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The Crusades didn't last for centuries. Only one of them had any success and it held on for about 128 years. In the end the knights were allowed by Salaldeen to return to their ancestral homes in France.

The Reconquista, which happened in Spain, and which was not a Crusade, did last for centuries. It ended in 1492.

Actually, that is not correct. Anything that the Pope declared to be a crusade is obviously a crusade, and the Pope authorized crusades which did not involve attempts to conquer or hold on to Jerusalem and the Holy Lands.

For instance, there was a crusade against the Cathars, or Albigensians, which took place in what is now Southern France. It was a crusade which the Pope declared against a heretical sect which was growing in that particular region.

Also, I am not sure if we can limit the word "crusade" just to those authorized by the Pope; the word has a more generalized usage for any holy war engaged by Christians for religious reasons against non-Christians.

I do believe the Pope declared crusades against the Muslims in Spain; but whether authorized by the Pope or not, the reconquest of Spain was considered by Christians at the time to be just as much a crusade as the attempts to take back the Holy Land from the Muslims.

Dear Mua,
It was my understanding that the Christian Nation (I think it was called Utramire (SP?) lasted for some 250 years. Am I wrong? I remember reading that in A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CRUSADES about 10 years ago.