When Worlds Collide: Confronting the Crusades
Nigel Saul sets the scene for our major new series on the crusades of the eleventh century.
Nine hundred years ago this month the First Crusaders prepared to cross from Europe into Asia. They had set out in the autumn of the previous year in response to Pope Urban ll's call to liberate the Holy Land. Many of Europe's leading lords took part among them Godfrey of Bouillon, Stephen of Blois and Robert of Normandy. Leaving Constantinople in late June they crossed Asia Minor and entered Syria. Between October 1097 and June 1098 they besieged the great fortress of Antioch. After Antioch's fall they pressed on southwards into Judea. In July 1099, after a month's close siege. they took Jerusalem and gained possession of the Holy Places.
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