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June 28

June 28

(Some entries on this page have been duplicated on August 1. See Talk:August_1. The correct dates for such events need to be determined.) June 28 is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 186 days remaining.

Events


- 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul.
- 1243 - Innocent IV becomes pope.
- 1389 - Ottoman forces crush the armies of Christian Europe in Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe (see Vidovdan).
- 1519 - Charles V elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1635 - Guadeloupe becomes a French colony.
- 1651 - Battle of Beresteczko between Poles and Ukrainians, the biggest battle in the 17th century, starts.
- 1763 - Earthquake in Komarom, Hungary
- 1859 - First dog show is held in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.
- 1880 - Ned Kelly the Australian bushranger captured at Glenrowan.
- 1887 - Minot, North Dakota incorporated as a city.
- 1894 - Labor Day becomes an official US holiday.
- 1895 - El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua form the Central American Union.
- 1914 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophia are killed in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist young man: Gavrilo Princip , the casus belli of World War I.
- 1919 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending World War I with Germany.
- 1936 - The Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang is formed in northern China.
- 1938 - A 450 metric ton meteorite struck the earth in a empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania
- 1940 - Romania cedes Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union.
- 1948 - Cominform circulates the "Resolution on the situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia"
- 1950 - Seoul is captured by troops from North Korea.
- 1956 - Anti-communist demonstrations in Poznan. Also called Poznański czerwiec (June of Poznan).
- 1960 - US-owned oil refineries in Cuba confiscated and nationalised.
- 1964 - Malcom X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
- 1967 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
- 1969 - Stonewall riots in New York city mark the beginning of the modern gay rights era.
- 1978 - The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions.
- 1988 - The worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history occurs at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, killing five.
- 1990 - Paperback Software found guilty by a U.S. court of copyright violation for copying the appearance and menu system of Lotus 1-2-3 in its competing spreadsheet program.
- 1997 - Boxer Mike Tyson is disqualified from WBA title re-match, for biting off part of the ear of his opponent Evander Holyfield.
- 2004 - Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism
  - Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.
- 2005 - Canada's lower house paves the way for same-sex marriage to be legalized there, and make it the third country to do so.

Births

1243 to 1899


- 1243 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (d. 1304)
- 1476 - Pope Paul IV (d. 1559)
- 1490 - Albert of Mainz, bishop and elector of Mainz (d. 1545)
- 1491 - King Henry VIII of England (d. 1547)
- 1503 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (d. 1556)
- 1547 (baptism) - Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian composer (d. 1599)
- 1577 - Peter Paul Rubens, Belgian painter (d. 1640)
- 1703 - John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (d. 1791)
- 1712 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (d. 1778)
- 1719 - Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (d. 1785)
- 1806 - Napoleon Coste, French guitarist and composer (d. 1883)
- 1824 - Paul Pierre Broca, French physician (d. 1880)
- 1831 - Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist (d. 1907)
- 1867 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936)
- 1873 - Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1944)
- 1883 - Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of France (d. 1945)
- 1891 - Carl Panzram, American serial killer (d. 1930)

1900 to 1999


- 1902 - Richard Rodgers, American composer (d. 1979)
- 1906 - Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1913 - Franz Antel, Austrian filmmaker
- 1914 - Lester Flatt, American musician (d. 1979)
- 1921 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- 1926 - Mel Brooks, American filmmaker
- 1927 - Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 - Itamar Franco, President of Brazil
- 1932 - Pat Morita, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1936 - Chuck Howley, American football player
- 1938 - Moy Yat, Chinese martial artist (d. 2001)
- 1943 - Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 - Gilda Radner, American actress (d. 1989)
- 1947 - Mark Helprin, American writer
- 1948 - Kathy Bates, American actress
- 1952 - Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete
- 1954 - Alice Krige, South African actress
- 1960 - John Elway, American football player
- 1964 - Mark Grace, baseball player
- 1966 - John Cusack, American actor
- 1967 - Kenneth Steven Becker, American taxpayer
- 1968 - Adam Woodyatt, British actor
- 1969 - Danielle Brisebois, American actress
- 1970 - Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer
- 1971 - Fabien Barthez, French footballer
- 1971 - Kenny Cunningham, Irish footballer
- 1971 - Norika Fujiwara, Japanese actress and television-personality
- 1972 - Jon Heidenreich, American professional wrestler
- 1973 - Adrian Annus, Hungarian athlete
- 1976 - Shinobu Asagoe, Japanese tennis player
- 1979 - Randy McMichael, American football player

Deaths

767 to 1899


- 767 - Pope Paul I
- 1175 - Andrei Bogolyubsky, Russian prince
- 1194 - Emperor Xiaozong of China (b. 1127)
- 1586 - Primož Trubar, Slovenian protestant reformer (b. 1508)
- 1598 - Abraham Ortelius, Flemish-born cartographer (b. 1527)
- 1716 - George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (b. 1665)
- 1813 - Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (b. 1755)
- 1834 - Joseph Bové, Russian architect (b. 1784)
- 1836 - James Madison, President of the United States (b. 1751)
- 1881 - Jules Armand Dufaure, French statesman (b. 1798)
- 1889 - Maria Mitchell, American astronomer (b. 1818)

1900 to 1999


- 1913 - Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles, President of Brazil (b. 1841)
- 1914 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (assassinated) (b. 1863)
- 1914 - Countess Sophie Chotek, wife of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (assassinated) (b. 1868)
- 1922 - Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet (b. 1885)
- 1929 - Edward Carpenter, English poet (b. 1844)
- 1960 - Jake Swirbul, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1898)
- 1962 - Mickey Cochrane, baseball player (b. 1903)
- 1965 - Red Nichols, American musician (b. 1905)
- 1974 - Frank Sutton, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1975 - Rod Serling, American television scriptwriter (b. 1924)
- 1980 - José Iturbi, Spanish pianist and conductor (b. 1895)
- 1981 - Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)
- 1989 - Joris Ivens, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1898)
- 1992 - Mikhail Tal, Latvian chess player (b. 1936)
- 1997 - Mrs. Miller, American singer (b. 1907)

2000 onwards


- 2001 - Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (b. 1902)
  - Joan Sims, English actress (b. 1930)
- 2003 - Wim Slijkhuis, Dutch athlete (b. 1923)
- 2004 - Anthony Buckeridge, English author (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances


- Feast of St Irenaeus of Lyons
- Vidovdan, Orthodox religious holiday.
- One of the TWO dates made up of only perfect numbers (6 and 28; also June 6th [6 and 6]).

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/28 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 27 - June 29 - May 28 - July 28 -- listing of all days ko:6월 28일 ms:28 Jun ja:6月28日 simple:June 28 th:28 มิถุนายน

August 1

August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining.

Events


- 527 - Justinian I becomes Byzantine Emperor.
- 607 - Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).
- 1291 - The Swiss Confederation is formed.
- 1492 - Ferdinand and Isabella drive the Jews out of Spain.
- 1461 - Edward IV is crowned king of England.
- 1498 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit Venezuela.
- 1619 - First African slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
- 1664 - The Ottoman Empire is defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.
- 1774 - The element oxygen is discovered by Carl Wilhelm and Joseph Priestley.
- 1776 - Formal signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.
- 1798 - Battle of the Nile starts between French and British fleets.
- 1820 - London's Regent's Canal opens.
- 1831 - London Bridge opens.
- 1832 - The Black Hawk War ends.
- 1834 - Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
- 1838 - Slaves in Trinidad and Tobago are emancipated.
- 1864 - The Elgin Watch Company is founded in Elgin, Illinois
- 1876 - Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
- 1894 - The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.
- 1902 - The United States buys the rights to the Panama Canal from France.
- 1907 - First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island.
- 1914 - Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I.
- 1927 - The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
- 1936 - The Berlin Olympic Games open.
- 1937 - Tito reads the resolution "Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH" to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.
- 1941 - The first Jeep is produced.
- 1944 - Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary.
- 1944 - Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
- 1945 - Mel Ott becomes the third member of the 500 home run club with a home run at the Polo Grounds in New York, New York.
- 1946 - The Japanese Federation of Trade Unions is formed.
- 1948 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
- 1957 - The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
- 1960 - Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France
  - Communist PAI is banned in Senegal.
- 1961 - Six Flags Over Texas, the first Six Flags park, opens.
- 1965 - Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands announces her engagement to Claus von Amsberg.
- 1966 - Charles Whitman kills 15 people shooting from a tower at the University of Texas in Austin before being killed by the police.
- 1966 - Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official People's Republic of China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
- 1967 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
- 1970 - Powder Ridge Rock Festival
- 1971 - George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in New York City features, among others, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Leon Russell.
- 1975 - CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
- 1977 - Frank H.T. Rhodes is elected President of Cornell University, a post he would hold for 18 years.
- 1981 - First broadcasts by MTV. The first video played was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles.
- 1994 - Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley confirm rumors that they had married eleven weeks earlier.
- 1996 - Olympic Games: Michael Johnson wins the 200-meter dash in 19.32 seconds, beating the old world record by over 0.3 seconds.
- 2001 - An agreement is reached on the position of the minority Albanian language in the Republic of Macedonia.
- 2001 - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency.
- 2001 - Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a 2-1/2 ton Ten Commandments monument installed in the rotunda of the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.
- 2004 - A supermarket fire kills 215 people and injures 300 in Asunción, Paraguay.
- 2005 - German spelling reform of 1996 is formally implemented
- 2005 - Disneyland Resort Line of the Hong Kong MTR opens to public.

Births


- 10 BC - Claudius, Roman Emperor (d. AD 54)
- 126 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor (d. 193)
- 1313 - Emperor Kogon of Japan (d. 1364)
- 1377 - Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (d. 1433)
- 1545 - Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (b. 1622)
- 1555 - Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)
- 1579 - Luís Vélez de Guevara, Spanish writer (d. 1644)
- 1630 - Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English statesman (d. 1673)
- 1713 - Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1780)
- 1714 - Richard Wilson, Welsh painter (d. 1782)
- 1744 - Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (d. 1829)
- 1770 - William Clark, American explorer (d. 1838)
- 1779 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (d. 1843)
- 1779 - Lorenz Oken, German naturalist (d. 1851)
- 1815 - Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer, politician, and author (d. 1882)
- 1818 - Maria Mitchell, American astronomer (d. 1889)
- 1819 - Herman Melville, American writer (d. 1891)
- 1858 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (d. 1884)
- 1885 - George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- 1891 - Karl Kobelt, Swiss politician (d. 1968)
- 1921 - Jack Kramer, American tennis player
- 1922 - Pat McDonald, Australian actress (d. 1990)
- 1924 - Georges Charpak, Ukrainian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1925 - Ernst Jandl, Austrian writer (d. 2000)
- 1927 - Raymond Leppard, English conductor
- 1930 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (d. 2002)
- 1931 - Tom Wilson, American cartoonist
- 1932 - Meir Kahane, American orthodox rabbi and founder of the Jewish Defense League (d. 1990)
- 1933 - Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian
- 1936 - Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer
- 1937 - Al D'Amato, U.S. Senator from New York
- 1942 - Jerry Garcia, American guitarist, lyricist, and singer (The Grateful Dead) (d. 1995)
- 1945 - Douglas D. Osheroff, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 - Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist
- 1949 - Kurmanbek Bakiyev, President of Kyrgyzstan
- 1950 - Jim Carroll, American poet and actor
- 1952 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
- 1953 - Robert Cray, American singer
- 1955 - Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer
- 1956 - Tom Leykis, American radio personality
- 1959 - Joe Elliott, English musician (Def Leppard)
- 1960 - Chuck D, American rapper (Public Enemy)
- 1960 - Richard Roeper, American newspaper columnist and film critic
- 1962 - Robert Clift, British field hockey player
- 1963 - Coolio, American rapper
- 1965 - Sam Mendes, British stage and film director
- 1970 - David James, English footballer
- 1973 - Tempestt Bledsoe, American actress
- 1978 - Edgerrin James, American football player

Deaths


- 371 - St Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop
- 1137 - King Louis VI of France (b. 1081)
- 1227 - Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)
- 1402 - Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England (b. 1341)
- 1457 - Lorenzo Valla, Italian humanist
- 1464 - Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1386)
- 1541 - Simon Grynaeus, German theologian (b. 1493)
- 1546 - Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1506)
- 1557 - Olaus Magnus, Swedish writer (b. 1490)
- 1580 - Albrecht Giese IV, German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)
- 1589 - Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
- 1598 - Abraham Ortelius, Belgian cartographer (b. 1527)
- 1714 - Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1665)
- 1787 - Alphonsus Liguori, Italian founder of the Redemptionist order (b. 1696)
- 1796 - Robert Pigot, British army officer (b. 1720)
- 1798 - François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1853)
- 1851 - William Joseph Behr, German writer (b. 1775)
- 1917 - Frank Little, American labor organizer (lynched) (b. 1879)
- 1918 - John Riley Banister, American cowboy and Texas Ranger (b. 1854)
- 1920 - Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist leader (b. 1856)
- 1964 - Johnny Burnette, American singer (b. 1934)
- 1967 - Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- 1970 - Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)
- 1970 - Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
- 1973 - Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer (b. 1882)
- 1977 - Gary Powers, American spy plane pilot (b. 1929)
- 1981 - Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (b. 1923)
- 1989 - John Ogdon, English pianist (b. 1937)
- 1990 - Norbert Elias, German sociologist (b. 1897)
- 1990 - Graham Young, British serial killer (b. 1947)
- 1996 - Frida Boccara, French singer (b. 1940)
- 1996 - Tadeus Reichstein, Polish chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1897)
- 1999 - Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian-born writer (b. 1897)
- 2001 - Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
- 2003 - Guy Thys, Belgian football coach (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)
- 2004 - Philip Hauge Abelson American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Al Aronowitz, American music journalist (b. 1928)
- 2005 - King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)
- 2005 - Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (b. 1920)
- 2005 - Wibo, Dutch cartoonist (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances


- Orthodox Christianity - Procession of the Cross
- Angola - Armed Forces Day
- Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago - Emancipation Day
- Benin - National Day
- People's Republic of China - Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army
- Democratic Republic of Congo - Parent's Day
- Nicaragua - Fiesta Day
- Rastafari movement - Celebration of the liberation of Haile Selassie from slavery
- Switzerland - National Day
- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Kamál (Perfection) - First day of the eighth month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Lughnasadh - Lá Lúnasa, the traditional first day of Autumn in Ireland.
- Lammas - Neopagan festival of Lammas
- Lebanon - Army's Day (Eid al-Jaysh)
- Yorkshire, United Kingdom - Yorkshire Day
- Civic Holiday in Canada (2005, the first Monday of August)
- Citizenship Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050801.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- July 31 - August 2 - July 1 - September 1 -- listing of all days als:1. August ko:8월 1일 ms:1 Ogos ja:8月1日 simple:August 1 th:1 สิงหาคม

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน



First Crusade

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to regain control of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Christian Holy Land from Muslims. What started as a minor call for aid quickly turned into a wholesale migration and conquest of territory outside of Europe. Both knights and peasants from many different nations of western Europe, with little central leadership, travelled over land and by sea towards Jerusalem and captured the city in July 1099, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states. Although these gains lasted for fewer than two hundred years, the Crusade was a major turning point in the expansion of Western power, and was the only crusade—in contrast to the many that followed—to achieve its stated goal.

Background

The origins of the Crusades in general, and of the First Crusade in particular, stem from events earlier in the Middle Ages. The breakdown of the Carolingian empire in previous centuries, combined with the relative stability of European borders after the Christianization of the Vikings and Magyars, gave rise to an entire class of warriors who now had very little to do but fight among themselves and terrorize the peasant population. Outlets for this violence took the form of campaigns against non-Christians. The Reconquista in Spain was one such outlet, which occupied Spanish knights and some mercenaries from elsewhere in Europe in the fight against the Islamic Moors. Elsewhere, the Normans were fighting for control of Sicily, while Pisa, Genoa and Aragon were all actively fighting Islamic strongholds in Mallorca and Sardinia, freeing the coasts of Italy and Spain from Muslim raids. Because of these ongoing wars, the idea of a war against the Muslims was not implausible to the European nations. Muslims occupied the centre of the Christian universe, Jerusalem, which, along with the surrounding land, was considered one giant relic, the place where Christ had lived and died. In 1074, Pope Gregory VII called for the milites Christi ("knights of Christ") to go to the aid of the Byzantine Empire in the east. The Byzantines had suffered a serious defeat at the hands of the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert three years previously. This call, while largely ignored, combined with the large numbers of pilgrimages to the Holy Land in the 11th century, focused a great deal of attention on the east. It was Pope Urban II who first disseminated to the general public the idea of a Crusade to capture the Holy Land with the famous words: "Deus le volt!" ("God wills it!")

The East in the late eleventh century

Western Europe's immediate neighbour to the southeast was the Byzantine Empire, who were fellow Christians but who had long followed a separate Orthodox rite. Under emperor Alexius I Comnenus, the empire was largely confined to Europe and the western coast of Anatolia, and faced enemies in the Normans in the west and the Seljuks in the east. Further east, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were all under Muslim control, but were politically and, to some extent, culturally fragmented at the time of the First Crusade, which certainly contributed to the Crusade's success. Anatolia and Syria were controlled by the Sunni Seljuks, formerly in one large empire ("Great Seljuk") but by this point divided into many smaller states. Alp Arslan had defeated the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert in 1071 and incorporated much of Anatolia into Great Seljuk, but this empire was split apart by civil war after the death of Malik Shah I in 1092. In the Sultanate of Rüm in Anatolia, Malik Shah was succeeded by Kilij Arslan I and in Syria by his brother Tutush I, who died in 1095. Tutush's sons Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and Damascus respectively, further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other, as well as towards Kerbogha, the atabeg of Mosul. These states were on the whole more concerned with consolidating their own territories and gaining control of their neighbours, than with cooperating against the crusaders. Elsewhere in nominal Seljuk territory were the Ortoqids in northeastern Syria and northern Mesopotamia. They controlled Jerusalem until 1098. In eastern Anatolia and northern Syria was a state founded by Danishmend, a Seljuk mercenary; the crusaders did not have significant contact with either group until after the Crusade. The Hashshashin were also becoming important in Syrian affairs. Egypt and much of Palestine were controlled by the Arab Shi'ite Fatimids, whose empire was significantly smaller since the arrival of the Seljuks; Alexius I had advised the crusaders to work with the Fatimids against their common Seljuk enemies. The Fatimids, at this time ruled by caliph al-Musta'li (although all actual power was held by the vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah), had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1076, but recaptured it from the Ortoqids in 1098 while the crusaders were on the march. The Fatimids did not, at first, consider the crusaders a threat, assuming they had been sent by the Byzantines and that they would be content with recapturing Syria, leaving Palestine alone; they did not send an army against the crusaders until they were already at Jerusalem.

Chronological sequence of the Crusade

The Council of Clermont

Main article: Council of Clermont In March of 1095 Alexius I sent envoys to the Council of Piacenza to ask Urban for aid against the Turks. The emperor's request met with a favourable response from Urban, who hoped to heal the Great Schism of 40 years prior and re-unite the Church under papal supremacy as "chief bishop and prelate over the whole world" (as he referred to himself at Clermont, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html#Fulcher]), by helping the Eastern churches in their time of need. At the Council of Clermont, assembled in the heart of France in November 1095, Urban gave an impassioned sermon to a large audience of French nobles and clergy. He summoned the audience to wrest control of Jerusalem from the hands of the Muslims. France, he said, was overcrowded and the land of Canaan was overflowing with milk and honey. He spoke of the problems of noble violence and the solution was to turn swords to God's own service: "let robbers become knights." [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html#Fulcher] He spoke of rewards both on earth and in heaven, where remission of sins was offered to any who might die in the undertaking. The crowd was stirred to frenzied enthusiasm with cries of "Deus le volt!" ("God wills it!"). Urban's sermon is among the most important speeches in European history. There are many versions of the speech on record, but all were written after Jerusalem had been captured, and it is difficult to know what was actually said and what was recreated in the aftermath of the successful crusade. However, it is clear that the response to the speech was much larger than expected. For the rest of 1095 and into 1096, Urban spread the message throughout France, and urged his bishops and legates to preach in their own dioceses elsewhere in France, Germany, and Italy as well. Urban tried to forbid certain people (including women, monks, and the sick) from joining the crusade, but found this to be nearly impossible. In the end the majority of those who took up the call were not knights, but peasants who were not wealthy and had little in the way of fighting skills, but whose millennial and apocalyptic yearnings found release from the daily oppression of their lives, in an outpouring of a new emotional and personal piety that was not easily harnessed by the ecclesiastical and lay aristocracy.

The People's Crusade

Main article: People's Crusade Urban planned the departure of the crusade for August 15, 1096, but months before this a number of unexpected armies of peasants and lowly knights organized and set off for Jerusalem on their own. They were led by a charismatic monk and powerful orator named Peter the Hermit of Amiens. The response was beyond expectations: while Urban might have expected a few thousand knights, he ended up with a migration numbering up to 100,000 mostly unskilled fighters including women and children. Lacking military discipline, and in what likely seemed to the participants a strange land (eastern Europe) with strange customs, those first Crusaders quickly landed in trouble, in Christian territory. The problem was one of supply as well as culture: the people needed food and supplies, and they expected host cities to give them the foods and supplies - or at least sell them at prices they felt reasonable. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, the locals did not always agree, and this quickly led to fighting and skirmishing. On their way down the Danube, Peter's followers looted Hungarian territory and were attacked by the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, and even a Byzantine army near Nis. About a quarter of Peter's followers were killed, but the rest arrived largely intact at Constantinople in August. Constantinople was big for that time period in Europe, but so was Peter's "army", and cultural difference and a reluctance to supply such a large number of incoming people led to further tensions. In Constantinople, moreover, Peter's followers weren't the only band of crusaders—they joined with other crusading armies from France and Italy. Alexius, not knowing what else to do with such a large and unusual (and foreign) army, quickly ferried them across the Bosporus. After crossing into Asia Minor the Crusaders began to quarrel and the armies broke up into two separate camps. The Turks were experienced, savvy, and had local knowledge; most of the People's Crusade—a bunch of amateur warriors—was massacred upon entering Seljuk territory. Peter survived, however, and would later join the main Crusader army. Another army of Bohemians and Saxons did not make it past Hungary before splitting up.

The German Crusade

Main article: German Crusade, 1096 German Crusade, 1096 The First Crusade ignited a long tradition of organized violence against Jews in European culture. While anti-Semitism had existed in Europe for centuries, the First Crusade marks the first mass organized violence against Jewish communities. Setting off in the early summer of 1096, a German army of around 10,000 soldiers led by Gottschalk, Volkmar, and Emicho, proceeded northward through the Rhine valley, in the opposite direction to Jerusalem, began a series of pogroms which some historians call "the first Holocaust" (1991, Jonathan Riley-Smith, pg. 50). The preaching of the crusade inspired further anti-Semitism. According to some preachers, Jews and Muslims were enemies of Christ, and enemies were to be fought or converted to Christianity. The general public apparently assumed that "fought" meant "fought to the death", or "killed". The Christian conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment of a Christian emperor there would supposedly instigate the End Times, during which the Jews were supposed to convert to Christianity. In parts of France and Germany, Jews were perceived as just as much of an enemy as Muslims: they were thought to be responsible for the crucifixion, and they were more immediately visible than the far-away Muslims. Many people wondered why they should travel thousands of miles to fight non-believers when there were already non-believers closer to home. The crusaders moved north through the Rhine valley into well-known Jewish communities such as Cologne, and then southward. Jewish communities were given the option of converting to Christianity or be slaughtered. Most would not convert and as news of the mass killings spread many Jewish communities committed mass suicides in horrific scenes. Thousands of Jews were massacred, despite some attempts by local clergy and secular authorities to shelter them. The massacres were justified by the claim that Urban's speech at Clermont promised reward from God for killing non-Christians of any sort, not just Muslims. Although the papacy abhorred and preached against the purging of Muslim and Jewish inhabitants during this and future crusades, there were numerous attacks on Jews following every crusade movement. Cologne

The Princes' Crusade

The First Crusade did not end with the disasters of the People's Crusade and the massacres of Jewish people. The Princes' Crusade, also known as the Barons' Crusade, set out later in 1096 in a more orderly manner, led by various nobles with bands of knights from different regions of Europe. The three most significant of these were the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy; Raymond IV of Toulouse, who represented the knights of Provence; and Bohemund of Taranto, representing the Normans of southern Italy with his nephew Tancred. Other contingents were Lorrainers under the brothers Godfrey of Bouillon, Eustace and Baldwin of Boulogne; Flemings under Count Robert II of Flanders; northern French Robert of Normandy (older brother of King William II of England), Stephen, Count of Blois, and Hugh of Vermandois (younger brother of King Philip I of France, who was forbidden from participating as he was under a ban of excommunication).

The march to Jerusalem

Leaving Europe around the appointed time in August, the various armies took different paths to Constantinople and gathered outside its city walls in December of 1096, two months after the annihilation of the People's Crusade by the Turks. Accompanying the knights were many poor men (pauperes) who could afford basic clothing and perhaps an old weapon. Peter the Hermit, who joined the Princes' Crusade at Constantinople, was considered responsible for their well-being, and they were able to organize themselves into small groups, perhaps akin to military companies, often led by an impoverished knight. One of the largest of these groups, consisting of the survivors of the People's Crusade, named itself the "Tafurs". The Princes arrived with little food and expected provisions and help from Alexius I. Alexius was understandably suspicious after his experiences with the People's Crusade, and also because the knights included his old Norman enemy Bohemund. In return for food, Alexius I requested the leaders to swear fealty to him and promise to return to the Byzantine Empire any land recovered from the Turks. Without food or provisions they eventually had no choice but to take the oath, though not until all sides had agreed to various compromises, and only after warfare had almost broken out in the city. Only Raymond avoided swearing the oath, instead allying with Alexius against their common enemy Bohemund. Alexius agreed to send out a Byzantine army to accompany the crusaders through Asia Minor. Their first objective was Nicaea, an old Byzantine city, but now the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rüm under Kilij Arslan I. The city was subjected to a lengthy siege, which was somewhat ineffectual as the crusaders could not blockade the lake on which the city was situated, and from which it could be provisioned. Arslan, from outside the city, advised the garrison to surrender if their situation became untenable. Alexius, fearing the crusaders would sack Nicea and destroy its wealth, secretly accepted the surrender of the city; the crusaders awoke on the morning of June 19, 1097 to see Byzantine standards flying from the walls. The crusaders were forbidden to loot it, and were not allowed to enter the city except in small escorted bands. This caused a further rift between the Byzantines and the crusaders. The crusaders now began the journey to Jerusalem. Stephen of Blois wrote home, stating he believed it would take five weeks. In fact, the journey would take two years. The crusaders, still accompanied by some Byzantine troops under Taticius, marched on towards Dorylaeum, where Bohemund was surrounded by Kilij Arslan. At the Battle of Dorylaeum on July 1, Godfrey broke through the Turkish lines, but he too was surrounded, and the two crusader armies were saved only by the timely appearance of the troops led by the legate Adhemar, who defeated the Turks and looted their camp. Kilij Arslan withdrew and the crusaders marched almost unopposed through Asia Minor towards Antioch, except for a battle in September in which they again defeated the Turks. The march through Asia was unpleasant. It was the middle of summer and the crusaders had very little food and water; many men died, as did many horses. Christians, in Asia as in Europe, sometimes gave them gifts of food and money, but more often the crusaders looted and pillaged whenever the opportunity presented itself. Individual leaders continued to dispute the overall leadership, although none of them were powerful enough to take command; still, Raymond and Adhemar were generally recognized as the leaders. After passing through the Cilician Gates, Baldwin of Boulogne set off on his own towards the Armenian lands around the Euphrates. In Edessa early in 1098, he was adopted as heir by King Thoros, a Greek Orthodox ruler who was disliked by his Armenian subjects. Thoros was soon assassinated and Baldwin became the new ruler, thus creating the County of Edessa, the first of the crusader states.

Siege of Antioch

Main article: Siege of Antioch The crusader army, meanwhile, marched on to Antioch, which lay about half way between Constantinople and Jerusalem. They arrived in October, 1097 and set it to a siege which lasted almost 8 months. Antioch was so large that the crusaders did not have enough troops to fully surround it, and thus it was able to stay partially supplied. As the siege dragged on, it was clear that Bohemund wanted the city for himself. In May 1098 Kerbogha of Mosul approached Antioch to relieve the siege. Bohemund bribed the Armenian guard of the city to open the gates, and in June the crusaders entered the city and killed most of the inhabitants. However, only a few days later the Muslims arrived, laying siege to the former besiegers. At this point a minor monk by the name of Peter Bartholomew claimed to have discovered the Holy Lance in the city, and although some were skeptical, this was seen as a sign that they would be victorious. On June 28 the crusaders defeated Kerbogha in a pitched battle outside the city, as Kerbogha was unable to organize the different factions in his army. While the crusaders were marching towards the Muslims, the Fatimid section of the army deserted the Turkish contingent, as they feared Kerbogah would become too powerful if he were to defeat the Crusaders. According to legend, an army of Christian saints came to the aid of the crusaders during the battle. Bohemund argued that Alexius had deserted the crusade and thus invalidated all of their oaths to him. Bohemund asserted his claim to Antioch, but not everyone agreed, and the crusade was delayed for the rest of the year while the nobles argued amongst themselves. It is a common historiographical assumption that the Franks of northern France, the Provencals of southern France, and the Normans of southern Italy considered themselves separate "nations" and that each wanted to increase its status. This may have had something to do with the disputes, but personal ambition is more likely to blame. Meanwhile a plague (perhaps typhus) broke out, killing many, including the legate Adhemar. There were now even fewer horses than before, and Muslim peasants refused to give them food. In December, the capture of the Arab town of Ma'arrat al-Numan took place, and with it the first known incident of cannibalism by the crusaders. The minor knights and soldiers became restless and threatened to continue to Jerusalem without their squabbling leaders. Finally, at the beginning of 1099 the march was renewed, leaving Bohemund behind as the first Prince of Antioch.

Siege of Jerusalem

Prince of Antioch Main article: Siege of Jerusalem Proceeding down the coast of the Mediterranean, the crusaders encountered little resistance, as local rulers preferred to make peace with them and give them supplies rather than fight. On May 7 the crusaders reached Jerusalem, which had been recaptured from the Seljuks by the Fatimids of Egypt only the year before. Many Crusaders wept on seeing the city they had journeyed so long to reach. As with Antioch the crusaders put the city to a lengthy siege, in which the crusaders themselves suffered many casualties, due to the lack of food and water around Jerusalem. Of the estimated 7,000 knights who took part in the Princes' Crusade, only about 1,500 remained. Faced with a seemingly impossible task, their morale was raised when a priest by the name of Peter Desiderius claimed to have had a divine vision instructing them to fast and then march in a barefoot procession around the city walls, after which the city would fall in nine days, following the Biblical example of Joshua at the siege of Jericho. On July 8, 1099 the crusaders performed the procession as instructed by Desiderius. Meanwhile, siege engines were constructed and seven days later on July 15, the crusaders were able to end the siege by breaking down sections of the walls and entering the city. Over the course of that afternoon, evening and next morning, the crusaders murdered almost every inhabitant of Jerusalem. Muslims, Jews, and even eastern Christians were all massacred. Although many Muslims sought shelter in Solomon's Temple (known today as Al-Aqsa Mosque), the crusaders spared few lives. According to the anonymous Gesta Francorum, in what some believe to be an exaggerated account of the massacre which subsequently took place there, "...the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles..."[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-jlem.html#gesta2]. Other accounts of blood flowing up to the bridles of horses are reminiscent of a passage from the Book of Revelation (14:20). Tancred claimed the Temple quarter for himself and offered protection to some of the Muslims there, but he was unable to prevent their deaths at the hands of his fellow crusaders. According to Fulcher of Chartres: "Indeed, if you had been there you would have seen our feet coloured to our ankles with the blood of the slain. But what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared."[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-jlem.html#fulcher1] In the days following the massacre, Godfrey of Bouillon was made Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Protector of the Holy Sepulchre), refusing to be named king in the city where Christ had died. In the last action of the crusade, he led an army which defeated an invading Fatimid army at the Battle of Ascalon. Godfrey died in July, 1100, and was succeeded by his brother, Baldwin of Edessa, who took the title of "King of Jerusalem".

The Crusade of 1101 and the establishment of the kingdom

Main article: Crusade of 1101 Having captured Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the crusading vow was now fulfilled. However, there were many who had gone home before reaching Jerusalem, and many who had never left Europe at all. When the success of the crusade became known, these people were mocked and scorned by their families and threatened with excommunication by the clergy. Many crusaders who had remained with the crusade all the way to Jerusalem also went home; according to Fulcher of Chartres there were only a few hundred knights left in the newfound kingdom in 1100. In 1101 another crusade set out, including Stephen of Blois and Hugh of Vermandois, both of whom had returned home before reaching Jerusalem. This crusade was mostly annihilated in Asia Minor by the Seljuks, but the survivors helped reinforce the kingdom when they arrived in Jerusalem. In the following years assistance was also provided by Italian merchants who established themselves in the Syrian ports, and from the religious and military orders of the Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitaller which were created during Baldwin I's reign.

Analysis of the First Crusade

Aftermath

The success of the First Crusade was unprecedented. Newly achieved stability in the west left a warrior aristocracy in search of new conquests and patrimony, and the new prosperity of major towns also meant that money was available to equip expeditions. The Italian naval towns, in particular Venice and Genoa, were interested in extending trade. The Papacy saw the Crusades as a way to assert Catholic influence as a unifying force, with war as a religious mission. This was a new attitude to religion: it brought religious discipline, previously applicable to monks, to soldiery—the new concept of a religious warrior and the chivalric ethos. The First Crusade succeeded in establishing the "Crusader States" of Edessa, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Tripoli in Palestine and Syria (as well as allies along the Crusaders' route, such as Cilician Armenia). Back at home in western Europe, those who had survived to reach Jerusalem were treated as heroes. Robert of Flanders was nicknamed "Hierosolymitanus" thanks to his exploits. The life of Godfrey of Bouillon became legendary even within a few years of his death. In some cases the political situation at home was greatly affected by absence on the crusade: while Robert Curthose was away, Normandy had passed to his brother Henry I of England, and their conflict resulted in the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. Meanwhile the establishment of the crusader states in the east helped ease Seljuk pressure on the Byzantine Empire, which had regained some of its Anatolian territory with crusader help, and experienced a period of relative peace and prosperity in the 12th century. The effect on the Muslim dynasties of the east was gradual but important. The instability of the Muslim territories in the east had at first prevented a coherent defense against the aggressive and expansionist Latin states. Cooperation between them remained difficult for many decades, but from Egypt to Syria to Baghdad there were calls for the expulsion of the crusaders, culminating in the relative unity of the eastern Muslim world and the recapture of Jerusalem under Saladin later in the century.

The pilgrims

Although it is called the First Crusade, no one saw himself as a "crusader." The term crusade is an early 12th century term that first appears in Latin over 100 years after the "first" crusade. Nor did the "crusaders" see themselves as the first, since they did not know there would be more. They saw themselves simply as pilgrims (peregrinatores) on a journey (iter), and were referred to as such in contemporary accounts.

Popularity of the Crusade

What started as a minor call for military aid turned in to a mass migration of peoples. The call to go on crusade was very popular. Two medieval roles, holy warrior and pilgrim, were merged into one. Like a holy warrior in a holy war, one would carry a weapon and fight for the Church with all its spiritual benefits, including the privilege of an indulgence or martyrdom if one died in battle. Like a pilgrim on a pilgrimage, one would have the right to hospitality and personal protection of self and property by the Church. The benefits of the indulgence were therefore twofold, both for fighting as a warrior of the Church and for travelling as a pilgrim. Thus, an indulgence would be granted regardless of whether one lived or died. In addition, there were feudal obligations, as many crusaders went because they were commanded by their lord and had no choice. There were also family obligations, with many people joining the crusade in order to support relatives who had also taken the crusading vow. All of these motivated different people for different reasons and contributed to the popularity of the crusade.

Spiritual versus earthly rewards

Older scholarship on this issue asserts that the bulk of the participants were likely younger sons of nobles who were dispossessed of land and influenced by the practise of primogeniture, and poorer knights who were looking for a new life in the wealthy east. However, current research suggests that although Urban promised crusaders spiritual as well as material benefit, the primary aim of most crusaders was spiritual rather than material gain. Moreover, recent research by Jonathan Riley-Smith instead shows that the crusade was an immensely expensive undertaking, affordable only to those knights who were already fairly wealthy, such as Hugh of Vermandois and Robert Curthose, who were relatives of the French and English royal families, and Raymond of Toulouse, who ruled much of southern France. Even then, these wealthy knights had to sell much of their land to relatives or the church before they could afford to participate. Their relatives, too, often had to impoverish themselves in order to raise money for the crusade. As Riley-Smith says, "there really is no evidence to support the proposition that the crusade was an opportunity for spare sons to make themselves scarce in order to relieve their families of burdens." (The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, pg. 47) As an example of spiritual over earthly motivation, Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin settled previous quarrels with the church by bequeathing their land to local clergy. The charters denoting these transactions were written by clergymen, not the knights themselves, and seem to idealize the knights as pious men seeking only to fulfill a vow of pilgrimage. Further, poorer knights (minores, as opposed to the greater knights, the principes) could go on crusade only if they expected to survive off of almsgiving, or if they could enter the service of a wealthier knight, as was the case with Tancred, who agreed to serve his uncle Bohemund. Later crusades would be organized by wealthy kings and emperors, or would be supported by special crusade taxes.

Selected sources and further reading

Primary sources


- Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana
- Anna Comnena, Alexiad
- Guibert of Nogent, Dei gesta per Francos
- Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana
- Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum (anonymous)
- Peter Tudebode, Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere
- Raymond of Aguilers, Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem
- Ibn al-Qalanisi, The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades

Primary sources online


- Selected letters by Crusaders:
  - Anselme of Ribemont, [http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1stCrusade1.htm Anselme of Ribemont, Letter to Manasses II, Archbishop of Reims] (1098)
  - Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres, [http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1stcrusade2.html Letter to his wife, Adele] (1098)
  - Daimbert, Godfrey and Raymond, [http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1stcru3.html Letter to the Pope], (1099)
- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1k.html#The%20First%20Crusade Online primary sources] from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
  - Peter the Hermit and the Popular Crusade: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/peterhermit.html Collected Accounts].
  - The Crusaders Journey to Constantinople: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-tocp.html Collected Accounts].
  - The Crusaders at Constantinople: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-atcp.html Collected Accounts].
  - The Siege and Capture of Nicea: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-nicea.html Collected Accounts].
  - The Siege and Capture of Antioch: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-antioch.html Collected Accounts].
  - The Siege and Capture of Jerusalem: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cde-jlem.html Collected Accounts].
- Fulcher of Chartres: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/fulk2.html The Capture of Jerusalem], 1099.
- Ekkehard of Aura: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ekkehard-aur1.html On the Opening of the First Crusade].
- Albert of Aix and Ekkehard of Aura: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1096jews.html Emico and the Slaughter of the Rhineland Jews].
- Soloman bar Samson: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1096jews-mainz.html The Crusaders in Mainz], attacks on Rhineland Jewry.
- Ali ibn Tahir Al-Sulami (d. 1106): [http://www.arts.cornell.edu/prh3/447/texts/Sulami.html Kitab al-Jihad] (extracts). First known Islamic discussion of the concept of jihad written in the aftermath of the First Crusade.

Secondary sources


- Asbridge, Thomas. The First Crusade: A New History. Oxford: 2004. ISBN 0195178238.
- Bartlett, Robert. The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Exchange, 950–1350. Princeton: 1994. ISBN 0691037809.
- Chazan, Robert. In the Year 1096: The First Crusade and the Jews. Jewish Publication Society, 1997. ISBN 0827605757.
- Hillenbrand, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0415929148.
- Holt, P.M. The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517. Longman, 1989. ISBN 0582493021.
- Mayer, Hans Eberhard. The Crusades. John Gillingham, translator. Oxford: 1988. ISBN 0198730977.
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading. University of Pennsylvania: 1991. ISBN 0812213637.
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan, editor. The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford: 2002. ISBN 0192803123.
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The First Crusaders, 1095–1131. Cambridge: 1998. ISBN 0521646030.
- Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades: Volume 1, The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge: 1987 ISBN 052134770X
- Setton, Kenneth, editor. A History of the Crusades. Madison: 1969–1989 ([http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/HistCrusades/ available online]).

Bibliographies


- [http://www.deremilitari.org/biblio/firstcrusade.htm Bibliography of the First Crusade (1095-1099)] compiled by Alan V. Murray, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds. Extensive and up to date as of 2004. Category:Crusades Category:1090s ja:第1回十字軍

Kerbogha

Kerbogha was Atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier. In 1098, when he heard that the Crusaders had besieged Antioch, he gathered his troops and marched to relieve the city. By the time he arrived, on July 7, the Crusaders had been in possession of the city for four days. They were not able to restock the city before Kerbogha, in turn, was besieging the Crusaders in the city. During the siege, Peter the Hermit was sent as emissary to Kerbogha by the Christian princes in the city, to suggest that the parties settle all differences by duel. Presumably feeling his position secure, Kerbogha did not see this course of action as being in his interest and he declined. During the siege, inside the city, Peter Bartholomew claimed to have discovered the Holy Lance through a vision. This discovery re-energized the Christian army. At the same time, disagreements and infighting broke out within the Atabeg's army. When Bohemond, the leader of the Christian army decided to attack, Kerbogha was taken by surprise because the information he had received was of a weak, disorganized Christian army. Instead, he found himself facing a motivated, unified Christian army while his own force was divided. He had to retreat, and returned to Mosul a broken man. Category:Crusades Category:Seljuk Turks

Mosul

Mosul (; , Kurdish: Mûsil, Assyrian: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nîněwâ) is a city in northern Iraq. It stands on both banks of the Tigris River, with five bridges linking the two sides, some 396 km (250 miles) northwest of Baghdad. In 1987, the city's population was 664,221 people; the 2002 population estimate was 1,739,800.[http://www.library.uu.nl/wesp/populstat/Asia/iraqt.htm] It is the nation's second largest city, after Baghdad. About 80% of the population of Mosul is Arab, with a minority of Kurds, Assyrians, and Turkomans. However, the region to the north is predominantly Kurdish. The fabric muslin was long manufactured here and is named for this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.

History

Ancient and Ottoman Mosul

The area around Mosul has been continuously inhabited for at least 8,000 years. The city itself was founded by the Assyrians as an outpost or citadel located on the hill of Q'leat on the right bank of the Tigris, across from the ancient city of Nineveh (now the town of Ninewa). In approximately 850 BC, King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria chose the city of Nimrud to build his capital city where present day Mosul is located. In approximately 700 BC, King Sennacherib made Nineveh the new capital of Assyria. The mound of Kuyunjik in Mosul is the site of the palaces of King Sennacherib and his grandson Ashurbanipal. Probably built on the site of an earlier Assyrian fortress, Mosul later succeeded Nineveh as the Tigris bridgehead of the road that linked Syria and Anatolia with Persia. Mosul became an important commercial center in the 6th century BC. It was conquered briefly by the Roman Empire before falling under Muslim rule in 637 AD. It was