Today in History |
November 27, 1095 |
On this day in 1095, Catholic Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade to reclaim the Holy Lands, and in particular Jerusalem, for the Christians. The motivations for the Crusades were multi-faceted: though often attributed to religious zeal, the Crusades were also ordered in part to quell in the unruly warrior class in Europe, who had no battles to fight and thus had begun in small numbers terrorizing the local populations. This First Crusade was successful in its own goals, Jerusalem being recaptured four years later in 1099. The loss of Jerusalem led to at least three more Crusades, most of which were failures. |