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The Crusades began with Pope Urban II's speech at the Church Council at Clermont in 1095. The Crusades, as institutionalised Holy War with papal sanction against the perceived enemies of Christendom, ended in 1798 with the expulsion of the Hospital of St John from Malta by Napoleon. The following chronology may help: The major campaigns and a selection of smaller expeditions and important events in the history of crusading. |
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| 1096-99 |
FIRST CRUSADE captures Jerusalem. Latin kingdom of Jerusalem founded. Various Latin (Catholic) Christian religious houses already exist in Jerusalem, founded by earlier pilgrims to the city. These include the Hospital of St John the Baptist. |
| 1100-11 | Follow-up expedition: defeated by Turks. |
| 1107-10 | King Sigurd of Norway brings army to Holy Land. |
| 1112 | The Hospital of St John receives papal protection and approval. |
| 1118/9 | Foundation of the military religious order of the Temple. |
| 1123-24 | Venetian expedition to Holy Land. |
| 1129 |
Council of Troyes: the military order of the Temple receives official Church approval for its religious rule. |
| 1134 |
Hospital of St John entrusted with the defence of the castle of Beit Jibrin, near Ascalon in the kingdom of Jerusalem. |
| 1130s |
Order of the Temple entrusted with the defence of castles in the Amanus March, north of Antioch. |
| 1142 |
Hospital of St John entrusted with the defence of castles on the frontier of the county of Tripoli. |
| 1144 | Zenghi, ruler of Mosul and Aleppo, captures Edessa. |
| 1146 | Death of Zenghi. |
| 1148-49 | SECOND CRUSADE: to capture Damascus. Failure. |
| 1149 |
Order of the Temple entrusted with the defence of Gaza, on the coast road to Egypt. |
| 1153 | Capture of Ascalon by forces of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem. |
| 1154 | Nûr al-Dîn (Zenghi's son) captures Damascus. |
| 1158 | Pilgrimage of Count Thierry of Flanders. |
| 1166-69 |
Campaigns of King Amaury (Amalric) of Jerusalem against Egypt. Both the Hospital of St John and the Order of the Temple take part. |
| 1169 | Saladin becomes vizier of Egypt. |
| 1172 | Pilgrimage of Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony. |
| 1174 | Death of Nûr al-Dîn. Saladin seizes Damascus. |
| 1177 | Pilgrimage of Count Philip of Flanders. |
| 1187 | Saladin captures Jerusalem. |
| 1189-92 |
THIRD CRUSADE: to recover Jerusalem. Fails but recovers some territory. |
| 1197-98 |
German crusade. Recovers some territory; converts the Teutonic Hospital at Acre into a Military religious Order, known as the Hospital of St Mary of the Teutons, or the Teutonic Order for short. |
| 1201-4 |
FOURTH CRUSADE: to assist Christians in Holy Land. Captures Constantinople. |
| 1218-21 |
FIFTH CRUSADE: attacks Egypt. Initially successful but army cut off when Muslims open sluice gates of Nile. |
| 1228-29 |
CRUSADE OF THE EMPEROR FREDERICK II. Jerusalem recovered by treaty with Ayyubid Muslim sultan of Egypt. |
| 1230s: |
Teutonic Order begins military operations in Prussia, on initial invitation by the Polish prince Duke Conrad of Masovia and Cujavia, and supported by the emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. |
| 1239-40 |
CRUSADE OF THEOBALD, COUNT OF CHAMPAGNE AND KING OF NAVARRE. Negotiates peace treaty with Ayyubid Muslim sultan of Damascus. |
| 1240-41 |
CRUSADE OF EARL RICHARD OF CORNWALL. Recovers territory by negotiation. |
| 1244 | Jerusalem finally lost to Muslims. |
| 1249-54 |
FIRST CRUSADE OF KING LOUIS IX OF FRANCE: to Egypt. Initially successful but defeated at Mansourah, Feb. 1250. Louis then goes to the Holy Land and strengthens its defences. |
| 1269 | Crusade of the princes of Aragon. |
| 1269-70 | Frisian crusade. |
| 1270 |
SECOND CRUSADE OF KING LOUIS IX OF FRANCE: to Tunis. Failure. |
| 1271-72 |
Crusade of the Lord Edward of England (later King Edward I of England).Ends with truce. |
| 1274 |
Second Council of Lyons discusses plans for recovering the Holy Land. No decision reached. |
| 1291 |
Acre captured by the Sultan of Egypt. The remaining Latin Christian territories in the Holy Land fall to the Muslims soon afterwards. The Latin Christians of the crusader states, including the headquarters of the Military Orders of the Temple and Hospital of St John, move to Cyprus. The Teutonic Order moves its headquarters to Venice. |
| 1302 |
The Order of the Temple's garrison on the island of Ruad (just off the Syrian coast) destroyed by the Mamluk Muslims. |
| 1306 |
Hospital of St John begins the conquest of the Greek Orthodox Christian island of Rhodes. |
| 1307 |
Death of King Edward I of England. King Philip IV of France begins the trial of the Order of the Temple. |
| 1309 | Teutonic Order moves its headquarters to Marienburg in Prussia. |
| 1310 | Hospital of St John moves its headquarters to Rhodes. |
| 1312 |
At the Church Council at Vienne, Pope Clement V declares the case against the Templars not proven, but dissolves the Order and assigns its members to other religious Orders. The property of the Order is to pass to the Hospital of St John, to be used in the continuing war against Islam. |
| 1332-34 | First Crusade League: involved in naval operations against Muslims. |
| 1365-67 |
Peter I of Cyprus' crusade: captures Alexandria, but withdraws soon afterwards. |
| 1396 |
Battle of Nicopolis: western European crusaders defeated by Ottoman Turks |
| 1410 |
The Teutonic Order defeated by combined Catholic Christian Lithuanian-Polish forces at Tannenberg/Grunwald. Although the Teutonic Order continued to govern Prussia, this was the death-knell of the end of the Prussian Crusade. |
| 1420-31 |
Hussite Crusades: Catholic Christians against Christian heretics of Bohemia. The Hussites won. |
| 1444 | Crusade of Varna |
| 1453 | Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks |
| 1456 |
Defence of Belgrade against Ottoman Turks by western European crusaders |
| 1480 | Hospitallers defend Rhodes against the Turks |
| 1492 |
Fall of Muslim Granada to the Christian forces of Ferdinand and Isabella |
| 1518 |
Martin Luther's Explanation of the 95 theses states that Ottoman attacks on Europe are God's punishment for Christians' sins and the Church authorities should not resist them by arms, only by prayer. In his On war against the Turk (1525) he states that it is the responsibility of the secular princes rather than the Church to defend the people against the Ottomans. Those who follow Luther therefore reject the concept of crusading, which is war organised by the Church. The Protestant split from the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church is the end of crusading as a pan-European phenomenon; for only the papacy can authorise crusades. Crusading continues, but only among Roman Catholics. |
| 1522-23 | Rhodes falls to the Ottoman Turks of Suleiman the Magnificent |
| 1529 | First Ottoman siege of Vienna |
| 1530 | Hospital of St John moves to Malta |
| 1565 |
Hospital of St John defends Malta against the forces of Suleiman the Magnificent |
| 1571 |
Lepanto: victory of Catholic Christian Holy League against Ottoman Turks |
| 1588 |
Spanish Armada - Catholic Christian crusading expeditioni against Protestant Christian England |
| 1683 | Second Ottoman siege of Vienna |
| 1684-97 | Formation and operations of Holy (Crusade) League |
| 1798 | Hospital of St John on Malta surrenders to Napoleon |
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Further reading For a full chronology of crusades from 1095-1798 see The Oxford Illustrated history of the Crusades, ed. Jonathan Riley-Smith (Oxford, 1995), pp. 392-400. See also: Norman Housley, The Later Crusades: From Lyons to Alcazar, 1274-1580 (Oxford, 1992) Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A Short History (Athlone Press, 1987) Christopher Tyerman, England and the Crusades, 1095-1588 (Chicago UP, 1988) |
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