The Crusades were primarily holy wars launched by Christians during the later Middle Ages to win the Holy Land from Muslim control. The Crusades took place between 1095, when Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade, and 1272, when King Louis IX of France led the largest and best-equipped of all the crusading armies into the Middle East to recapture Jerusalem. The First Crusade was the most successful; after nearly four years of fighting, Jerusalem was taken and a Christian, Godfrey of Bouillon, was crowned king of Jerusalem. On the whole, however, the Crusades were unsuccessful. After nearly two centuries of intermittent fighting, the Muslims still controlled most of those portions of the Middle East that were considered sacred to the Christians.

The launching of the Crusades helps illustrate the power of the medieval papacy. The Crusades occurred while feudalism was the dominant political system of the...