Bronze Coin - Follis, Eastern Roman - Byzantine Empire, c. 1078-1081 AD.
Anonymous, Attributed to Nicephorus III.
Obv: Christ with Halo.
Rev: Latin Cross. Era of 1st Crusades.
(24mm in Diameter)
Given that the First Crusade was largely concerned with Jerusalem, a city which had not been under Christian dominion for 461 years, as well as the crusader army's refusal to return the land to Byzantine control, the status of the First Crusade as defensive or as aggressive in nature remains controversial, both within academias and without.
Although these gains lasted for less than two hundred years, the First Crusade was part of the Christian response to the Islamic conquests, as well as the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
