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Crusades Timeline
The Crusades were wars fought by European Christians and their Byzantine
Christian allies to (re)conquer the Eastern Mediterranean, including Palestine, the
Holy Land, from Muslims.
Materials:
Posters
Yardsticks Appropriate for Laying out the timeline
Access to images, either through the internet or books. (The student who is
allowed to use the library photocopier should be a responsible one.)
Staplers or glue.
In this exercise you will create a timeline of the Crusades, from 1000 to 1300.
The following events are listed out of order. You can find the dates of the events
in your textbook or an encyclopedia. You must illustrate your timeline with
FOUR (4) images. The timeline must be laid out evenly, so that each century and
decade has the same amount of space on the line itself.
Each student has a Specific Task!
Image Finder: This person goes online and goes through books to find
images to illustrate the timeline.
Layer Outer: This person lays out the “time line” for the timeline. The
person marks dates.
Researcher: This person is the one who is responsible for finding the
dates in the textbook and/or encyclopedia.
Note to teachers, I left in the dates for you. The assignment implies that the
dates will be something the students have to look up themselves.
Events:
The Great Schism Takes Place. The
Patriarch of Constantinople and the
Pope excommunicate each other
(1054)
Pope Alexander II grants Christian
knights in Spain an indulgence if they
died fighting Muslims. (1063)
Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim has the
church of the Holy Sepulchre burned.
(1009)
Emperor Michael VII appeals to the
Pope for assistance in fighting the
Seljuq Turks. (1074)
At Clermont, in France, Pope Urban
II preaches a Crusade to retake the
Holy Land. The Pope promises that
anyone who “took up the cross”
would have forgiveness of his sins
(1096)
Thousands of French and German
children march to the Mediterranean
sea, expecting it to part and to allow
them to walk to the Holy Land.
When this does not happen the
children are sold into slavery. (1212)
extremely rich through financial
services. (1129)
Jerusalem is captured by the
Crusaders. Nearly everyone in the
city is massacred. (1099)
Saladin, sultan of Egypt, (re)captures
Jerusalem. Saladin does not
massacre the inhabitants, instead, he
enslaves or releases them for ransom.
(1189)
King Richard the Lion-Hearted of
England, Phillip II of France, and
Frederick the Holy Roman Emperor
attempt a Third Crusade to retake
Jerusalem. They are unsuccessful.
(1190)
The Venetians get the Crusaders to
sack Constantinople in the Fourth
Crusade. (1204)
The Seljuq Turks defeat the
Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert,
capture the Byzantine Emperor, and
take a large portion of Anatolia.
(1071)
The Church supports a Crusade
against the heretical (heretical =
holding beliefs the established church
considers wrong) Albigensians in
southern France. This “Crusade”
against fellow Christians is
exceptionally bloody and wipes out
an entire culture. (1209)
The coastal city of Acre, the last
Crusader outpost in the Holy Land, is
captured by the Muslims (1291)
The Knights Templar are founded.
Founded to protect pilgrims, these
warrior-monks later became
Frederick II uses diplomacy to retake
Jerusalem and Bethlehem. (1228)
The First Crusade begins. The
Crusaders begin by killing thousands
of Jewish people in the Rhine Valley
in Germany. (1096)
The Second Crusade takes place with
the objective of recapturing a
kingdom lost to the Muslims. The
Crusaders are defeated. (1147)
Emperor Alexius Commenus asks the
help for military help in beating back
the Seljuq Turks. (1095)