CRUSADE, a military expedition under the banner of the cross, as that against the infidels of the Holy Land; also any war or expedition undertaken on pretense of defending the cause of religion; a romantic or enthusiastic en terprise; as, a crusade against vice. In the European history of the Middle Ages, crusades were wars undertaken by confederacies of chiefs and soldiers, with a religious object. Those which were engaged in by a great part of the nations of Europe for the recovery of Palestine from the infidels, are now fre quently denoted by this peculiar name. The term crusade is derived from the sacred symbol of the cross, which was borne by the warriors engaged in it over their arms; the color of the cross often served to designate the nation of the soldier; as the white cross on a red ground, France; the red cross on a white ground, England.
The principal crusades for the con quest of Palestine were: 1. The first, A. D. 1096, excited by the preaching of Peter the Hermit and the encouragement of Pope Urban II., in which Godfrey of Bouillon headed the Christians, who made themselves masters of Jerusalem and a great part of Palestine. 2. The
second, A. D. 1142, in which Conrad III. of Germany and Louis VII. of France led armies to complete the conquest of Palestine, but without success. 3. The third, A. D. 1189, was occasioned by the capture of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin; Frederick (Barbarossa) of Germany, Philip Augustus of France, and Richard Coeur de Lion of England, were the chief among the confederate monarchs; the capture of Acre was almost the only fruit of this great expedition. 4. The fourth crusade was conducted by the King of Hungary, Andrew II., in 1217. 5. The fifth (1228) was conducted by Frederick II. (grandson of Barbarossa), who recovered Jerusalem, but for a short time. 6. The sixth, A. D. 1248, by Saint Louis, King of France, against Egypt, but without success.
Among other wars which have been at various times denoted by the name of crusade, that against Raymond, Count of Toulouse, and his heretical vassals, the Albigeois, of which the first leader was the famous Simon de Montfort, is the most memorable.