The Crusades begin, launching two centuries of holy war for the Levant
Pope Urban II's call to arms opens a story told in full on its own timeline
Quick facts
- Called by
- Pope Urban II, Council of Clermont, 1095
- First success
- Capture of Jerusalem, 1099
- Conventional end
- Fall of Acre, 1291
- Related campaign
- Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, 1209-1229
What happened
Pope Urban II called for an armed pilgrimage to recover Jerusalem and aid the Byzantine Empire against Turkish advances at the Council of Clermont in 1095, launching the First Crusade, which captured Jerusalem in 1099 and established a set of Crusader states in the Levant. Over the next two centuries, waves of further crusades, some successful, most not, fought to hold or recover those territories against Muslim powers, culminating in the fall of the last Crusader stronghold at Acre in 1291. The movement also turned against other targets closer to home, including the Fourth Crusade's sack of Christian Constantinople in 1204 and the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France.
Why it matters
The Crusades reshaped contact between Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic world, opening trade routes, spreading new goods and ideas, and leaving centuries of religious and political consequences on all sides. The full campaign-by-campaign story is covered on its own dedicated timeline.
How we know
Contemporary chronicles from Latin, Byzantine, and Arabic writers document the crusades from multiple perspectives, and the surviving charters and administrative records of the Crusader states corroborate their timeline and extent.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. First Crusade · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Albigensian Crusade · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Related timelines
- The Crusades → · The full campaign-by-campaign history, from Urban II's sermon at Clermont to the fall of Acre in 1291.