A long, dark shadow had fallen across Europe. The unity and advancements of Rome crumbled after her fall, plunging much of her former empire into a darkness it has yet to completely escape from.  Even the accomplishments of Charlemagne had turned to dust before his corpse had cooled.  For three hundred years, waves upon waves of invasions washed across the land: the Moors to the West, the Vikings to the North, and the Magyars to the East.   And Rome, the heart of Christianity itself, was in ruins, both morally and physically.

However, amidst all of this, Christendom began to become aware of itself and the notion of unity in the face of common enemies.  A knightly warrior class grew out of the Carolingian Empire, and the Pope has begun to realized its worth fighting on behalf of the Church.  Things were at a turning point, there was a sense that all that was needed was something, anything, to bring focus on the bickering princes and bring a sense of righteous purpose to the land.  The sort of purpose from which something great could be built.

In November of 1095, Pope Urban addressed a council of abbots and bishops in Clermont, France:

Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now go against the infidels and end with victory this war which should have been begun long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now become knights. Let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives now fight in a proper way against the barbarians. Let those who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing themselves out in both body and soul now work for a double honor.

By the end of the council, the argument had been made for a crusade to retake Jerusalem.  Within short order, Raymond IV of Toulouse was fully prepared to take up arms.  For the rest of the year, and well into 1096, Urban spread this message throughout France, and urged his bishops and legates to preach in their own dioceses elsewhere in Germany and Italy.  Many people responded to this call – far more then even the Pope had anticipated.  And the ranks of noble knights who joined the ranks where just as impressive and included Hugh of Vermandois, brother of the excommunicated King Philip I of France, and Robert of Normandy, brother of King William II of England.

The crusaders set out in August, 1096 with nearly 35,000 men, including 5,000 cavalry, and met up in Constantinople between November 1096 and May 1097.  From the beginning, there were tensions between the Byzantines and the crusaders, and the crusaders themselves were not allowed within the walls of the city.  In the end, Emperor Alexius I agreed to send the Byzantine army along with the crusaders – although his desire was to secure lands taken from Byzantine from Turks.  This he did when he secretly arranged the surrender of Nicaea behind the siege of the crusaders.  Many of the Byzantine troops remained behind as the crusaders moved on.

From Nicaea, the army headed towards Jerusalem.  Stephen of Blois, writing home to his wife Adela, stated he believed it would take five weeks. In fact, the journey would take two years.

Half way between Constantinople and Jerusalem stood Antioch, and on October 20^th, 1097 the crusader army began a siege of the city.  However, Antioch was so large that the crusaders did not have enough troops to fully surround it, and thus it was able to stay partially supplied.  In May 1098, Bohemond of Taranto bribed an Armenian guard named Firuz to surrender his tower, and in June the crusaders entered the city and killed most of the inhabitants.  Only a few days later the Muslims arrived, laying siege to the former besiegers.  But at the same time, a monk named Peter Bartholomew had a vision that lead him to the discovery of the Holy Lance, lance that pierced Jesus's during the crucifixion:

But Peter, afraid to reveal the advice of the apostle, was unwilling to make it known to the pilgrims. However, he thought that he had seen a vision, and said: "Lord, who would believe this?" But at that hour St. Andrew took him and carried him to the place where the Lance was hidden in the ground. When we were a second time situated in such (straits) as we have stated above, St. Andrew came again, saying to him: "Wherefore hast thou not yet taken the Lance from the earth as I commanded thee? Know verily, that whoever shall bear this lance in battle shall never 'be overcome by an enemy." Peter, indeed, straightway made known to our men the mystery of the apostle.

The people, however, did not believe (it), but refused, saying: "How can we believe this?" For they were utterly terrified and thought that they were to die forthwith. Thereupon, this man came forth and swore that it was all most true, since St. Andrew had twice appeared to him in a vision and had said to him: "Rise' go and tell the people of God not to fear, but to trust firmly with whole heart in the one true God and they will be everywhere victorious. Within five days the Lord will send them such a token that they will remain happy and joyful, and if they wish to fight, let them go out immediately to battle, all together, and all their enemies will be conquered, and no one will stand against them." Thereupon, when they beard that their enemies were to be overcome by them, they began straightway to revive and to encourage one another, saying: "Bestir yourselves, and be everywhere brave and alert, since the Lord will come to our aid in the next battle and will be the greatest refuge to His people whom He beholds' lingering in sorrow."

Accordingly, upon hearing the statements of that man who reported to us the revelation of Christ through the words of the apostle, we went in haste immediately to the place in the church of St. Peter which he had pointed out. Thirteen men dug there from morning until vespers. And so that man found the Lance, just as he had indicated. They received it with great gladness and fear, and a joy beyond measure arose in the whole city.

And, indeed, on June 28^th, 1098 they were victorious in a pitched battle with the Muslim forces outside the city.

The siege broken, a new struggle broke out among the princes who had taken the crusade.  Bohemond laid claim to Antioch, but not everyone agreed, including Raymond of Toulouse.   A combination of national pride and personal ambition brought the crusade to a pause until the beginning of 1099, when the knights and soldiers became restless and threatened to continue on without their squabbling leaders.

Heading down the coast of the Mediterranean, the crusaders encountered little resistance and arrived outside of Jerusalem in early June.  As with Antioch, the city was put to siege, but the crusaders themselves found themselves without enough food or water for the siege to last long.   And by this point, only 12,000 men, including 1,500 cavalry, remained.  The situation quickly became desperate, and breaking the walls of Jerusalem began to seem like an impossibly daunting task.

But then a priest named Peter Desiderius had a divine vision.  He instructed the crusaders to fast and then march in a barefoot procession around the city walls, following the biblical example of Joshua at the siege of Jericho.  On July 8^th the crusaders performed the procession as instructed by Desiderius.  On July 15^th, siege towers were able to break down sections of the wall, and the crusaders entered the Holy City.

It had taken nearly five years to lead up to that moment, when the crusaders rushed into the city.  Theirs had been a difficult journey that had left a least ten thousand dead before even reaching Jerusalem.   And now here they were, at the cusp of retaking the Holy City, the place where Christ was crucified.  The crusaders took to the streets with a divine fury.

For seven days and nights, chaos followed the crusaders.  Some streets ran with blood so deep that it was chest-high on crusader’s mounts.    Knights laid claim to houses by slaying those inside and then mounting his shield on the door to claim ownership.  Disembodied heads were stacked in haphazard piles at street corners.

But this time the pilgrims entered the city, pursuing and killing the Saracens up to the Temple of Solomon, where the enemy gathered in force. The battle raged throughout the day, so that the Temple was covered with their blood. When the pagans had been overcome, our men seized great numbers, both men and women, either killing them or keeping them captive, as they wished. On the roof of the Temple a great number of pagans of both sexes had assembled, and these were taken under the protection of Tancred and Gaston of Beert. Afterward, the army scattered throughout the city and took possession of the gold and silver, the horses and mules, and the houses filled with goods of all kinds.

Rejoicing and weeping for joy, our people came to the Sepulchre of Jesus our Saviour to worship and pay their debt. At dawn our men cautiously went up to the roof of the Temple and attacked Saracen men and women, beheading them with naked swords. Some of the Saracens, however, leaped from the Temple roof. Tancred, seeing this, was greatly angered.

Then our leaders in council decided that each one should offer alms with prayers, that the Lord might choose for Himself whom He wanted to reign over the others and rule the city. They also ordered all the Saracen dead to be cast outside because of the great stench, since the whole city was filled with their corpses; and so the living Saracens dragged the dead before the exits of the gates and arranged them in heaps, as if they were houses. No one ever saw or heard of such slaughter of pagan people, for funeral pyres were formed from them like pyramids, and no one knows their number except God alone.