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External WebsitesProfessor of Medieval History, Saint Louis University, Missouri. Author of A Concise History of the Crusades, Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice, and others; coauthor of The Fourth.
Thomas F. Madden , Marshall W. BaldwinProfessor of History, New York University, New York City, 1954–72. Coeditor of A History of the Crusades.
Marshall W. Baldwin • All Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Jul 29, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents
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Top Questions How many Crusades were there, and when did they take place?There were at least eight Crusades. The First Crusade lasted from 1096 to 1099. The Second Crusade began in 1147 and ended in 1149. The Third Crusade started in 1189 and was concluded in 1192. The Fourth Crusade got underway in 1202 and ended in 1204. The Fifth Crusade lasted from 1217 until 1221. The Sixth Crusade occurred in 1228–29. The Seventh Crusade began in 1248 and ended in 1254. And the Eighth Crusade took place in 1270. There were also smaller Crusades against dissident Christian sects within Europe, including the Albigensian Crusade (1209–29). The so-called People’s Crusade occurred in response to Pope Urban II’s call for the First Crusade, and the Children’s Crusade took place in 1212.
What was the purpose of the Crusades?The Crusades were organized by western European Christians after centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. Their primary objectives were to stop the expansion of Muslim states, to reclaim for Christianity the Holy Land in the Middle East, and to recapture territories that had formerly been Christian. Many participants also believed that undertaking what they saw as holy war was a means of redemption and a way of achieving expiation of sins.
Read more below: The First Crusade and the establishment of the Latin states Who were the leaders of the Crusades?The First Crusade was led by Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Godrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois, Bohemond of Otranto, and Robert of Flanders, and the People’s Crusade followed Peter the Hermit. The Second Crusade was headed by King Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III of Germany. Leaders of the Third Crusade included the Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Phillip II Augustus of France, and especially Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) of England. Various French noblemen responded to Pope Innocent III’s call for the Fourth Crusade. The soldiers of the Fifth Crusade followed Andrew II of Hungary and the French count John of Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem. The Holy Roman emperor Frederick II led the Sixth Crusade, and King Louis IX of France (St. Louis) led the last two Crusades.
Were the Crusades successful?The First Crusade, called in response to a request for help from the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus, was astonishingly successful. The Crusaders conquered Nicaea (in Turkey) and Antioch and then went on to seize Jerusalem, and they established a string of Crusader-ruled states. However, after the Muslim leader Zangī captured one of them, the Second Crusade, called in response, was defeated at Dorylaeum (near Nicaea) and failed in an attempt to conquer Damascus. The Third Crusade, called after the sultan Saladin conquered the Crusader state of Jerusalem, resulted in the capture of Cyprus and the successful siege of Acre (now in Israel), and Richard I’s forces defeated those of Saladin at the Battle of Arsūf and at Jaffa. Richard signed a peace treaty with Saladin allowing Christians access to Jerusalem. The Fourth Crusade—rather than attacking Egypt, then the centre of Muslim power—sacked the Byzantine Christian city of Constantinople. None of the following Crusades were successful. The capture of Acre in 1291 by the Māmluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil marked the end of Crusader rule in the Middle East.
Read more below: The results of the Crusades Were there lasting results from the Crusades?The Crusades slowed the advance of Islamic power and may have prevented western Europe from falling under Muslim suzerainty. The Crusader states extended trade with the Muslim world, bringing new tastes and foods to Europe. The Crusades had a marked impact on the development of Western historical literature, bringing a plethora of chronicles and eyewitness accounts. However, Constantinople never returned to its former glory after being sacked by the Fourth Crusade, and the schism between Eastern and Roman Catholic Christianity was further entrenched. The Islamic world saw the Crusaders as cruel invaders, which helped engender distrust and resentment toward the Christian world.
Read more below: The results of the CrusadesCrusades, military expeditions, beginning in the late 11th century, that were organized by western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. Their objectives were to check the spread of Islam, to retake control of the Holy Land in the eastern Mediterranean, to conquer pagan areas, and to recapture formerly Christian territories; they were seen by many of their participants as a means of redemption and expiation for sins. Between 1095, when the First Crusade was launched, and 1291, when the Latin Christians were finally expelled from their kingdom in Syria, there were numerous expeditions to the Holy Land, to Spain, and even to the Baltic; the Crusades continued for several centuries after 1291. Crusading declined rapidly during the 16th century with the advent of the Protestant Reformation and the decline of papal authority.
Approximately two-thirds of the ancient Christian world had been conquered by Muslims by the end of the 11th century, including the important regions of Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. The Crusades, attempting to check this advance, initially enjoyed success, founding a Christian state in Palestine and Syria, but the continued growth of Islamic states ultimately reversed those gains. By the 14th century the Ottoman Turks had established themselves in the Balkans and would penetrate deeper into Europe despite repeated efforts to repulse them.
The Crusades constitute a controversial chapter in the history of Christianity, and their excesses have been the subject of centuries of historiography. The Crusades also played an integral role in the expansion of medieval Europe.
