What is Crusades?
[[File:Siege of Damascus, second crusade.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Siege of Damascus (1148)]] as depicted in the ''[[Passages d'outremer]]'', {{circa|1490}}]]The '''Crusades''' were a series of religious [[war]]s initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Catholicism|Latin Church]] in the [[Middle Ages|medieval period]]. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the [[Holy Land]] in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to conquer [[Jerusalem]] and [[Levant|its surrounding area]] from Muslim rule. ==Overview== ===11th century=== Beginning with the [[First Crusade]], which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century. In 1095, [[Pope Urban II]] proclaimed the first expedition at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]] [[Alexios I Komnenos|Alexios{{nbsp}}I Komnenos]] and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in western Europe there was an enthusiastic response. Participants came from all over Europe and had a variety of motivations, including religious salvation, satisfying feudal obligations, opportunities for renown, and economic or political advantage. Later expeditions were conducted by generally more organized armies, sometimes led by a king. ===12th century=== All were granted papal [[Indulgence#Early and medieval beliefs|indulgences]]. Initial successes established four Crusader states: The County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, Kingdom of Jerusalem and County of Tripoli. A European presence remained in the region in some form until the [[Siege of Acre (1291)|fall of Acre]] in 1291. After this, no further large military campaigns were organised. Other church-sanctioned campaigns include [[crusades against Christians]] not obeying papal rulings, against the [[Ottoman Empire]],