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c.400 |
Augustine of Hippo outlines a Christian theory of just war |
638 |
Jerusalem is captured by the Arabs under Caliph Umar |
800 |
Charlemagne the Frank is crowned Roman Emperor of the West |
9th century |
Holy wars proclaimed against Muslim invaders of Italy |
11th century |
Peace and Truce of God movements in parts of France mobilize arms bearers to protect the Church |
1053 |
Leo IX offers remission of sins to his troops fighting the Normans of southern Italy |
1050s–70s |
Seljuk Turks invade Near East |
1071 |
Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at Manzikert; they overrun Asia Minor and establish a capital at Nicaea |
1074 |
Pope Gregory VII proposes a campaign from the west to help Byzantium and liberate the Holy Sepulchre |
1095 |
Byzantine appeal to Pope Urban II for military aid against the Turks; Urban II’s preaching tour of France (ends 1096); Council of Clermont proclaims Crusade |
1096–99 |
First Crusade |
1101 onward |
Smaller crusades to Holy Land |
1104 |
Acre captured |
1107–08 |
Crusade of Bohemund of Taranto against Byzantium |
1109 |
Tripoli captured |
c.1113 |
Order of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem recognized; militarized by c.1130 |
1114 onward |
Crusades in Spain |
1120 |
Order of the Temple founded in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims |
1123 |
First Lateran Council extends Jerusalem privileges to Spanish Crusades |
1144 |
Edessa captured by Zengi of Aleppo |
1145–49 |
Second Crusade |
1149 onward |
Further crusades in Spain and the Baltic; a few to the Holy Land |
1154 |
Nur al-Din of Aleppo captures Damascus |
1163–69 |
Franks of Jerusalem contest control of Egypt |
1169 |
Saladin succeeds as ruler of Egypt |
1174 |
Death of Nur al-Din; Saladin begins to unify Syria with Egypt |
1187 |
Battle of Hattin; Saladin destroys army of Kingdom of Jerusalem; Jerusalem falls to Saladin |
1188–92 |
Third Crusade |
1193 |
Saladin dies |
1193–1230 |
Crusades to Livonia in the Baltic |
1198 |
Foundation of Teutonic Knights in Acre; Pope Innocent III proclaims Fourth Crusade |
1199 |
Church taxation instituted for the Crusade; Crusade against Markward of Anweiler in Sicily |
1201–04 |
Fourth Crusade |
13th century |
Crusades in the Baltic by Teutonic Knights (Prussia), Sword Brothers (Livonia), Danes (Prussia, Livonia, Estonia), and Swedes (Estonia and Finland); Crusades against German peasants and Bosnians |
1208–29 |
Albigensian Crusade |
1212 |
Children’s Crusade; Almohads defeated by Spanish Christian coalition at Las Navas de Tolosa |
1213 |
Innocent III proclaims Fifth Crusade and extends crusade privileges to those who contribute but do not go on crusade |
1215 |
Fourth Lateran Council authorizes regular crusade taxation |
1217–29 |
Fifth Crusade |
1231 onward |
Crusades against the Byzantines to defend western conquests in Greece |
1239–68 |
Crusades against Hohenstaufen rulers of Germany and Sicily |
1239–41 |
Crusades to Holy Land of Theobald, Count of Champagne, and Richard, Earl of Cornwall; crusaders defeated at Gaza (1239) |
1242 |
Teutonic Knights defeated by Alexander Nevsky at Lake Chud |
1244 |
Jerusalem lost to Muslims; Louis IX of France takes the cross |
1248–54 |
First Crusade of Louis IX of France |
1250 |
Mamluks take rule in Egypt (to 1517) |
1251 |
First Shepherds’ Crusade |
1260 |
Mamluks repulse Mongols at Ain Jalut; Baibars becomes sultan of Egypt (to 1277) |
1261 |
Greeks recover Constantinople |
1267 |
Louis IX takes cross again |
1268 |
Fall of Antioch to Baibars of Egypt |
1269 |
Aragonese Crusade to Holy Land |
1270 |
Louis IX’s Crusade ends at Tunis, where he dies |
1271–72 |
Crusade to Holy Land of Lord Edward, later Edward I of England |
1272–91 |
Small expeditions to Holy Land |
1282–1302 |
Wars of the Sicilian Vespers; include French crusade to Aragon (1285) |
1289 |
Fall of Tripoli |
1291 |
Fall of Acre to al-Ashraf Khalil of Egypt and evacuation of mainland Outremer |
1306–1522 |
Hospitallers rule island of Rhodes |
1307–14 |
Trial and suppression of Templars |
14th century |
Papal crusades in Italy; crusading continues against heretics in Italy; Moors in Spain; pagans in the Baltic (to 1410) |
1309 |
Popular Crusade; Teutonic Knights move headquarters from Venice to Prussia |
1320 |
Second Shepherds’ Crusade |
1330s onward |
Naval leagues against Turks in Aegean |
1350s onward |
Ottoman Turks established in Balkans; soon establish overlordship over Byzantine emperors |
1365–66 |
Crusade of Peter of Cyprus; Alexandria sacked (1365) |
1366 |
Crusade of Count Amadeus of Savoy to Dardanelles |
1383 |
Crusade of Bishop Despenser of Norwich against supporters of Pope Clement VII in Flanders |
1390 |
Christian expedition to Mahdia in Tunisia |
1396 |
Christian expedition against the Ottomans defeated at Nicopolis on the Danube (September) |
15th century |
Numerous small crusading forays against the Ottomans in eastern Mediterranean and east/central Europe |
1420–71 |
Crusades against the Hussite heretics in Bohemia |
1444 |
Crusaders defeated at Varna in Bulgaria (November) |
1453 |
Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II |
1456 |
Belgrade successfully defended from Ottoman Turks with help of crusaders under John of Capistrano |
1460–64 |
Abortive crusade of Pope Pius II |
1480 |
Turks besiege Rhodes |
1492 |
Granada falls to Spanish monarchs |
16th century |
More crusades against Turks in Mediterranean and central Europe; from 1530s crusades threatened against heretics (Protestants) |
1522 |
Rhodes falls to Turks |
1525 |
Secularization of Teutonic Order in Prussia |
1529 |
Turks besiege Vienna |
1530–1798 |
Hospitallers rule Malta |
1560s–90s |
French Wars of Religion; some Catholics receive crusade privileges |
1561–62 |
Secularization of Teutonic Order in Livonia |
1565 |
Turks fail to conquer Malta |
1571 |
Holy League wins a naval battle against the Turks at Lepanto; Cyprus falls to Turks |
1578 |
King Sebastian of Portugal defeated and killed at Alcazar on crusade in Morocco |
1588 |
Spanish Armada attracts crusade privileges for Spanish |
1669 |
Crete falls to Turks |
1683 |
Turks besiege Vienna |
1684–97 |
Holy League begins to reconquer Balkans from Turks |
1798 |
Hospitallers surrender Malta to Napoleon Bonaparte |
1898 |
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visits Jerusalem and Damascus |
1914–18 |
First World War; Ottoman Turkey allies with Germany which encourages proclamation of jihad against the Turks’ enemies |
1917 |
British under General Allenby take Jerusalem |
1919 |
Versailles Peace Treaty negotiations confirm mandates for Britain and France in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and the Lebanon |
1948 |
Creation of the State of Israel (defended in wars 1948, 1967, 1973) |
1982 |
Israeli invasion of Lebanon |
1990 |
Gulf War |
2001 |
Al-Qaeda attack on United States |
2003–04 |
Iraq War |