Although individuals from England had joined the first two crusades, the Third Crusade was the first in which an English King took part. It failed, and in 1187 Jerusalem itself fell once more to the Muslims, triggering a Third Crusade. In 1144 the city of Edessa was lost, and the Second Crusade was launched in an attempt to strengthen the position of the crusaders. The First Crusade was followed by others. Despite the hardships of the journey, they reached the Holy Land and on 15th July 1099 Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders, who set up a new Christian state there. Behind them came the knightly armies, dragging their armour behind them through the hot wastelands of the east as their throats burned with thirst. The first wave of crusaders were unarmed peasants, who believed that they would find in Jerusalem a Heavenly city. Tens of thousands of people made their way east. Numbers beyond Urban’s wildest imaginings responded to his call and set off on what became known as the First Crusade. The Emperor Alexius Comnenus sent messengers to the Pope asking for help.

Now a new and powerful group, the Seljuk Turks, were pushing west, threatening the Christian Byzantine Empire and its capital, Constantinople. By this time it had already lasted more than four centuries, and until recently Christians living under Islamic rule had been well treated. Muslim rule in the Holy Land was not new. Pope Urban II, speaking at a Council of the Church at Clermont (France), asked the knights and lords of Europe to rescue the Holy Places in Jerusalem from their Muslim rulers, and promised them a special indulgence* if they did so. In 1095 the first step was taken in what was to become one of the great movements of the Middle Ages: the Crusades.

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The Donkey's Crusade by Jean Morris