Christians During The First Crusades

The Crusades had a huge impact on future relationships between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Document 1 states that “[The Crusades] also left a bitter legacy of religious hatred behind them. In the Middle East, both Christians and Muslims committed appalling atrocities in the

The Crusades were military campaigns during the time period of Medieval England fighting against the Muslims. The Crusades had eight attempts and it lasted from 1095-1289. During the Crusades the Muslims and the Christians were the main religions focused on. Christianity and Islam are both a religion and also a life style that groups of people fought for during the Crusades. Christians during the crusades had the upper hand against the Muslims. The Muslims had it hard during the Crusades because they were the ones being attacked. During the crusades we find lots of information about Christians and Muslims. The Christians and Muslims during the crusades based on text in Discovering the Global Past “Yet ultimately both Christians and Muslims were willing to spread their respective faiths by force” both Christians and Muslims were similar in that the fought for same reason which is their religion. Both the Christians and the Muslims have the faith

Patrick Geary’s “Readings in Medieval History” contains four accounts of the invasion of the Middle East by the Europeans in 1095 A.D. These accounts all cite different motives for the first crusade, and all the accounts are from the perspective of different sides of the war. The accounts all serve to widen our perspective, we hear from the Christian and Middle Eastern side of the conflict. Fulcher of Chartres claims, Pope Urban the Second urged all Christians to intervene in the “East” at the council of Claremont, saying it was a sign of “Strength of good will”. (Readings in Medieval History, Geary, page 396).

The Crusades began when the Byzantine sovereign Alexius I Comnenus requested help against the Seljuk Turks. Seljuk Turks were Muslims that had taken control of the Asia Minor. The Crusades were “Military expeditions carried out by European Christians in the Middle Ages to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims.” (Mcgraw Hill Textbook definition) Eight major wars undertaken by Christians to recapture the Holy Land in Palestine from the Muslims. Only one was successful. Crusade means “war of the cross”. The Crusades basically stopped the whole world from becoming completely Muslim.

Looking from an impartial, unbiased perspective, both fronts committed war on each other and lost many men. Muslims had led a flourishing empire that encompassed all three Abrahamic faiths and many others outside the prized area of the Levant. On the other hand, Christians did not facilitate such a welcoming environment for Muslims and Jews in their territories. Dictatorial powers arose within Christian leaders called for an outright slaughtering of the heretics. Ultimately, the crusades were a failure and did not achieve the main goal of securing the Holy land for the

The first crusade started in autumn of 1095. Pope Urban II initiated the first crusade by calling upon his Christians to reclaim the city of Jerusalem. The Crusade was also meant to seek revenge on the followers of Islam. The followers were accused of committing crimes against “Christendom”. Pope Urbans crusade was made possible by the work of St. Augustine on Christian Violence in the past. Many Christians joined the crusade because the Pope promised rewards for the afterlife. After the fourth century, Christianity underwent a transformation when it fused with the Roman state for which warfare was essential. St. Augustine and Pope Urban enabled violence to be an option for Christians and it can be described in this quote, “For the first time in Christian history, violence was defined as a religious act, a source of grace.” After the Pope’s Christian tour, many Christians were ready to destroy everything that stood in their way.

Known for his speeches, Hitler was a big believer in using words to change opinions. He said in one speech that “It is always more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge.” By using faith for his benefit, he gave people something to fight for, and connected them and their faith to their “mission” by using propaganda, and speeches, and never stopped persuading people to join his movement. Another person who used faith to help accomplish a goal was Pope Urban the second, the initiator of the first Crusade. Pope Urban said that God wanted the Christians to fight for Jerusalem during the Crusades, and gave the people a reason to fight. He said to “Undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven!”, and gave his people a chance to “redeem” themselves of their sins. Both Pope Urban and Hitler tried to pulverize the Jewish nation. The Crusades, similar to the Holocaust, was a war against everyone different led by stubborn leaders; however, unlike the Holocaust, the Crusades were part of a religious war, led by a religious Christian leader.

Both Christians and Muslims viewed themselves at the only keepers of God's word, His "ultimate revelation of himself." In their respective beginnings, each had the foundations within their doctrines, "the commandment to proselytize and spread to include all peoples." In those beginnings, neither Christians nor Muslims used violence to spread their respective religions. It was not until a population boom, which led to a hunger for land, and the control of trade routes in both regions, so They began resorting to war to spread their version of God's word. It was during this time, what the west knows as "The Crusades" Where perceptions and opinions were formed of the others adversary. Through written accounts and word of mouth, especially once the fighting broke out, the people back home formed in various ways. Especially how they interacted with each other around their known world. Those interactions between Muslims and Christians during the era of the Crusades became defined by misinterpretations of holy texts, sensationalism through stories and “eye witness accounts," and in turn perceived the other as violent savages.

Although the Crusades began from religious purposes, they also lead to the moderation of Europe. During the Crusades the people built on a part of land that is now known as Europe. The start of the Crusades was because the armies of Christians wanted to go to war against Muslim forces to get the power of the Holy Land. They wanted to get back the power of the Holy Land so they would become “Soldiers of Christ” said Pope Urban II. During this time they also were starting to have problems with the church, because very many of the churches people thought that they were learning the wrong ways of the church. In the period of the 13th century they had very many things going on leading to the Crusades and religious purposes.

From the video provided regarding The Peasants’ Crusade there were numerous events that led to the beginning of the crusades, which largely stem from the Pope Urban. The three specific pieces of evidence that were provided in the video that attributed to the beginning of the Crusades that I will focus in on is: the Pope using Alexiuse’s letter as an excuse to start an Army, the Pope’s misleading words and him twisting the meaning of passages of the Bible, and how he motivated “soldiers” to be a part of this Holy War.

The Christian mind had a tough decision to make in medieval Europe when asked by the church to crusade. Economic advantages and religious gains were just two of the contributing factors to fight, in which religious gains were highly influenced by the papacy. The word of the church was the bridge between Christians and the word of God. Today, the Christian mind may be able to create a disconnect between religion and political influence, but medieval Christians thought and acted much differently to the church’s influence. It is true that Christians fought in the Crusades for multiple reasons including economic advantages, but the greatest influence to fight came from their religious and church motivations.

Many joined the Crusade for the Pope 's pledge of the remission of sins and the

A mass of men, numbering roughly 100,000, marched out of Europe and toward Jerusalem and were victorious against masses of Islamic armies. In July of 1099AD, Jerusalem would fall out of the hands of the Turks for the first time in centuries, and the First Crusade would also serve to frame the make-up of nobility across Europe and help shape the middle ages altogether.

For the Christians during the first Crusade, a strong faith and a commitment to Christianity was crucial in fostering a success victory. First, the call to the Crusade by Pope Urban in 1095 focused on the sinfulness of the Christians and the need for reform, as well as the need to help fellow Christians (Urbans Call). The exceptional faith of the Christians is what motivated them to take up the arms for the Crusade, as depicted most specifically by the people’s Crusade led by Peter the Hermit (Albert of Aachen). While the people did gain a full remission of sins and some reward for their Crusading, they were so faithful that God would bring victory and to the leadership of Peter that they marched straight down to Jerusalem with very little thought of a possibility of defeat (Albert of Aachen). This force met an unprepared Muslim force, mostly because the Muslim forces were under dispersed

The medieval conquest of the First Crusade set the fine line between religious dominance and greed. Embarking in 1095 AD, the First Crusade gave western Christians the upper hand in dominance over said holy land (Coffin 266). Pope Urban II allowed the conquest to take place with the intention of capturing Jerusalem which was under Muslim power at the time (Coffin 262). Wealthy men and common folk took advantage of such a quest by joining the fight as the major armies passed through Europe. Religion was the main focus of the First Crusade while many participants found an opportunity to gain wealth and power. The questionable request of the pope to kill the Jews that crucified Jesus led to such a devastating conquest to Jerusalem. The religious