M E D I U M Æ V U M:
By the close of the eleventh century, Jerusalem had been in Muslim hands for over four hundred years. In 1095 Pope Urban II launched an unprecedented military campaign to seize it back – a ‘Crusade’ to purge the Holy Land of ‘the infidel’. Over sixty thousand Christian warriors would journey three thousand miles and for almost three years to reclaim the Holy City in the name of God.
But their adversaries, the Turkish warlords of the Middle East, would resist them every step of the way. In a series of epic battles and bloody massacres, tens of thousands would die as the crusaders inched ever closer towards Jerusalem. The first crusade finally endeded in 1099 - with many more to come!
The shadow of war between Christians and Muslims hang over us today, but it is a war that began nearly a thousand years ago. This clash of civilisations, were what characterised the Middle Ages (Medium Ævum).
By the close of the eleventh century, Jerusalem had been in Muslim hands for over four hundred years. In 1095 Pope Urban II launched an unprecedented military campaign to seize it back – a ‘Crusade’ to purge the Holy Land of ‘the infidel’. Over sixty thousand Christian warriors would journey three thousand miles and for almost three years to reclaim the Holy City in the name of God.
But their adversaries, the Turkish warlords of the Middle East, would resist them every step of the way. In a series of epic battles and bloody massacres, tens of thousands would die as the crusaders inched ever closer towards Jerusalem. The first crusade finally endeded in 1099 - with many more to come!
The shadow of war between Christians and Muslims hang over us today, but it is a war that began nearly a thousand years ago. This clash of civilisations, were what characterised the Middle Ages (Medium Ævum).
