1095–1291

Crusades

Beginning soon after the Council of Clermont in 1095 and ending with the siege of Acre in 1291, the crusades are a series of military pilgrimages demanded by the Pope in order to restore Catholic faith and control of the Holy Land. Those eight crusades were leaded by well-known European leaders such as Richard the Lionhearted or Louis IX of France, and were the occasion for many sieges and battles such as the siege and surrender of Jerusalem in 1187.