), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX, as part of the Northern Crusades. In 1240 the Novgorod army defeated the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva,[158] and in 1242 they defeated the Livonian knights in the Battle of the Ice.[157] German Crusade (1195–1198) Main article: German Crusade Emperor Henry VI began preparations to launch a German Crusade in 1195. His health did not allow him to lead the forces in person, so leadership devolved to Conrad of Wittelsbach, the Archbishop of Mainz. The forces landed at Acre in September 1197 and captured the cities of Sidon and Beirut. Henry died soon thereafter, and most of the crusaders returned to Germany in 1198.[17] Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) Main articles: Fourth Crusade, Latin Empire, Frankokratia, Siege of Constantinople (1203), Siege of Constantinople (1204), Battle of Adrianople (1205) and Siege of Zara The Fourth Crusade never reached the Holy Land. Instead, it became a vehicle for the political ambitions of Doge Enrico Dandolo and the German King Philip of Swabia who was married to Irene of Byzantium. Dandelo saw an opportunity to expand Venice's possessions in the near east, while Philip saw the crusade as a chance to restore his exiled nephew, Alexios IV Angelos to the throne on Byzantium.[159] Pope Innocent III initiated recruitment for the crusade in 1200 with preaching taking place in France, England, and Germany, although the bulk of the efforts were in France.[160] The Crusaders contracted with the Venetians for a fleet and provisions to transport them to the Holy Land, but they lacked the funds to pay when too few knights arrived in Venice. They agreed to divert the crusade to Constantinople and share what could be looted as payment. As collateral the crusaders seized the Christian city of Zara on 24 November 1202. Innocent was appalled and excommunicated the crusaders.[161] The crusaders met with limited resistance in their initial siege of Constantinople, sailing down the Dardanelles and breaching the sea walls. However, Alexios was strangled after a palace coup, robbing them of their success, and they had to repeat the siege in April 1204. This time the city was sacked, churches pillaged, and large numbers of the citizens butchered. The crusaders took their rewards, dividing the Empire into Latin fiefs and Venetian colonies. In the Venetian period, there was particular attention to improving defences of La Cava and Nicosia.[162] In April 1205, the crusaders were largely annihilated by Bulgars and remaining Greeks at Adrianople, where Kaloyan of Bulgaria captured and imprisoned the new Latin emperor Baldwin of Flanders.[163][164][165] While deploring the means, the papacy initially supported this apparent forced reunion between the Eastern and Western churches.[166] The Fourth Crusade effectively left two Roman Empires in the East: a Latin "Empire of the Straits", existing until 1261, and a Byzantine rump ruled from Nicea, which later regained control in the absence of the Venetian fleet. Venice was the sole beneficiary in the long run.[167] Albigensian Crusade (1208–1241) Main article: Albigensian Crusade Pope Innocent III excommunicating the Albigensians (left), Massacre against the Albigensians by the crusaders (right) The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1208 to eliminate the heretical Cathars of Occitania (modern-day southern France). It was a decades-long struggle that had as much to do with the desire of northern France to extend its control southwards as it did with battling heresy. In the end, the Cathars were driven underground, and the independence of southern France was eliminated.[168] Pope Honorius III called a crusade against supposed Cathar heretics in Bosnia. There were rumors that there was an anti-pope of the Cathars named Nicetas, although whether such a figure ever existed is unclear. Hungarian forces responded to the papal calls in two efforts in 1234 and 1241, with the second one ending because of the Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1241. The Bosnian church was Catholic in theology, but continued to be in schism with the Roman Catholic Church well past the end of the Middle Ages.[169] Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) Main article: Fifth Crusade Dirham struck by Christians between 1216 and 1241 with Arabic inscriptions. Pope Innocent III declared a new crusade to commence in 1217, along with his summoning of the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215. The majority of the crusaders came from Germany, Flanders, and Frisia, along with a large army from Hungary led by King Andrew II and other forces led by Duke Leopold VI. The forces of Andrew and Leopold arrived in Acre in October 1217 but little was accomplished and Andrew returned to Hungary in January 1218. After the arrival of more crusaders, Leopold and the king of Jerusalem, John of Brienne, laid siege to Damietta, Egypt,[170] which they captured finally in November 1219. Further efforts by the papal legate, Pelagius, to invade further into Egypt led to no gains.[171] Blocked by forces of the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Kamil, the crusaders were forced to surrender. Al-Kamil forced the return of Damietta and agreed to an eight-year truce and the crusaders left Egypt.[172] Sixth Crusade (1228–1229) Main article: Sixth Crusade Emperor Frederick II (left) meets al-Kamil (right), from a manuscript of the Nuova Cronica by Giovanni Villani Emperor Frederick II had repeatedly vowed a crusade but failed to live up to his words,[173] for which he was excommunicated by Gregory IX in 1228. He nonetheless set sail from Brindisi in June 1228 and landed at Saint-Jean d'Acre in September 1228, after a stopover in Cyprus.[174] There were no battles as Frederick made a peace treaty with Al-Kamil, the ruler of Egypt. This treaty allowed Christians to rule over most of Jerusalem and a strip of territory from Acre to Jerusalem, while the Muslims were given control of their sacred areas in Jerusalem. In return, Frederick pledged to protect Al-Kamil against all his enemies, even if they were Christian.[175] A followup to this crusade was the effort by King Theobald I of Navarre in 1239 and 1240 that had originally been called in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX to assemble in July 1239 at the end of a truce. Besides Theobald, Peter of Dreux and Hugh, Duke of Burgundy and other French nobles took part. They arrived in Acre in September 1239 and after a defeat in November, Theobald arranged a treaty with the Muslims that returned territory to the crusading states, but caused much disaffection within the crusaders. Theobald returned to Europe in September 1240. Also in 1240, Richard of Cornwall, younger brother of King Henry III of England, took the cross and arrived in Acre in October. He then secured the ratification of Theobald's treaty and left the Holy Land in May 1241 for Europe.[19] Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) Main article: Seventh Crusade In the summer of 1244 a Khwarezmian force summoned by the son of al-Kamil, al-Salih Ayyub, stormed and took Jerusalem. The Franks allied with Ayyub's uncle Ismail and the emir of Homs and their combined forces were drawn into battle at La Forbie in Gaza. The crusader army and its allies were completely defeated within forty-eight hours by the Khwarezmian tribesmen.[176] In showing utter agony, a Templar knight lamented : “ Rage and sorrow are seated in my heart...so firmly that I scarce dare to stay alive. It seems that God wishes to support the Turks to our loss...ah, lord God...alas, the realm of the East has lost so much that it will never be able to rise up again. They will make a Mosque of Holy Mary's convent, and since the theft pleases her Son, who should weep at this, we are forced to comply as well...Anyone who wishes to fight the Turks is mad, for Jesus Christ does not fight them any more. They have conquered, they will conquer. For every day they drive us down, knowing that God, who was awake, sleeps now, and Muhammad waxes powerful.[177] ” King Louis IX of France organized a crusade after taking the cross in December 1244, preaching and recruiting from 1245 through 1248.[178] Louis' forces set sail from France in May 1249 and landed near Damietta in Egypt on 5 June 1249. Waiting until the end of the Nile flood, the army marched into the interior in November and by February were near El Manusra. They were defeated near there, however, and King Louis was captured while retreating towards Damietta.[179] Louis was ransomed for 800,000 bezants and a ten-year truce was agreed. Louis then went to Syria, where he remained until 1254 working to solidify the kingdom of Jerusalem and constructing fortifications.[180] Eighth and Ninth Crusade (1270–1272) Main articles: Eighth Crusade and Ninth Crusade Christian states in the Levant Ignoring his advisers, in 1270 Louis IX again attacked the Arabs in Tunis in North Africa. He picked the hottest season of the year for campaigning and his army was devastated by disease. The king himself died, ending the last major attempt to take the Holy Land.[181] The Mamluks, led by Baibars, eventually drove the Franks from the Holy Land. From 1265 through 1271, Baibars drove the Franks to a few small coastal outposts.[182] His armies slaughtered or enslaved every Christian in the city of Antioch.[183] The future Edward I of England undertook to crusade with Louis IX, but he was delayed and did not arrive in North Africa until November 1270. After the death of Louis, Edward went to Sicily and then on to Acre in May 1271. His forces were too small to make much difference, though, and he was upset at the conclusion of a truce between Baibars and the king of Jerusalem, Hugh. Although Edward learned of his father's death and his succession to the throne in December 1272, he did not return to England until 1274, although he accomplished little in the Holy Land.[184] Aragonese Crusade (1284-1285) Main article: Aragonese Crusade The Crusade of Aragón was declared by Pope Martin IV against King Peter III of Aragon in 1284 and 1285. Peter was supporting the anti-Angevin forces in Sicily following the Sicilian Vespers, and the papacy supported Charles of Anjou. Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed a crusade against Frederick III of Sicily, the younger brother of Peter, in 1298, but was unable to prevent Frederick's crowning and recognition as King of Sicily.[185] Crusades of the 14th and 15th centuries Main article: Ottoman Wars in Europe Further information: Crusade of Nicopolis Execution of Christian prisoners after the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Various crusades were launched in the 14th and 15th centuries to counter the expanding Ottoman Empire starting in 1396 with Sigismund of Luxemburg, king of Hungary. Many French nobles joined Sigismund's forces, including John the Fearless, son of the Duke of Burgundy, who was appointed military leader of the crusade. Although Sigismund advised the crusaders to adopt a defensive posture once they reached the Danube, the crusaders instead besieged the city of Nicopolis. The Ottomans met the crusaders in the Battle of Nicopolis on 25 September 1396, defeating the Christian forces and capturing 3,000 prisoners.[186] Further information: Hussite Wars The battle between the Hussite warriors and the Crusaders, Jena Codex, 15th century The Hussite Crusade(s), also known as the "Hussite Wars," or the "Bohemian Wars," involved the military actions against the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 to around 1431. Crusades were declared five times in that period – in 1420, 1421, 1422, 1427 and in 1431. The net effect of these expeditions was to force the Hussite forces, which disagreed on many doctrinal points, to unite to drive out the invaders. The wars were brought to a conclusion in 1436 with the ratification of the Compactata of Iglau by the Church.[187] In April 1487, Pope Innocent VIII called a crusade against the Waldensian heretics of Savoy, the Piedmont, and the Dauphiné in southern France and northern Italy. The only efforts actually undertaken were against heretics in the Dauphiné, and resulted in little change.[188] Further information: Crusade of Varna The Polish-Hungarian king, Władysław Warneńczyk invaded the recently conquered Ottoman territory and reached Belgrade in January 1444. Negotiations over a truce eventually led to an agreement, that was repudiated by Sultan Murad II within days of its ratification. Further efforts by the crusaders ended in the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444 which, although resulting in a draw between the two forces, led to the crusaders withdrawing. This withdrawal led to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, as it was the last Western attempt to help the Byzantine Empire. Further information: Siege of Belgrade (1456) In 1456 John Hunyadi and Giovanni da Capistrano organized a crusade to lift the Ottomon siege of Belgrade.[189] |
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