Important+People

__**Pope Urban II **__ Pope Urban II was essentially the one to start the first crusade. He played a very inspiring part in the first and second Crusades. He spoke many uplifting speeches about the rewards of fighting in the war. He had his own motives though. First, Urban wanted to heal the split between the Byzantine and Roman Christian Churches, second, he wanted to gain more power politically by supporting the war.

**__Peter the Hermit__** Peter the Hermit was a French monk who lead the first crusade to success. Inspired by one of Pope Urban's speech, he encouraged many to fight, and preached about the importance of the Crusades. He preached from lands all around, including Italy, France, and Germany about the peoples' duty to fight for God.

__**Saladin**__ Saladin was the Muslim leader of the Third Crusade. In 1187 he aided the capture of Jerusalem. The only battle the Christians won against his leadership during the Third Crusade was the siege at Acre. He had a big rivalry against King Richard the Lionheart, but eventually formed a truce.

__**King Richard the Lionheart**__ Richard was king of England from 1157 to 1199. The king lead the Christians during the Third Crusade diligently against his rival Saladin, the leader of the Muslims, and succeeded in the Siege at Acre by crushing the Muslims.  More info on Crusaders and other important people during the Middle Ages can be found [|here]