Crusades
Granada 1491
June–December 1491 Forces Engaged Castillian: Unknown. Commander: King Ferdinand. Moorish: Unknown. Commander: King Muhammed XI (Abu Abdullah, Boabdil). Importance Ferdinand’s successful siege brought to an end Moorish control over Spain, ending a conflict that had lasted almost 700 years. Historical Setting The Iberian Peninsula has long been the site of conflict as well as a source of warriors. Iberian mercenaries…
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Alexius I Comnenus: Byzantine Comeback
Alexius I Comnenus Then he was surrounded by nine Normans who stuck him with spears. But his heavy cataphract armor stopped all six spears and his horse bolted and he managed to escape. Alexius I Comnenus was an unlikely savior. A member of the aristocratic ranks that the Macedonian dynasty…
The First Crusades
At the end of the eleventh century, Europeans began their first concerted attempt to expand beyond the frontiers of Europe by conquering the land of Palestine. CHRONOL0GY – The Crusades Pope Urban II’s call for a Crusade at Clermont 1095 First Crusade 1096–1099 Second Crusade 1147–1149 Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem…
The Ninth Crusade
Charles d’Anjou, who had conquered Sicily in 1266, allied himself with Prince Edward of England, who had arrived in Tunis in 1270. When Charles d’Anjou called off the attack on Tunis, Edward went on to Acre, the last Crusader outpost in Syria, in an attempt to restore the “Kingdom of…
Saladin’s Strategy
With the approach of summer in 1192, Saladin began to reassemble his armies, girding Islam for a renewed Christian offensive. Over the preceding year the sultan had faced a series of ruinous setbacks. He had watched in impotent humiliation as Acre fell on 12 July 1191, and then suffered the…
Livonia and Pskov, 1240-42
In 1240 a military campaign was launched from Livonia against Pskov, resulting in the overthrow of the faction that supported the rule of Aleksandr Iaroslavich. Early in the spring of 1242 Aleksandr recaptured the city and on 5 April defeated the Livonian army in what has become known as the…
Thomas, Bishop of Finland
In 1229 Finland Christianity, Traditional Religions Pope Gregory IX authorizes Bishop Thomas, the first Christian bishop of Finland, to assume control over all non-Christian places of worship throughout Finland. Shortly thereafter, the Tavastians, a subgroup of the Finnish people, rebel against Christianity, which prompts the pope to call for a…