Urban II Preaching the First Crusade (Wikimedia Commons) The Historical Context In the wake of the rise of Islam in the 7th century, the Byzantine Empire lost a lot of territory to Muslim conquests over the following centuries. Not too long after the conversion of the Seljuk Turks in the 10th century to Islam, came their victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in A.D. 1071. In 1074 Pope St. Gregory VII appealed to Western Christians to... Read more
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