The Crusades: A Religion Analysis

Although a topic of my past history classes has been the Crusades, I only come out of them with a vague understanding of the situation. So, I sought out to gain a greater understanding through the vision of the question, "Was the first crusade a success, and if so, what made it a success?" Using The Crusades: A Reader, specifically the writings and documents from pages 33-79, I will make a decision based on specific occurrences and their ultimate goal (CITE SOURCE WITH FULL CITATION).I plan on picking out important aspects of the first crusade and determine whether or not they contributed to the success or failure of it. Also, I will try to uncover the motivations and the organization that led to the execution of the plan to recapture the Holy Land. In short, the first crusade interests me the most because there were crusades afterward, signifying it must have been found successful in some understanding.

The Crusades were great military missions developed by Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the hands of the Moslems. Jerusalem was extremely important to the Moslems and Christians at this time. Many religious events happened there, and many landmarks of both religions were located in Jerusalem. There were many Crusades some more significant than others, but in general the Crusades were very important to the spread of Christianity and religious based knowledge. The Crusades are an example of religious rebellion that is timeless and universal throughout the world.

The Crusades was a horrific time. Many people had lost their lives, friends, even family. The Crusades were a battle over the holy land, Jerusalem. The Crusaders, people who had fought in the Crusades, were Christians. They wanted the holy land because they believe that’s where Jesus had died and rose. They had fought against the Muslims who were defending themselves against the Crusaders. The Crusades had its positive outcomes as well as its negative results. Some may wonder, were the results of the Crusades more Positive or Negative? I strongly believe the outcome was mostly negative mainly because the Crusaders didn’t win the holy land, lots of lands were destroyed, and so many people lost their lives in the battle of the Crusades.

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

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.

Throughout history, religion has always been a factor for many events, but was the purpose of the Crusades in the 11th-13th centurys purely religions devotions, or political gain? Evidence from Pope Urban II, a quote from Patrologia Latina, and a speech by the Islamic leader Saladin show just how much of a factor religion was during the Crusades. These people come from different backgrounds and histories, yet they still believe in one thing- is was "Gods will" to partake in the Crusades. Pope Urban II was the main reason that Christian soldiers journeyed to the Middle East to fight in the Crusades. Being in such an influential position, people were bound to follow his word regardless of wealth.

The first crusade was the first Christian journey to Jerusalem, the holy land so that they could aid the Eastern Christians lay siege to the city and take it back from the Saracens, a name for the Muslims during the Crusades. In November 1095, Pope Urban II called for the first crusade and announced it at the town of Clermont, central France. He proposed that Christians go to Jerusalem to liberate the church in the name of religious devotion, a cover-up for people seeking honour or glory. The crusaders were mainly comprised of peasants from France and Germany. When the crusade began on the 1st of November 1098, Bohemund and Raymond Toulouse both claimed to be in charge; an argument broke out. While the Crusaders captured the town of Ma’arra, Bohemud returned to Antioch and captured the city for himself. Bohemund proposed that he would let Raymond lead the crusade if he could have Antioch, and so Raymond led the crusade. On 7th June 1099, the crusaders finally reached Jerusalem. It is said that as the great walls of the city came within sight they wept with joy, but this was not the end of their journey. Jerusalem had solid defence and was heavily guarded which presented a challenge for the Crusaders as they did not have the necessary siege equipment to break through the walls as that would require wood which was scarce. Then a priest had a vision that if the Soldiers marched around the city 3 times bare foot. The crusaders did this and within a week they took control of the

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.

kings have been using religion for generations to control the populous. These religions have been using their gods as excuses to go to war, attain more land, and institute its own set of laws, Christianity, one of the oldest religions and most followed religion, has been using the idea of heaven and God’s will to say that their god is right and other gods are the “enemies”. One huge examples of this would be the Crusades, a set of three holy wars, the first of which started in 1095. The pope wanted to reclaim the holy land because it was under the control of the Turks and Saracens, who the pope thought was unholy. Pope Urban II said to the leaders of Europe in the Court of Clermont in 1095, “Concerning this affair, I, with suppliant prayer-

During the Crusades, there were several sets of leaders that chopped and changed frequently. The leaders can be categorized into three groups; crusade leaders,religious leaders, and political leaders. An example of a leader of the Crusades Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I of Jerusalem, An example of a political leader that heavily influenced the war's includes Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantine Emperor, and a religious leader includes Pope Urban II and the Council of Clermont. Godfrey of Bouillon was a frankish knight and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 until it conclusion in 1099. In the call to arms from Pope Urban II, Godfrey either took out loans on most of his lands or sold them, with this money he gathered thousands of

Religion was discovered back in 2000 BC and is considered to be a trait common to cultures worldwide to this day. Some use religion as a way to cope, to connect, but few could use religion as a weapon against others. Since religion began, over 195,035,000 lives have been lost in tragedies brought on in the name of faith. Regardless of the brutality religion has created, it has also caused others to come together in order to speak out. As a result of religions regression in society, humans are able to progress for the sake of defending human rights.

Religion has its shares of promoting violence. Many will argue that a cause of religion wars is for economic and political reasons, but others argue that those who start wars are, by definition, not religious. In reality, separating religion out of economic and political motives can be involved in such a way finding religious motives innocent of much. Excuses for Christianity responsibilities cannot be accepted whether the person has misappropriated the message of Christ. The primarily set of doctrines is not Christianity, but by living through past background it personified the visible actions of Christians. In other words, Christianity, Islam or any other religion has no intention of excusing from survey. Given certain conditions,

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

Many people believe that war is always caused from religious differences and if there was no religion, the violence in the world would be demolished. War may cause death tolls to rise in countries, and history has shown that religion has been a factor that causes countries to go to war. Europe has had many wars about religion for instance. According to World Encyclopedia, “religious grievances provided justification for widespread violence and aggressive domestic policies. Consequently, nearly all of Europe was, at one point or another, engaged in the wars of religion” (World Encyclopedia 725). Everyone here had the “I’m right, you’re wrong” mentality and this resulted in a country filled with power hungry citizens who all wanted their religion to be the one and only. However, religion is not the only reason wars occur, there are many other factors that play into violence.