The First Crusade: The Call from the East

Illustratios

BYZANTIUM IN CRISIS

Alp Arslan and Romanos IV after the battle of Manzikert.

BYZANTIUM’S GLORY

Christ and the Virgin Mary flanked by the emperors Constantine and Justinian. Mosaic in the south vestibule of Hagia Sophia, late tenth century.

Reliquary for wood from the True Cross, c.950.

The walls of Constantinople, first built by the emperor Theodosius in the fifth century.

THE CALL FROM THE EAST

The hope of Byzantium: Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

Coin issued by Alexios, depicting Christ giving a blessing

and the emperor himself.

THE RESPONSE FROM THE WEST

Pope Urban II arrives at the council of Clermont.

Emperor Alexios receives Peter the Hermit.

THE EXPEDITION TO THE HOLY LAND

The Crusaders at Nicaea, 1097.

The siege of Antioch, 1097–8.

Crusaders massacring the inhabitants of Antioch, 1098.

The siege of Jerusalem, 1099.

LIBERATING THE HOLY CITY

The looting of Jerusalem, 1099.