How Did The Crusaders Influence The Byzantine Empire

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II gave a supposedly important speech at the end of a church meeting in Clermont, France. In it he had called upon the nobleness of the Franks, to go to the East and assist their Christian “brothers”, the Byzantines, against the attacks of the Muslim Turks. He also apparently encouraged them to liberate Jerusalem, the most sacred and holy city in Christendom, for the Muslims had ruled it since taking it from the Christian Byzantines in A.D. 638. The Crusades were a series of wars between Christians and others to take back Jerusalem.

The first Crusades were ordered by Pope Urban II. The Crusades were a series of military Christians and Muslims. They fought over the holy land of Jerusalem. It took place in Middle East between 1095 and 1291. The Crusades were caused primarily by the desire for political and economical gain rather than religious devotion.

2. Almost 1,000 years ago Europeans fought over the Holy Land. European kings and lords had armies to fight for the land, known as the Crusades. In the Crusades Europeans were attempting to take the Holy Land back from the Turks.

Because of the response the people had to Pope Urban II call to arms a wave of religious enthusiasm swept across Europe. In 1096 Peter the hermit created an army of peasants and soldiers. They traveled to Constantinople, this movement was called the peoples crusade. The outcome of the people’s crusade was tragic because almost all of them died.

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.

According to Dana C. Munro, the first crusades began under the papacy of Pope Urban II. From whom delivered a speech in 1096 at the Council of Clermont that led thousands to take up the cross. It is from that moment on the Popes always felt the crusades were their task and under their inspiration believing that the crusades were God’s work and they were His agents. Let us consider the words of Pope Urban II according to Fulk of Chartres, “I speak to those who are present, I shall proclaim it to the absent, but it is Christ who commands. Moreover, if those who set to thither lose their lives on the journey, by land or sea, or in fighting against the heathen, their sins shall be remitted in that hour; this I grant through the power of God vested in me. ”

The Crusades were a series of holy wars that began in 1095 CE. These wars were fought between Christians and Muslims to gain control over the sacred land. The Turks moved into the middle east during the early part of the 11th century CE. Most of the Turks served the Islamic armies and would invade land rapidly using combat forces. This alarmed the Greek emperor and caused him to seek out Pope Urban II and ask for mercenary troops to confront the Turks. The Pope called a council and had 300 attendees to show up. During this council, the Pope made a plea to free the Holy Land, which received an enthusiastic response. After this, Pope Urban II promptly waged war against the Muslims and took armies of Christians to Jerusalem to try and

A big reason that crusaders were fighting was because the land was sacred and they were trying to get it back from nonbelievers of their religion. The Pope was telling everyone about the holiness of the city when he said: ”This royal city, therefore, situated at the centre of the world, is now held captive by His enemies, and is in subjection to those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathens.”(Document 1). The land was holy to the Christians and it was overtaken by the Persians so the Pope was relying everyone together to go and take back their holy land. The middle east is more fruitful than Europe and it talks about the wonderful fruitfulness in the middle east in the bible when it says “That land which as the Scripture says "floweth with milk and honey," was given by God into the possession of the children of Israel Jerusalem is the navel of the world; the land is fruitful above others, like another paradise of delights.”(Document 1). In the Bible, it stated that the Middle East is fruitful and that its fruitfulness is like a paradise of delights. In conclusion, the land that the crusaders were fighting for was holy and fruitful.

The age leading up to the first crusade is detailed by many current historians, as well as Pope Urban II, as a time period where inhabitants "rage[d] against [their own] brothers and cut each other [to] pieces" (Peters, Baldric of Dol, 31) for economic and social advancement. In spite of these references, many people today believe that the Pope instigated the crusades for the sole reason of reclaiming Jerusalem. However, other motivations such as supplementary religious factors and the chance for economic, social, and political gain also played major roles. These motivations were not experienced supremely by the Pope; in fact he needed to instill these inspirations in all Christians to evoke their will to fight. The holy land had long

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II in response to a call for aid by the Byzantines. The resulting army swept through Asia Minor and into the Near East conquering several cities along the way. Upon the successful conquering of the region, the crusaders divide the land among themselves forming four crusader states: County of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This takeover and dividing of territory is incredibly similar to what occurs in the fourth crusade. Upon conquering Constantinople in April of 1204, the crusaders proceed to divide the land among themselves much like they did earlier. They divided the land

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 were the first tactical mission by Western Christianity in order to recapture the Muslim conquered Holy Lands. Several people have been accredited with the launch of the crusades including Peter the Hermit however it is now understood that this responsibility rested primarily with Pope Urban II . The main goal of the Crusades was the results of an appeal from Alexius II, who had pleaded for Western Volunteers help with the prevention of any further invasions. The Pope’s actions are viewed as him answering the pleas of help of another in need, fulfilling his Christian right. However, from reading the documents it is apparent that Pope Urban had ulterior motives for encouraging engagement in the war against the Turks. The

Religion was one of the main reasons for the start of the First Crusade. Islam was growing and by the time of the late 11th century Islam occupied the areas of the Holy Land which were the foundations of Christian belief. Pope Urban 2nd made his speech November 1095 urging a military expedition to aid the Christians in the east. The Pope hoped that it would unify quarrelling in Europe and unite Europe through Christianity. The response that the Pope received was enormous. In the opinion of Jean Richard, who states that it was ‘problematic’ as it ‘set off shock waves that put

By this time most of the crusaders had left to go home, and those who remained ad built four settlements. The purpose of these four settlements were to guard and govern conquered territory. These Crusader states were Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli. However, the Muslim forces began gaining ground around 1130, and in 1144 Zangi who was the Seljuk general captured Edessa (northern Crusader states. By this time Pope Eugene III called for a second crusade, his call was answered by King Louis VIII and his wife Eleanor. Louis was a very religious man and he wanted to honor the first crusaders and his goal was to take the cross and expand the Crusader kingdoms. Unfortunately, Louis had very little military experience, but he still set out with more than 30,000 crusaders to recapture the holy land. This journey took five months because they traveled through France to Asia Minor. This wasn’t a good strategy because by doing this they would pass through Turkish lands and therefore put themselves in danger. The Turks took advantage of this situation by attacking Louis’s group (there were two groups traveling). Louis and his wife were able to survive but there were thousands of crusaders that were killed. Louis decided that best approach would be to abandon his army to look for a new route. His original route was Edessa but he took the way of Damascus (Palestine) because it was closer to Jerusalem. Nur Al-Din who was the son of Zangi (Turkish General), went to unite all of the Muslims in preparation for the war. Even though Nur Al-Din was determined to take back Jerusalem it was Louis who made the first move in 1148. Nur Al-Din had a choice to take Damascus and if he did so he would have more power, (Aleppo and Damascus were the eastern part of the Crusader states. The results of the battle was that there were thousands of Muslims that were dead, the Damascus ruler begged Nur Al-Din to send his army. Louis had to make a

Going against modern day religious beliefs, in 1095AD the Christians went to war to claim the holy city of Jerusalem, massacring the Muslims in a bloody attempt to worship their God. Pope Urban II’s speech at Clermont inspired by claims made by the Byzantium Emperor encouraged the Christians to partake in the First Crusade in an attempt to liberate Jerusalem. The religious and economic factors were the most relevant to cause this crusade, with some influence from desired political gain and little from social factors unrelated to religion. The immediate consequences were positive for the Christians and negative for the Muslims, but the First Crusade launched an ongoing conflict between the Christians and Muslims which had positive and negative consequences for both sides. There are a number of relevant modern sources which examine the causes and consequences of the First Crusade, but, while there are many medieval sources, they do not explicitly discuss the causes and consequences of the war. In order to fully comprehend the First Crusade, it is necessary to analyse the religious, economic, and political factors, as well as the short-term, long-term, and modern consequences.