Beginning in 1096 and continuing intermittently for the next two centuries, the Crusades were wars fought over possession of the “Holy Land” and its chief sacred place, Jerusalem. Muslims had been in control of Jerusalem since around 636, but the Christian powers of central and eastern Europe mobilized only after a Turkish force vanquished a Byzantine army in eastern Asia Minor in 1071. The Byzantine emperor sought help from the pope in Rome and the first Crusade began twenty-five years later. From the Christian perspective the first was the only genuinely successful Crusade, resulting in the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. An ill-fated second Crusade was launched in 1147 in hopes of expanding Christian control.

From 1099 to 1187, Crusaders held the holy city and surrounding regions. Then, under the famous hero Saladin, Muslim armies brought the Latin Kingdom down and reclaimed Jerusalem, and in the following year Christians organized the third Crusade. The English king Richard I “The Lionhearted” managed a truce with Saladin in 1192, securing little more than a token visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. One of the truly grim episodes in Crusading history occurred during the fourth Crusade. Western Christian troops overthrew the Byzantine emperor, vented their wrath on their Eastern Christian cousins, and never made it to the Middle East. Four more major Crusades and several minor ones followed during the thirteenth century. Only one was a qualified success, securing control over Jerusalem for fifteen years (1229-1244). Muslim authorities retained primary custody of the holy places for nearly the next seven centuries, finally yielding to the British mandate in the early 1900s. Christian sources often glorify the Crusades as examples of heroism, but in fact those who suffered most from their consequences were the Christian communities of the Middle East.