Godefroy de Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade, is depicted leading the siege of a Saracen town, c.1099. (Image credit: Getty / Print Collector) The most famous Crusades were the first three.

The long-term causes of the First Crusade lie in the planting fields of Europe. From the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D., much of Europe lived on the edge of starvation.

The First Crusade (1095-1099) – the massive expedition that marched across Europe and the Middle East to capture Jerusalem – underlines some of the difficulties surrounding this toxic assessment.

The First Crusade A noble mission to free the holy land, or a gigantic expedition of plunder and murder? Some 900 years ago, 10,000 Christians answered the pope's call and set off for Jerusalem ...

THE FIRST CRUSADE: A New History Thomas S. Asbridge, . . Oxford Univ., $35 (408pp) ISBN 978-0-19-517823-4 ...