Council of Clermont: Pope Urban II calls for fighting men from the West to go to the assistance of the beleaguered Eastern Roman Empire and liberate Jerusalem from Muslim rule.
1096
Crusading enthusiasm results in massacres of Jews in many cities;
Spring
The ‘Peoples’ Crusade’ departs from Western Europe;
August
Main crusade under the papal legate Adhemar departs Western Europe for Constantinople; ‘Peoples’ Crusade’ crosses the Bosphorus and enters Turkish-held territory;
September-October
Turks obliterate the ‘Peoples’ Crusade’ led by Peter the Hermit;
Contingents of the main crusade begin arriving in Constantinople.
1097
19 June
Crusaders in cooperation with the Byzantines recapture Nicaea;
1 July
Crusaders defeat Turks at the Battle of Dorylaeum;
21 October
Crusaders begin siege of Muslim-controlled Antioch.
1098
March
Baldwin of Boulogne becomes Count of Edessa;
3 June
Antioch falls to the Crusaders;
August
The Fatimids recapture Jerusalem.
1099
15 July
Crusaders capture Jerusalem;
22 July
Godfrey de Bouillon elected ‘Protector of the Holy Sepulchre’;
