Reading the crusades as a period
The crusades are often presented as a numbered list, but they are better understood as a long period in which expeditions and calls to arms came in waves. The numbering of the “main” crusades is a later convention, and historians do not always agree on it. The sections below give a rough timeline, with the dates that are widely accepted and without false precision.
Before 1095: the background
In the eleventh century the Western church was undergoing reform, pilgrimage to Jerusalem was popular, and Christian rulers in Spain were pushing back against Muslim states. In the East, the Byzantine Empire suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, after which much of Anatolia came under the control of Turkish rulers. These developments set the stage.
1095 to 1099: the First Crusade
In 1095 Pope Urban II preached at Clermont, and thousands took the cross. Several armies traveled east in 1096 and 1097. Nicaea was taken, Antioch fell in 1098, and Jerusalem was captured in 1099. This success was unusual and led to the creation of the crusader states.
The twelfth century
The early decades were a time of settlement and consolidation. The military orders were founded, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its neighbors were established. When Edessa fell in 1144, a Second Crusade (about 1147 to 1149) was launched, with the kings of France and Germany taking part. It achieved little.
In 1187 the forces of Saladin won at Hattin and captured Jerusalem. The Third Crusade (1189 to 1192) responded, with Richard I of England, Philip II of France and, initially, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. It recovered Acre and some of the coast, but not Jerusalem.
1198 to 1229: new directions
Pope Innocent III called the Fourth Crusade, which in 1204 captured Constantinople rather than reaching the Holy Land. A Latin regime was set up there and lasted until 1261. Meanwhile, the Albigensian Crusade began in 1209 against heretics in southern France, showing that the term was being used within Europe. The Fifth Crusade (1217 to 1221) targeted Egypt and failed. Emperor Frederick II then reached an agreement in 1229 that returned Jerusalem for a time.
The thirteenth century: the late crusades
Jerusalem was lost again in 1244. Louis IX of France led an expedition to Egypt in 1248 to 1250 and was captured, then spent some years in the Holy Land strengthening defenses. He died in 1270 during a campaign to Tunis, which is often counted as the last major crusade of the period. The Mamluk rulers of Egypt meanwhile reduced the remaining Latin holdings, and Acre fell in 1291.
Crusades on other fronts
Parallel campaigns occurred elsewhere. In Spain, the Christian kingdoms continued the Reconquista with papal encouragement, and the great victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 is a landmark. In the Baltic, the Teutonic Knights and others fought pagan peoples from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These campaigns lasted well beyond the end of the Latin East.
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
After 1291 plans for new crusades continued, but the actual expeditions were smaller. Some focused on the eastern Mediterranean and on the growing threat of the Ottomans. Large Western armies were defeated by the Ottomans at Nicopolis in 1396, and a later effort ended at Varna in 1444. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 is often used as a symbolic end of the medieval period, and talk of crusade against the Turks continued for some time afterward.
Phases in brief
A rough division may help:
- 1095 to 1144: conquest and settlement
- 1144 to 1187: defense and decline of the states
- 1187 to 1291: repeated rescue expeditions, with shifting targets
- After 1291: smaller expeditions and persistent crusade planning
This division simplifies. Some historians prefer to emphasize the longer story of crusading as an idea, with many campaigns, instead of a short list of numbered ones. Dates here are those commonly given, and minor events are left out.