Middle Ages as the Age of Faith Essay

The Crusades first came about when a Muslim force from Asia Minor threatened the Christians that lived in Constantinople. Pope John Urban II called for the First Crusade in the year 1096. The Pope ordered this crusade to back the Byzantines, a Christian civilization, in the city of Constantinople because they were threatened by a Muslim force, ““Envoys arrived from Emperor Alexius of Constantinople to ask for help against the Muslims of Asia Minor”. Crusaders would follow the word of the Pope because he promised that, “fighting for God in return for a promise of salvation”. This compares to the inspiration of the War on Terror because President George W. Bush called for “this Crusade, this, War on Terror”, following the events of September 11, 2001, the

The Crusades were a succession of many wars, which “originally” started as a request from Alexius II for aid after a devastating war in the Battle of Mazikert. This war had taken its ravishing toll on the Greeks in the Middle East. The Battle of Mazikert was a result of the expansion and occupancy of two conflicting empires that

The Medieval monastery was established during the middle Ages, this was a place where people got together (mostly monks, nuns and other spiritual beings) and they spent their time praying, studying and most of all helping

The Crusades were a series of wars over the holy lands such as Jerusalem between European Christians and the Ottoman Empire between the 11th and 15th centuries. They fought for many reasons such as control over religious sights, access to trade and protection of fellow christians.

The Crusades, a series of wars, are an extremely important part of history in the 12th century, occurring during the Middle Ages. The Middle East or the Holy Land was always a place that Christians traveled to to make pilgrimages. The Seljuk Turks eventually took control of Jerusalem and all Christians were not allowed in the Holy City. As the Turks power grew, they threatened to take over the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, asked Pope Urban II for help and Pope agreed, hoping to strengthen his own power. He He united the Christians in Europe and In 1095, Pope Urban II waged waged war against muslims in order to “reclaim the holy land.”

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

The First Crusade took place from 1096 to 1099. When the Byzantine army was defeated by the Seljuk Turks at the battle of Manzikirt, this created an outburst of chaos and civil war within themselves. When Alexius Comnemus took the throne, she decided to send Pope Urban II a letter asking for help. Pope Urban made a speech declaring the call for a Crusade to fight against the Seljuk Turks. Urban asked Christians to join forces to work to free the Holy Land from Muslim invaders.

However, this fight for the Holy City was not merely a religious battle because the motives were not limited to religious beliefs. There was intense hostility between the Byzantine Christians and Muslims as the Muslims were conquering many Christian lands. When the First Crusade began in 1095, after a request from Emperor Alexuis I, Pope Urban II urged Christians to go to war to aid the

Three of the world’s most powerful religions had gone to war during the Crusades, the same war that is responsible for an estimated 1.7 million deaths. The Crusades were a series of Christian military expeditions that lasted through nine Holy Wars. The first crusade, in 1095, was called upon by Pope Urban II in an attempt to stop the Muslim expansion to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Through this, the Christian, Catholic, and Muslim churches will go into a time of warfare as an attempt to both show their religious superiority and have a religious expansion. The western side of Europe was the most significantly impacted by the Crusades because of the 4th Crusade, the foreign influence from the East, and Europe’s economic relations with the world.

The Middle Ages can be best described as the Age of Feudalism and the Age of Faith because they both played major roles during this time period.

By The Middle Ages, one understands a relatively long historical period extending from the end of the Roman Empire to the 1500's. The conquest of The Roman Empire by Germanic tribes, and synthesis of Germanic and Roman ways of life formed the civilization which we call medieval (medieval-from Latin words; medium (middle) and aevum (age)). Medieval civilization was greatly influenced by the Muslims in Spain and The Middle East, and by Byzantine Empire and Christians in Southeast Europe.

Religion during the Middle Ages cannot be defined by one word, nor sentence. It can only be labeled by saying that it was made up of many different belief systems, all very intricate and involved. The three key figures of religion were Monks, Bishops and the Pope. They all placed a very significant piece in the puzzle of what came to be a very vital time in history, pertaining to religious discovery and evolution. Monks brought a calm and dignified silence to daily life, while Bishops did lots of hands on and local work with the people.

The Middle Ages were a period in Europe dating from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, around the 5th century. However, the fixing of dates for the beginning and end of the Middle Ages is arbitrary. According to the Norton Anthology, "Medieval social theory held that society was made up of three 'estates': the nobility, composed of a small hereditary aristocracy,...,the church, whose duty was to look after the spiritual welfare of that body, and everyone else..."( Norton 76).

Religion experienced a lot of progress and transformation throughout the Middle Ages. Christianity held consistent popularity and other religions such as Islam were on the rise in participation. After the fall of Rome, there was no unified state or government in Europe and the Catholic Church used that opportunity to become a large powerhouse. The Roman Empire had effectively split into three different worlds: Muslim, Byzantine, and western European. Various Kings, Queens, and other leaders looked to the Catholic church for power and protection in exchange for alliances. Meanwhile, the Islamic religion was growing in wealth, power, and people. With the prophet Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslim groups took under large parts of land and united them under a single caliph. The Byzantines were still operating from Constantinople, just under a smaller rule and rural life assumed greater importance in the backbone of their society. Religion was largely involved in the Middle Ages’ art and architecture. Massive Cathedrals were built and even books were a work of art before the invention of the printing press. In addition, their economy was directly affected by religious activity such as missions and conquests. Overall, the general trends marking the progress religion in the Middle Ages are inclusion of everyone, a building of a community, and the opportunity of becoming equals with other practitioners.

One of the most important contributors of this time was Saint Benedict of Nursia. To guide Christians pursuing such a life, St. Benedict wrote Regula Benedicti, The Rule of Saint Benedict. This book was composed of precepts for monks to follow as they lived in communal monasteries under an abbot. Ideally, poverty, chastity, and obedience were the most sought after traits that one should follow. Saint Benedict instructed monks to participate daily in written prayers, devotionals, manual labor, and commanded a pledge of poverty, chastity, and obedience (Benedict).