Crusades
Crusade of 1122–1124
Tyre being blockaded by the Venetian fleet and beseiged by Crusader knighthood. A major Venetian naval crusade that succeeded in crippling the Fatimid navy in 1123 and capturing the city of Tyre (mod. SoĂ»r, Lebanon) in Palestine in 1124. After the disastrous defeat of the Franks of Outremer at the battle known as the Ager Sanguinis (the Field of Blood)…
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Ships of the Crusade Era Part II
Thirteenth-century warships. Illustration from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, by King Alfonso X of Castile. (Bridgeman- Giraudon/Art Resource) By John H. Pryor From the sixth to late eleventh centuries, the warship par excellence in the Mediterranean was the dromon and its Muslim and Latin imitations, although Byzantines also developed the…
Ships of the Crusade Era Part I
A stylised drawing of a Nef By John H. Pryor The types of ships involved in the crusades at various times were referred to in contemporary sources by a wide variety of different names, and in most cases the types of vessels to which the terms corresponded are known reasonably…
German Crusades East
Late 12th Century Northern Cog In the conquest of Livonia, Bishop Albert took an important decision when he moved the centre of all his operations to Riga, close to the mouth of the Dvina, which was strongly fortified. Castles were the keys to the land, and time and time again…
CONTROL OF THE SEA – THIRD CRUSADE
A northern European cog with high sides, a straight prow, a flat keel and a single square sail. From a manuscript of ca. 1270. Maritime power played a vital part in the Third Crusade because of the transportation of both men and supplies to the East. In addition, control of…
NAVAL SUPPORT IN THEÂ CRUSADES
Genoese Dromone 11th Century Genoese Trader 12th Century  * The efficiency of carts explains why armies such as that of Frederick I on the Third Crusade could pass through friendly territory without pillaging and still sustain themselves. But there were definite limits to what could be carried, imposed by roads,…
ARAGONESE CRUSADE
The Aragonese Crusade or Crusade of AragĂłn, a part of the larger War of the Sicilian Vespers, was declared by Pope Martin IV against the King of AragĂłn, Peter III the Great, in 1284 and 1285. Because of the recent conquest of Sicily by Peter, the Pope declared a crusade…