The Crusades : A set of campaigns fought primarily in the Holy Land usually between the catholic armies of Western Europe and the Muslim armies of the Middle East.
For a Crusade to start it had to be issued by the Pope. The Crusades span between the period 1095 - 1291 when all remaining christian armies were expelled from the Holy Land and returned to Europe. The Pope was at that time thinking of issuing another crusade but due to the rivalry between European monarchs and the loss of all strongholds in the East (excluding Cyprus which however was an island) the Crusades had lost their momentum and no more troops were sent to try and recapture Jerusalem from the infidel.
However there have also been numerous other Crusades whose primary goal was not the liberation of Jerusalem and which did not take place in the Holy Land yet they still involved fighting between Catholic Christians and either muslims, heretics or any others the current Pope at the time saw as a threat to catholicism (or his own interests). Examples include the Cathar Crusade and the Varna Crusade, and I shall be providing more info about these shortly as well as other subjects.
By the way here are some books concerning the Crusades to any one who is interested:
The Jester
Jerusalem
Black Lion's Bride
Alamut
The Crusade: A Novel
The Dagger and the Cross
The Lions of Al-Rassan
Baudolino
The Iron Lance
On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar
Son of the Morning
Lion's Bride
Durandal
Ivanhoe (also mentions Robin Hood!)
The Children's Crusade
The Kingdom at the End of the Road
Knight Crusader
The Knight Templar
Sylvia
Brethren Triology (Focusing mostly around Knights Templar as well as Ninth Crusade, provide a lot of insight, I especially recommend these having read them)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades
The Crusades : A set of campaigns fought primarily in the Holy Land usually between the catholic armies of Western Europe and the Muslim armies of the Middle East.
For a Crusade to start it had to be issued by the Pope. The Crusades span between the period 1095 - 1291 when all remaining christian armies were expelled from the Holy Land and returned to Europe. The Pope was at that time thinking of issuing another crusade but due to the rivalry between European monarchs and the loss of all strongholds in the East (excluding Cyprus which however was an island) the Crusades had lost their momentum and no more troops were sent to try and recapture Jerusalem from the infidel.
However there have also been numerous other Crusades whose primary goal was not the liberation of Jerusalem and which did not take place in the Holy Land yet they still involved fighting between Catholic Christians and either muslims, heretics or any others the current Pope at the time saw as a threat to catholicism (or his own interests). Examples include the Cathar Crusade and the Varna Crusade, and I shall be providing more info about these shortly as well as other subjects.
By the way here are some books concerning the Crusades to any one who is interested: