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On June 7, 1099, the First Crusade reached Jerusalem.
The Crusades were the medieval attempts to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim rule. They are some of the most controversial aspects of Christian history.
Until the rise of Islam, the Holy Land was predominantly Christian in population and under the rule of the Byzantine emperors. When the Muslims Arabs conquered it in the seventh century, the bulk of the population remained Christian. However, with the passing of the centuries, the Arabs were eventually supplanted by the Turks.
 Much more fanatical and brutal, the Turks harassed Christian pilgrims and threatened the security of the Eastern Church. In response, Pope Urban II issued a call to deliver the holy places of Palestine from Muslim hands.
In 1095, Urban went to Clermont, France to speak about the Holy Land and the Turks. His powerful and eloquent voice held the multitude spellbound as he forcefully denounced the desecration of the sacred places and the ill treatment of the pilgrims. “Turn against the enemies of the Christian name,” he said, “those weapons stained by mutual slaughter, and count it joy to die for Christ where He died for you.”
In response, the multitude shouted, “It is the will of God,” and thousands at once declared their willingness to enlist in the service of the cross. Urban promised all crusaders remission of sins and a greatly reduced period in Purgatory. The response of Christian Europe was overwhelming.
The first response to Urban’s crusade came from Peter the Hermit, an unlearned and fanatical preacher with remarkable power over an audience. He gathered a mob from the lower classes of European society and set out for the Holy Land with no military strategy, no leaders, no equipment, no supplies, and no money. His rabble made it as far as Nicomedia in Turkey. Peter left them under the leadership of Walter the Penniless and went to seek help in Constantinople. The Turks massacred the entire camp before Peter could return.
The First Crusade followed this defeat. They successfully drove the Turks out of Jerusalem.
A contemporary account of the Christian entrance into Jerusalem reads, “Some of our men cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon. Men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just and splendid judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies.”
The Crusades had three goals: win the Holy Land and make it safe for pilgrims, check the advance of Islam, and heal the schism between the Eastern and the Western Church. They failed in all three. The Holy Land was not won, Islam was not checked, and the schism between the East and the West grew worse.
 People went on Crusades for different reasons. Crusaders were granted special indulgence for sins committed, granted the reward of eternal life, and given the chance to extend their reward to parents and loved ones. The chivalric love of adventure and the potential esteem of a martyr were other powerful motivators. And it was possible to get rich – although very few did.
The Crusades radically transformed Europe. Men returned from the East with new food, clothing, and dress, giving commerce an immense boost. Books from the ancient world, by the Muslims, entered Europe and sparked increased scholarship. The Crusades also deepened the hatred of the Moslems for the doctrines of Christianity.
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