THE CRUSADES

One type of crusade that I am going to explain first is the people's crusade. The year of the crusade is 1096, the leader of this crusade was a French monk called Peter the Hermit. A few thousand peasnats, including a few knights and women and children took part. What happened there was theat it was more rabble than an army and had few proper weapons and nowhere near enogh supplies. After a long and hazardous journey, the people were slaughtered or sold into slavery. The result of this crusade is that Muslims won and the Holy LAnd remained in the hands of the Turks.

The date of the first crusade was in 1097. The leader of this crusade was Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror. About 3000 noblemen and knights from Europe who were very well trained and armed took part of the crusade. The Christian knights managed to capture the cities of Nicea in 1097 and Antioch in 1098. The following year they reached the huge defensive city walls of Jerusalem. It was a Christian's victory-the crusader states of Antioch, Edessa, Jerusalem and Tripoli ruled over the Holy Land for next 60 years.

The second crusade took place in 1147, with a leader named Emperor the Conrad of Germany and King Louis VII of France. Over 50000 German and French knights took part in this crusade. The Franks were heavily defeated at Damascus. And the Muslims continued to grow in strength and confidence, and Jerusalem was under control of Muslims.

The third crusade happened in 1189, with a leader named Richard I and the Philip of France and Emperor Frederick of Germany. Richard won some famous victories and gained access to the Holy Land for Christians. Saladin made sure that Jerusalem had remained under Muslim's control.

In 1198, the fourth crusade occured. The leader of this crusade was Pope Innocent III. The crusade never even reached the Holy Land. Many of the crusaders were more interested in making themselves rich than fighting for Christ. The result was disaster for christians. By fighting each other, they had weakened their forces and allowed the Saraens to expand their control. Never again would a Christian army set out to capture Jerusalem.

The childrens crusade took place in 1212, and a leader was Stephan, a 12 year old French Shepherd boy. Towards the end of June. the army of children set off on the road to the port of Marseilles. The summer was unusually hot and the children relied on charity for survival. The boarded ships that they were promised were sailing for the Holy Land. All of those on board were sold to the Saracens as slaves and never heard from again. And the result was a 'tragedy'.