The Crusades

Category
Wars
Begin
1095
End
1291
Region
Middle East
Reference
Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
The Crusades brought, "the Latin world face-to-face with the scientific and technological prowess of the Arab East." [Lyons: House of Wisdom, p. 12] "Urban appears to have made extensive use of this form of graphic and incendiary imagery . . . Either way, his explicit dehumanisation of the Muslim world served as a vital catalyst to the ‘crusading’ cause," [Asbridge: The Crusades, p. 37] "The crusades and the presence of the crusader states reconfigured Mediterranean trade routes . . . and played a critical role in solidifying the power of the Italian mercantile cities of Venice, Pisa and Genoa. Europe’s adoption of Arabic numerals can also be dated to around 1200 and likely resulted from trade with Islam . . . Historians have long recognised that interaction between western Christendom and the Muslim and wider Mediterranean worlds during the Middle Ages played an important, perhaps even critical, role in advancing European civilisation." Europeans absorbed artistic, scientific, medical, and philosophical learning that contributed to the Renaissance. [Asbridge: The Crusades, p. 665-7] Many histories of the crusades written by ‘western’ scholars are biased by the Christian viewpoint. [Asbridge: The Crusades, p. 768]

This period is linked to the following events

Event Name
Category
Date
Caliph al-Hakim orders the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Religion
1009
Urban II starts First Crusade in response to appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexius
War
1095
Peter the Hermit begins People's Crusade leading 100,000 to recapture Jerusalem
Religion
1096
Christian Crusaders capture Jerusalem and slaughter inhabitants
War
1099
Crusaders build Krak des Chevaliers in Syria
War
1131
Second Crusade abandons Edessa and begins with unsuccessful siege of Damascus
War
1148
Saladin recovers Jerusalem for Muslims winning the Battle of Hattin
War
1187
Richard I (12,000 men) repels Saladin (20,000) men at Battle of Arsuf
War
1191
Richard the Lionheart slaughters three thousand prisoners at Acre
War
1191
Constantinople attacked (1203) and sacked (1204) by Venetian & French Crusaders
War
1203
Crusaders vent frustration by burning Constantinople
Religion
1204
Pope Innocent III in 4th Lateran Council begins 5th Crusade
Religion
1215
Damietta falls in 5th Crusade, but Crusaders cannot advance to Cairo
War
1219
St. Francis of Assisi takes part in the failed Fifth Crusade by talking to Sultan
Religion
1219
Khwarazmian Turks capture Jerusalem--Christians never to hold it again
War
1244
Louis IX the Saint leads two disastrous crusades
War
1248
End of Crusader states in Levant (Outremer) as Mamluks take Acre
War
1291

This period is linked to the following movies

Movie title
Genre
Released
The Seventh Seal (Swedish: Det sjunde inseglet)
Historical
1957
The Crusades: Crescent and the Cross
Documentary
2005
Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut
Historical
2005