Crusades and the Church
At the time of the Crusades, the official church had become corrupt and politically motivated. It should be noted, too, that crusaders did not take vows to "go on crusade." The very term crusade, in English or in any other language, is a much later invention. What we call "crusades," contemporaries knew as "pilgrimages" or even simply "journeys." Aside from a tiny elite, people were illiterate and even if they could read, there was no access to a Bible or any scriptural teaching. It was an age of superstition and magic, where visions, signs and wonders were claimed by many. The masses' only source of knowledge about God was whatever the often corrupt and greedy clergy decided to teach. The early crusades
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Regardless of motivation, an individual underwent a specific ceremony before he could be considered a "crusader." The ceremony evolved somewhat over the centuries, but its general outlines remained the same. A would-be crusader sought out an ecclesiastical authority (a priest, bishop or higher cleric) and swore to carry out an armed "pilgrimage" in support of the Holy Places. He then usually received a cloth cross which he could place on his clothes to signify his new status. Crusading vows were usually taken in response to official preaching of a crusade by licensed churchmen. They were supposed to be taken only by fighting men or those who could otherwise contribute to a military effort, and they were not to be taken without the permission of the crusader's wife, since his long absence would deprive her of what was delicately called "marital rights" (Pope Innocent III, in need of troops for his crusading proposals, changed this in the thirteenth century, but in doing so he violated longstanding Church tradition and the plain intentions of canon law). The crusader's property and people were then placed under the protection of the Church, and he was to begin preparing to leave. If he did not discharge his vow within a certain period of time, he might be excommunicated by the church until he kept his word.
Crusaders were often offered an indulgence in return for participation in the hardships of a crusade. The indulgence was later seriously abused, and
By the time of the Crusades in Medieval Europe, Knights were nothing out of the ordinary. A knight's training began at around four or five. It involved them learning how to ride a pony. Around the age of eight, the young trainee would be sent to be a page for a lord or a relative with influence. At this point, they would refine their swordsmanship, improve their horse skills, and would be taught more about their religion. At the age of 14, pages were eligible to become a squire, where they continued their sword fighting skills. They would accompany a knight into a battle, care for him, care for his horses, and would simply hope to be chosen to
However, Pope Urban also chooses to remind Christians of “what reproaches will the Lord overwhelm [them with] if [they] do not aid” in the crusades. This fear of religious rapture certainly would have led many to feel the need to participate. He claims they will become a “despised and base race” should they fail to go on the Crusades. Ultimately, the Pope is conveying the belief that they will be “disgraced, withdrawn from the service of God” should they fail to act. The very idea that he suggests they will
The Crusades of the High Middle Ages (a.d. 1050-1300) was a period of conquest or rather, reconquest, of Christian lands taken from Muslims in the early Middle Ages. It is an era romanticized by fervent Christians as the time when Christianity secured its honorable status as the true religion of the world. The affect of the Crusades is still with us today. It sailed from Spain and Portugal to the Americas in the fifthteenth century aboard sailing ships carrying conquistadors who sought new territory and rich resources. They used the shield and sword of Christianity to justify a swift conquest of mass territory and the subjugation of the indigenous peoples; a mentality learned, indeed,
The Crusades was a very important moment in human history, it showed the clashes between religions for land that most people considered to be sacred or holy. There isn’t one Crusade but rather a series of them, but we’ll be looking primarily at the First Crusade, Second Crusade, Third Crusade, and a little bit of the Fourth. It all starts in Rome (Nov 27th 1095) where Pope Urban the Second receives an important message from Byzantine Emperor Alexios the First where he pleads for help in supressing the Turkish troops. After receiving the message the Pope (standing in a field outside the city of Clermont) calls for the public to join the military excursion to the Middle East, and swiftly declares a Crusade with the primary objective of securing holy sites [Jaspert, Nikolas. The Crusades]. What followed was a large migration of troops from France and Italy on August and September of 1096. The
There were a variety of reasons for going on a crusade. One reason was adventure. Many people, especially wealthy knights, would have gone
A main cause of the Crusades was the treatment of Christian pilgrims. They were robbed, beaten, and then sold. The main group of Turks, the Seljuk Turks, were threatening
Another aspect that contributes to the statement that the crusades were not motivated by religious factors is that the crusaders wanted more land. Many Crusaders wanted to govern their own piece of land in a new area, so they decided to fight being guaranteed a piece of land; in this era land equaled money, the more land you had, the wealthier you were—religion didn’t get you very far. By having a new plot of land, in a new area the Crusaders would be able to rise above their social status and experience a newfound wealth that would be next to impossible back in their homeland. Through this, we can see the prime motivation of the Western European’s commencement of the crusades was their aspiration for land. Even Pope Urban II, an example and leader for all the people, wanted to fight just to get the Holy Land back. So if the prime example for the people, a leader that everyone looked up to was demonstrating greed and voracity then it would only be natural for his people to follow. Not only did Pope Urban II and officials express tremendous amounts of self-indulgence, but they very well knew what was going on beforehand; the selection mentions that they worked to “prepare” the people for a crusade by changing conditions within their society and economy. The changing of economic aspects portray that the Crusaders were unhappy with their current state of wealth and the easiest way to fix that was to
The Crusades took place in the Middle East between 1095 and 1291. They were used to gain a leg up on trading, have more land to show hegemony, and to please the gods. Based upon the documents, the Crusades between 1095 and 1291 were caused primarily by religious devotion rather than by the desire for economic and political gain.
The Crusades were a bloody war that the church deemed holy and necessary for salvation of the knights soul. The Crusades are a highly controversial and very dark stain on the Catholic church and Hierarchies past. The war was brought to the church from there Roman allies who they had tense dealings with. The where seeking aid in the fight against the muslim turks. The church decreed there act holy and justified. The people who were under the churches thumb had no objections to the slaughter that their beloved God had suposably justified.
The main objective of the first crusade was overcome by a secondary objective which later became the reason why we call it the First Crusade. The initial objective was to respond to the Byzantine Emperor who requested western volunteers to help fight against invading Turks. In The reconquest of jerusalem and the holy land soon became the main objective of the Crusade. Pope Urban in 1095 called upon his people telling them to go jerusalem and liberate the church of God out of devotion and not for honor and wealth. Calling the crusade increased the popes standings in a papacy which was struggling at the time due to the investiture controversy. During this time, religion was very important and people took it very seriously. Jerusalem was the
L. The main reason the crusades started was to take Jerusalem from the Turks. Before 1087, Christian pilgrims frequently traveled to Jerusalem, “the holy land”. However, according to document 6, “from 1087 onwards, turks stopped christian pilgrims from entering Jerusalem.” Basically, the Turks claimed Jerusalem as their own, and prevented any pilgrimages. Pope Urban II was not happy about this. He called European Christians to war in 1095 to recapture Jerusalem. According to Document 1, he says, “I, or rather, the Lord, beseech you as christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich….to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends.” Basically, Pope Urban II is urging the people to fight the Turks, and win back Jerusalem.
The Crusades were a series of sacred wars pronounced by popes with the guarantee of indulgences for the individuals who battled in them and coordinated against outside and inward foes of Christendom for the recuperation of Christian property or with regards to the Church or Christian individuals. Crusades were described as the taking of promises and the conceding of indulgences to the individuals who partook in it. Similar to going on pilgrimages, which was a favored activity, crusading was a demonstration of Christian love and devotion that made up for and paid the punishments earned by transgression. It denoted a break in prehistoric Christian medieval origination of fighting (warfare) in that crusades were penitential fighting (warfare). Crusades consolidated the thoughts of Holy War and Pilgrimage to deliver the idea of indulgences (exoneration of atonement and sin allowed by papacy for cooperation in sacrosanct action).
The Crusades hold a place in the canon of Western history as valiant wars against the infidel in the East, motivated by an unparalleled pious zeal. Whilst revisions to this history have considered more mundane and ordinary motives, such as a want for land or an attempt to reinforce the Peace of God movement, there is something to be said of the religious motivations of the crusaders. The words ‘conquest’ and ‘conversion’ seem ideologically charged – with conquest being what is done by temporal rulers to physical land and people, and conversion being what is done to the spiritual self, by someone who does not have anything material to gain from the action. However, it can be argued that these lines can be blurred; I wish to present the case of conquest being religiously charged, and the idea that any subsequent conversion is of little importance. By examining the geographical targets of various crusaders, I will conclude that they were more interested in conquest than conversion: but this was not necessarily for earthly reasons alone.
The Crusades were Christian military expeditions undertaken between the 11th and the 14th century to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The word crusade, which is derived from the
The Crusades: A Short History, written by British Historian Jonathan Riley-Smith, offers a broad overview of this part of the medieval era, but he also explores how historians have attempted to explain these events in modern terms. Riley-Smith also makes sure to note all major contributors to the Crusade movement and their personalities. Numerous scholars have wondered whether this was a political or religious mission. This helps to spark the question of why people would leave their homes and their families to risk their lives invading a land that was thousands of miles away for religious reasons. In his book, Riley-Smith makes this era come alive for the modern reader. He does