Chronography of The Crusades
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20 April 1545. The Waldensians were massacred in Provence.
28 July 1480, An Ottoman Army landed near Otranto, Italy.� Pope Sixtus IV called for a crusade to drive them out.
15 August 1309, The city of Rhodes surrendered to the forces
of the Knights
of St. John, completing their
conquest of Rhodes. The knights established their headquarters on the
island, and renamed themselves as the Knights of Rhodes.
9 March 1309. Pope Clement V (French) arrived at Avignon to
set up court there. Rome was no longer
the Papal Seat.
5 September 1307, Pope Clement V confirmed the Knights
Hospitaller possession of Rhodes, although only Feracle had fallen to
their attacks.
31 July 1291, The Mamluks took Beirut, completing their conquest of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem.
18 May 1291, Al-Ashraf Khalil of Egypt captured Acre, the last
Christian stronghold in the Holy Land. Christians in Acre, who had broken a truce by massacring all Muslims in the town, scrambled for places on boats
to Cyprus. Most Christians in Acre were captured, and sent to the slave market
in Damascus.
6 April 1291, Mamluks under Sultan
al-Ashraf of Egypt began a siege of the Crusaders at Acre.
27 April 1289, Fall of Tripoli: Mamluk Sultan Qalawun captured the County of
Tripoli (in present-day Lebanon) after a month-long siege, thus extinguishing the Crusader state.
8 August 1288, Pope Nicholas IV (died 1292) proclaimed a Crusade against Ladislaus IV of Hungary. who had lost credibility by favouring his semi-pagan Cuman subjects
and in general refusing to conform to the social standards of western Europe.
31 May 1287, The Genoese defeated the Venetian fleet off Acre,
Crusader Kingdon of Jerusalem.
25 April 1285, Mamluk Sultan Qalawun began a siege of the Crusader fortress of Margat (in present-day Syria), a major stronghold of
the Knights
Hospitaller thought to be impregnable; he captured the fortress a
month later.
3 July 1281, By the Treaty of Orvieto, the Venetians promised
to help Charles
of Anjou, King of Sicily, restore the Latin Kinhgdom of Jerusalem.
17 July 1274, The Second Council of Lyons ended. It had
commenced 7 May 1274, to 1) end the Greek Schsim, 2) call a new Crusade, and 3)
counter moral corruption within the clergy.
22 May 1272, A peace treaty was agreed between Babyars I
and the Crusader Kingdom of Acre.
9 May 1271, Edward, heir of King Henry III of England,
arrived in Acre, where the Crusaders were under siege by Mamluk forces under
Babyars I.
8 April 1271, Mamluk Sultan Baibars continued his
territorial expansion, capturing the strategically important castle Krak des
Chevaliers from the Knights Hospitaller in present-day Syria.
23 November 1270, A storm destroyed the Crusader fleet at
Trapani, Sicily, preventing Charles of Anjou from setting out for the Holy
Land.
25 July 1270, King Louis IX of France took Tunis (8th
Crusade).
18 July 1270, King Louis IX of France landed at Carthage on
his way to the Eight Crusade.
1 July 1270, King Louis IX of France set sail on the Eight Crusade.
18 May 1268, The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, fell to the Mamluk
Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch;
7 March 1268, Egyptian Sultan Babyars I seized the Crusader
city of Jaffa.
24 March 1267,
�Saint� Louis
of France called his knights to Paris in preparation for his Crusade.
23 July 1266, Babyars I, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, seized the
Templar fortress of Safed and overran the Galilee region.
4 April 1263, Egyptian Sultan Babyars I attacked Acre, ina� major effort to eliminate the Crusader
Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
Seventh
Crusade, see also Egypt
11 July 1254, Louis IX returned to France from
the Seventh Crusade.
24 April 1254, French King Louis IX left Palestine.
Civil War broke in the Outremer (Crusader States).
11 February 1250, The Muslims counterattacked
the exhausted Crusaders, who only just hung on by their use of Greek Fire.
6 April 1250, Battle of Fariskur. Louis IX surrendered to the Mamluks, after a
failed breakout and thwarted retreat to Damietta. The Crusaders were weakened
by scurvy. Louis
IX and his forces were allowed to depart on payment of a ransom of
800,000 gold livres.Louis� surviving soldiers returned to France. Louis
himself sailed for Acre, but his further negotiations, including an attempted
alliance with the Mongols,came to nothing.
8 February 1250, Louis IX�s invading forces dosvovered
a ford across the Ashmoun Canal 4 miles from the main battlefield and surprised
the Muslim forces with an attack on Damietta on the way to Cairo. However Louis IX�s
brother, Robert
of Artois, disobeyed orders, he was supposed to hold the opposite bank
of the Canal until further French reinforcements joined him, but he rashly
attacked into the town of Mansura prematurely. In the streets, Robert�s
cavalry were of limited effectiveness; the Miuslims rallied and halted his
advance.
1/1250, Crusader
forces tried to build a causeway across the Ashmoun Canal, but the Muslims
harassed them with war engines, also widened the canal by excavating on the
side they held.
22 November 1249, Sultan Al-Salih died, leaving
his inexperienced son Turanshah as ruler. This was good news for the
invading King
Louis IX of France. However initially hois death was kept secret and
one of his wives, Shajah ud Durr, ruled in his name.
20 November 1249, The Seventh Crudaders in Egypt had only advanced 50 miles in 4
weeks as they moved towards Cairo. They were halted at Mansura, where the Fifth
Crusade had been stopped, as Muslim forces under Emir Fakr ed Din, held tham at the Ashmoun Canal.
6 June 1249, In the Seventh Crusade, King Louis IX of France landed at
Damietta, Egypt. Opposaition was light, as the garrison defending the city fled
in panic. Mindful of the issues faced by the Fifth Crusade in advancing on
Cairo in the midsummer heat, Louis IX delayed until Autumn. However this
gave the Egyptian Sultan Malik al Salih, then seriously
ill,� time to restore morale in his
forces.
25 August 1248, The Seventh Crusade left Aigues
Mortes, France, under King Louis IX.
1245, The
Seventh Crusade was mobilised under
King Louis
IX of France. It left for Egypt in 8/1248, and invaded
Damietta, Egypt in Spring 1249. It then marched on Cairo, but was halted at
Mansura. See 6 April 1250, Egypt.
16 March 1244, Following their successful siege of Monts�gur,
French royal forces burned about 210 Cathars.
1241, Jerusalem was finally captured by the
Muslims. It remained in Egyptian hands until 1517, and in Muslim hands until
World War One. A further seventh
Crusade was planned to recapture it but this did not happen. See 1245.
22 September 1236, Battle of Saule. In the Northern Crusades,
Livonian Kights had fought against Baltic pagan peoples such as the Samogitians
of Lithuania. The Pope had previously criticised the Livonian Knights for their
rather more materialistic acquisitive as opposed to spiritual agenda. Having taken
much loot from the Samogitians in an expedition in 1236, they found themselves
blocked at a river crossing this day on the way home. They did not wish to
dismount and fight, nor to ride through marshy ground and attempt a
breakthrough. The Livonians footsoldiers, perhaps forcibly recruited, deserted,
and the light Livonian cavalry cut down the heavily-armoured Livonians. The
remnant of the Livonian Order was forced to join with the Teutonic Knights,by
Papal order.
17 March 1230, The Archbishop of Bremen, Gerhard II, convened a
Great Church Gathering at Bremen. There he organised the excommunication of the Stedinger for such crimes as worshipping wax
images of the Devil and consulting evil spirits. In reality the Stedinger had
been granted permission, in 1106 by an earlier Archbishop of Bremen, to reclaim
the marshlands at the estuary of the River Weser for agriculture. The work was
hard, digging drainage ditches and building�
dikes but the inhabitants of this land, called Stedingen, were at least
free from Feudalism. They paid a nominal tax to the Archbishop but owned no
feudal duties to any Lord. Over time the feudal Lords of the region and the
Archbishops of Bremen came to see the freedom of the Stedinger as a threat.
Relations deteriorated as the Counts of Oldenburg built two fortresses in
Stedingen, at Lechtenburg and Luneberg, kidnapping local people from the area,
and in turn the Stedinger formed local militias for their own protection. Gerhard II
went to Rome to secure Pope Gregory II�s agreement for a Crusade against the Stedinger, which
began in Spring 1233. By the end of 1234 the Stedinger society had been
eradicated, although some families claiming descent from the Stedinger remain
today in Germany and the USA.
12 April 1229, The Treaty
of Paris brought the Albigensian
Crusade to an end.
Sixth
Crusade
18 March 1229, King Frderick II of Germany had himself
crowned King of Jerusalem.
12 March 1229. Frederick II of Germany finally arrived in Jerusalem, having been twice excommunicated by the
Pope for delaying his Crusade. He had intended to depart in 1215 but was
delayed by domestic problems including the Mongol invasion. He reached Acre,
with only a small army, but he had been (2/1229) in clandestine negotiations
with the Sultan of Egypt, Al-Kamil, who had been shaken by the fifth
Crusader�s advance into Egypt. The Sultan was happy to surrender Bethlehem and
Nazareth, and a corridor of territory from Jerusalem to the coast as well as
much of Jerusalem itself. The Vatican,
however, disapproved of Frederick�s
negotiating with a non-Christian.
28 June 1228, Frederick II finally embarked on the Crusade;
however Pope
Gregory IX did not revoke his excommunication.
29 September 1227, Pope Gregory IX excommunicated King Frederick
of Germany a second time, for delaying his Crusade.
8 September 1227, Frederick II, King of Germany, departed from
Brindisi on a Crusade. However an epidemic in his fleet caused him to abandon
the project 3 days later. This was his second abandonment; the first intended
departure, in 1215, was delayed by Frederick having to deal with disorder in
Sicily.
Fifth Crusade
31 August 1221, Under a peace deal, the Franks
left Egypt.
6 November 1219. The Egyptian port of
Damietta fell to the Crusaders (Franks)
after a siege.
24 May 1218, The Fifth
Crusade left Acre for Egypt.
1215, Pope Innocent III called for a
Fifth Crusade, to go by way of Egypt.
11
November 1215, Pope Innocent III opened the
Fourth Lateran Council in Rome. This
officially ended the Albigensian Crusadem and authorised a Fifth Crusade in Palestine. Simon de Montfort was
granted the County of Toulouse. The first Papal tithe on the clergy was
imposed. The Jews were pordered to wear distinctive clothes.
4 March 1215, King John of England made an oath to Pope Innocent
III as a crusader to gain his support. John also technically passed
authority of his kingdom over to the Pope, thereby making anyone who tried to
depose him an enemy of the Pope and liable to excommunication. This move was a
precaution by John
who was facing rebellion by his barons. This healed the rift between King John
and Pope
Innocent III, see 15 July 1207.
8 January 1215, Simon de Montfort the Elder was elected Lord
of Languedoc at a Council in Montpellier, after his campaign against the
Cathars.
12 September 1213, Battle
of Muret: The Toulousain and Aragonese forces of Raymond VI of Toulouse and
Peter II of Aragon were defeated by the Albigensian
Crusade under Simon de Montfort.
22 July 1209. The Crusade against the Cathars, The Cathars, also known as Albigensians
after the French town of Albi, held beliefs heretical to the Catholic Church.
They also denied the divinity of Jesus, and the Pope. The Papacy declared them
heretics in 1176, and Pope Innocent sent preachers to convert them.
However in January 1208 his legate, Pierre of Castelnau, was killed by the
Albigensians; the Pope then declared a Crusade against them. Many joined this
Crusade, attracted by promises that they could keep any land seized from the
Albigensians. In 1209 the 10,000 strong Crusader army gathered in Lyon and
marched south under the command of another Papal legate, Arnauld Amalric, Abbot of Citeaux..
The Cathars were massacred in Beziers, but remained active elsewhere for
another 20 years.
17 November 1208, Pope Innocent III asked the nobility of
northern France to start the Albibegnsian Crusade against the Cathars in
southern France.
Crusader
assault on Constantinople
16 May 1204, Baldwin, Count of Flanders, was crowned Latin
Emperor of Constantinople. In October 1204, Venice and Baldwin partitioned the
Byzantine Empire. Venice gained the Adriatic coast,� Rhodes and the Aegean Islands. Other
Crusaders held their territories as fiefs of Baldwin. The Fourth Crusade had
ended, never having reached the Holy Land, diverted from the aims of Pope Innocent
III by Venetian and Byzantine politics.
13 April 1204, The Crusaders captured Constantinople.� Venice had provided the
shipping to carry the Fourth Crusade eastwards, but in order to repay Venice the Crusaders were obliged to seize, on
behalf of Venice, the port of Zara on tye Adriatic from Christian Hungary.
Meanwhile the exiled Byzantine Prince Alexius Angelus , son of the
deposed King
Isaac II, also offered to pay the Crusaders if they would restore
him to the Byzantine throne. In June 1203 therefore, the Crusaders arrived in
Cinstantinople and set up Alexius as Emperor. However in February 1204
Emperor Alexius was murdered, and replaced by courtier Alexius Doucas, who told the
Crusaders to leave. Moreover the promised 200,000 Marks fee for installing Alexius Angelus
was never paid. The Crusaders responded by besieging and attacking
Constantinople. The Crusader nobleman Baldwin of Flanders was installed as
Byzantine ruler, but most of Byzantium refused to recognise him, and the Empire
fragmented into four disunited States.
See
also Roman Empire for more on
Constantinople
1/1204, Increasing resentment by
the Byzantine nobility against the Crusaders and thrir puppet rulers, Isaac II and
Alexius IV. Alexius
Ducas Mourtzouphlous, son in law of Alexius III, mounted an
insurrection. Isaac
II was imprisoned and Alexius IV executed. Alexius Ducas now seized the
throne as Alexius
V. The Crusaders now planned an all-out assault on Constantinople.
17 July 1203, The Crusader assault on Constantinople began. The Crusader
Army attacked by land from the west whilst the venetian fleet assaulted the sea
wall. Alexius
III fled the city by night. The Byzantine nobles released Isaac II
from prison and restored him as Emperor. Alexius IV became co-emperor.
23 June 1203, The Crusader force arrived at Chalcedon, on the Asiatic
shore opposite Byzantium, then, despite efforts by Byzantium, established a
fortified camp at Galata. The Venetian fleet then forced its way into the
Bosphorus and then into the Golden Horn, the water between Galata and Constantinople.
Venice was seeking to recover lands lost in the Balkans; Pope Innocent III objected that
Christian Venetians were now killing other (Balkan) Christians.
15 November 1202, The Crusdaers took Zara (now in Croatia) from
Hungary and transferred it to Venice. The Crusaders agreed to help deposed
Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelus, an ally of Venice, regain
the throne.
2 April 1195, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI proclaimed a Crusade at Bari.
End of
Third Crusade, 1189-92
2 November 1192. Peace was concluded between Richard I
(Lionheart) of England
and Saladdin of Jerusalem (see 2
December 1187). The Crusades never achieved their objective of liberating the
Holy Land from the Muslims
but because they caused the death of so many noblemen the system of serfdom
and landholding in Europe was gradually dismantled. Feudalism gradually
ended over the period from 1300 to the Thirty Years War, 1618-48.
5
August 1192, Final battle of the Third
Crusade, at Jaffa. After victory at Arsuf, Richard
I had spent months capturing castles and winning minor fights, but
never managed to attain his ultimate objective of gaining Jerusalem. In late
July 1192 he was in Acre, planning his return trip to England when Saladin unexpectedly attacked Jaffa. Saladin took the town but not the citadel, Richard I arrived at Jaffa by sea and managed
to drive the Muslims away from Jaffa. Saladin
and Richard I then opened peace
negotiations. The end result was a deal that left the Christians with just a
narrow coastal strip in the Holy Land, but did at least ensure their presence
there for another century.
28
April 1192, Conrad
of Montferrat, Crusader King of Jerusalem, died.
5
April 1192, Easter Sunday. Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, was deposed
and succeeded by Conrad, Marquis of
Montferrat. Guy received Cyprus as
compensation.
6 September 1191. Richard I
defeated the Saracens
at the Battle of Arsouf. Richard I then
marched on Jaffa.
4 July 1191. The Crusaders under Richard I captured Acre
from Saladdin,
during the Third Crusade.
21 June 1190, The
German Crusaders arrived in Antioch.
10 June 1190. Holy Roman
Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) drowned in the River Saleph (now,
Goksu) on his way to the Holy Land in the Third Crusade. He was succeeded by
his son Henry
IV.
18 May 1190, Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick
I advanced into Konya, capital of Rum, western Turkey.
12 December 1189, King Richard I
of England left on the Crusade.
4 October 1189, Saladin
returned to Acre with a larger army tio relieve the Crusader siege. Both sides
lost heavily, and the siege continued.
15 September 1189, Saladin
attempted to relieve the siege of Acre, which was wanted by Guy of Jerusalem so
he could use the port as a base for the expected Third Crusade. However the Muslim forces were driven off.
11 May 1189, Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa departed from Regensburg on the Third
Crusade, with 100,000 troops.
23 April 1188, Archbishop
Baldwin of Canterbury today completed a 49-day tour of Wales to
recruit men for a new Crusade to the Holy Land. He was assisted by Gerald,
42-year-old Archdeacon of Brecon, who was a key royal advisor.
21 January 1189. Henry II of England, with Philip Augustus and Frederick
Barbraossa, assembled troops for a third Crusade.
22 January 1188, King Henry II of England ,King Philip II
of France and Philip of Flanders agreed to support the
planned Crusade.
Start of
Third Crusade
Loss of
Jerusalem to Saladdin 1187
2 December 1187. Jerusalem surrendered to Saladdin (see 2 November 1192). Saladdin was born in 1138, in Tikrit (Saddam
Hussein�s native town) of Kurdish parents and�
was educated in Syria. In 1164 he accompanies his uncle on a military
campaign in Egypt. The aim was to substitute Sunni for Shia Islam there, and also to drive the Crusader Franks
out of the Levant. The local Syrian leader died in 1174 and Saladdin defeated
his 11 year old successor and seized power. The Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad gave
Saladdin power over all the lands from Morocco to Syria; Saladdin later
extended his rule into Mesopotamia. Saladdin also subdued the Assassins, a
Muslim sect that had twice tried to kill him. He now attacked the Crusaders,
and on 1 July 1187 captured Tiberias after a six day siege.
After the capture of
Jerusalem by Saladdin, the Franks were almost evicted from the
region, holding on only at Antioch, Tripoli, and Tyre. European states set
aside their differences in panic and three rulers; Richard I of England,
Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, and Philip Augustus of France, set
out on a third Crusade. The Crusaders marched on
Muslim-held Acre, Saladdin arrived, and there ensued a long battle, control
swinging back and forth. After two years, Acre fell to the Crusaders. Peace
negotiations began, (see 2 November 1192), the end result being a marriage of
his daughter with Saladdin�s brother, Al-Malik, who was knighted by Richard.
The peace gave the coast to the Europeans and the interior to the Muslims. In
February 1188 Saladdin fell ill with a fever and died 12 days later aged 55.
4 July 1187, The Battle of the Horns of Hattin (an extinct volcano crowned with
two rocky outcrops). Saladin�s 20,000 strong army defeated Guy of Lusignan,
King of Jerusalem. Guy de Lusignan had made a tactical error in
attempting to relieve Saladin�s siege of Tiberias. Thirst drove Lusignan�s
troops to drink at a nearby lake, where Saladin then attacked them.
1 May 1187, Battle of Cresson: Saladin defeated the Crusaders.
29 December 1177, The Order of Alcantara (founded 1156 as the Order of
Saint Julian) received Papal approval. It was a military order of crusading
knights, and played a part in the Reconquista of Spain from the Muslims.
25 November 1177, King Baldwin
of Jerusalem defeated Saladin at Montgisard.
17 September 1176, Emperor
Manuel of Byzantium was defeated by
the Muslims,
in the Crusades.�
Second Crusade. Christians fail to captiure Damascus
29 June 1149, Raymond of
Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, was defeated and killed by Nur ad Din,
son of Imad
ad Din Zangi. The Second Crusade ended.
28 July 1148, The
Crusaders failed to capture Damascus.
The troops of Louis
II of France and Conrad III of Germany suffered considerable
losses at the hands of the Turks on the way to the Holy Land, even before they
arrived to join with Baldwin III of Jerusalem. They arrived at
Damascus on 23 July 1148 and occupied the large orchards and fields west of
Damascus, suffering further losses at the hands of the skilled Damascene
archers. Failing to take Damascus from this angle, on 27 July 1148 they moved
to the more open ground east of Damascus. The army leaders then began to argue
over the best plan of attack, and who should rule Damascus once captured; news
also broke of a large Muslim army now in Homs under the command of skilled
General Nur-ad-Din.
Local Christian lords deserted, taking their men away, and on 28 July 1144 Louis,
Conrad
and Baldwin
began their own retreat back to Jerusalem, having accomplished nothing.
25 October 1147, Battle of
Dorylaeum, the Seljuq Turks defeated
German crusaders under Conrad III.
24 December 1144, The
city of Edessa fell to the Muslims, sparking the
Second Crusade. Zengi
had been informed that Count Joscelin of Edessa had argued with Prince Raymond
of Antioch, and had then taken most of his army to Diyarbakir to
interfere in a local dispute there. Therefore Zengi moved to capture Edessa at
ths time. Arriving on 28 November 1144, Zengi began undermining the city walls and
battering them with trebuchets. Queen Melisende of Jerusalem sent a relief
force, but Prince
Raymond of Antioch refused to help. On 24 December 1144 a section of
Edessa�s walls fell. Zengi separated local Christians from the
foreign ones, then executed the latter. Edessa�s citadel held out until 26
December 1144, surrendering on condition that their lives would be spared, just
before Joscelin
and Melisende�s
troops arrived. These relief troops did hold onto lands west of the Euphrates
River. When Pope
Eugene III heard of the fall of Edessa, he called for the Second Crusade to begin.
First Crusade,
21 August 1131, Baldwin II,
King of Jerusalem, died and wsas succeeded by Fulk of Anjou.
1128, Zengi of Mosul captured Aleppo from
the Crusaders..
7 July 1124,
Tyre fell to the Crusaders.
29
May 1123, The Crusaders defeated the Fatimids
at Ibelin, Palestine.
18
April 1123, Danishmend Turkish Emir Balak of Khanzit captured King Baldwin of Jerusalem,and
destroyed his army. In June Balak occupied Aleppo (Syria). Baldwin was released in June 1124 on payment of a ransom.
28
June 1119, The Dashmend Turks under Ghazi defeated a Crusader army at Antioch. Roger of Salerno,
Prince of Antioch, was killed.
2
April 1118, Baldwin I, Crusader
King of Jerusalem, died and was succeeded by Baldwin II, Count of
Edessa in Syria.
7
July 1115, Peter the Hermit, a
leader of the First Crusade, died.
4 December 1110, First Crusade, the Crusaders
conquered Sidon.
12 July 1109, Tripoli, in modern-day
Lebanon, surrendered to Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem.
23 March 1106, Pope Paschal II, eager for
support from King
Henry of England for the Crusades, agreed to compromise over Henry�s
royal power to command homage from the clergy.
27 August 1105, Baldwin I, French Crusader King
of Jerusalem, decisively defeated the Fatimids at the Third Battle of Ramleh.
28 February 1105, Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse,
died whilst besieging Tripoli in Palestine.
7 May 1104, Battle of Harran. The Crusaders were about
to lay siege to Harran to distract
the Seljuk forces of Sokman of Mardin and Jikirmish of Mosul, who wree
themselves besieging Edessa. At this
point the forces of Sokman and Jikirmish appeared, and drew the
Crusaders under Count
Baldwin and Prince Bohemond of Antioch. Jikirmish�s
cavalry charged and inflicted heavy casualties; Baldwin was taken prisoner. He
was freed after paying a ransom, in 1108 and later became King of Jerusalem.
28 May 1102, Baldwin I defeated the Fatimids at Jaffa.
17 May 1102, The Fatimids defeated Baldwin I, French Crusader King,
at Jerusalem.
4 September 1101, Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem,
defeated the Fatimids at Ramleh.
23 June 1101, Raymond of Toulouse took Ankara
with a new Crusader army from Constantinople. However in 8/1101 his army was
destroyed by the Danishmend Turkish army at Mersivan, Anatolia.
25 December 1100, Baldwin was crowned King of the
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem by Dagobert.
Rule of
Godfrey de Bouillon
18 July 1100, Godfrey de Bouillon, first Crusader
king of Jerusalem,
died, aged 39. He had led successful expeditions against the Seljuk
Turks as far as Damascus. He was succeeded by his older brother Baldwin, Count
of Flanders, who ruled until 1118 with the support of Tancred,
a Sicilian Norman who was now Prince of Galilee.
12 August 1099, Battle of Ascalon. Fatimid attack on the Crusaders was defeated by
Godfrey.
22 July 1099, Godfrey of Bouillon, a Crusader
leader from Boulogne, was elected Defender of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,
and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
15 July 1099. Jerusalem fell to
the Crusaders, (see 27 November 1095). 40,000 people, both Jews and Muslims,
were slaughtered in two days, an event European scholar-monks acclaimed as �the
greatest event since the Crucifixition�. On 12 August 1099 the Crusaders
defeated Al-Afdal, the Fatimid Vizier of Egypt, at Ascalon. He was bringing an
army to recapture Jerusalem, which the Egyptians had earlier lost to the Turks.
7 June 1099, The Crusaders
arrived at Jerusalem.
1 August 1098, Adhemar de Monteil, Criusader,
Bishop of Puy en Velay from 1077, died during the plague in Antioch.
28 June 1098, Battle of Orontes. Supposed discovery within Amtioch of the �Holy
Lance� � the weapon used to pierce Jesus�s side at his death. Despite doubts
even amongst some Crusaders, they collectively believed that with possession of
this lance they were invincible, and they sallied out to attack the Muslims.
However with determination they prevailed over the Turks, who fled the battle.
5 June 1098, Emir Kerboga�s forces now arrived at Antioch
and besieged the Crusaders there.
3 June 1098, The Crusaders took Antioch.
9 February 1098, A second Syrian attempt to
relieve Antioch was also driven off by the Crusaders.
31 December 1097, A Syrian army attempting
to relieve the Crusader siege of Amtioch was driven off.
21 October 1097, The Crusaders arrived at Antioch.
1 July 1097, Battle of Dorylaeum. Bohemunds forces were losing to
a Turkish attack when Godfrey and Raymond�s forces attacked the
rear of the Turks, turning the result into a Crusader victory.
24 June 1097, The Crusaders took Nicea.
April 1097, The knightly Crusader force now assembled in Constantinope totalled
between 150,000 and 300,000 men.
23 December 1096, Crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon, along with his
brother� Baldwin, arrived in
Constantinople.
15 August 1096, The forces of the First Crusade
departed from Europe, to rendez-vous at Constantinople.
May 1096, The zealous Peter the Hermit travelled throughout France
and the Rhine Valley, recruiting peasants to the First Crusade. As these forces gathered together in 8/1096,
they also began a persecution
of the Jews in the Rhine area, a Judenhetze.
By October 1096 this peasant army had perished in what is now Turkey, at the
hands of te Seljuk Turks.
March 1096, The European knights began to assemble for their Crusade.
27 November 1095. Pope Urban II called for a Crusade to the Holy Land, at
the Council of Clermont. He talked
of how, due to Turkish misrule, it was no longer safe for Christian pilgrims to
visit the holy sites of Jerusalem. The Crusaders defeated the Turks
at Dorylaeum on 30/6 1097, opening the way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem fell to
the Crusaders on 15 July 1099.
19 November 1095, The Council of Clermont began. The council was called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.
See year 1071, Jerusalem.
First
Crusade
1071, Jerusalem was
captured by the Seljuk Turks from the Egyptian Arabs. The Turks were less tolerant
of Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem than its previous rulers. Even before this
the schism between the Byzantine and Roman Churches had begun to make things
difficult for Western European pilgrims � excessive
�taxes� were levied on Roman Catholic pilgrims by the Byzantine Church.
See also years 671 and 807 below. These
developments were the primary cause of the Crusader Movement from Western
Europe. See year 1095.
807, Harun al Rashid, Arab ruler of
Jerusalem, acknowledged Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor, as spiritual
guardian of the Christian heritage of Jerusalem. He was tolerant towards
Christian pilgrims visiting the city. See also years 638 and 1071.
Jerusalem lost to Christendom
637, Jerusalem
was captured by the Arabs under Osman. For the history
of the city before this year see Jewish History. Christian pilgrims to
Jerusalem were still tolerated, but see years 807 and 1071 above.
5
May 614. The Persians
completed the conquest of Syria by capturing Jerusalem. They seized the
�true cross�, the most holy relic of
Christendom. However on 3 April 628 the Persian ruler Kavadh sued for peace
with Byzantium. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine Mesopotamia, Syria,
Palestine, and Egypt, as well as the �true cross�. This cross was restored to Jerusalem by Heraclius on 21 March 630.