cram4civ

History game

Put it in order

Drag events from earliest at the top to latest at the bottom. The dates stay hidden until you check.
Events

    Study guide · Unit 2

    The Crusades & the Crusader States

    Papal holy wars (1095–1291) to win and hold the Holy Land. Motives mixed piety (forgiveness of sins, pilgrimage), politics (helping Byzantium, papal power) and profit (land, trade). Their impact on medieval culture: Italian trade cities grew rich; Europeans met Islamic science, Greek texts, spices, and instruments like the oud (→ lute) and rebab (→ rebec); and violence against Jews, Muslims and Eastern Christians hardened divisions — especially after the sack of Constantinople.

    The major Crusades

    • First Crusade 1095–1099
      Called by Pope Urban II at Clermont after Byzantine emperor Alexios I asks for help against the Seljuk Turks. Crusaders take Antioch (1098) and Jerusalem (1099) with a massacre of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.
    • Second Crusade 1147–1149
      Launched after Edessa falls (1144); preached by Bernard of Clairvaux; led by Louis VII and Conrad III. Fails at Damascus.
    • Third Crusade 1189–1192
      After Saladin wins at Hattin and retakes Jerusalem (1187): Richard the Lionheart, Philip II and Frederick Barbarossa. Acre retaken; truce lets pilgrims visit Jerusalem.
    • Fourth Crusade 1202–1204
      Indebted to Venice, crusaders sack Christian Constantinople — deepening the East–West schism and fatally weakening Byzantium.
    • Later Crusades 1217–1291
      Fifth through Ninth Crusades (incl. Louis IX) mostly fail; the Mamluks take Acre in 1291, ending the Crusader States.

    The four Crusader States (Outremer)

    • County of Edessa 1098–1144
      First and most exposed state, inland in upper Mesopotamia.
    • Principality of Antioch 1098–1268
      Ancient Hellenistic city on the Orontes; ruled by Norman princes.
    • Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099–1291
      The main kingdom; capital moved to Acre after 1187. Military orders — Templars and Hospitallers — defend it.
    • County of Tripoli 1109–1289
      Coastal state in modern Lebanon, last of the four founded.

    A small Frankish elite ruled mixed Muslim, Jewish and Eastern Christian populations; castles like Krak des Chevaliers show Western and Byzantine/Islamic building blending.

    Crusader music

    Crusade songs (chansons de croisade) by trouvères like Thibaut de Champagne and Minnesingers like Walther von der Vogelweide (Palästinalied) recruited knights and mourned separation — secular style, sacred cause. Listen in Music →