1. Sack of Constantinople, 1204
(1054 Schism between Catholic and Orthodox churches)
1119
The Battle of the Field of Blood
December 1144
Edessa falls to Zengi
April 1154
Nur ad-Din adds Damascus to Aleppo
Crusades 1 to 4
August 1189
King Guy begins siege of Acre
1169
Nur ad-Din’s general
Shirkuh seizes Egypt
1071
Battle of
Manzikert; Seljuk Turks control Jerusalem
Creation of Crusader States & Military Orders
(STATES: Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, Jerusalem)
(ORDERS: Knights Templar & Hospitallers)
1187
Conrad of Montferrat defends Tyre
October 1174 Saladin takes control of Damascus
Minor crusades
Power Vacuum in Muslim
Asia Minor & Northern Syria
1187
Battle of Hattin & Fall of Jerusalem
First Crusade
Second Crusade
Third Crusade
1187–1192
Fourth Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
27 Nov 1095
Council of Clermont
Urban II launches 1st Crusade
December 1145
First crusade bull Quantum praedecessores (Eugenius III)
Christmas: Day: Louis VII takes cross
October 1187
Pope Gregory VIII issued Audita tremendi in response to Tyre’s appeal
August 1198
Pope Innocent III: bull Post miserabile. Preached by Fulk de Neuilly.
Crusade begins against
dualistic ‘heretical’ Christian
religious sect in Languedoc, France.
Episodic campaigns with early success then death for Simon of Montfort.
Spring 1096
The People’s Crusade.
Massacres of Jews in Germany
Summer 1190
HRE Frederick Barbarossa
drowns: end of German Crusade
Anti-Semitic attacks in York
December-June 1146
St. Bernard’s preaching tour (France)
Autumn 1202
Noble families ask Venetians
for ships.c.200 ships set sail
Summer 1096
The Princes’ Crusade sets out
Spring 1147
Main armies set out
April 1191
Richard the Lionheart assembles 17,000 troops in Sicily
November 1202
Crusaders successfully attack
Zara to pay Venetians.
September 1096
People’s Crusade defeated (Asia Minor)
June 1147
Crusaders in successful siege of Lisbon, Portugal: (Reconquista).
Later crusades in Almeria, Tortosa and Jaen.
Raymond forced to sign Treaty of Paris (1229): lands given over to the French crown.
Spring 1191
Richard captures Cyprus and sells it to the Templars
Prince Alexius IV Angelos
persuades Crusaders to attack Constantinople and reinstate him. Led to
Sack of Constantinople, 1204
May 1097
Successful siege of Nicaea (Asia Minor)
Summer 1147
Disastrous Wendish Crusade against Pagans
June 1098
8 month siege of Antioch succeeds
July 1191
Richard brings about success in the long-running Siege of Acre
German army under Conrad III reached Constantinople (but Manuel offered little support).
Advanced without French: crushed.
French army attacked: Knights Hospitallers had to re-install discipline.
15 July 1099
Jerusalem falls; massacre ensues
September 1191
Battle of Arsuf: Richard successful vs. Saladin, but Muslim army still intact
June 1148
Council held in Acre by Conrad, Louis, Melisende & Baldwin III: siege of Damascus (fails July 1148).
September 1192
Richard I is ill, realises he can’t hold Jerusalem, so agrees to a truce.

2. Crusades 5 to 8 The Barons’ Crusade 1239 Children’s Crusade 1212-1213
1234: New Crusade proclamation by Pope Gregory IX: the truce that Frederick II had made with the sultan of Egypt was due to end in July He asked Count Thibald of Champagne to lead the crusade.
A spontaneous crusading movement arose but was soon disbanded – many children were sold into slavery
1239: Planned to re-fortify Ascalon. Amalric and 80 knights were ambushed and captured in Gaza.
Spring 1240: Thibald negotiated with the leader of Damascus, who promised to return Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and most of Southern Palestine to the Christians in return for a coalition against Egypt. Thibald, suffering desertions, negotiated with Egypt. This was the most land held by Christians since 1187!
Spain
1212
Fifth Crusade
Sixth Crusade
Seventh Crusade
Political Crusades
Eighth Crusade
(1195: Victory of the Almohad caliph Ya’qub over King Alfonso VIII of Castile; horrified Christian opinion).
1215
Fourth Lateran Council:
Spanish and Languedoc Crusades demoted
Quia Maior papal bull: (first ‘sale of indulgences’?)
1223
HRE Frederick II renews vows. Offers free transport/provisions.
1244
Territory gained in ‘Barons’ Crusade’ lost: Jerusalem captured by Khorezmians (Sunni Turks).
King Louis IX of France decided to take the cross but had little help (Christendom was divided: Innocent IV was at war with the emperor Frederick II).
(1220s: Pope attacked HRE’s lands in a ‘war of defence of the Church’ against an invader of the Papal states.
Soldiers promised ‘remission of sins’ but not a full indulgence).
1260
Mongol invasion of Levant.
1261
Maluk armies from Egypt began the reconquest of Palestine. Louis took the initiative, taking the cross and informing Pope Clement of his intention to crusade. Crusaders were also recruited from Aragon and England.
Nov 1227
Frederick II married Yolande, heiress of Jerusalem, and took title of King of Jerusalem
Spring 1212
Loss of Salvatierra in Spain prompted Pope Innocent III to proclaim a new crusade
1216
Death of Innocent III after preaching the cross in Italy. His successor, Honorius III, pressed on with the crusade. :
By early 1240, Frederick’s army threatened Rome. The Pope needed to protect its interests in Italy.
Pope Gregory preached the cross in Rome and he commuted the vows of crusaders to the East to the war against the Emperor.
1228
Frederick II excommunicated by pope: for delaying over an illness? Due to ongoing dispute over his territory?
June 1248
C. 15,000 departed to invade Egypt with maximum force. Louis IX gained Damietta quickly.
July 1212
Christian victory on the plain of Las Navas de Tolosa: turning point in the Reconquista. Yet full renewal of indulgences for the Spanish crusade only came in 1229 in a letter from Pope Gregory IX.
1218
Crusaders reinforced Caesarea and built a great new Templar castle at ‘Atlit
Summer 1270
Louis planned to sail to Cyprus, but then decided on a preliminary descent upon Tunis in North Africa.
Louis died of sickness on 25 August: this was the last great crusade.
November 1248
Crusaders became isolated and ravaged by disease: forced to surrender. Louis was a prisoner of the enemy and was ransomed. He stayed in Palestine and re-fortified Acre, Caesarea, Jaffa, and Sidon. Louis believed he failed because of his sins.
Summer 1228
Frederick II set sail with a small and divided army: forced to negotiate
August 1218
Invasion of Egypt. 18 month siege and capture of Damietta (falling in August) but after 20 months, the crusaders were trapped by floods and were forced to sue for peace
18 February 1229
Treaty signed with al-Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, returning Jerusalem and other lands.
Popes then turned to Sicily, requiring a large, well-organised army. Italian crusades came to be run on the same lines as those in the East. Crusading warfare then spread to Northern Italy. The Holy Land suffered from these diversions.