There’s plenty of irony to go around when you’re talking about the Crusades, but it is especially apparent on those occasions when our intrepid armed pilgrims to the Holy Land wound up making their mark somewhere else. Obviously the best example here is the Fourth Crusade, when instead of marching off to once again “liberate” … Continue reading Today in European history: the Siege of Lisbon ends (1147)
Tag: second crusade
Today in Middle Eastern History: the Siege of Damascus ends (1148)
While the Fourth Crusade is really the archetypal Crusade in many respects—setting off to capture Jerusalem and conquering Constantinople instead really sums up the whole enterprise—the Second Crusade is the one that really set the tone for what the Crusades were capable of becoming. It started off with reasonable goals, fell apart in the planning … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern History: the Siege of Damascus ends (1148)
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