| 1095 | Mar | The Council of Piacenza |
| | | A delegation led by the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus visited Pope Urban II to raise the problems he was having fighting the Muslims in the East. Pope Urban removed the excommunication that had been placed on the Emperor by Pope Gregory and promised to help. |
| Nov 27 | The Council of Clermont |
| | | On the last day of the council Pope Urban II preached about the oppression being inflicted on the Christians in the Middle East by the Muslim Seljuks. Christian churches were being destroyed and Christians attacked. The Pope called for the Christians in the West to help. |
| 1096 | Qtr 1 | Peter the Hermit's (or People's) Crusade |
| | | Following Pope Urban's speech at Clermont Peter the Hermit, a simple man with a powerful ability to move people by his words, started preaching for Christians to help their fellow Christians in the East. He started to gain a large number of followers eager to go to Jerusalem with promises of absolution and freedom from a life of hunger and deprevation. His followers were poor, not prepared for the journey and not armed. |
| Jul | Peter reaches Byzantium |
| | | At Constantinople the Emperor Alexius welcomed Peter's army but there were too many people and no provision had been made for them. There was a general lack of discipline that resulted in repeated attacks and thefts from surrounding villages. Alexius warned Peter to wait for better trained troops to arrive before moving on but the pressure of the army was so great on Constantinople that they were forced to move before help could arrive. |
| Aug | The People's Crusades cross the Bosperus |
| | | The People's Crusaders were shipped across the Bosperus to a disused army base at Civetot. From there they attacked the surrounding areas but they had little affect. |
| Oct 21 | The People's Crusaders massacred |
| | | The Turks attacked the People's Crusades in their base at Civetot and ended their Crusade. |
