When were the crusades?

The crusades were a series of holy wars authorized by successive Popes and waged by the Christians of western Europe from 1095 to the end of the 13th Century. Their purpose was the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalaem and other sacred places from the Mohammedans. The word comes from the Spanish cruzada, meaning "marked with a cross". (Qs and As)