The 1st Crusade is the first in a Trilogy of Campaigns, called The Crusades, related to the Western Christian nations & the Byzantine Empire, attempting to recover Anatolia, secure Jerusalem & the Holy Land from Islamic rule. The other two Campaigns in this Series will be the 2nd Crusade & the 3rd Crusade

This 1st Crusade Campaign will cover 4 years of campaigning & will contain 9 linked battles, between 1096AD to 1099AD

The 1st Crusade was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated by a request for help from the Byzantine Emperor, then supported & at times directed by the Latin Church. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic rule. While Jerusalem had been under Islamic rule for hundreds of years, by the 11th century the Turkish Seljuk takeover in Anatolia threatened local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West, & the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest action for the 1st Crusade began in 1095AD when the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos again requested military support from the Council of Piacenza in the Empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, during which Pope Urban II supported the Empire's request for military assistance & also urged faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This request was met with an enthusiastic popular response across all social classes in Western Europe

Thousands of predominantly poor Christians, led by a fraud extraordinaire named Peter the Hermit & a humble knight called Walter Sans-Avoir (The Penniless), were the first to respond. What has become known as the Peoples Crusade passed through Germany & indulged in wide-ranging anti-Jewish activities, including the Rhineland Jewish massacres. On leaving Byzantine-controlled territory in Anatolia, they immediately came into conflict with the Turkish Sultan of Rum, Kilij Arslan

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This then will be the world you will step into in September 1096AD


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