The Crusades, a series of military expeditions promoted by the Papacy during the Medieval times from 5th to 15 century.[35] There were altogether nine Crusades sanctioned by the Papacy from 1095 to 1291.[9][11][12] This essay will be on the first three Crusades, which were considered to be more prominent out of the nine.[13] The main events will be outlined, and the reasons explained. After the Justinian Gothic Wars, Byzantium and Western Europe had a strained relationship, and this caused the division between the Churches of the East and West.[14][15] When Alexius Comnenus I, the Emperor of Byzantine, appealed to Pope Urban II in 1095 for mercenaries to fight against the Muslims, Pope Urban seized this opportunity by sanctioning a Crusade to unite Churches, resolve the infighting in Europe, and to reinforce the power of the Papacy.[5] In 1095, Pope Urban gave his speech at the Council of Clermont; he stirred excitement of his audience by exaggerating the anti-Christian acts of Muslims and promising the remission of sins.[2][6][17] After Pope Urban’s speech, four troops of Crusader armies were formed from different regions of Western Europe. They were led by Raymond of Saint-Gillles, …show more content…
Spurred by religious zeal, King Henry II of England and King Philip of France took the cross. However, Henry II died on 6 July 1189 and was succeeded by King Richard I of England. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa also took the cross, however he was drowned at Anatolia, which caused his army’s progress to disintegrated. Acre fell after the arrival of King Phillip and Richard after a withstanding a siege since August 1189. On August 22, Richard set out from Acre to Jerusalem. Richard decided to capture the city of Jaffa before advancing towards Jerusalem. However, on September 7, Saladin made a surprise attack on Richard’s troops at Arsuf, Richard and his troops was able to withstand the attack and won the battle.