User:Lingzhi/thirdsandbox

13th century


Crusading became increasingly widespread in terms of geography and objectives during the 13th century. In Northern Europe the Catholic church continued to battle peoples whom they considered as pagans; Popes such as Celestine III, Innocent III, Honorius III and Gregory IX preached crusade against the Livonians, Prussians and Russia. When Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against Northern European pagans in 1193, Bishop Berthold of Hanover led a large army to defeat and his death in 1198. In response to the defeat, Pope Innocent III issued a papal bull declaring a crusade against the mostly-pagan Livonians, who were conquered and converted between 1202 and 1209. In 1217 Pope Honorius III declared a crusade against the Prussians, and Konrad of Masovia gave Chelmno to the Teutonic Knights in 1226 as a base for the crusade. In 1236 the Livonian Knights were defeated by the Lithuanians at Saule, and in 1237 Pope Gregory IX merged the remainder of the military order into the Teutonic Knights as the Livonian Order.

In the Early 13th-century, Albert of Riga established Riga as the seat of the Bishopric of Riga and formed the Livonian Brothers of the Sword to convert the pagans to Catholicism and protect German commerce. Konrad of Masovia gave Chelmno to the Teutonic Knights in 1226 as a base for crusade. However, the Livonian Knights were defeated by the Lithuanians so Pope Gregory IX merged the remainder of the order into the Teutonic Order as the Livonian Order. By the middle of the century the Teutonic Knights completed their conquest of the Old Prussians and went on to conquer and convert the Lithuanians in the subsequent decades. The order was less successful in the Northern Crusades against Orthodox Russia, the Pskov Republic and the Novgorod Republic. In 1240 the Novgorod army defeated the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva, and two years later they defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle on the Ice.

Innocents III also began preaching what became the Fourth Crusade in 1200 in France, England, and Germany, primarily in France. The Fourth Crusade never came to within 1,000 miles of its objective of Jerusalem, instead conquering Byzantium twice before being routed by the Bulgars at Adrianople. Gathering in Venice, the crusade fell under the ambitions of Doge Enrico Dandolo and Philip of Swabia. Dandolo's aim was expand Venice's power in the Eastern Mediterranean and Philip aimed to restore his exiled nephew, Alexios IV Angelos, to the throne of Byzantium. The crusaders were unable to pay the Venetians for a fleet when too few knights arrived in Venice so they agreed to divert to Constantinople and share what could be looted as payment. As collateral the crusaders seized the Christian city of Zara. After initial success in taking Byzantium, Alexios IV Angelos' assassination robbed the crusade of its prize so the city was sacked, churches pillaged, and many citizens killed. The victors divided the empire into Latin fiefs and Venetian colonies resulting in two Roman Empires in the East: a Latin "Empire of the Straits" and a Empire of Nicea. Venice was the sole beneficiary in the long run.



In France the Albigensian Crusade was launched against the Cathars and the County of Toulouse. Over the early decades of the century the Cathars were driven underground while the French monarchy asserted control over the region. Andrew II of Hungary waged the Bosnian Crusade against the Bosnian church that was theologically Catholic but in long term schism with the Roman Catholic Church. The conflict only ended with the Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1241. In the Iberian peninsula Crusader privileges were given to those aiding the Templars, Hospitallers and the Iberian orders that merged with the Order of Calatrava and the Order of Santiago. The papacy declared frequent Iberian crusades and from 1212 to 1265, the Christian kingdoms drove the Muslims back to the Emirate of Granada, which held out until 1492 when the Muslims and Jews were expelled from the peninsula.

Crusading resumed against Saladin's Ayyubid successors in Egypt and Syria in 1217, following Innocent III's Fourth Council of the Lateran. Led by Andrew II and Leopold VI, Duke of Austria forces of drawn mainly from Hungary, Germany, Flanders, and Frisia achieved little. Leopold and John of Brienne besieged and captured Damietta but an invasion further into Egypt was compelled to surrender. Damietta was returned and an eight-year truce agreed. Emperor Frederick II, who had been excommunicated for breaking his vow to crusade, finally arrived at Acre in 1228. A peace treaty was agreed giving Latin Christians most of Jerusalem and a strip of territory from Acre, while the Muslims controlling their sacred areas. In return, an alliance was made with Al-Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, against all of his enemies of whatever religion. After the truce expired, further campaigns were led by Theobald I of Navarre, Peter of Dreux and Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy.Defeated at Gaza, Theobald agreed treaties with Damascus and Egypt that returned territory to the crusader states. He returned to Europe in 1240 but Richard of Cornwall arrived in Acre a few weeks later and completed the enforcement. In 1244 a band of Khwarezmian mercenaries traveling to Egypt captured Jerusalem en-route and defeated a combined Christian and Syrian army at the La Forbie. In response Louis IX of France organised a crusade to attack Egypt, arriving in 1249. This was not a success. Louis was defeated at Mansura and captured as he retreated back to Damietta. Another truce was agreed for a ten-year period and Louis was ransomed for 800,000 bezant s. Freed, Louis remained in Syria until 1254 to consolidating the Crusader states. From 1265 to 1271, Baibars drove the Franks to a few small coastal outposts.

The Crusader states were not unified and various powers competed for influence. In 1256 Genoa and Venice went to war over territory in Acre and Tyre. Venetice conquered the disputed territory but was unable to expel the Genoese. Two factions embarked on a 14-month siege: on one side was Genoa, Philip of Monfort, John of Arsuf and the Knights Hospitaller; the other was Venice, the Count of Jaffa and the Knights Templar. After the Genoese were expelled in 1261, Pope Urban IV brokered a peace to support the defence against the Mongols. Conflict resumed in 1264 with the Genoese now supported by Michael VIII Palaiologos, Emperor of Nicaea the Egyptian sultan Baibars. Both sides used Muslim soldiers, particularly Turcopoles. The war significantly weakened the kingdom with most fortified buildings in Acre destroyed. According to contemporary reports 20,000 men died in the conflict. Genoa finally regained its quarter in Acrein 1288. The French, led by Louis IX's brother Charles, also sort to expand their influence. In 1266, he seized Sicily, parts of the eastern Adriatic, Corfu, Butrinto, Avlona, and Suboto. Politically he attempted to gain Byzantium with the Treaty of Viterbo. The heirs of Baldwin II of Constantinople and William II Villehardouin married Charles' children. If there were no offspring Charles would receive the empire and principality. Charles executed Conradin, great-grandson of Isabella I of Jerusalem and principal pretender to the throne of Jerusalem, when he seized Sicily from the Holy Roman Empire. When he purchased the rights to Jerusalem from Maria of Antioch, the surviving grandchild of Queen Isabella, he created a claim to rival that of Isabella's great grandson, Hugh III of Cyprus. Charles’ planned crusade to restore the Latin Empire alarmed Michael VIII Palailogos. He delayed Charles by beginning negotiations with Pope Gregory X for union of the Greek and the Latin churches with Charles and Philip of Courtenay compelled to form a truce with Byzantium. Michael also provided Genoa with funds to encourage revolt in Charles’ northern Italian territories.



In 1270, Charles turned his brother's last crusade to his own advantage, persuading Louis to ignore his advisers and direct the Eighth Crusade against Charles' rebel Arab vassals in Tunis. In the heat Louis' army was devastated by disease and Louis died. This ended the last significant attempt to take the Holy Land. However, the 1281 election of a French pope, Martin IV, brought the full power of the papacy into line behind Charles. He prepared to launch a crusade with 400 ships carrying 27,000 mounted knights against Constantinople. But the fleet was destroyed in an uprising fomented by Michael VIII Palailogos and Peter III of Aragon. Peter was proclaimed king, and the Capetian House of Anjou was exiled from Sicily. Martin excommunicated Peter and called for a crusade against Aragon before Charles died in 1285, allowing Henry II of Cyprus to reclaim Jerusalem. Charles had spent his life trying to amass a Mediterranean empire, and he and Louis saw themselves as God's instruments to uphold the papacy.

One factor in the crusaders' decline was the disunity and conflict among Latin Christian interests in the eastern Mediterranean. Martin compromised the papacy by supporting Charles of Anjou, and botched secular "crusades" against Sicily and Aragon tarnished its spiritual lustre. The collapse of the papacy's moral authority and the rise of nationalism rang the death knell for crusading, ultimately leading to the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism. The mainland Crusader states of the  outremer  were extinguished with the fall of Tripoli in 1289 and Acre in 1291. Most remaining Latin Christians left for destinations in the  Frankokratia  or were killed or enslaved.