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| | The Byzantine emperor, Alexius Comnenus, had been repeatedly defeated by the Seljuk Turks and he asked the pope for help to defeat the Moslems. He promised a reunion of the Eastern Orthodox Church and to give Byzantine lands (“fiefs”) to victorious knights from feudal Western Europe. | | The Byzantine emperor, Alexius Comnenus, had been repeatedly defeated by the Seljuk Turks and he asked the pope for help to defeat the Moslems. He promised a reunion of the Eastern Orthodox Church and to give Byzantine lands (“fiefs”) to victorious knights from feudal Western Europe. |
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| − | At the Council at Clermont in southern France, Pope Urban II gave one of the greatest speeches ever. Promising absolution and assurance of salvation to anyone who died in a crusade for the Holy Land, he urged a huge crowd to protect Christian pilgrims from the Turks. He demanded that all internal feuds end in the West and he threatened excommunication (expulsion from the Catholic Church) for anyone who continued to bicker internally. Those who decided to fight in the crusades were said to be “taking up the cross,” because they would wear a tunic with a large red cross on it. | + | At the Council at Clermont in southern France, Pope Urban II gave one of the greatest speeches ever. Promising absolution and assurance of salvation to anyone who died in a crusade for the Holy Land, he urged a huge crowd to protect Christian pilgrims from the Turks. He demanded that all internal feuds end in the West and he threatened excommunication (expulsion from the Catholic Church) for anyone who continued to bicker internally. Those who decided to fight in the crusades were said to be “taking up the cross,” because many wore a tunic with a large red cross on it. |
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| | At first “Peter the Hermit” answered the call of Pope Urban and led an unprepared group of peasants in a small first mission (not large enough to be called the “First Crusade”). Peter the Hermit and his band of peasants failed. But news of its failure led to renewed determination by the Christians, and a well-equipped religious mission led by the Normans was formed. This became known as the First Crusade. | | At first “Peter the Hermit” answered the call of Pope Urban and led an unprepared group of peasants in a small first mission (not large enough to be called the “First Crusade”). Peter the Hermit and his band of peasants failed. But news of its failure led to renewed determination by the Christians, and a well-equipped religious mission led by the Normans was formed. This became known as the First Crusade. |
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| | The Hundred Years’ War was fought between England and France, and lasted from 1337 to 1453. This war began when the last Capetian king died without leaving a successor, and English King Edward III seized the French throne. | | The Hundred Years’ War was fought between England and France, and lasted from 1337 to 1453. This war began when the last Capetian king died without leaving a successor, and English King Edward III seized the French throne. |
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| − | Joan of Arc, a teenage girl who felt called by God to lead the French army, defeated the English at the siege at Orleans in 1430 at the age of seventeen, but was later captured by the English and burned at stake as a heretic in 1431. | + | Joan of Arc, a teenage girl who felt called by God to lead the French army, defeated the English at the siege at Orleans in 1429 at the age of seventeen, but was later captured by the English and burned at stake as a heretic in 1431. |
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| | ==The High Middle Ages== | | ==The High Middle Ages== |