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Glite Dictionary
First Crusade

First Crusade

1 9.9
A military campaign by Western European Christians from 1096 to 1099 to capture Jerusalem, creating states ruled by Western Christians
  • proper noun
translation icon : Primera Cruzada
  • Le Puy had been an important pilgrimage site well before the late eleventh century; the triumph of the First Crusade, and the role of the bishop of Le Puy in that triumph, only increased the crowds.
  • leader of the First Crusade

None of them was prepared for the First Crusade or had any real understanding of its strength or aims.

Examples

  • On June 7th, 1099, the knights of the First Crusade reached the imposing walls of Jerusalem, the holiest city in Christendom.

  • The Norman participation in the First Crusade was successful, so successful that Duke Burmar soon became Prince Burmar of the Principality of Antioch.

  • None of them was prepared for the First Crusade or had any real understanding of its strength or aims.

    Epic History

  • But outside its walls, the First Crusade would come to the brink of disaster.

  • Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in 1095.

    Blog text (21)

  • The knights of the First Crusade laid siege to the city of Alexandretta for over a year.

    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

  • Blood relics then streamed into Europe, especially central and northwestern Germany, after the First Crusade.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The Christian knights of the First Crusade conquered Jerusalem and its environs in 1099, founding the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem.

    Blog text (17)

  • The knights of the First Crusade laid siege to the city of Alexandretta for over a year.

  • The popular image of crusading is derived almost entirely from Western accounts of the victorious First Crusade.

Surface Forms

First Crusade main

Morphology

first + crusade

The meaning is directly compositional: 'first' (the initial one) combined with 'crusade' (a medieval Christian military expedition) yields the initial crusading expedition. A B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to the earliest of the crusades, even if specific historical dates or details require extra background knowledge.

Etymology

First Crusade gets its name from the word crusade, which comes from an old word for a 'cross'. Fighters wore a cross on their clothes and saw the journey as a 'holy war' to take back Jerusalem, so the name means the first of these Christian military journeys.