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The article focuses on the significance of the Crusades in the history of Church. The original goal of the Crusades was the liberation of Jerusalem and other sites in the Middle East sacred to Christendom, but by the early thirteenth century the crusade had evolved into an institution of the Roman Catholic Church with a more general mission: upholding and extending Christian order against all enemies everywhere. Historians debate the dates encompassed by the Crusades and the crusaders' theaters of operation. Traditionalists further limit the Crusades to holy wars fought between western Christians and Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa during these two centuries. Crusading, as ideal and reality, was in constant flux. As an idea and an institution, the crusade took a century to develop into full theoretical and institutional form. The Crusades can be said to have roots in the struggle in Iberia, Peru between Christians and Moors. The Fourth Crusade was headed for an assault on Egypt before it was diverted to Constantinople. The Fifth Crusade reached Egypt, where it enjoyed early success, but then ended in disaster.