Crusades

The Crusades were a series of conflicts fought in and around Palestine in at least the 12th and 13th centuries. The principal aim of the crusades was for European Christian forces to retake control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim occupation, as well as campaigns against other races and religions. Monarchs, nobles and commoners, all involved took oaths to uphold the principles of the crusade in exchange for indulgences against past sins. (TV: The Crusade, The King's Demons)

The First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki visited Palestine during the Third Crusade between 1190 and 1192 (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Crusaders) and met several important people involved in the conflict, including Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. (TV: The Crusade) While Richard was in the Holy Land, his brother John ruled England in his stead. (TV: The Crusade, Invasion of the Dinosaurs) John planned to usurp the throne and trade with Richard's enemy King Philip of France. (TV: The Crusade)

During the Third Crusade, the first Lord Warren battled the Quell and met the Fourth Doctor and Romana I. (AUDIO: The Warren Legacy)

When the Doctor's fifth incarnation arrived in England on 4 March 1215, he determined that an impostor had taken the place of King John, since the real King was known to be in London taking the Crusader's Oath on that very day. The Doctor's suspicions were confirmed when he met Sir Geoffrey de Lacy, who had arrived from London and was perplexed as to how the King could be in the capital yet in the countryside at the same time. (TV: The King's Demons)

Several years before she started studying at the London University of History and Antiquity in 2015, Anna Whitaker took a course on the Crusades. (PROSE: The Last Pharaoh)