The Crusades

The Crusades were a series of military conflicts of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal threats. Crusades were fought against Muslims, pagan Slavs, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, and political enemies of the popes. Crusaders took vows and were granted an indulgence for past sins.

The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were originally launched in response to a call from the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia. The term is also used to describe contemporaneous and subsequent campaigns conducted through to the 16th century in territories outside the Levantsuch as Muslim territories in Al Andalus, Ifriqiya, and Egypt, as well as in Eastern Europe usually against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons.e.g. the Albigensian Crusade, the Aragonese Crusade, the Reconquista and the Northern Crusades. Rivalries among both Christian and Muslim powers led also to alliances between religious factions against their opponents, such as the Christian alliance with the Sultanate of Rum during the Fifth Crusade.

The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Because of internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim, such as the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the sack of Christian Constantinople and the partition of the Byzantine Empire between Venice and the Crusaders. The Sixth Crusade was the first crusade to set sail without the official blessing of the Pope,-"Gregory IX had in fact excommunicated Frederick before he left Sicily the second time" establishing the precedent that rulers other than the Pope could initiate a crusade.

Source: Wapedia

Richard I (September 8, 1157 - April 6, 1199) was King of England and ruler of the Angevin Empire from July 6, 1189 until his death. He was known as Richard the Lionheart, or Coeur de Lion, even before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader. At only 16, Richard had his own command, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father, Henry II. Richard was a central Christian commander during the Third Crusade, effectively leading the campaign after the departure of Philip Augustus, and scoring considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin. While he spoke very little English and spent very little time in his Kingdom, preferring to use it as a source of revenue to support his armies, he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He remains one of the very few Kings of England remembered by his epithet, not number, and is an enduring, iconic figure in England.

Source: Wapedia

Saladin, properly known as Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub was a 12th-century Kurd who became Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and a major Muslim political and military leader. At the height of his power the Ayyubid dynasty, which he founded, ruled over Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hejaz, and Yemen.

He was born in the castle of Tikrit in 532 AH (1137-1138 CE) and died just after dawn on 27 Safar 589 AH (4 March 1193 CE) in Damascus. He is best-known for leading the Muslim armies during the Crusades and recapturing Jerusalem.

Source: Wapedia