The Christian alliance took Jerusalem from the Fatimid Muslims in 1099 and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem. ( The Knights Templar got their start-and lots of money-during the Crusades.) The blessing of Pope Urban II in 1095 launched the First Crusade, a bid to retake the Holy Land, the following summer. Buoyed by a resurgence in pilgrimage across Europe, the Catholic Church wanted to expand. By the late 11th century, Europe was enjoying a period of economic strength, and the papacy had asserted its power following a series of important reforms.
Islam had spread far and wide to formerly Christian lands in the Near East and North Africa in the seventh century, and to the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth. Official papal crusades began in the 11th century.
