First Crusade

The spark that lit the first Crusade began in 1095, when Byzantine Emperor Alexios requested military support against its war with Seljuk led Turks. After Alexios’ first plea was made before the Council of Piacenza, less than a year later, Alexios would repeat his appeal before the Council of Clermont, where Pope Urban threw his support behind an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the goal of eradicating Muslim control over the Holy Lands.

Before the Prince’s Crusaders set off for the Middle East, a French priest known as Peter the Hermit led thousands of predominantly poor Christians toward Jerusalem in what would become known as the People’s Crusade. Along the way they slaughtered Jews as they made their way across Germany, receiving just payback when they were wiped out by the Turks at the Battle of Civetot in October of 1096.

When was the First Crusade?

The Princes’ Crusade by members of European nobility began in the late summer of 1096, arriving in Constantinople between November 1096 and April 1097.

Estimated at upwards of 100,000 troops and non-combatant support personnel, the Crusaders captured Nicea during a naval assault, marching through Anatolia or Turkey where they suffered starvation and disease.

Despite heavy losses, they pushed on to capture Antioch in June of 1098, pressing onward to capture the crown jewel of Jerusalem on July 7th 1099. Seven more Crusades would take place over the next 192 years, until the Crusader’s presence in the Holy Land began to erode when the city of Acre fell to the Mamluk Sultanate in 1291.