''Crusades'' is a 1995 historical documentary series presented by

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

. It looked at The

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

and used elements of

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

. Prominent figures are depicted by actors wearing masks and costumes making to appear as living images in the style of their cultures. Emperor Alexios I, for example, appears as a

Byzantine mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

, while European and Muslim figures are brought to life by actors appearing in the style of medieval and near eastern miniatures. At times, production is deliberately anachronistic, such as showing the use of 1930s style

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...

s by the Church to drum up mass support for the Crusades.

Episodes

1. "Pilgrims in Arms"

The first episode recounts Byzantine Emperor Alexius's appeal to

Pope Urban II Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...

for military aid with which to fight Muslim Turks. The Pope uses the request to drum up popular support for the creation of a Christian army, with the mission of liberating Jerusalem. European knights, recently converted to Christianity, eagerly join the Crusade. The crusader army is preceded by the

People's Crusade The People's Crusade was the beginning phase of the First Crusade whose objective was to retake the Holy Land, and Jerusalem in particular, from Islamic rule. After in 1095 the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Urban II started to urge faith ...

, a mass migration incited to go to Jerusalem by

Peter the Hermit Peter the Hermit ( 1050 – 8 July 1115 or 1131), also known as Little Peter, Peter of Amiens ( fr. ''Pierre d'Amiens'') or Peter of Achères ( fr. ''Pierre d'Achères''), was a Roman Catholic priest of Amiens and a key figure during the militar ...

. Recounted are massacres of Jews in

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

The People's Crusade is crushed by Turks after the catastrophic

Siege of Xerigordos A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...

and the

Battle of Civetot The Battle of Civetot in 1096 brought an end to the People's Crusade, which was a poorly-armed movement of lower-class pilgrims of the First Crusade distinct from the subsequent and much more well-known Princes' Crusade. Background After the ...

Kilij Arslan I Kilij Arslan ibn Suleiman ( 1ca, قِلِج اَرسلان; fa, , Qilij Arslān; tr, I. Kılıç Arslan or ''Kılıcarslan'', "Sword Lion") (‎1079–1107) was the Seljuq Sultan of Rum from 1092 until his death in 1107. He ruled the Sultan ...

, the Seljuq Sultan, emboldened by the quick end of the People's Crusade, underestimates the crusader army when it appears, and suffers defeat against them. The crusaders, having won this early battle confidently set off for Jerusalem. The episode ends with host Terry Jones on the road, wearing the gear of a Crusader, revealing that despite the crusaders' confidence that they would soon be in Jerusalem.

2. "Jerusalem"

The second episode covers hardships encountered by crusaders as they neared the Holy City, including intense heat and starvation. Also the

Siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, last ...

and Turkish retaliation.

3. "Jihad"

The third episode chronicles the response that the Arab world gave to the gains of the Crusades. Jones takes the viewer from Syria to Jordan to shed light on the Arabs counter-crusade led by Muslim leader

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

. Additionally, experts detail the political intrigue behind Saladin's rise to power as he tried to lead Muslims in winning back Jerusalem from the Christians.

4. "Destruction"

The Crusade of

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

is explored to find the seeds of his eventual failure. The fourth episode examines the massacres during the siege of Acre, the

Treaty of Ramla The Treaty of Jaffa, more seldom referred to as the Treaty of Ramla or the treaty of 1192, was a truce agreed to during the Crusades. It was signed on 1 or 2 September 1192 A.D. (20th of Sha'ban 588 AH) between the Muslim ruler Saladin and Richard ...

in 1192 when Richard was forced to concede Jerusalem to Saladin, and the establishment of the Empire of Latins in Constantinople after the Crusade of Venetian statesman

Enrico Dandolo Enrico Dandolo ( anglicised as Henry Dandolo and Latinized as Henricus Dandulus; c. 1107 – May/June 1205) was the Doge of Venice from 1192 until his death. He is remembered for his avowed piety, longevity, and shrewdness, and is known for his ...

Controversy

A number of distinguished Crusade historians appeared to give their views on events. The documentary followed the perspective established by

Steven Runciman Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume ''A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54). He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negative ...

in ''

A History of the Crusades ''A History of the Crusades'' by Steven Runciman, published in three volumes during 1951–1954 (vol. I - ''The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem''; vol. II - ''The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187' ...

'', which casts the Crusades in a negative light. Because the historians did not support this narrative, the producers edited the taped interviews so that the historians seemed to be agreeing with Runciman. Professor

Jonathan Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith (27 June 1938 – 13 September 2016) was a historian of the Crusades, and, between 1994 and 2005, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. ...

accused the producers, "they made me appear to say things that I do not believe!"

References

External links

* {{Terry Jones history series 1995 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings 1990s British documentary television series Television series about the Crusades Byzantine Empire in art and culture English-language television shows Medieval documentaries Documentaries about historical events Documentary television series about war BBC television documentaries about medieval history