Major+Events+and+People+in+the+Crusades

Charlemagne

Charlemagne became King of the Franks after his father died in 771.

Richard The Lionhear t Richard I Lionheart of England was born to King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard would be one of the leaders of the Third Crusade with Philip II Augustus of France in 1187. As king Richard would only spend a small amount of time in England, leaving the administration of his kingdom to various appointed officials. He was not very concerned about England and didn't even learn much English - he was much more concerned with protecting his possessions in France and making a name for himself that would last through the ages.

Salah-al-Din

Born in 1138, Salah-al-Din Yusuf ib-Ayyub (Salah al-Din, Saladin) was one of the greatest heroes of Islamic history because of his success in stopping the European Crusaders and recapturing much of the land they had conquered from Muslims. Saladin was a Kurd who acquired a strong reputation in Europe both for his fighting skills and his honorable diplomacy.

Constantinople

Constantinople, or Byzantium (today Istanbul), was dedicated by Constantine the Great as his capital in 330 AD and functioned as the glorious center of the Byzantine Empire (the eastern portion of the Roman Empire) for centuries thereafter. By 1400, however, the city was in serious decline. Byzantine power had eroded over the years and many of the best and the brightest had deserted for more prosperous and alluring places. The emerging Muslim Ottoman Empire, with its roots in Anatolia, had grown and prospered while Christian Constantinople decayed. In 1452, Sultan Mehmed II (sometimes Muhammad II) began preparations for conquering the city. He constructed a fortress at the narrow point of the Bosporus, assembled a large and experienced army and arranged the neutrality of Hungary and Venice (likely allies of the Byzantines). A 54-day siege began in April 1453. The walled city was bombarded almost constantly from Ottoman cannons on both land and sea. The walls were breached on May 29; Emperor Constantine XI died amidst his Genoese supporters and fellow townspeople. Two days of looting, murder and rape followed before order was restored by the sultan, soon to be known as Mehmed the Conqueror. The fall of Constantinople has long been regarded as a watershed event in world history. Indeed, it was to the vanquished Christian inhabitants of the city, as well as to the victorious Ottomans, who restored the metropolis to its former glory. Nevertheless, some claims about this event have not withstood careful scrutiny.