Fifth Crusade called by Innocent III

1211

The pope proclaimed a new crusade to retake Jerusalem, preached across Europe by itinerant clergy. Fundraising innovations, including a church tax on clergy, set precedents that would be reused by later popes to squeeze Christendom for money. The crusade would not depart in earnest until 1217, and its failure in the Nile Delta only deepened the growing disillusionment with papal military adventures.