The Crusades were a series of military campaigns launched by the papacy between 1095 and 1291 against Muslim rulers for the recovery and defence of the Holy Land, encouraged by promises of …

Dec 5, 2025 · Crusades, military expeditions, beginning in the late 11th century, that were organized by western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion.

Jun 7, 2010 · The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade...

Oct 12, 2018 · The Crusades were a series of military campaigns organised by popes and Christian western powers to take Jerusalem and the Holy Land back from Muslim control and then defend …

May 5, 2025 · The Crusades were holy wars sanctioned by the pope against enemies of Christendom. The First Crusade began in 1095 with Pope Urban II's call at the Council of Clermont. Crusading …

Nov 24, 2025 · The crusades were a centuries-long sequence of era-defining medieval holy wars that transformed dynamics of power and religious ideas across Europe and the Middle East.

Muslim voices, whether in the Iberian Peninsula (what is now Spain and Portugal), the Levant (the eastern Mediterranean), or further afield, described the crusades in different ways—often as simple …

Crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, to expand the realm of Christianity or to put down heresies within it. They have also inspired numerous …

Aug 5, 2024 · The Crusades were a series of religious and military campaigns initiated by European Christians between the 11th and 13th centuries. They aimed to reclaim the Holy Land, particularly …

Two maps are included for easy reference but the reader will find the Atlas of the Crusades, ed. J. Riley-Smith (London, 1991), especially useful.