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Crusades - Preparations, Pilgrims, Armies: Several bands of knights and peasants commonly known as the “People's Crusade” set out across Europe, one of which was brought together by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sansavoir. Another group was led by Count Emicho and was responsible for a series of pogroms of Jews. Among the army leaders were Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond, Raymond of Saint ...
Crusades, military expeditions, beginning in the late 11th century, that were organized by western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. The Crusades took place from 1095 until the 16th century, when the advent of Protestantism led to the decline of papal authority.
The First Crusade resulted in the formation of the crusader states in the Levant (the eastern Mediterranean), which were initially governed, and in small part populated, by settlers from Europe. Crusading in northern and eastern Europe led to the expansion of kingdoms like Denmark and Sweden, as well as the creation of brand-new political units ...
crusade: [noun] any of the military expeditions undertaken by Christian powers in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to win the Holy Land from the Muslims.
Some crusades were within Europe. For example, the Teutonic Knights fought in the Prussian Crusade against the Lithuanians and Old Prussians, and the Albigensian Crusade was in France. There were also crusades in Austria and Scandinavia. The word "crusade" is related to the word "cross", and means a Christian holy war.
The 1212 Children's Crusade was the inaugural independent popular crusade. This began a tradition of outbreaks of popular crusading that lasted until the 1514 Hungarian Peasants' Crusade. The children's crusade was prompted by preaching for the Albigensian Crusade and processions seeking divine intervention for the Iberian crusades.
The First Crusade was preached by Pope Urban II in 1095. Several different expeditions responded to this appeal, but the general dates for the First Crusade are 1096–99, when the city of Jerusalem was conquered. Keep in mind though that crusading didn’t emerge from a vacuum, and many of the elements of crusading were circulating before 1095.
