Crusades

Detail of a miniature of the meeting between Alexander and the Amazons. Image taken from f. 47v of Historia de proelis in a French translation (Le Livre et le vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre), c. 1420. British Library. Public Domain.

Queens of the Crusades

As promoters, propagandists, patrons and warriors, women were everywhere during the Crusades.

Miniature of the Battle of Cresson from Les Passages d’outremer by Sébastien Mamerot, c.1474. Wikimedia Commons

Against the Odds

The Battle of the Springs of Cresson marked the beginning of the end for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Charles V of France and Emperor Charles IV feast while the Siege of Jerusalem is re-enacted, from the Grandes Chroniques de France, c.1380.

The Long Shadow of the First Crusade

The First Crusade unleashed shockwaves felt across all of Christendom. New chapters to a story started in 1099 are still being written.

Drawing of two knights on a horse, the emblem of the Knights Templar, from the Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris.

The End of the Templars

Pope Clement V suppressed the order on 22 March 1312.

Sin and Siege: The End of the Crusades

Acre was the most cosmopolitan city in the medieval world. Its inhabitants thought it too valuable to destroy. They were wrong.

Why Didn’t The Crusades Succeed?

The reasons for the brevity of the Latin presence in the 12th-century Eastern Mediterranean.

The Siege of Antioch during the First Crusade in 1098, 15th-century manuscript.

Weapons of War in the Crusades

Turkish archers versus Frankish heavy cavalry. The Crusades marked a period of technological breakthroughs in the art of war that would decide the conflict.

Was the First Crusade really a war against Islam?

It is widely believed that the Crusades were a clash of civilisations. But a closer examination reveals a complexity that has eluded many historians.

The Rise of the Teutonic Knights

The success of the great military order owed much to the charismatic leadership of Herman von Salza, one of the most dynamic individuals of the 13th century.