Middle Ages
The Middle Ages was a period of time from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages started after the collapse of the western Roman Empire.
The holy land for the Christians and Islam's was Jerusalem. Christianity was a major religion in Europe during this time. Pope Urban II was best known for initiating the first crusade. A crusade is a holy war fought by religious warriors. The crusades started in in 1095 and ended around 1291 and it was started because people wanted to restore Christianity to the holy land and holy places near Jerusalem. There was at least 5 major crusades.
Islam is a religion that is popular all over the world but is mainly practiced in the middle eastern states. Islam people are called Muslims.
The plague also known as the black death/bubonic plague was first brought to Europe by ships landing in Sicily that came from Asia. The Mongols where the first ones to have the plague and they gave it to the Europeans by launching their dead troops bodies at the Europeans. The plague spread by fleas on rats. In five years of the plague striking Europe it took out most of the population of Europe. The plague traveled through Europe quickly because of the silk road. The silk road was a major trading road that crossed all of Europe, which made it easy for the plague to spread to places all over Europe.