Where did the Crusades take place?

Answer

The Crusades were a series of military conflicts of a religious character which occurred in the years 1095-1291, usually sanctioned by the Pope in the name of Christendom. The Crusades originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the sacred "Holy Land" from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuq dynasty into Anatolia. The call was issued by Emperor Alexius I in 1095 to Pope Urban II. Pope Urban immediatley held a council in Clermont were he ordained that a crusade should be sent to the Near East to aid the Byzantines and recover Jerusalem. The resulting crusade recovered the cities and surrounding regions of Edessa, Tarsus, Antioch, Tripoli, and Jerusalem. Later reinforcements in 1101 would help to take the rest of the Levantine coastline from Gaza to Armenian Cilicia. Later crusades expanded beyond the Levant. Richard Coer de Leon of England captured Cyprus in 1189 from the Greeks. The Fourth Crusade was originally meant for Jerusalem but became sidetracked so that it lead to the sack of Byzantium, and with it that conquest of western Anatolia, Crete, and Greece by the Crusaders. The fifth and seventh crusades were in Egypt, along the Nile Valley. The Eighth and final crusade ended at Tunis in northern Africa.

First answer by Itchie.c2. Last edit by Historybuff961. Contributor trust: 41 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 12 [recommend question]