1071–1099

The First Crusade and the Capture of Jerusalem

In 1071 the Seljuk Turks crushed the Byzantine army at Manzikert and took Asia Minor. Emperor Alexios I appealed to Pope Urban II for military help. At the Council of Clermont in 1095 Urban called for the rescue of Constantinople and the liberation of the Holy Land, promising forgiveness of sins. The crowd answered with the cry "Deus vult."

Even before the organized expedition, unruly crowds of peasants and the poor set out, led by Peter the Hermit. Along the way they carried out pogroms against Jews. Near Nicaea they were almost wiped out by the Turks.

The main knightly army was led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond, Bohemond and Tancred. It took Nicaea and, after a long siege, Antioch. On 15 July 1099 it stormed Jerusalem, massacring Muslims and Jews. Godfrey of Bouillon became ruler of Jerusalem. His brother Baldwin I became the first king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1100.

The Crusade's success owed partly to the disunity of the Muslim world. Military-monastic orders later arose – the Templars (1118) and the Hospitallers.