Eight crusades in two centuries

Louis IX leaves for the seventh crusade. 14th century miniature taken from the Chronicles of Saint-Denis, circa 1332-1355. British Library, London • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

It was Pope Urban II who took the initiative to preach the First Crusade . The victories won by the crusaders between 1096 and 1099 are indeed at the origin of the creation of four Latin States of the East (the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch, the county of Tripoli and the kingdom of Jerusalem) , whose defense will justify the seven crusades that will follow.

The Second Crusade preached in 1146 in Vézelay by Bernard of Clairvaux, is a failure, the troops coming from the West failing to reinforce the Latin States already on the defensive.

The capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187 provoked the third crusade. Philippe Auguste, Richard Coeur de Lion and Frédéric Barberousse take part in this great expedition, which allows the recovery of a coastal strip running from Saint-Jean-d'Acre to Ascalon, but not that of Jerusalem.

The Fourth Crusade of 1204 is diverted from its objective by Venice. The Venetian fleet, on which the crusaders had embarked, was indeed heading towards Constantinople, where the Serenissima had commercial interests. The city was taken and pillaged by the Latins, which led to a definitive break with the Byzantines.

During the fifth crusade (1217-1221), the fighters did not take the direction of the Holy Land, but of Egypt, whose sultan was the strong man of the region.

The Sixth Crusade (1228-1229) is almost peaceful, since the Germanic Emperor Frederick II manages by negotiation to obtain sovereignty over Jerusalem (which will soon be taken over by the Muslims).

The Seventh and Eighth Crusades (1248-1254 and 1270) are led by Louis IX. Taken prisoner in Egypt during the first expedition, he died outside the walls of Tunis during the second. A few years later, in 1291, Saint-Jean-d'Acre, the last Frankish possession in the Holy Land, was definitively lost.