Knights Templar. Liberation of Jerusalem in 1099

On 15 July 1099, crusaders of the First Crusade liberated Jerusalem from Muslim forces. It was a genuine liberation, because for over 300 years Jerusalem was a Christian city which Muslim Arabs invaded, conquered and occupied in 638 AD (it was a purely colonial, imperialist conquest as Arabs NEVER ruled the city before).

Liberation was bloody (to put it mildly); right after entering the city, crusaders began to ruthlessly massacre Muslims and Jews (about 40,000 were killed). It should be noted that atrocities committed against the inhabitants of cities taken by storm (i.e., those that did not surrender) after a siege were normal in medieval warfare by both Christians and Muslims.

Crusaders had already done so at Antioch, and Muslims (Fatimids) had done so themselves at Taormina, at Rometta, and at Tyre. It is speculated that the massacre of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, both Muslims and Jews, may have exceeded even these standards – but there is no irrefutable proof.

One week after crusaders triumphantly entered Jerusalem the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Crusader Kingdom) was established with Godfrey of Bouillon becoming its de-facto first king.

Liberation of Jerusalem led (standard practice at the time) to the conversion of Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount into Christian shrines. It was exactly the latter that made it possible for the team assembled by Hugh of Champagne, to begin digging for Ark of the Covenant in 1116 or so.

They found what they were looking for in late 1118 – and this find (and the availability of “office space” on the Temple Mount) made it both possible and necessary (vital even) to create the military-religious order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Knights Templar) in 1119.

After approval in 1120 by Council of Nablus of ecclesiastic and secular lords in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem the order became officially recognized in the Holy Land; and after approval in 1129 by Council of Troyes – in all Christendom.