The Crusades Notes

• Selijuq Turks were muslim people from Central Asia.
• They gained control of Palestine (Christians know as "the Holy Land.")
• Went to attack Asia Minor (part of the Byzantine Empire)
• Urban II was a pope.
• He was eager to regain the land so in 1095 he called a meeting of church leaders and feudal lords.
• The meeting was in Clermont, France.
• Crusades a series of military expeditions to regain the Holy Land.
• At least 10,000 Europeans took up the cause.
• Latin word cruciata means "marked with a cross."
• Crusaders were people who sewed a cross of cloth on their clothes. 
• Some people believed if they died on crusade that they would go straight to heaven.
• Some went to save souls.
• Others went to gain land and wealth
• Some merchants saw chance to make money. 
•  Crusades appealed to love of adventure and promise of rewards.
• 1st Crusade lasted from 1096 - 1099.
• French & Italian lords led many armies of crusaders from Europe to Constantinople. 
•   Emperor allowed crusaders to pass through Constantinople. 
•   Target was the city of Jerusalem.
• Had series of vicious battles and then crusaders captured Jerusalem.
•   Slaughtered its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. 
•  European customs and institutions put into place in parts of southwest Asia and the Holy Land.
• Crusaders set up four small states.
•  Christians and Muslims grew to respect each other. 
•  Many Europeans adopted Eastern customs & began to wear Eastern clothes and eat Eastern foods.
•  For almost 100 years European Christians held on to Palestine.
• Turks won back their lost lands. 
•  Popes and European rulers tried to stop them during the 3 major crusades.
• 2nd Crusade - by 1146 Turks united their forces. 
•  Turks started taking back cities that crusaders had captured.    
•  1147 - 2nd Crusade began.
•  King Louis VII of France & German king Conrad III led seperate armies across Europe.
•  1149 - crusaders returned to Europe in disgrace.
• 1187 - Muslim leader Saladin gained control of Jerusalem.
• 3rd crusade - Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England led seperate armies. 
•  3rd Crusade - lasted from 1189 - 1192
• Barbarossa drowned on way to Holy Land so army turned back.
•  Richard couldn't capture Jerusalem.
•  Richard settles for truce with Saladin. 
•  Allowed Christians to enter Jerusalem freely.
• Pope Innocent III gathered a group of French knights for 4th Crusade. 
• 1202 - left on ships 
•  1204 - crusaders attacked & looted Constantinople.
•  Stole many things that were holy to the Byzantine Christians.
•  Constantinople remained under western European control for about 60 years
• 1453 - Turks seized Constantinople
• In 1212 the short-lived and unfortunate children's crusade took place.