The Five Crusades, to regain the Holy Land from the Turks. (jan 1, 1095 – jan 1, 1291)

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In 1095, after the Eastern emperor Alexius I sent out an urgent appeal for help, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade to regain the Holy Land. Preaching at the Council of Clermont in southeastern France, the pope urged Christians to take up the cross and strive for a cause that promised not merely spiritual rewards but material gain as well: “For this land which you inhabit . . . is too narrow for your large population; nor does it abound in wealth; and it furnishes scarcely food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder and devour one another . . . enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves.”
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The First Crusade was composed of feudal nobles from France, parts of Germany, and southern Italy, where the Norman (or Viking) invaders had settled. The armies proceeded overland to Constantinople. Having expected the help of European mercenaries against the Seljuks, the emperor Alexius Comnenus was taken aback when confronted by an unruly horde of what Pope Urban himself had called “aforetime robbers.” The emperor hastily directed the crusaders out of Constantinople to fight the Turks. The First Crusade was the most successful of the seven. With not more than five thousand knights and infantry, it overcame the resistance of the Turks, who were no longer united. Above all, it captured the Holy City—Jerusalem.
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From the end of the eleventh century to the end of the thirteenth, Christian Europe, led by the popes, launched seven major crusades, as well as various small expeditions.
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The First Crusade captured a long strip of territory along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean and created the feudal Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. It survived until 1291 when its last remnant fell to the Muslims.
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The holy war was the papacy reaching for universal sovereignty, one united church, West and East.

Shelley, Bruce L.. Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition (p. 234). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

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