1-155-267 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Pope Urban II presiding over the Council of Clermont which launched the First Crusade, 1095 (1522). The First Crusade was sent with the mission of liberating the Holy Land from the occupying Muslim Seljuk Turks. Jerusalem was captured in 1099, with appalling massacres of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. One of the crusade's leaders, Godfrey of Bouillon (c1060-1100), became ruler of Jerusalem, taking the title 'Defender of the Holy Sepulchre', as he refused to be called king of the city in which Christ had died. Woodcut from Grand voyage de Hierusalem, 1522.