Driven by religious fervor, love of adventure and dreams of personal profit, crusaders from western Europe for 200 years attempted to expel the Muslims from the Holy Land. All the great and colorful figures of this era were caught up in the consuming cause, from Peter the Hermit, who inflamed the First Crusade, to the saintly Louis IX, King of France, who inspired the Sixth and Seventh.

For centuries peaceful pilgrims had been traveling from Europe to worship at the birthplace of Christ. The rise and spread of Islam in the Near East during the seventh century did not interrupt this traffic. By the tenth century bishops were organizing mass pilgrimages to the Holy Land. During the eleventh century, however, Christian pilgrims encountered persecution, and when the Seljuk Turks, new and fanatical converts to Islam, came sweeping and plundering into the Near East, the situation became especially tense. The

King of England. In 1187 Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, brought fresh and vigorous leadership to the Muslims. When Jerusalem fell to the infidels, Christians with some reluctance responded to the cry for the Third Crusade (1189). King Richard was one of its three leaders. Eventually, as Frederick was drowned, and when Philip returned home, King Richard and Saladin remained the chief protagonists.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Philip, Richard-the-Lion-Hearted, Saladin[/tags]

The Sultan of Egypt and Syria who brought fresh leadership to the Muslims. During the course of the Third Crusade, King Richard and Saladin remained the chief protagonists. Saladin then proclaimed a jihad against all Christians, but eventually gave in to a truce to allow access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Saladin[/tags]