Editing Church of the Holy Sepulchre (section)

===Crusader period (1099–1244)===
{{Further|Order of the Holy Sepulchre}}
{{see also|Art of the Crusades}}

====Background====

Many historians maintain that the main concern of [[Pope Urban II]], when calling for the [[First Crusade]], was the threat to Constantinople from the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]] invasion of [[Asia Minor]] in response to the appeal of Byzantine Emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]]. Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also of concern, if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abbasids) by the knights of the First Crusade on 15 July 1099.<ref name="Morris 2005"/>

The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]], and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. The classical theory is that Crusader leader [[Godfrey of Bouillon]], who became the first [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Latin ruler of Jerusalem]], decided not to use the title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself {{lang|la|[[The Title of Godfrey of Bouillon|Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri]]}} ('Protector [or Defender] of the Holy Sepulchre').

According to the German priest and pilgrim [[Ludolf von Sudheim]], the keys of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre were in hands of the "ancient [[Georgians]]", and the food, alms, candles and oil for lamps were given to them by the pilgrims at the south door of the church.<ref>''Venetian Adventurer: The Life and Times of Marco Polo,'' p. 88</ref>

====Crusaders: reconstruction (12th century) and ownership====

By the Crusader period, a [[cistern]] under the former basilica was rumoured to have been where Helena had found the True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; the cistern later became the [[:commons:Category:Grotto of the Holy Cross|Chapel of the Invention of the Cross]], but there is no evidence of the site's identification before the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to 11th-century repairs by Monomachos.<ref name="Corbo"/>

[[William of Tyre]], chronicler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the rebuilding of the church in the mid-12th century. The Crusaders investigated the eastern ruins on the site, occasionally excavating through the rubble, and while attempting to reach the cistern, they discovered part of the original ground level of Hadrian's temple enclosure; they transformed this space into a [[Chapel of Saint Helena, Jerusalem|chapel dedicated to Helena]], widening their original excavation tunnel into a proper staircase.<ref name=Savage37>''Pilgrimages and Pilgrim shrines in Palestine and Syria after 1095'', Henry L. Savage, ''A History of the Crusades: The Art and Architecture of the Crusader States'', Vol. IV, ed. Kenneth M. Setton and Harry W. Hazard, (University of Wisconsin Press, 1977), 37.</ref>

[[File:Crusader Graffiti in the Church of the holy supulchure Jerusalem Victor 2011 -1-21.jpg|thumb|Crusader [[graffiti]] in the church: crosses engraved in the staircase leading down to the [[Chapel of Saint Helena, Jerusalem|Chapel of Saint Helena]]<ref name="madainhelenachapel">{{cite web |title=Chapel of Saint Helena |url=https://madainproject.com/chapel_of_helena |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516181420/https://madainproject.com/chapel_of_helena |archive-date=16 May 2020 |website=Madain Project |access-date=16 May 2020}}</ref>]]

The Crusaders began to refurnish the church in [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] style and added a [[bell tower]].<ref name= Savage37/> These renovations unified the small chapels on the site{{clarify|reason= No, the open courtyard was covered by a roof and a regular-shaped Western basilica was created; far from just "uniting" a set of disparate chapels.|date= March 2023}} and were completed during the reign of [[Queen Melisende]] in 1149, placing all the holy places under one roof for the first time.<ref name= Savage37/>

The church became the seat of the first [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem|Latin patriarchs]] and the site of the kingdom's [[scriptorium]].<ref name= Savage37/>

{{anchor|Royal tombs}}
Eight 11th- and 12th-century Crusader leaders ([[Godfrey of Bouillon|Godfrey]], [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem|Baldwin I]], [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem|Baldwin II]], [[Fulk, King of Jerusalem|Fulk]], [[Baldwin III of Jerusalem|Baldwin III]], [[Amalric of Jerusalem|Amalric]], [[Baldwin IV of Jerusalem|Baldwin IV]] and [[Baldwin V of Jerusalem|Baldwin V]] – the first eight [[rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem]]) were buried in the south transept and inside the [[#Chapel of Adam|Chapel of Adam]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Jeffery |first=George |title=A Brief Description of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem and Other Christian Churches in the Holy City |date=1919 |publisher=CUP |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924015406063/page/n143/mode/1up?view=theater |page=124}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Conder |first=Claude Reignier |title=The City of Jerusalem |date=1909 |publisher=J. Murray |page=294 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLk2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA294 |access-date=30 September 2022 |archive-date=8 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108060210/https://books.google.com/books?id=rLk2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA294#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} [All kings named]</ref><ref name=Pringle65>{{cite book |last=Pringle |first=Denys |title=The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem |date=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=3 |isbn=978-0-521-39038-5 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0jH6VPi4-gC&pg=PA65 |quote=destroyed in 1809–10 |access-date=30 September 2022 |archive-date=8 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108060209/https://books.google.com/books?id=X0jH6VPi4-gC&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> 
The royal tombs were looted during the [[siege of Jerusalem (1244)|Khwarizmian sack of Jerusalem]] in 1244 but probably remained mostly intact until 1808 when a fire damaged the church. The tombs may have been destroyed by the fire, or during renovations by the Greek Orthodox custodians of the church in 1809–1810. The remains of the kings may still be in unmarked pits under the church's pavement.<ref name=reem>{{cite book |last1=Re’em |first1=Amit |display-authors=etal |title=Surviving Three Cycles of Destruction: The Graves of the Crusader Kings in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre |date=2022 |volume=15 |pages=71–103 |publisher=רשות העתיקות, מרחב ירושלים |isbn=978-9654067676 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03822984 |via=HAL-SHS |access-date=17 November 2022 |archive-date=17 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117100512/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03822984 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The church was lost to [[Saladin]],<ref name= Savage37/> along with the rest of the city, in 1187, although the treaty established after the [[Third Crusade]] allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the site. [[Emperor Frederick II]] (r. 1220–50) regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while under a ban of excommunication, with the consequence that the holiest church in Christianity was laid under [[interdict]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} The church seems to have been largely in the hands of Greek Orthodox patriarch [[Athanasius II of Jerusalem]] (c.&nbsp;1231–47) during the last period of Latin control over Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book |last= Pringle |first= D. |author-link= Denys Pringle |title= The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: Volume 3, The City of Jerusalem: A Corpus |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=X0jH6VPi4-gC&pg=PA31 |year= 1993 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0-521-39038-5 |pages= 31–32 |access-date= 10 March 2016 |archive-date= 8 November 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231108060217/https://books.google.com/books?id=X0jH6VPi4-gC&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status= live }}</ref> Both city and church were captured by the [[Khwarezm]]ians in 1244.<ref name="Savage37" />