The Crusades

It’s the 11th century. For over 400 years, Muslims have controlled Jerusalem. This is a holy city for Muslims: It is where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven. Jerusalem is also a holy place for Christians. For them, it is where Christ was crucified and rose again.

Though Muslims control Jerusalem, they have always allowed Christians to make religious journeys, pilgrimages, there. In 1071, this changes. A new Muslim group, the Seljuk Turks, takes control of Jerusalem. They do not welcome Christian pilgrims. The Turks also attack a nearby Christian region: the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Emperor asks the Pope in Rome for help. The Pope agrees to help. In 1095, he urges Christians to capture Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of European Christians respond. They will journey to Jerusalem and take the holy city!

This armed journey is known as a crusade and the journeyers are crusaders. Some crusaders are trained fighters — knights, others are peasants. Some are driven by a sense of duty to win Jerusalem back for Christianity; others simply want the adventure to new lands. The crusaders depart from different points in Europe, travelling by sea and land. On their way to Jerusalem, they fight Muslims in areas of modern-day Türkiye, taking control of these regions.

Eventually, they reach Jerusalem and capture the city. The crusaders are victorious. In their newly won territory, they establish several Crusader States. But this is just the beginning of the story. The Muslims gather forces to fight back against the Christians.

Soon they capture one of the Crusader states. Europeans are once again called to travel to the Middle East to defend Christianity. And so follows the Second Crusade… and many more after that. In total, there are nine major crusades between 1095 and 1291. In all the Crusades, Christian Europeans and Arab Muslims fight.

Both sides believe they should control the city of Jerusalem as well as other areas in the Middle East together known as the Holy Land. Over time, the crusaders form themselves into groups, or orders. Each order has a different way of seeing things. Fighting between the orders is common. Sometimes the crusaders are busier fighting among themselves than fighting Muslims.

There are other distractions for the crusaders, too. Some become more interested in growing wealthy than defending Christianity. At the end of the Fourth Crusade, the crusaders loot the city of Constantinople… …not a Muslim-held city, but a Christian one. The crusaders steal ancient statues, art works, and religious relics. With their infighting and mixed motives, the crusaders struggle to defeat the Muslims in the Holy Land.

Areas are captured by one side then retaken by the other, over and over again throughout the centuries. In 1291, one of the only remaining Crusader States falls to the Muslims. The crusaders have largely lost their fighting spirit and the Crusades draw to a close.