crypt 205The Fourth Crusade was begun by Pope INNOCENTIII
to assist the threatened city of Acre. The crusade was led to
Constantinople by the Venetians instead. In 1204, the cru-
saders attacked the capital of the Byzantine Empire and
sacked it. The outcome was the establishment of the LATIN
EMPIRE OFCONSTANTINOPLEand of the Frankish principal-
ities in GREECE. It also assured Venetian economic and
political hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Fifth Crusade, called again by Innocent III with
the hope of accomplishing his goals for the Fourth
Crusade, was complex. King Andrew II (r. 1205–35) of
HUNGARYtraveled to Palestine in 1217 and fought for
a crusader state there. Others, led by Cardinal Pelagius
(d. 1224) and the kings John of Brienne (ca. 1148–1237)
of Jerusalem and Hugh I (r. ca. 1205–18) of CYPRUS,
invaded EGYPT in 1218 and captured Damietta. They
were defeated by the Egyptians while en route to try to
take CAIROand therefore accomplished nothing.
FURTHER CRUSADESThe crusade of the emperor FREDERICKII, the Sixth Cru-
sade, begun in 1228, was planned from 1216 after a long
diplomatic negotiation between the courts of SICILYand
Egypt. The crusaders were granted access to the city of
Jerusalem. Frederick, who had been excommunicated by
Pope GREGORYIX, used his crusade as an opportunity for
his coronation as king of Jerusalem. Although diplomati-
cally, the crusade resulted in the return of and pilgrim
crusader access to Jerusalem, it also provoked a civil war
among the local nobility, which led to the kingdom’s fur-
ther decline.
A crusade by Thibault IV of Champagne-NAVARRE
(1201–53) and Richard the earl of Cornwall (1209–72)
included the expeditions of this French prince and this
brother of King HENRYIII of England between 1241 and
- These expeditions by great feudal lords gave little
help to the weakened kingdom of Jerusalem.
The crusade of King LOUISIX of France took place
between 1248 and 1252: the Seventh Crusade. Louis
mobilized a great army to attack Egypt to alleviate pres-
sure from there on the Christians in Palestine. After ini-
tial success on the coast, the French army was defeated at
Mansurah in 1249 and Louis himself was captured. After
his release, he went to the city of Acre with what was left
of his army and built fortifications for the cities of the
crusader kingdom, meant to establish a true defensive
system. He was not able to do anything about Jerusalem.
Louis, in a vain attempt to capture TUNIS, died there
while on crusade in 1270.
After the shocking fall of Acre in 1291, the idea
or dream of the crusade lived on in western Europe.
No great project, however, was ever realized. Particular
crusades were undertaken against the Turks by the
Knights HOSPITALLERS, who settled at RHODES. Among
numerous disastrous crusades, the most important was
that of NICOPOLISin 1396. The kings of HUNGARYand
BOHEMIAtogether with several French and Burgundian
princes and nobles attacked the Ottoman sultan BAYAZID.
They were severely defeated and the Balkans were soon
overrun in consequence by the Turks.
The term crusadealso denoted military expeditions
against heretics, such as the ALBIGENSIANSin the 13th
century and the Hussites in the 15th century. The popes
of the 13th century proclaimed crusades against their
enemies, including Catholic monarchs, such as Frederick
II. In northern Europe numerous crusades were launched
and preached to foster expansion into northeastern
Europe against pagans. The politics of many of these
efforts weakened the spiritual values of crusading in the
eyes of many.
See also DANDOLO, ENRICO; PEACE ANDTRUCE OF
GOD; PILGRIMAGE AND PILGRAMAGE SITES;RECONQUEST;
SALADIN.
Further reading: Eric Christiansen, The Northern
Crusades: The Baltic and the Catholic Frontier, 1100–1525
(1980: reprint, New York: Penguin Books, 1997); Carl
Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade,trans. Mar-
shall W. Baldwin and Walter Goffart (1935; reprint,
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1977); Eliza-
beth M. Hallam, ed., Chronicles of the Crusades: Nine Cru-
sades and Two Hundred Years of Bitter Conflict for the Holy
Land Brought to Life through the Words of Those Who Were
Actually There (New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
1989); Norman Housley, The Italian Crusades: The Papal-
Angevin Alliance and the Crusades against Christian Lay
Powers, 1254–1343 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982);
Thomas F. Madden, A Concise History of the Crusades
(New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999); Hans E. Mayer,
The Crusades,2d ed., trans. John Gillingham (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1988); Jonathan Riley-Smith,
The Crusades: A Short History(New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1987); Steven Runciman, A History of
the Crusades;Vol. 1, The First Crusade and the Foundation
of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; Vol. 2, The Kingdom of
Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187;Vol. 3, The
Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1951–1954).crypt The crypt was an architectural structure, vault,
cellar, or subterranean complex situated beneath the choirs
and sometimes the transepts of churches. It was usually
reached by steps inside the building and intended for the
cult of RELICSas well as the BURIALand tombs of important
people. The term had its origins in the caverns or galleries
dug in the rock, in which places of worship were built in
the fourth century, such as in the Basilica of the Nativity at
Bethlehem, the Church of the HOLY SEPULCHER at
JERUSALEM, Saint Peter’s, and Saint Paul’s outside the walls
in Rome. By the sixth and seventh centuries, this type of
structure was widespread. Pope GREGORYI the Great built
a semicircular crypt under Old Saint Peter’s Basilica. These