Chronology of the Crusades (1095-1798)


1053: Pope Leo IX's forces are defeated by the Normans at the Battle of Civitate.

1064: Barbastro (Spain) is captured by a combined Christian force.

1070s: The Hospital of St John is founded at Jerusalem to care for poor sick pilgrims. Later it takes military responsibilities.

1071: The Byzantine army under Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes is defeated by the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert.

1074: Pope Gregory VII plans a military expedition to assist the Byzantine emperor against the Seljuk Turks.

1084: The Seljuk Turks capture the Byzantine city of Antioch in Syria.

1085: Toledo (Spain) is captured by King Alfonso VI of Castile.

1086: Alfonso VI of Castile is defeated by the radical Muslim Almoravids at Sagrajas/Zallaqa.

1087: A Christian naval force attacks and plunders al-Mahdiyyah (North Africa).

1095: The First Crusade is preached by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont.

1099: The First Crusade captures Jerusalem. The Latin (Crusader) Kingdom of Jerusalem is founded.

1100-1: An expedition to the East is defeated by the Turks.

1119: Battle of the 'Field of Blood'. Prince Roger of Antioch is defeated by Il-Ghazi ibn Artuk of Mardin.

1120: The military-religious Order of the Temple is founded in Jerusalem.

1122-24: A Venetian naval expedition goes to the Holy Land. Tyre is captured.

1129: A Crusader expedition sets out to attack Damascus but is unsuccessful.

1144: Zengi, ruler of Mosul and Aleppo, captures Edessa.

1146: Death of Zengi.

1147: Lisbon is captured by Alfonso I of Portugal and crusading forces.

1147-49: The Second Crusade. The Crusaders besiege Damascus, but fail to capture it. Military expeditions are also launched in Spain against the Muslims and in the Baltic area against the Wends.

1153: The forces of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem capture Ascalon.

1154: Nur al-Din, Zengi's son captures Damascus. In Spain, the radical Muslim Almohads of Morocco win control of Granada.

1163-69: King Amaury (Amalric) of Jerusalem campaigns against Egypt.

1169: Saladin becomes vizier of Egypt.

1172: In Spain, the Almohad caliph takes control of Seville.

1174: Death of Nur al-Din. Saladin seizes Damascus.

1187: Saladin captures Jerusalem.

1189-92: The Third Crusade. Aim - to recover Jerusalem. It fails, but recovers some territory for the Latin Christians.

1193: Death of Saladin.

1197-98: The German crusade recovers some territory for the Latin Christians and converts the Teutonic Hospital at Acre into a military-religious order, known as the Hospital of St Mary of the Teutons ('the Teutonic Order').

1202-4: The Fourth Crusade. Aim - to assist Christians in the Holy Land. It captures Constantinople.

1209-26: The Albigensian Crusades.

1212: The Children's Crusade. It breaks up before it leaves Europe.

1212: In Spain - The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. The Almohads are defeated by a combined Christian force.

1217-21: The Fifth Crusade. Aim - to conquer Egypt. It is initially successful, but the Crusaders are cut off when the Muslims open the sluice gates of the Nile.

1228-29: Crusade of the Emperor Frederick II. He recovers Jerusalem for the Kingdom of Jerusalem by a treaty with al-Kamil, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt.

1229: King James I of Aragon captures the Balearic Islands.

1230's: The Teutonic Order begins military operations in Prussia.

1233: James I of Aragon invades the kingdom of Valencia.

1237: The Teutonic Order takes over the Order of Swordbrothers in Livonia.

1238: James I of Aragon captures the kingdom of Valencia.

1239-40: Crusade of Theobald, count of Champagne and king of Navarre, to Acre. Theobald negotiates a peace treaty with Salih Isma'il, Ayyubid ruler of Damascus.

1240-41: Crusade of Earl Richard of Cornwall, to Acre. Richard recovers territory for the kingdom of Jerusalem by negotiation with al-Salih Ayyub, sultan of Cairo.

1242: The Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order is defeated at Lake Chud (Peipus) by a Russian force led by Prince Alexander Nevsky.

1244: The Crusaders finally lose Jerusalem.

1248-54: First crusade of King Louis IX of France, to Egypt. The crusade captures the port of Damietta, but is defeated at al-Mansurah in February 1250. Louis then goes to Acre.

1250: A Mamluk coup in Egypt overthrows the Ayyubids.

1251: First 'Shepherds' Crusade' - a religious movement that set out to help King Louis.

1258: The Mongols capture Bagdad.

1260: Battle of 'Ain Jalut (Ayn Jalut). The Mamluks of Egypt defeat the Mongols. In the same year, Baibars becomes sultan of Egypt.

1261: Michael Palaeologos recaptures Constantinople and becomes emperor.

1263-71: Sultan Baibars campaigns in Syria and Palestine.

1270: King Louis IX's second crusade besieges Tunis, but achieves nothing.

1274: The Second Church Council of Lyons discusses plans for recovering the Holy Land. No decision is reached.

1277: Death of Baibars.

1291: Acre is captured by al-Ashraf Khalil, sultan of Egypt. The remaining Latin (Crusader) territories in the Holy Land fall to the Muslims soon afterwards.

1306: The Hospital of St John of Jerusalem begins the conquest of the Greek Orthodox Christian island of Rhodes.

1309: The Teutonic Order moves its headquarters to Marienburg in Prussia. The Hospital of St John moves its headquarters to Rhodes.

1312: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Temple.

1320: The second 'Shepherds' Crusade'.

1332-34: The first naval crusading league is set up to fight Muslims at sea. Over the following years a series of such leagues are founded for this purpose.

1365: Peter I of Cyprus' crusade captures Alexandria, but withdraws soon afterwards.

1375: Cilician Armenia is conquered by the Mamluks.

1386: Queen Jadwiga of Poland marries Jagietto of Lithuania. Lithuania accepts Christianity.

1389: Battle of Kosovo Polje - the Ottoman Turks claim victory.

1390: A French expedition sets out to capture al-Mahdiyyah (North Africa). The siege ends with a peace treaty and the French withdraw peacefully.

1396: Battle of Nicopolis - the western European crusaders are defeated by the Ottoman Turks under Bayezid I.

1402: 'Tamerlane' (Timur the Lame) captures Smyrna (now Izmir).

1410: The Teutonic Order is defeated by a combined Catholic Christian Lithuanian-Polish force at Tannenberg/Grunwald.

1420-31: Crusades against the heretic Hussites fail.

1444: The crusade of Varna - fails to defeat the Ottoman Turks.

1453: Constantinople is conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II.

1480: The Hospitallers successfully defend Rhodes against the Ottoman Turks. The Ottomans capture Otranto in Italy, but lose it the following year.

1492: The Muslim city of Granada falls to the forces of Isabella and Ferninand of Castile-Aragon.

[ 1492: Columbus discovers America. ]

1497: The Spanish capture Melilla in North Africa.

1516-17: The Ottoman sultan Selim I defeats the Mamluks and conquers Egypt.

1518: Martin Luther's Explanations of the Ninety-Five Theses state that Ottoman attacks on Europe are God's punishment for Christians' sins and so the Church authorities should not resist them with arms, only with prayer.

1522-23: Rhodes falls to the Ottoman Turks, commanded by Suleyman the Magnificent.

1529: The first Ottoman siege of Vienna. The Ottomans are repulsed.

1530: The Hospital of St John moves to Malta.

1565: The Hospital of St John defends Malta against the forces of Suleyman the Magnificent.

1571: Cyprus is conquered by the Ottoman Turks. Battle of Lepanto - a victory for the Catholic Christian Holy League against the Ottoman Turks, but Cyprus is not recaptured.

1645-69: The Ottoman siege of Crete - Crete falls to the Ottomans.

1683: The second Ottoman siege of Vienna - the Ottomans are repulsed.

1684-97: The formation and operations of the Holy (Crusade) League.

1798: The Hospital of St. John of Malta surrenders to Napoleon.

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Source: A History of the Crusades (1095-1798)


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