Crusaders capture Jerusalem

After a march of about three years, forces of the First Crusade took Jerusalem. The campaign led to the founding of several Crusader states in the region.

Medieval accounts of the siege vary and were written by people on different sides.

Context

In November 1095 Pope Urban II preached at the Council of Clermont, a sermon most historians see as the spark for the crusades. Nobles and peasants then crossed Europe to Constantinople and, with Byzantine support, moved through Seljuq-held lands in modern Turkey and Syria.

The crusaders reached Jerusalem on 7 June 1099. Accounts describe the siege as lasting roughly five to seven weeks, and men under Godfrey of Bouillon were the first to breach the defences on 15 July. Other leaders included Raymond of Toulouse and Robert of Flanders.

HISTORY reports that the crusaders massacred much of the city's Muslim and Jewish population, with tens of thousands killed. Numbers and details differ because the main accounts come from different sides. An Egyptian army marched on Jerusalem weeks later and was defeated in August.

The crusaders took many coastal cities, built fortified castles and set up the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem along with other small states. The march east took about three years before Jerusalem was reached. Jerusalem stayed in Christian hands until Muslim forces under Saladin retook it in October 1187.