The First Crusade
Storyboard Text
- Pope Urban II's message
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- People's Crusade
- Battle of Civetot
- The Byzantine Empire was in dire need of military support. The Seljuk Turks were raiding Byzantine lands. Urban called on Europe to send aid to the Byzantine Empire and recapture Jerusalem, which is being held by Muslims. This sparked hysteria and religious fervor across Europe, and many were willing to fight their way to the Holy Land.
- Prince's Crusade
- A monk named Peter de Amiens, together with a knight named Walter Sans Avoir, led some 50 knights and many ill-equipped and inexperienced peasants as the first wave of 'crusaders' on their way to the east. These people were troublesome, as they pillaged Hungarian and Byzantine lands on their way to Anatolia.
- Jerusalem
- The Seljuks ambush and annihilate the army of Peter and Walter before they even left Anatolia. Most were slaughtered or taken captive. Peter was in Constantinople this time to take some supplies, but Walter was present and was killed. The survivors were able to escape to an abandoned castle, where they were rescued by Byzantine soldiers from the sea and returned to Constantinople.
- Christian-controlled Palestine
- Knights and nobles from France, Norman Italy, and Flanders, as well as warriors from the Byzantine Empire, banded together into a cohesive and elite force for a fight to the Holy Land. Non-combatants were also present, and the total swelled to almost 100,000. The ad-hoc leader was Adhemar de Monteil, bishop of Le Puy, but each warrior's loyalty was to their feudal lord.
- The crusaders arrived in 1099 and immediately laid siege to all sides of Jerusalem. The surrounding lands were barren. All trees were cut down and water wells were poisoned by the Muslim defenders to deny the crusaders their usage. Despite this, the veteran and frenzied crusaders breached the defence and took the city, but in the process, they killed Muslims, Jews, and even fellow Christians inside Jerusalem.
- After the capture of Jerusalem, multiple crusader states were formed: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, The County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa.
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