![[Passages_d'outremer_Fr5594,_fol._19r,_Concile_de_Clermont.jpg]] *Pope Urban II calling for Crusade* Alarmed by the expansion of the Seljuk Turks into his territory, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent ambassadors to Italy to request support. In late 1095, Pope Urban II made an appeal to the Christian knights of Europe to rally to the aid of Constantinople by liberating Jerusalem from Muslim control. The Pope promised not only land and wealth, but the remission of sins for men who would take on the quest. The connection with Jerusalem was that it was a destination of pilgrims which was supposedly threatened by Muslim control of the city, although it had been in Muslim hands for over 450 years. ![[Peter_the_Hermit.jpg]] *Peter the Hermit leading the People's Crusade* The crusade unfolded in two main phases. The "People's Crusade" began in 1096, led by charismatic preachers like Peter the Hermit, with poorly organized peasants and minor nobles who marched ahead, committing atrocities that included attacks on Jewish communities in the Rhineland before they ever left Europe. This army suffered heavy losses in Anatolia against the Turks. A second "Princes' Crusade" followed, with armies led by nobles like Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond of Taranto, Raymond IV of Toulouse, and the oldest son of William the Conqueror, Robert Curthose. They captured Nicaea in 1097, besieged Antioch (1097–1098) amid starvation and internal disputes, and finally took Jerusalem in July 1099 CE following a brutal siege, after which they massacred over 10,000 of the city's 30,000 Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. Most of the rest were sold into slavery. ----- Next: [[11.18 - Sugar]] Back: [[11.16 - Norman England]]