The crusades: Did you mean...?

This map illustrates the Baltic states in the period 1100-1400 CE.

Depicted here is the Battle of Lyndanisse (1219 CE), in which, according to legend, the Danish flag appeared to King Valdemar II of Denmark. This appears to be a reference to the cross appearing to Constantine I before the Battle of Milvian...

Stained glass window in York Minster depicting Pope Celestine III (1191-1198 CE)

The First Crusade (1096–1099) was a pivotal military expedition initiated by Western European Christians in response to Pope Urban II’s call at the Council of Clermont in 1095. Aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and other holy sites in the Levant...

This map illustrates the rise and growth of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (the name "Rûm" was a synonym for the medieval Eastern Roman Empire and its people, a usage that continues in modern Turkish. It originates from the Aramaic and Parthian...

This map of the Near East in 1135 CE shows four Crusader States (marked with red crosses) in relation to other powerful kingdoms in the period between the first and second crusades.

The Ark of the Covenant refers to the box-like container that held the tablets of the Law received by Moses on Mount Sinai. Tradition claimed that it contained two stone tablets, carved by God, listing the first ten commandments given to...

Caliphate (“Khilafat” in Arabic) was a semi-religious political system of governance in Islam, in which the territories of the Islamic empire in the Middle East and North Africa and the people within were ruled by a supreme leader called...

The Franks were a Germanic people who originated along the lower Rhine River. They moved into Gaul during the Migration Age, where they established one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms in Europe after the fall of the Western Roman...

Kievan Rus (862-1242) was a medieval political federation located in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia (the latter named for the Rus, a Scandinavian people). The name Kievan Rus is a modern-day (19th century) designation but...