World Religions › Medieval › Great Schism between East and West
The Crusades
1095–1291· Event· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A series of Latin Christian military campaigns, called by popes, to capture and hold Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
In 1095 Pope Urban II answered a Byzantine plea for help against the Seljuk Turks by urging Western knights to free Jerusalem, promising spiritual reward. The First Crusade took the city in 1099, massacring many Muslims and Jews, and founded Crusader states. Saladin retook Jerusalem in 1187. The Fourth Crusade sacked Christian Constantinople in 1204. Acre, the last mainland stronghold, fell to the Mamluks in 1291. Popes also proclaimed crusades in Spain, the Baltic and against heretics in Europe.
Why it matters
They hardened Christian–Muslim hostility, embittered Eastern Christians against the West, and opened trade and ideas between Europe and the Middle East. Their memory is still invoked in politics today.
Sources and history
Chronicles from both sides, such as Fulcher of Chartres and Ibn al-Athir; papal letters; Crusader castles like Krak des Chevaliers; and charters recording knights' vows and land sales to pay for the journey.
Questions and debates
Historians debate crusaders' motives (piety, land, adventure, family duty) and how far the Crusades shaped Muslim views of the West, which some argue sharpened mainly in the 1800s.
Connections (3)
▸The Crusades fought over JerusalemHistorical record
The connection
Jerusalem was the Crusades' central goal because Christians revere it as the site of Jesus' death and resurrection, marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Crusaders took it in 1099 and made it a Latin kingdom's capital. Saladin recaptured it in 1187. Muslims revere it too, as Islam's third holiest city, home of al-Aqsa Mosque.
When and where
Jerusalem, 1099–1187 and again 1229–1244; Godfrey of Bouillon, Saladin, and Emperor Frederick II, who regained it briefly by treaty.
Historical evidence
Eyewitness and contemporary chronicles, such as the Gesta Francorum and Ibn al-Qalanisi's Damascus chronicle; Crusader-era buildings and inscriptions in the city; and treaty records.
Questions and debates
How much Jerusalem itself motivated crusaders versus wider aims is debated, as is the scale of the 1099 massacre; estimates of the dead vary widely.
▸The Crusades deepened Great Schism between East and WestHistorical record
The connection
The 1054 split between Rome and Constantinople was not at first seen as final. The Crusades, launched partly to help Byzantium, bred mistrust as Latin armies installed their own clergy in Eastern cities. The Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople in 1204, with churches looted, turned the split into lasting hostility among Orthodox Christians.
When and where
Antioch from 1098 and Constantinople in April 1204; crusaders, Venice and the Byzantines. Pope John Paul II apologized in 2001; Patriarch Bartholomew accepted in 2004.
Historical evidence
Byzantine accounts, such as Niketas Choniates' history of the sack; crusader chronicles by Villehardouin; and looted treasures still in Venice, such as St. Mark's horses.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether the schism was already beyond repair before 1204, and whether the Fourth Crusade's diversion to Constantinople was planned or accidental.
▸Roman Catholic Church and the papacy launched The CrusadesHistorical record
The connection
The Crusades were papal projects. Popes called them, offered crusaders indulgences (release from the penalties of sin), and placed their property under church protection while they were away. Urban II's 1095 speech at Clermont set the pattern. Later popes also called crusades against Muslims in Spain, pagans in the Baltic and heretics like the Cathars in France.
When and where
Clermont, France, November 1095; Pope Urban II, followed by Innocent III and other popes through the 1200s.
Historical evidence
Papal bulls such as Innocent III's Quia Maior; several surviving accounts of Urban's speech; and church records of crusade taxes and vows.
Questions and debates
Exactly what Urban said at Clermont is uncertain, since the surviving accounts differ and were written years later.