The Siege of Jerusalem took place from September 20 to October 2, 1187. It resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin and the near total collapse of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. This provoked the Third Crusade by providing it w...

The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem, is a German Roman Catholic religious order. It was formed to aid Catholics on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to care for the sick and inju...

Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was a pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy. He was Holy Roman Emperor fr...

The Siege of Constantinople (1204) destroyed parts of the capital of the Byzantine Empire as it was captured by Crusaders. After the capture the Latin Empire was founded and Baldwin of Flanders was crowned Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinopl...

Louis IX, commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He inherited the throne at age 12. His mother served as regent until 1234, helping to subdue rebellious barons and Albigensian heretics (Cathari). Louis led a Cru...

William of Rubruck was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. His account is one of the masterpieces of medieval geographical literature comparable to that of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta. Born in Rubrouck, Flanders, he is known also a...

Charles I, commonly called Charles of Anjou, was the King of Sicily by conquest from 1266 (though he had received it as a papal grant in 1262), though he was expelled from the island in the aftermath of the Sicilian Vespers of 1282. Thereaf...

Edward I, popularly known as "Longshanks" because of his 6 foot 2 inch (1.88 m) frame and the "Hammer of the Scots" (his tombstone, in Latin, read, Hic est Edwardus Primus Scottorum Malleus, "Here is Edward I, Hammer of the Scots"), achieve...

The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied army of Hungarian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German and assorted troops (assisted by the Venetian navy) at the hands of an Ottoma...