Crusades

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The Crusades were a series of religious wars with the objective of recovering the Holy Land, particularly Jerusalem, from Islamic rule. The best known of these military expeditions are those in the period between 1095, when plans for the original invasion began, with Pope Urban II rallying European allies during the Council of Clermont, and lasted until 1291, with the Crusaders' loss at the Siege of Acre.

Selected Crusades

First Crusade

Main article: First Crusade

The First Crusade (1096 – 1099) was called with the aim of recovering the Levant from the expanding Seljuk Empire, culminating with the Siege of Jerusalem. The four main armies left for the front in August 1096, arriving at Jerusalem three years later, by which time the retreating Egyptian Fatimid Caliphate had been occupying the city since August 1098. On 7 June 1099, the Christian army camped outside Jerusalem and began their assaults. The city fell relatively quickly and the Crusaders entered only to promptly massacre the city's Muslim and Jewish populations. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state, was established immediately after.

Second Crusade

Main article: Second Crusade

The Second Crusade (1147 – 1150) was a failed effort at consolidating Crusader control over the Holy Land after atabeg Imad al-Din Zengi captured the city of Edessa, a Crusader state capital. With psychological pressure from Pope Eugene III over the First Crusade's success, many nobles joined the expedition, but overconfident and underprepared, they were repeatedly defeated by the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia and ultimately withdrew following a mere week-long attempt to lay siege to Damascus. Their defeat raised Muslim confidence and allowed Zengi's son Nur al-Din to accrue power by uniting different parts of Muslim society.

Third Crusade

Main article: Third Crusade

The Third Crusade (1189 – 1192) was an attempt to reconquer Jerusalem from the Ayyubid Sultan Saladin, Nur-al Din's protégé and nephew to one of his generals, after he captured it in 1187. European forces, principally led by King Richard I of England, managed to reclaim Acre and fought Saladin's army near Arsuf before coming to negotiate peaceful terms and signing the Treaty of Jaffa. Though Jerusalem remained under Saracen control, the Saracens agreed to allow unarmed Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

Fourth Crusade

Main article: Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade (1202 – 1204) was meant as a second attempt to take Jerusalem, which the Ayyubids still held under Saladin's brother Al-Adil I. In 1202, the Crusaders required transport on Venetian ships to the Levant. Doge Enrico Dandolo agreed to give them passage only if they first captured the Dalmatian city of Zadar and then attacked Constantinople. When Constantinople fell, the Venetian Navy sacked it before the majority of the Crusaders' forces returned home. Only a handful of the thousands who joined actually reached their destination and the venture ultimately failed.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles
• Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel
• Assassin's Creed III
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Memories
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion – The Eagle's Shadow
• Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)