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Holy Land

Denotes areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible.

34 dated entries naming Holy Land, drawn from 33 separate years between 31 BCE and 1890 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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1st century BC

  • 31 BCE31 BC Judea earthquake, earthquake mentioned in catalogues of historical earthquakes. It affected the Herodian Kingdom of Judea in the Holy Land.source

4th century

  • 327Approximate traditional date – Helena, mother of Constantine, returning from her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, founds Stavrovouni Monastery on Cyprus.source
  • 384The Gallaeci or Gallic woman Egeria concludes her Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land at about this date; her narrative of it, the Itinerarium Egeriae, may be the earliest surviving formal writing by a woman in western European culture.source

5th century

  • 441Pulcheria leaves for the seaport Hebdomon (Turkey), and becomes a nun to support Nestorianism in the Holy Land (Palestine).source

6th century

  • 565The Madaba Map is made in the Byzantine church of Saint George. The floor mosaic contains the depiction of the Holy Land (approximate date).source

11th century

  • 1095November 18 – The Council of Clermont begins. The synod is called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.source
  • 1096December 25 – Godfrey of Bouillon is appointed the primary leader of the First Crusade, making it a largely French war in practice and causing the inhabitants of the Holy Land to refer to Europeans generally as "Franks". Godfrey and the other leaders agree to take an oath of loyalty to Alexios I.source

12th century

  • 1107Autumn – King Sigurd I sails for the Holy Land with 60 ships (with some 5,000 men) on the first stage of the Norwegian Crusade to Palestine. Now 17, he is the first European king to support the Crusaders in the Levant. Sigurd leaves his older brother Eystein I to rule the kingdom in his absence – and visits England, France, Galicia and Sicily en route.source
  • 1113January 15 – The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitaller), founded to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, is formally recognized by the papal bull (proclamation) Pie Postulatio Voluntatis issued by Pope Paschal II.source
  • 1125King Henry I of England arranges a marriage between his nephew Stephen of Blois and the 20-year-old Matilda, daughter and heiress of Eustace III, count of Boulogne. This gives Stephen control of the County of Boulogne and also lands in England that have belonged to Eustace (who dies on his return from the Holy Land).source
  • 1147Late spring – An expedition of Crusaders and Englishmen, together with forces from Flanders, Frisia, Scotland and some German polities, leaves from Dartmouth in England for the Holy Land. Leadership is provided by Hervey de Glanvill, a Norman nobleman and constable of Suffolk, who leads a fleet of some 200 ships. Bad weather forces them to take refuge at the mouth of the Douro River, on the Portuguese coast, on June 16.source
  • 1148February 1 – A small Crusader fleet of Genoese and English ships sets sail from Lisbon for the Holy Land. The Anglo-Flemish Crusader fleet takes Oran.source
  • 1187Genoa takes Bonifacio (in Corsica) from Pisa. Pope Gregory VIII reconciles the differences between the states so that both may be used to expedite shipments to the Holy Land.source
  • 1190Spring – A German expeditionary force (some 15,000 men) led by Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) marches towards Constantinople, on the way to the Holy Land. Emperor Isaac II (Angelos), suspicious that Frederick is planning to conquer Constantinople, attempts to stop him by attacking the Crusaders. The German forces are too strong and they capture Adrianople. A peace treaty is signed by both Isaac and Frederick, that ensures the Germans are given supplies, and free passage through to Palestina.source
  • 1191May 8 – Richard I and his main fleet arrive in the Byzantine port of Limassol on Cyprus. He orders Isaac Komnenos to release the prisoners and his treasure. Isaac refuses, Richard embarks his forces, and takes Limassol. The Byzantine population and also the Latin merchants in their dislike of Isaac, show themselves friendly to the English invaders. Various leading Crusaders of the Holy Land arrive in Limassol, on May 11. Among them are King Guy of Lusignan of Jerusalem, Bohemond III of Antioch, Humphrey IV of Toron, and Leo I of Armenia. They declare their support for Richard in return that he supports them against their rival, Conrad of Montferrat.source

13th century

  • 1202April–May – The bulk of the Crusader army gathers at Venice, although with far smaller numbers than expected: about 12,000 men (4–5,000 knights and 8,000 soldiers) instead of 33,500 men. Several contingents decide to make their own way to the Holy Land by different routes. A Crusader fleet, sailing from Flanders, carrying supplies for the Counts Baldwin IX and his brother Henry of Flanders, winters in Marseille, but is slowed by adverse weather. Later it sails on to the Middle East, along with other contingents from southern France.source
  • 1212The Children's Crusade is organized. There are probably two separate movements of young people, both led by shepherd boys, neither of which embark for the Holy Land – but both of which suffer considerable hardship.source
  • 1225July 25 – The Agreement of San Germano is signed between the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Honorius III, with the Emperor Frederick agreeing to lead the Sixth Crusade to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Christian Holy Land in the Middle East from the Muslims. In return for the financing and the provision of soldiers by the Catholis Church in Syria, Frederick agrees to launch the Crusade on or before August 15, 1227.source
  • 1229February 18 – Treaty of Jaffa: Emperor Frederick II signs a 10-year truce together with Sultan Al-Kamil and his representatives; he manages to regain many parts of the Holy Land through political negotiation, rather than by resorting to military force or directly confronting the Muslim army. Frederick's achievements, including the control of Jerusalem (without the Temple Mount) and Bethlehem, with a corridor running through Lydda to the sea of Jaffa, as well as Nazareth and western Galilee, including Montfort Castle and Toron, and the remaining Muslim districts around Sidon. All Muslims are to be allowed the right of entry in Jerusalem and freedom of worship.source
  • 1234November – Pope Gregory IX proclaims war on the city of Rome after a local revolt forces him into exile. He issues the papal bull Rachel suum videns, calling for a new crusade to the Holy Land.source
  • 1249May – Nicaean–Latin Wars: Latin forces led by William of Villehardouin, arrive on the island of Rhodes on their way to join the Seventh Crusade. This causes the Nicaeans to raise the siege of Rhodes. William concludes an agreement with the Genoese and leaves behind some 100 knights before departing for the Holy Land.source
  • 1269September – An Aragonese contingent under King James I ("the Conqueror") sails from Barcelona to the Holy Land but is caught in a storm and badly damaged. One squadron reaches Acre, but later returns to Catalonia.source
  • 1272November 16 – King Henry III of England dies at the Palace of Westminster after a 56-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Edward I, who slowly returns from the Holy Land via Gascony.source
  • 1274May 7 – Second Council of Lyon: Pope Gregory X convenes a council at Lyon, after Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos gives assurances that the Orthodox Church is prepared to reunite with Rome. The council agrees to a settlement between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church over several key issues – Orthodox acceptance of papal primacy and the acceptance of the Nicene Creed with the Filioque clause. Gregory approves a tithe to support efforts to liberate the Holy Land from Muslims, and reaches apparent resolution of the schism, which ultimately proves unsuccessful. All but four mendicant orders of friars are suppressed. Catholic teaching on Purgatory is defined for the first time.source
  • 1276King Edward I of England ("Longshanks") orders the people of Bayonne in Gascony (as part of the only English possessions in France) to provide Castile with warships "to resist the Saracens by sea", but excuses himself from personal participation against the Marinid invasion in Spain because of his wars in Wales and his plan to lead a Crusade to the Holy Land.source
  • 1291May 18 – Siege of Acre: Mamluk forces under Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil capture Acre after a six-week siege. The Mamluks take the outer wall of the city after fierce fighting. The Military Orders drive them back temporarily, but three days later the inner wall is breached. King Henry II of Cyprus escapes, but the bulk of the defenders and most of the citizens perish in the fighting or are sold into slavery. The surviving knights fall back to the fortified towers and resist for ten days until the Mamluks breakthrough on May 28. The fall of Acre signals the end of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. No effective Crusade is raised to recapture the Holy Land afterward.source
  • 1295June 20 – Treaty of Anagni: Pope Boniface VIII arranges a peace treaty between King Philip IV of France ("the Fair"), Charles II of Naples ("the Lame"), and James II of Majorca. James returns Sicily to the Papal States, seeking to bring peace between the Capetian House of Anjou and the Kingdom of Sicily; the effort is in vain. Boniface is determined to put an end to the War of the Sicilian Vespers, because he wants to declare a new Crusade for the reconquest of the Holy Land.source

14th century

  • 1309November 4 – Pope Clement V declares that Knights Hospitaller will not be sent to the Holy Land and Jerusalem, and that they will be limited to defending the Mediterranean Sea including Cyprus and Rhodes.source
  • 1372March 12 – Saint Bridget sets out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, staying in Cyprus until May 12. In August, she is in Bethlehem where she sees a vision of Jesus' birth. In September, she sets sail for Naples, where she arrives in December.source
  • 1372October 10 – King Peter II of Cyrpus is crowned as King of Jerusalem at a ceremony in Famagusta, although the Christian kingdom in Jerusalem had been dissolved 80 years earlier after the "Holy Land" fell to Muslim control in 1291. Although leaders of the Genoese and Venetian communities at Famagusta appear together at symbolic ceremonies to hold the two reins of the King's horse, an argument over which leader would hold the rein on the right and who would hold the remaining rein on the left leads to a fight between the two communities after the Venetian leader is allowed to hold the rein on the right. With the Venetian winning the privilege, the Republic of Genoa organizes an expedition to invade and conquer Cyprus.source

15th century

  • 1446December 23 – On their way back to England after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the 37 pilgrims on the ship Cog Anne are killed when the vessel strikes a rock near the port of Modon in Greece.source
  • 1485February 3 – Three days after returning to Germany following his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, John V, Count of Nassau-Siegen founds the Franciscan monastery at his capital in Siegen.source

16th century

  • 1539July 18 – The siege of Castelnuovo (now the town of Herceg Novi in Montenegro) is started by General Hayreddin Barbarossa, leader of the Ottoman Empire's Army, after the Spanish commanding officer, Francisco de Sarmiento, rejects an offer of honorable surrender with safe passage. Spain had taken the city in war from the Ottomans in 1538, giving the Christian Europeans control of the eastern Mediterranean sea and access to the Holy Land. With 50,000 Ottomans against less than 4,000 Spanish defenders, Castelnuovo falls in less than three weeks.source

19th century

  • 1890English archaeologist Flinders Petrie excavates at Tell el-Hesi, Palestine (mistakenly identified as Tel Lachish), the first scientific excavation of an archaeological site in the Holy Land, during which he discovers how tells are formed.source

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