The first Crusade began around the end of which century?

The call to arms that launched the first great Holy War of the Middle Ages was made by Pope Urban II in 1095. At the Council of Clermont in France, he delivered a powerful sermon urging Western Christians to march east and aid the Byzantine Empire against the invading Seljuk Turks, as well as to reclaim the Holy Land. This pivotal event serves as the starting point for the massive military and religious undertaking that would follow.

The response to the Pope's plea was overwhelming, famously sparking the cry "Deus vult!" or "God wills it!" across Europe. While an initial, disorganized wave of peasants known as the People's Crusade set out quickly and met with disaster, the main, better-organized force of knights and nobles departed in 1096. After a long and arduous journey, they successfully besieged and captured the city of Jerusalem in the summer of 1099. These key events, from the initial call in 1095 to the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, firmly place the beginning of this monumental conflict in the final years of the 11th century.