CHRONOLOGY

c. 400	Augustine of Hippo outlines a Christian theory of just war
638	Jerusalem is captured by the Arabs under Caliph Umar
800	Charlemagne the Frank is crowned Roman Emperor of the West
9th century	Holy wars proclaimed against Muslim invaders of Italy
11th century	Peace and Truce of God movements in parts of France mobilise arms bearers to protect the Church
1053	Leo IX offers remission of sins to his troops fighting the Normans of southern Italy
1050s–1070s	Seljuk Turks invade Near East; occupy Syria and Palestine; become sultans in control of caliph of Baghdad
1071	Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at Manzikert; they overrun Asia Minor and establish a capital at Nicaea
1074	Pope Gregory VII proposes a campaign from the west to help Byzantium against the Turks and to liberate the Holy Sepulchre
1095	Byzantine appeal to Pope Urban II for military aid against the Turks; Urban II’s preaching tour of France (ends 1096); Council of Clermont proclaims crusade
1096–9	First Crusade; Rhineland massacres of Jews (1096); Peasants’ Crusade (1096); capture of Nicaea (1097); Edessa and Antioch (1098); Jerusalem (15 July 1099)
1101 onwards	Smaller crusades to Holy Land
1104	Acre captured
1108–9	Crusade of Bohemund of Taranto against Byzantium; defeated in the Balkans
1109	Tripoli captured
c. 1113	Order of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem recognised; beginning to be militarised by c. 1130
1114 onwards	Crusades in Spain
1119	Defeat of Antioch at battle of Field of Blood
1120	Order of the Temple founded in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims
1123	First Lateran Council extends Jerusalem privileges to Spanish crusades
1122–5	Venetian Crusade; Tyre captured (1124)
1129	Crusade to Damascus
1135	Jerusalem privileges extended to war against papal enemies in Italy
1144	Edessa captured by Zengi of Aleppo
1145–9	Second Crusade; preaching of St Bernard (1146–7); Rhineland massacres of Jews (1146–7); Louis VII and France and Conrad III of Germany go on crusade (1147–8); Saxon crusaders campaign in southern Baltic (1147); crusaders help capture Lisbon en route to Holy Land (1147); failure of siege of Damascus (1148)
1149	Battle of Inab; Antioch defeat; Nur al-Din of Aleppo, Zengi’s son, begins unification of Syria
1154	Nur al-Din of Aleppo captures Damascus in process of unifying Syria
1163–9	Franks of Jerusalem contest control of Egypt with Nur al-Din’s mercenary commander Shirkuh; Shirkuh wins
1169	Saladin succeeds Shirkuh as ruler of Egypt
1171	Saladin abolishes the Fatimid caliphate of Egypt, which returns to nominal allegiance of Abbasid caliph of Baghdad
1174	Death of Nur al-Din; Saladin begins to unify Syria with Egypt (Damascus 1174; Aleppo 1183; Mosul 1186)
1177	Saladin defeated at Montgisard
1179	Saladin captures Jacob’s Ford
1187	Battle of Hattin; Saladin destroys army of kingdom of Jerusalem; Jerusalem falls to Saladin
1188–92	Third Crusade: Saladin Tithe (1188); siege of Acre (1189–91); Frederick I of Germany leads land army (1189); defeats Turks in Asia Minor but drowns in River Saleph (1190); crusade of Richard I of England (1190–2) and Philip II of France (1190–1); capture of Cyprus (1191); fall of Acre (1191); Saladin defeated at Arsuf (1191) and Jaffa (1192); Richard withdraws from Jerusalem twice (1192); treaty of Jaffa partitions Palestine (September 1192); Jerusalem stays in Muslim hands
1193	Saladin dies
1196–7	German Crusade of Henry VI
1198–1230	Crusades to Livonia in Baltic
1198	Foundation of Teutonic Knights in Acre (the militarisation of German hospital, founded at Acre 1190–1)
1198	Pope Innocent III proclaims Fourth Crusade
1199	Church taxation suggested by Innocent III for the crusade; crusade against Markward of Anweiler in Sicily
1201–4	Fourth Crusade; treaty with Venetians (1201); sack of Zara (1202); diversion to Constantinople (1203); sack of Constantinople (1204)
13th century	Crusades in the Baltic by Teutonic Knights (Prussia), Sword Brothers (Livonia); Danes (Prussia, Livonia, Estonia)and Swedes (Estonia and Finland); crusades against German peasants, Bosnians etc.
1208–29	Albigensian Crusade; sack of Beziers (1209); battle of Muret (1213); death of Simon de Montfort at siege of Toulouse (1218); crusade of Louis VIII of France (1226); treaty of Paris (1229)
1212	Children’s Crusade
1212	Almohads defeated by Spanish Christian coalition at Las Navas de Tolosa
1213	Innocent III proclaims Fifth Crusade and extends crusade privileges to those who contribute but do not go on crusade
1215	Fourth Lateran Council authorises regular crusade taxation
1217–21	Fifth Crusade; siege of Damietta (1218–19); Damietta occupied (1219–21)
1228–9	Frederick II of Germany in Holy Land; treaty with Sultan of Egypt restores Jerusalem (1229–44)
1231 onwards	Crusades against the Byzantines to defend western conquests in Greece
1239–41	Crusades to Holy Land of Theobald, count of Champagne and Richard, earl of Cornwall; crusaders defeated at Gaza (1239)
1239–68	Crusades against Hohenstaufen rulers of Germany and Sicily
1242	Teutonic Knights defeated by Alexander Nevsky at Lake Chud
1244	Jerusalem lost to Muslims; Louis IX of France takes the cross
1248–54	First Crusade of Louis IX of France; Damietta occupied (1249–50); battle of Mansourah (1250); Louis in Holy Land (1250–4)
1250	Mamluks take rule in Egypt (to 1517)
1251	First Shepherds’ Crusade
1260	Mamluks repulse Mongols at Ain Jalut; Baibars sultan of Egypt (to 1277)
1261	Greeks recover Constantinople
1267	Louis IX takes cross again
1268	Fall of Antioch to Baibars of Egypt
1269	Aragonese crusade to Holy Land
1270	Louis IX’s crusade ends at Tunis where he dies
1271–2	Crusade to Holy Land of Lord Edward, later Edward I of England
1272–91	Small expeditions to Holy Land
1282–1302	Wars of the Sicilian Vespers; French crusade to Aragon (1285)
1289	Fall of Tripoli
1291	Fall of Acre to al-Ashraf Khalil of Egypt and evacuation of mainland Outremer
1306–1522	Hospitallers rule island of Rhodes
1307–14	Trial and suppression of Templars
14th century	Papal crusades in Italy; crusading continues against heretics in Italy; Moors in Spain; Lithuanian pagans in Baltic (to 1410)
1309	Popular crusade; Teutonic Knights move headquarters from Venice to Prussia
1320	Second Shepherds’ Crusade
1330s onwards	Naval leagues against Turks in Aegean; Smyrna occupied (1344–1402)
1345–7	Crusade of Humbert of Vienne
1350s onwards	Ottoman Turks established in Balkans; soon establish overlordship over Byzantine emperors
1365–6	Crusade of Peter of Cyprus; Alexandria sacked (1365)
1365	Crusade of Count Amadeus of Savoy to Dardanelles
1383	Crusade of Bishop Despenser of Norwich against supporters of Pope Clement VII in Flanders
1390	Christian expedition to Tunisia
1396	Christian expedition under John of Nevers against the Ottomans defeated at Nicopolis on the Danube (September)
15th century	Numerous small crusading forays against the Ottomans in eastern Mediterranean and east/central Europe
1420–71	Crusades against the Hussite heretics in Bohemia
1444	Crusaders defeated at Varna in Bulgaria (November)
1453	Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II
1456	Belgrade successfully defended from Ottoman Turks with help of crusaders under John of Capistrano
1460–4	Abortive crusade of Pope Pius II
1480	Turks besiege Rhodes; Otranto occupied by Turks (1480–1)
1492	Granada falls to Spanish Monarchs
1499–1503	Venetian-Ottoman war
1513–17	Fifth Lateran Council; crusade still promoted
16th century	More crusade schemes against Turks in Mediterranean and central Europe; Hungary conquered by Suleiman the Magnificent after battle of Mohacs (1526); from 1530s crusades threatened against heretics (i.e. Protestants)
1522	Rhodes falls to Turks
1525	Secularisation of Teutonic Order in Prussia
1529	Turks besiege Vienna
1530–1798	Hospitallers rule Malta
1535	Charles V captures Tunis
1536	Francis I of France allies with Ottomans
1560s–1590s	French Wars of Religion; some Catholics receive crusade privileges
1561–2	Secularisation of Teutonic Order in Livonia
1565	Turks fail to conquer Malta
1571	Holy League wins a naval battle against the Turks at Lepanto; Cyprus falls to Turks
1578	King Sebastian of Portugal defeated and killed at Alcazar on crusade in Morocco
1588	Spanish Armada attracts crusade privileges for the Spanish
1618–48	Thirty Years War; religious war without formal crusading
1669	Crete falls to Turks
1683	Turks besiege Vienna
1684–97	Holy League begins to reconquer Balkans from Turks
1798	Hospitallers surrender Malta to Napoleon Bonaparte
1830	French invasion of Algeria
1854–56	Crimean War; Britain and France ally with Ottomans against Russia
1898	Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visits Jerusalem and Damascus
1914–18	First World War; Ottoman Turkey allies with Germany, which encourages proclamation of jihad against the Turks’ enemies
1917	British under General Allenby take Jerusalem
1919	Versailles Peace Treaty negotiations confirm Mandates for Britain and France in Syria, Palestine, Iraq and the Lebanon
1922	End of the Ottoman Empire
1948	Creation of the State of Israel (defended in wars 1948, 1967, 1973)
1982	Israeli invasion of Lebanon
1990	First Gulf War
2001	al-Qaeda attack on US; President George W. Bush likens conflict with al-Qaeda to crusade
2003	Iraq War
2004 and 2011	Papal apologies for crusade violence
2014	Isis declares new caliphate in Syria and Iraq