Crusades include the traditional numbered crusades and other conflicts that prominent historians have identified as crusades. The scope of the term "crusade" first referred to military expeditions undertaken by European Christians in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to the Holy Land. The conflicts to which the term is applied has been extended by decision to include other campaigns initiated, supported and sometimes directed by the Roman Catholic Church against pagans, heretics or for alleged religious ends. According to historian Thomas F. Madden:
This list first discusses the traditional numbered crusades, with the various lesser-known crusades interspersed. The later crusades in the Levant through the 16th century are then listed. This is followed by lists of the crusades against the Byzantine empire, crusades that may have been pilgrimages, popular crusades, crusades against heretics and schismatics, political crusades, the Northern Crusades, crusades in the Iberian peninsula, Italian crusades and planned crusades that were never executed. Comprehensive studies of the Crusades in toto include Murray's The Crusades: An Encyclopedia, Stephen Runciman's A History of the Crusades, 3 volumes (1951–1954),, and the Wisconsin Collaborative History of the Crusades, 6 volumes (1969-1989).
Crusades to the Holy Land (1095–1291) The conflicts that are usually associated with crusades in the Holy Land begin with the Council of Clermont in 1095 and end with the loss of Acre in 1291. These include the numbered Crusades (First through Eighth or Ninth) with numerous smaller crusades intermixed. One of the first to view the Crusades as a movement was English historian Thomas Fuller (1608–1661), whose Historie of the Holy Warre (1639) identified crusades as the Holy War consisting of "Voyages", numbering One through Thirteen, plus a Last Voyage and two additional Holy Wars.Fuller, T. (1840). The history of the holy war. London: W. Pickering. These Voyages include the First through Eighth Crusades in current numbering. Shortly thereafter, French Jesuit Louis Maimbourg (1610–1686) published his Histoire des Croisades pour la délivrance de la Terre Sainte (1675), identify the First through Fifth Crusades.Maimbourg, L. (1677). Histoire des croisades pour la délivrance de la Terre Sainte. 2d ed. Paris: S. Mabre-Cramoisy. In his work The Crusades—An Encyclopedia, historian Alan V. Murray further explains the traditional numbering of crusades:
The list of the Crusades to the Holy Land from 1095 through 1291 is as follows.
Crusade Time DescriptionFirst Crusade1095–1099The First Crusade encompases the activities from the Council of Clermont of 1095 through the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Battle of Ascalon in 1099. Sometimes segregated into the People's Crusade and the Princes' Crusade. Some accounts also include the Crusade of 1101 here. The original chroniclers of the First Crusade did not, of course, refer to it as such, or even as a crusade (as noted above). In the twelve Latin chronicles, the event is called, for example, the Deeds of the Franks or the Expedition to Jerusalem. Anna Komnene simply notes the arrival of the various armies in Constantinople, and Arabic historian ibn Athir calls it the Coming of the Franks. Thomas Fuller referred to it as Voyage 1 of the Holy Warre. It is unclear as to who first used the term, but it has been credited to Louis Maimbourg in his 1675 Histoire des Croisades. The term was certainly in common use by the 18th century as seen in Voltaire's Histoire des Croisades (1750–1751)Voltaire, 1. (1751). Histoire des croisades. Berlin. and Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–1789).Gibbon, E., Milman, H. Hart. (1871). The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. A new ed., Phila.: J. B. Lippincott & co. Thomas Asbridge's The First Crusade: A New History (2004)Asbridge, Thomas, The First Crusade: A New History. Oxford University Press, 2004 is among the standard references used today.Duncalf, Frederic (1969). "Chapter VII. The Councils of Piacenza and Clermont." and "Chapter VIII. The First Crusade: Clermont to Constantinople." In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: I. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 220-232, 233-279.Runciman, Steven (1969). "Chapter IX. The First Crusade: Constantinople to Antioch." and "Chapter X. The First Crusade: Antioch to Ascalon." In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: I. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 280-307, 308-342.People's Crusade1096The People's Crusade was a prelude to the First Crusade led by Peter the Hermit, the first of what is known as the Popular Crusades. It is sometimes regarded as an integral part of the First Crusade, with the Princes' Crusade as the second part. A standard reference is Peter der Eremite. Ein kritischer Beitrag zur Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges (1879) by pioneering German historian Heinrich Hagenmeyer (1834–1915).Hagenmeyer, H. (1879). Peter der Eremite: ein kritischer beitrag zur geschichte des ersten kreuzzuges. Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz. Peter and his crusade achieved a popular status in the 19th century through such works as Heroes of the Crusades (1869) by Barbara Hutton. The references shown above for the First Crusade generally cover the People's Crusade as well.Hutton, B. (1869). Heroes of the crusades. London: Griffith and Farran.Crusade of 11011101–1102The Crusade of 1101, also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted. Campaigns that followed the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 that were generally ignored by 18th and 19th century historians. Thomas Fuller nevertheless referred to it as Voyage 2 of the Holy Warre whereas Jonathan Riley-Smith considered it part of the First Crusade in his The First Crusaders, 1095-1131 (1997).Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187, Cambridge University Press, London. Chapter I.2. The Crusades of 1101.Cate, James Lea (1969). "Chapter XI. The Crusade of 1101." In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: I. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 343–352.Norwegian Crusade1107–1110The Norwegian Crusade, also known as the Crusade of Sigurd Jorsalfar, king of Norway. More of a pilgrimage than a crusade, it did include the participation in military action, with the king's forces participation in the siege of Sidon. This crusade marks the first time a European king visited the Holy Land. This crusade is described in Heimskringla by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson.Krag, Klaus. "Sigurd 1 Magnusson Jorsalfare". Norsk biografisk leksikon.Snorri Sturluson, Sangriso, F. (20132014). Heimskringla: le saghe dei re di Norvegia. Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso.Venetian Crusade1122–1124The Venetian Crusade, also known as the Crusade of Calixtus II. The Western participants from the Republic of Venice were regarded by Riley-Smith as First Crusaders, and the actions resulted in the capture of Tyre from the Damascene atabeg Toghtekin. This marked a major victor for Baldwin II of Jerusalem prior to his second captivity in 1123.Riley-Smith, J. (1986). The Venetian Crusade of 1122-1124, in Ḳedar, B. Z., Airaldi, G. (1986). I Comuni italiani nel regno crociato di Gerusalemme: atti del colloquio "The Italian Communes in the Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem" (Jerusalem, May 24-May 28, 1984). Genova: Università di Genova, Istituto di medievistica.Crusade of 11291129The Crusade of 1129, also known as the Damascus Crusade, was begun by Baldwin II of Jerusalem after his captivity. The crusade failed in its objective to capture Damascus and is described by Syriac historian Michael the Syrian in his Chronicle (after 1195).Phillips, Jonathan (1996). Defenders of the Holy Land: Relations between the Latin East and the West, 1119–1187. Oxford University Press.Syriac Reference Portal (2016), "Michael the Great — ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܩܕܡܝܐ ܪܒܐ" in The Syriac Biographical Dictionary.Second Crusade1147–1150After the disastrous Siege of Edessa in 1144, the Western powers launched the Second Crusade, which accomplished little. Principal chroniclers of the event were Odo of Deuil, chaplin to Louis VII of France, who wrote his account De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem and Otto of Freising who wrote Gesta Friderici imperatoris concerning the emperor Frederick Barbarosso. Referred to as the Second Crusade in Maimbourg's Histoire des Croisades..., as well as Georg Müller's De Expedition Cruciatis Vulgo Von Kreutz Fahrten (1709). Thomas Fuller referred to it as Voyage 3 of the Holy Warre. The Wendish Crusade of 1147 (one of the Northern Crusades) is usually associated with the Second Crusade.Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187, Cambridge University Press, London. Book III. The Second Crusade.Berry, Virginia G. (1969). "Chapter XV. The Second Crusade.." In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: Volume One. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 465-512.