Christianity In The 13th Century Essay

Opportunistic corruption is a longstanding function of religion, which has become permanently embedded within the various sects of Christianity. Throughout the entirety of its existence, Christianity has preached ultimate obedience and submission. These teachings are perpetually wielded by the elite class of people as a weapon of authority and dominance over the lower-class. In each era since the initial manifestation of Christianity, those who hold a position of power have used the religion to make social, political, and economic advancements, while maintaining a class structure and social order that is beneficial only to them. However noble its intentions may have begun, over the course of centuries Christianity has amounted to the quintessential

DBQ: Impact of the Crusades The crusades started when emperor Alexius Comnenus of the Western Byzantine Empire asked Pope Urban II from the Eastern Roman Empire for help to reconquer Asia Minor from the Seljuk Turks who were Muslims which were the Islamic Empire. On November 27, 1095 Pope Urban II made a speech for Christians to fight in the Crusades to get Jerusalem the Holy Land back. If they fought they would be forgiven for all their sins and if they died they would go to heaven. There were nine Crusades,the first crusade began in 1096 and the last crusade ended in 1291.

The Fall of Constantinople happened during the Fourth Crusade initiating by Pope Innocent. Despite this new movement, “power struggles within and between Europe and Byzantium drove the Crusaders to divert their mission in order to topple the reigning Byzantine emperor, Alexius III, in favor of his nephew, who became Alexius IV in mid-1203” (HISTORY par 6). Due to Alexius IV’s efforts to succumb the church of Byzantine to Rome, he was strangled to death in 1204. This was the reason why the Crusaders forced warfare, which “The Fourth Crusade ended with the devastating Fall of Constantinople, marked by a bloody conquest, looting and near-destruction of the magnificent Byzantine capital later that year” (HISTORY par 6). During the Final Crusades,

In the Fourth Crusade, Pope Innocent III called for a new crusade in 1198 and communicates with other religious figures to make this happen. The plan was to attack Egypt first and then Jerusalem. Venice built ships for this expedition and offered a deal to the Christians to help them take the city of Zara and they will cancel the remaining debt they owe them for the ships they built for the Christians. Zara was a city of Catholics, but they did what they had to do and some of the Crusaders dropped out because if this. A man named Alexius was from Constantinople and goes to Zara and makes a deal with them saying, "If you take me to Constantinople and help me gain power I will pay you handsomely". They accept the deal and sail for Constantinople and Alexius takes the throne. Alexius is unable to pay the Crusaders and the Crusaders attack Constantinople instead because of Alexius 's inability to pay off the Crusaders. The Crusaders install a Latin emperor. The Crusaders never even made it to Jerusalem or Egypt.

The Crusades were a sequence of religious wars fought between 1096 and 1291 for control of the Holy Land. Pope Urban II initiated the First Crusade (1096–1102) in order to aid the Christian Byzantine Empire, which was under attack by Muslim Seljuk Turks. The Crusades had a lasting impact on European and Middle Eastern culture and politics that still continues to this day.

Religion has been around since the start of time. As humans developed and became more cognizant of science and the natural world, religion also developed to fit in with the current lifestyle. However, the greed and corruption in the church led to years of human rights failures. Martin Luther realized how the church treated its members and began to form his own opinions to modify the church’s structure.

Led by king Louis VII of France and Conrad II of Rome, the second crusade did not accomplish anything and was a complete failure. After the death of the Muslim’s leader Nur Eddins, Salah Ed-Din one of the latter general became his successor. Salah Ed-Din also known, as Saladin was a fearful and remarkable leader for the Muslims, within a few years of his reign he managed to annihilate the entire army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Saladin represented a great threat for the European, so Europe responded by mounting the third crusade. King Philip II Augustus of France, King Richard “the Lion-Hearted” of England and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa came together and launched a big scale invasion on the Muslims, the third Crusade. The third crusade is the most famous crusade ever; most Hollywood movies when trying to depict the crusades pay a particular attention on the third crusade. With the rise of Pope Innocent III to power the crusades had gained more ground because Innocent III was very interested in crusading. Innocent III wanted to launch a fourth, unfortunately the seventh crusade failed before it could even began. The seventh crusade was redirected to Constantinople. The crusaders captured the city and ransacked it. Pope Innocent III soon after the failure of the fourth crusade began preparations for another crusade, but died before it got under way in 1217. The fifth crusade was kind of

In 1189, the Third Crusade took place after Jerusalem was taken, it was proclaimed by Pope Gregory VIII. This crusade was dominated by the two main lead, Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. Crusaders managed to conquer some of Saladin's holdings along the Mediterranean coastline, but failed to get back Jerusalem. In 1201, a Fourth Crusade was organized but was beset with financial troubles, leading to the diversion of the Crusaders from the original destination of Egypt to Constantinople, which was conquered by the Turks.

The First Crusade was organized in 1096 by the decision of Pope Urban II at the request of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I with the aim of helping the Eastern Christians in the defense of Anatolia (Asia Minor) from the onset of the Seljuks. During the campaign, further objective turned out to be the liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. Initially, the Pope`s appeal was addressed only to the French knights, but, later, the Crusade turned into a full-scale military campaign, and its idea spread to all the Christian states of Western Europe. The feudal lords and the common people of all nationalities moved to the East freeing the western part of Asia Minor from Seljuk Turks` control and eliminating the Muslim threat to the Byzantine Empire. Already in July 1099 Jerusalem was conquered by the knights.

The plundering and sacking of the greatest metropolis (Constantinople) in the Christian world. Surely, this was not the result that Pope Innocent III had in mind when he called upon the leaders of Europe in 1198 in an attempt to convince them to retake the Holy Land (Jerusalem). Since the death of Saladin, Pope Innocent believed they were at a moment of weakness and it was a great opportunity to take the Holy Land (Robinson). However, they would never get there. Short of resources and men the crusaders took deals with the Republic of Venice and Alexis the IV. These deals involved them invading Zara and Constantinople, fellow Christian kingdoms (Robinson). The irony of such actions is astounding, considering their original mission of taking the cross in the name of Christianity. The 4th Crusade was an eruption of tensions between the West and the Byzantine Empire which was caused by the barbaric, greedy, and hypocritical nature of the Western leaders and crusaders and would leave a devastating impact on the future of Byzantium.

The single most important aspect of European empires, beginning just prior to the fall of Rome, is the spread of Christianity to all areas of the continent in as little as a few hundred years. Many theologians state that Christianities spread is the indirect influence of God and the adoration of people to one true faith. Though it is true that Christianity has brought about people that even atheists could call saints, it is unquestionable that Christianity was so monumental because it united larger groups of people and its spread is contributed to adherence to local customs and its lack of new ideas in comparison to other religions of the day.

By recognizing the need for governance and structure among people, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine strengthened the infrastructure of the Roman Catholic Church. Of the many reasons why Rome fell, the corruption that was rooted in the government infrastructure greatly contributed to the demise of the great empire. The fragile government was always changing, which inspired St. Augustine to contemplate the relationship between the government and its people, and the political nature of humans (“St. Augustine and the Role of Religion in the State”). The church’s formal recognition of St. Augustine’s work provided them with a schematic of how to shape the relationship between the church and its followers, and strengthen the church’s hierarchy

One influential cult was based upon a mystical interpretation of Plato. Neo-Platonism was like a rational science that attempted to break down and describe every aspect of the divine essence and its relationship with the human soul. An Alexandrian Jew named Philo tried using Greek philosophy to interpret the Jewish scriptures. He wanted to unite the two traditions by suggesting that the Greek philosophers had been inspired by the same God who had revealed himself to the Jews.

Among various political, social, and religious strife, the Medieval Literature is characterized by Christian influence and beliefs. In medieval texts, authors highlight the importance and grandeur of the Christian faith by contrasting it with descriptions of foreign lands. As a result, people received a false view of these faraway lands that included Syria and India. In texts such as Sir John Mandeville’s The Book of Marvels and Travels and Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Man of Law’s Tale” offer examples of othering by their misunderstanding of foreign people and criticism of their religion which in turn facilitates the authors in defining the Christian European identity.

Modern politics is well associated with the famous ‘slogan’ of the “separation of Church and State”. Though the effects of religion on the founding of governments of countries is still apparent today in examples such as the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States or the very prominent “In God We Trust” upon all American currency, using biblical verses as a basis for any legislation has become taboo. However, in the year 1300 which is