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Search Dream Big Place Mall. Rules, procedures and game-specific rules apply.

Place must be 18 or over. Welcome to a history of Europe.

Key Battles, the Siege of Jerusalem, 1099.

Last week I described the events in Western Europe, leading up to November 1095, when a historic sermon from Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont triggered the First Crusade.

This week I wish to bring up to date the story from the perspective of the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East, the region which is about to be invaded.

In a previous podcast on the Battle of Yarmouk of the year 636, I described the rise of a new superpower, based on the religion of Islam.

In the 7th century, the Arabs conquered Persia and invaded large parts of the Byzantine territory.

Of particular relevance to today's podcast is their conquest of the Levant.

That is the East Mediterranean coastline, up to the area of today's northern Syria,

plus a small but highly strategic part of Asia Minor directly to the north of Syria called Silesia.

Silesia was to become a key area during the time of the Crusades.

It is a coastal area in the far northeast corner of the Mediterranean, around the Bay of Alexandretta,

surrounded by mountain ranges, especially the Taurus Mountains.

Probably the majority population there, at the time of the Crusades, were Armenians,

...