• A changing world
• Words to Know: The Twelfth Century
• When a Castle Was a Castle
• The cross and the sword
• Church vs. State vs. People
• The age of chivalry
• King Arthur: Fact and Legend
• For More Information

Though the Crusades would continue in some form until 1464, the crusading movement reached its peak during the twelfth century, as Europeans fought to maintain what they had gained in the First Crusade. The Crusades were the heart of the Middle Ages, source of the ideas and images most closely associated with the medieval period; but they were also the turning point, the beginning...