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Conflict7 June – 15 July 1099

Crusader Capture of Jerusalem

After a siege of just over a month the First Crusade took Jerusalem and massacred much of its Muslim and Jewish population.

The crusaders take Jerusalem, 15 July 1099 — Émile Signol, 1847, Salles des Croisades, Versailles
The crusaders take Jerusalem, 15 July 1099 — Émile Signol, 1847, Salles des Croisades, Versailles

Émile Signol · Public domain · Source

Having taken Antioch (1098), the crusaders reached Jerusalem in June 1099, shortly after the Fatimids had recovered the city from the Seljuks. They crossed the walls with siege towers on 15 July and killed Muslims and Jews alike.

Godfrey of Bouillon was chosen ruler; after his death his brother Baldwin I took the title King of Jerusalem in 1100. The massacre was long remembered in the Islamic world.

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The map in 1099

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States at the time
Fatimid Caliphate · defeated
Kingdom of Jerusalem · founded
Places
Jerusalem

People

  • Godfrey of Bouillon1100

    commander · Duke of Lower Lorraine who led the First Crusade to Jerusalem and became its first ruler, styling himself Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre rather than king

Themes that include this event

  • The Crusades1095 – 1291

    From the Council of Clermont to the fall of Acre — two centuries of war between Latin Europe and the Islamic world over the Holy Land