How Long Did The Crusades Last (And Why)?

Exact Answer: Almost 3 Centuries

In the early centuries, majorly 11th century, 12th century, and 13th century was the peak time when crusades were prominent. In simple words, crusades are military expeditions initiated by European Christians. These crusades were performed as a response to the expansion exercises of the Muslim wars.

How Long Did The Crusades Last?

In those centuries, there were a total of 8 crusades performed by the European Christians, known as the first crusade, the second crusade, the third crusades, the fourth crusade, the fifth crusade, the sixth crusade, the seventh crusade, the eighth crusade and lastly the ninth crusade, or also known as the last crusade.

All the 9 crusades were performed in different periods which ultimately took over 3 centuries for all the crusades to take place.

The beginning of the first crusade was in the year 1096, and it ended in the year 1099. The first crusade took about 4 years in total to get performed.

The initiation of the second crusade was in the year 1147, and it ended in the year 1149. The second crusade took about 3 years in total to get performed.

The beginning of the third crusade was in the year 1189, and it ended in the year 1192. The third crusade also took about 4 years in total to get performed.

The fourth crusade began in the year 1202, and it ended in the year 1204. The fourth crusade took about 3 years in total to get performed.

The beginning of the fifth crusade was in the year 1217, and it ended in the year 1221. The fifth crusade took about 5 years in total to get performed.

The initiation of the sixth crusade was done in the year 1228, and it ended in the year 1229. The sixth crusade took about 2 years in total to get performed.

The second last crusade, that was the seventh crusade began in the year 1248 and ended in the year 1254. The seventh crusade took about 7 years in total to get performed.

The beginning of the eighth crusade was in the year 1270. The last crusade ended in the same year it began, that was 1270. The eighth crusade took just 1 year in total to get performed.

The last crusade, or also known as the ninth crusade began in the year 1271 and ended in the year 1272. It took about 2 years for the last crusade to be performed.

Why Did The Crusades Last That Long?

The reason why crusades were prominent during these times was that during that time, the two religions, that were Islam, and Christianity were expanding almost at an equal rate. Both the religions had a common adjective, which was to have control over the holy land, which was popularly known as Jerusalem. 

Before both of these religions came into existence, the holy land was under the territorial power of the Roman empire for over 500 years. It is to be noted that at that time, the Roman empire was not the actual empire, instead, it was then called the Byzantine empire.

When the Byzantine Empire came to its fall and it lost the holy land from its territorial powers, both religions wanted to take over that holy land and call it the holy land for their respective religion.

After the ninth crusade was performed, that means, by the time of the 13th century, the capital of the holy land was lost to Mamluks. Mamluks were a group of the Egyptian army. This period is known as the ‘fall of an acre’ which occurred in the year 1290.

As a result, the holy land was seized from the Christians. Losing the holy land to Muslims, Christians gave up on acquiring that land.

Conclusion

The crusading period lasted for almost 3 centuries, which had 9 crusades in different periods starting from the year 1096, and finally ending after the holy land got sieged, that means ‘the fall of an acre’, that was in the year 1272.

References

1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mrw8AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=crusades&ots=U8D_AEct5r&sig=Gsx-oLYnbkoq0NVVN2BhM1a3jvM
2. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-15815-7_1