How the Crusades Changed History

What Were the Crusades?

Before the Crusades—Deep Background

Before the Crusades—Immediate Circumstances

The First Crusade and Conquest of Jerusalem

The Rise of the Templars

Defending the Crusader States, 1099–1144

The Second Crusade—False Steps and Failure

Saladin—General and Sultan

The Third Crusade—We Three Kings

The Fourth Crusade—Conquest of Constantinople

Crusades in Spain

The Northern Crusades

The Children’s and Albigensian Crusades

Fifth and Sixth Crusades—Tragedy and Oddity

Louis IX—The Crusader Saint

The Hohenstaufen and Shepherds’ Crusades

The Fall—1291

The Crusades and Their Critics

War and Travel—The Experience of Crusading

Life in the Crusader East

Cultural Contact and Exchange

Crusade and Mission

The Crusades and the Course of History, Part 1

The Crusades and the Course of History, Part 2