In the middle of the Eleventh Century, the peace of the eastern Mediterranean seemed assured for many years to come, but little did the people know what was ahead. In this project, I will be discussing the events that lead up to the first in a long line of crusades. I will also be mentioning the lives of some of the crusaders through letters that they wrote. The crusades were a time of confusion for most people, yet today we look back at them as a turning point. These Crusades were Christian military expeditions undertaken between the 11th and the 14th century to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The word crusade, which is taken from the Latin crux ("cross"), is a reference to th