Crusades (1095–1272) - events

3 March 1095	Holy Roman Empire	In a council at Piacenza, Pope Urban II appeals to Western Europe to rescue Constantinople from the Turks.
27 November 1095	France	At the council of Clermont, France, Pope Urban II proclaims the First Crusade, calling for the Holy Land to be freed from the Seljuk Turks and for there to be free access to Jerusalem for pilgrims. Participants are granted an indulgence (remission of penances due for sin).
1 December 1095	France	Count Raymond IV of Toulouse becomes the first major figure to join the First Crusade.
1 August 1096	Byzantine Empire	The ‘People's Crusade’, a poorly armed and ill-disciplined peasant army led by Peter the Hermit, arrives in Constantinople.
21 October 1096	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum	Kilij Arslan, Seljuk sultan of Rum, destroys the army of the ‘People's Crusade’ at Civetot, shortly after it has crossed into Anatolia.
1 July 1097	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum	The crusaders defeat Kilij Arslan, Seljuk sultan of Rum, at Dorylaeum, opening the way for their army to cross into Anatolia.
3 June 1098	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Syria	The crusaders take Antioch after a traitor admits a party of knights led by the Norman prince Bohemond of Taranto under cover of night.
15 July 1099	Fatimid Caliphate, Palestine	The crusaders take Jerusalem by storm after a short siege.
23 June 1101	France, Seljuk Sultanate of Rum	A new crusading army, led from Constantinople by Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, takes the city of Ankara from the Seljuk Turkish sultanate of Rum.
27 August 1105	Kingdom of Jerusalem, Fatimid Caliphate, Palestine	King Baldwin I of Jerusalem defeats the Fatimids (Shiite Muslims) in the third battle of Ramleh, ending their attempts to reconquer Palestine.
28 December 1105	France, Toulouse, Fatimid Caliphate, Syria	Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, dies while besieging Tripoli, one of the few major Muslim strongholds remaining on the Syrian coast.
28 June 1119	Principality of Antioch, Danishmend Emirate, Syria	On the ‘Field of Blood’ near Aleppo, Syria, the Norman army of Antioch is destroyed by Ghazi, the Danishmend emir. Though Roger of Salerno, Prince of Antioch, is killed in the battle, Ghazi does not follow up his victory.
18 April 1123	Kingdom of Jerusalem, Danishmend Emirate	King Baldwin II of Jerusalem is captured and his army destroyed in a surprise attack on his camp near Gargar, on the River Euphrates, by Balak of Khanzit, the nephew of the Danishmend emir Ghazi.
29 May 1123	Egypt, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Fatimid Caliphate	An invading Fatimid (Shiite Muslim) army flees back to Egypt when faced by the Frankish army of Jerusalem at Ibelin; the Venetians destroy the Fatimid fleet off Ascalon.
2 February 1130	Principality of Antioch, Danishmend Emirate	Prince Bohemond II of Antioch and his army, en route to attack the Armenians, are massacred by the Danishmend Turks on the Jihan.
24 December 1144	County of Edessa, Zangid Emirate, Turkey	'Imad ad-Din Zangi, the Muslim governor of Mosul, takes Edessa (Urfa) (in eastern Turkey) after a four-week siege; though he massacres the Frankish inhabitants the native Armenian Christians are spared. The fall of the city calls for a new crusade.
1 March 1146	France	Pope Eugenius III proclaims the Second Crusade on God's behalf. The response is disappointing until the French Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux begins preaching the crusade.
25 October 1147	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum	Conrad III Hohenstaufen, king of the Germans' crusading army, is heavily defeated by the Seljuk Turks on the River Bathys, near Dorylaeum in Anatolia (modern Turkey).
19 March 1148	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Principality of Antioch	The Second Crusade, one army consisting mostly Frankish and German nobles, much reduced as a result of defeats by the Seljuk Turks of Rum while crossing Anatolia, reaches Antioch.
24–28 July 1148	Germany, France, Syria	The Second Crusade lays siege to the city of Damascus in Syria but is forced to retreat because of lack of water, so bringing the disastrous crusade to an ignominious end.
19 August 1153	Fatimid Caliphate, Kingdom of Jerusalem	The Fatimid (Shiite Muslim) garrison of Ascalon, a city on the Mediterranean coast in Palestine, surrenders to King Baldwin III of Jerusalem: the Christians now control the entire coast of the Holy Land.
4 November 1168	Kingdom of Jerusalem, Egypt, Fatimid Caliphate	King Amalric I of Jerusalem invades Egypt and takes the town of Bilbeis, near Cairo, from the Fatimids (Shiite Muslims).
3 July 1187	Kingdom of Jerusalem, Ayyubid Sultanate	The army of the kingdom of Jerusalem, advancing to raise the siege of Tiberias, is trapped and destroyed by Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria at the Horns of Hattin; King Guy of Jerusalem is captured and Reynald of Châtillon beheaded. The kingdom of Jerusalem is left virtually defenceless as Saladin takes the Franks' castles one by one.
3 October 1187	Ayyubid Sultanate, Kingdom of Jerusalem	Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria takes Jerusalem after a short siege.
17 December 1187	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	Pope Gregory VIII dies, shortly after proclaiming the Third Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims. Two days later, Paul Scolari is elected Pope Clement III.
27 March 1188	Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Bavaria, Germany	The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa takes the Cross (agrees to go on crusade); by his order Henry the Lion, the dispossessed Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, goes back into exile.
1190	Palestine, Israel	The Christian military order of the Knights of the Cross (later known as the Teutonic Knights) is founded at Acre, Palestine (modern Akko, Israel) to crusade against the pagan Slavs and Balts.
10 June 1190	Holy Roman Empire	When the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa is drowned in the River Saleph (now Göksu) in Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) while on the Third Crusade, his son Frederick of Swabia takes command, but his German army is demoralized by the death of the emperor and begins to break up.
12 July 1191	England, Palestine, Kingdom of Jerusalem	Four days after the arrival of King Richard I the Lionheart of England, the crusaders take the Muslim-held port of Acre (present-day Akko, Israel); it becomes the capital of the kingdom of Jerusalem.
3 August 1191	France, Palestine	Claiming to be in ill health, King Philip II of France sails for home from Palestine.
23 May 1192	England, Palestine, Ayyubid Sultanate	King Richard I the Lionheart of England takes Daron, thus completing the recovery of the Palestinian coast from Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria.
5 August 1192	England, Ayyubid Sultanate, Palestine	King Richard I the Lionheart of England defeats Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria outside the Palestinian town of Jaffa.
2 September 1192	England, Ayyubid Sultanate, Palestine	King Richard I the Lionheart of England negotiates a three-year truce and access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims with Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, thereby ending the Third Crusade.
15 August 1198	Italy, Palestine, France	Pope Innocent III proclaims the Fourth Crusade to recover Jerusalem from the Muslims and offers an indulgence to those who fight the Albigensians (Cathars; members of a heretical Christian sect) in southern France.
15 November 1202	Hungary, Venice, Italy, Byzantine Empire, Germany	The crusaders take the Adriatic port of Zadar (Italian Zara) from the king of Hungary for Venice in lieu of payment for their transport to Egypt, which Venice cannot pay. Here the crusaders meet Alexius IV Angelus, son of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus, who promises them troops and money for the Fourth Crusade if they will help his father regain the Byzantine throne.
17 July 1203	Hungary, Venice, Italy, Byzantine Empire, Germany	Carrying out their part of the arrangement made the previous November with Alexius IV Angelus, son of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus, the crusaders force an entry into Constantinople; the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus flees and Isaac is restored.
12 April 1204	Byzantine Empire	Realizing that the Byzantine promise of help for their crusade is not going to be kept, the crusaders take the Byzantine capital Constantinople by storm and sack it for three days. The emperor Alexius V Ducas Murtzuphlus flees, as does Constantine XI Lascaris after being offered the throne by Byzantine nobles during the attack.
15 August 1209	France, Toulouse	The southern French town of Carcassonne is taken by the Albigensian crusaders; the Norman crusader Simon IV de Montfort is then elected leader and expropriates land from the Albigensian (Cathar) heretics and their supporters, becoming lord of Béziers and Carcassonne.
19–29 April 1213	Italy, Palestine, France	Pope Innocent III proclaims the Fifth Crusade and stops granting indulgences for the Albigensian Crusade against the Albigensian (Cathar) heretics of southern France.
12 September 1213	France, Toulouse	The Norman crusader Simon IV de Montfort and the Albigensian crusaders defeat Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, and kill his ally King Pedro II of Aragon at Muret. Pedro's heir in Aragon is his young son, James I, and civil war follows there.
29 May 1218	Egypt, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, Flanders	The main contingent of the Fifth Crusade lands outside Damietta at the mouth of the River Nile, Egypt.
8 August 1221	Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt, Italy, Scandinavia, Austria, Germany, Flanders	The army of the Fifth Crusade, advancing into Egypt from Damietta, is trapped by the Nile floods and the Egyptian army; the leader of the crusade, Cardinal Pelagius, is forced to accept Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt's terms for withdrawal, including the surrender of Damietta.
28 June 1228	Holy Roman Empire, Palestine, Italy	The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II sails for Palestine on the Sixth Crusade. Pope Gregory IX renews his sentence of excommunication, this time because excommunicates cannot go on crusade.
18 February 1229	Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Egypt	The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II negotiates the return of Jerusalem to Christian control with al-Kamil, the sultan of Egypt; the Sixth Crusade thus ends without any fighting.
1 September 1239	Navarre, England, Palestine	A new crusade, led by King Theobald of Navarre and Richard, Earl of Cornwall (King Henry III of England's brother), arrives at the Palestinian port of Acre (present-day Akko, Israel).
13 November 1239	Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt, Kingdom of Jerusalem	King Theobald of Navarre's crusading army is defeated by the Egyptians at Gaza; subsequent negotiations, however, result in modest territorial gains for the kingdom of Jerusalem.
9 September 1240	Navarre, Palestine	King Theobald of Navarre leaves Palestine, ending his crusade.
23 August 1244	Syria, Egypt, Ayyubid Sultanate, Palestine	Jerusalem is captured and sacked by Khwarizmian exiles employed by the sultan Ayyub of Egypt in his war against Damascus, Syria; the Christians are expelled, this time for good.
6 April 1250	Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt, France	King Louis IX of France is defeated and captured by the Egyptians at the Battle of Fariskur, while withdrawing from Mansurah.
6 May 1250	France, Egypt, Mameluke Sultanate, Kingdom of Jerusalem	King Louis IX of France surrenders the Egyptian town of Damietta as part of the price for his release; he leaves Egypt for the Palestinian port of Acre (present-day Akko, Israel), where he is accepted as ruler (in practice, not in theory) of Outremer, the Crusader kingdoms in the Middle East.
1 July 1270	France	The French king Louis IX sails from France on the Eighth Crusade to the Holy Land to recover Palestine from the Muslims.
23 November 1270	France, Sicily	The Eighth Crusade fleet is destroyed by a storm at Trapani, Sicily, preventing Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily and leader of the crusade, from directing it towards Constantinople.