The First Crusade

Count Emicho's Crusaders

1096

Another group of Crusaders, led by the notorious Count Emicho, carried out a series of massacres of Jews in various towns in the Rhineland in 1096, drawing widespread outrage and causing a major crisis in Jewish-Christian relations. Rhineland massacres

The First Four

1096

The armies of Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois and Bohemond of Taranto (with his nephew Tancred) depart Byzantium. The Armies of the Crusades

First Crusade

Period: 1096 to 1099

In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the Pope called on Western Christians to take up arms to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. This marked the beginning of the Crusades. Though the First Crusade did not set out until 1096. Crusades

Attack on Nicea

Jun 19, 1097

In May 1097, the Crusaders and their Byzantine allies attacked Nicea (now Iznik, Turkey), the Seljuk capital in Anatolia. The city surrendered in late June. The Siege and Capture of Nicea: Collected Accounts

Capture of Antioch

Jun 28, 1098

Despite deteriorating relations between the Crusaders and Byzantine leaders, the combined force continued its march through Anatolia, capturing the great Syrian city of Antioch in June 1098. Siege of Antioch

Jerusalem's Surrender

Jul 14, 1099

After various internal struggles over control of Antioch, the Crusaders began their march toward Jerusalem, then occupied by Egyptian Fatimids (who as Shi’ite Muslims were enemies of the Sunni Seljuks).
Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July. Jerusalem captured in First Crusade