The Attack of Constantinople by Crusaders In his account of the Crusaders' siege of Constantinople, the Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates, provides some compelling reports concerning the behaviors of the Christian knights and peasants who formed the Crusader army that sought to wrest control of the city from its defenders. In his account, Choniates makes the point that the Crusaders little resembled the good-hearted Christians they purported to be, but were more like a barbarian horde in the brutality of their actions when reaching the city, which was a major center of the Christian faith at the time. Moreover, the Crusaders had even sacked another Christian city, Zara, on their way to Constantinople. It was clear, then, that these Crusaders were less interested in wresting the Holy Land from the Moslems than they were in taking advantage of this opportunity to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of anyone who happened to get in their way. Unfortunately, Choniates also emphasizes in his account that these actions were not those of just a few overzealous Crusaders, but were rather characteristic of the actions of all of them. For instance, Choniates reports that, "Nor, indeed, were these crimes committed and others left undone, on the ground that these were of lesser guilt, the others of greater. But with one consent all the most heinous sins and crimes were committed by all with equal zeal." Moreover, the list of the types of "sins and crimes" that Choniates
Four accounts from different perspectives, such as Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Byzantine Empire, show their impression of the First Crusade. The authors of these accounts were not experienced or trained in their writings. Instead, the expression of feeling and realism that was perceived during the time, shows the history through the view of the eye-witnesses, therefore, different communities had a different
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 impact of the crusades were more negative because they had bad reasons and because they fought nine times in the 13 centuries and many Christians were fighting against Jews. After the Christians and Jews fought the crusades still attacked each other.It also made lasting war between two religions.
The Crusades were a series of nine wars that began when Christians accumulated the first Crusaders to go and fight to take Jerusalem from the Muslims. But though the Crusades failed in their quest to conquer Jerusalem, there were positive and negative effects. However, it is evident in many ways the results were very damaging; in the way they impacted future relationships of Christians, Muslims, and Jews; and in how terrible the 4th Crusade ended up being.
After the 4th century when Constantinople emerged as a great capital and church center, tensions sometimes arose between its leaders and the bishop of Rome. After the fall of Rome to Germanic invaders in 476, the Roman pope was the only guardian of Christian universalism in the West. He began more explicitly to attribute his dominance to Rome's being the burial place of Saint Peter, whom Jesus had called the "rock" on which the church was to be built. The Eastern Christians respected that tradition and recognized the Roman patriarch to a measure of honorable authority. But they never believed that this authority allowed the papacy to overrule another church or that it made the pope into a universally reliable figure within the larger
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.
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.
Imagine you were a Muslim (Eastern world) living in Jerusalem, and suddenly was ambushed by the Christian Crusaders (Western world), massacring all the Muslims and Jews. Before the crusades, the Christians lived with the Muslims and Jews peacefully. Then, Pope Urban II told the Christians that if they fought to take back Jerusalem, they would automatically be allowed into heaven. The Crusades have left a bad relationship between the Muslims and Christians, and also left disbenefits for them. Muslims and Christians have hated each other for many years because of the Crusades. Although there was many years of worthless fighting, the Christians and Muslims have also benefited from the Crusades.
The results on the crusades were more negative than positive. Document 5 states that “Primarily Italians, had established communities in the crusader states.”
In the 10th century the first crusade took place in the Holy Lands. The crusade was a medieval military expedition that the Europeans created to regain the Holy Lands from the Seljuk Turks. Throughout the first crusade many different countries, religions and people were involved, some of these were Pope Urban II, Christians, Seljuk Turks, Europeans, Muslims and Jews. In 1096-1099 people went on the first crusade to take back the Holy Land. They did this for many different reasons, some of these reasons are money, power, taking back the Holy Land and going to heaven. The people who took part in the pilgrimages to Jerusalem were to wear the sign of the cross. The first crusade commenced with Pope Urban II making a speech at the Clermont in France.
This is (important/interesting/relevant) The attack of the Byzantine Capital had no responsibility as well as weren’t included for the Crusades. The depressing result as why they attacked the Capital was for the treasures they had in store as the soldiers made themselves fall into the evil of greed.As it represents, the Crusaders in both sides were responsible and were never held accountable for their actions of brutal and insightful murders due to the beliefs and biases those people had for
These reasons resulted in what became a prosperous first crusade led by the Pope himself. The political reasons ranged from a desire for adventure to the land of Jerusalem, wanting to gain more power, and other economic rationales. By the end of the first crusade, the Crusaders were victorious in stripping “more than forty silver candelabra and more than twenty gold ones” in the Dome of the Rock. The economic reasons included gaining more wealth, land, riches and multiple goods. The Pope claims that the Crusaders must “...rush quickly as [they] can to the defence of the Eastern Church” and that it’s “...a beautiful thing to die for Christ…”. The religious reasons the Crusaders thought to be true was that the crusade was God’s call for the Christian brothers to accomplish their attack on the Muslims. The Muslims were filled with grief as the Arab Historian, Ibn al-Athir, recalls that “...the Franks slaughtered more than 70,000 people…women and children taken prisoner, the homes pillaged…”. Unlike the rejoice in the documents and articles from the Crusaders’ perspectives, the Muslim perspective felt sorrow for those who died innocently. The Crusaders destroyed an extensive portion the Jerusalem land and population, taking away valuable riches and treasures from the Holy Land. While later crusades failed to accomplish that of the crusade led by Pope Urban III, I greatly believe that the first crusade was a great
At the beginning of the second crusade the Christians and the Muslims lived side by side, but then the Muslims got greedy and said that they needed more power and land. The Muslims took over jerusalem many times, and annoyed people. Many times, such as in the 1st crusade, the Muslims captures the holy land because they got greedy and wanted more land. They took over the holy land many times and they lost it many times because they had to fight. They got greedy so they fought many battles and won so they were undefeatable.
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 fall of Constantinople in 1453 was one of the most influential events in history and marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. The main effect of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was the downfall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The city was mainly populated by Christians and now has become an Islamic city. The capture of Constantinople stated the end of the Roman Empire, which lasted for about one thousand five hundred years. The invasion of the city of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of the Middle Ages.