Long Journey to Jerusalem | Christian Heritage

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By Land

A crusader leaving from Paris would have traveled much more than 2,100 miles (3,360 km) to Jerusalem. That journey is approximately equal to going for walks from New York to Salt Lake Town. This length does not include things like various facet journeys to forage for foodstuff or skirmish with enemy forces.

Most pilgrims walked, and they experienced to climb steep mountains and cross semi-desert. The band tramped perhaps 12–15 miles per working day, much less in mountainous locations. As a result, the journey took quite a few months. With sieges and delays for accumulating food items and materials, most campaigns lasted for yrs. Hundreds of crusaders deserted or died from ailment, starvation, or warfare.

By Sea

The perilous voyage from Genoa to Antioch stretched around 1,450 nautical miles. Regardless of storms, even so, sea journey was considerably more quickly than travel overland. In 1248, for illustration, an immense fleet led by Louis IX sailed from France to Cyprus in about a few months.

Significantly, then, crusaders traveled all or portion of the way by ship. And as soon as in Palestine, they depended on shipping for supplies. This enriched Italian shipping towns these kinds of as Genoa and Venice.

The Goal

The Holy Land. Crusaders quickly settled and dominated more than 4 new “countries” in Palestine: the County of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, County of Tripoli, and Kingdom of Jerusalem. Nevertheless these did not final extensive, until finally 1291 Christians managed extensive stretches of shoreline in contemporary-working day Israeli Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey.