The First And Best Crusade

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 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

Another final reason for people to go on a crusade was reaction to the rise of Islam. Many sources tell us that people such as pilgrims and people who worked for the church might have been scared at how powerful the Muslims were becoming; they were afraid that they would advance into different areas of Europe and start ruling the areas that they invaded by Islamic rule. A source supports this as it tells us that the Turks had been making constant advances in the East, and were now threatening Constantinople itself. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman empires. It had a very powerful army and defended all of Western Europe because of this. If Constantinople fell, then all of Europe would be open to invasion, a vision that greatly worried European Christians. In Jerusalem, the Muslims were destroying it and capturing many people as well as killing them. Although

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.

The 1st crusades, only lasted a numbered total of 3 years until it ended, but within those three years the official and the peasant crusades were known more widely through Europe. The Official crusades were organised into four armies of troops from different western European regions, and led by Raymond of saint Gillies. They left destruction, and caused many major crises in the Jewish and Christian relationship, they were most known for holding a red cross and walking through towns, and villages. They had killed many men, women and

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.

During this time a monk named Peter the Hermit, carried a huge cross town to town and preaching to the people. This made people want to get out and go reconquest Jerusalem. They were starting to get antsy and eventually a horde of poor men, women and children set out on the trip to Jerusalem known as the “People’s Crusade” or “Peasants Crusade”. The name was given to the crusader because they had started their expedition before the great leaders that lead the main crusade. The People’s Crusade was unorganized and mostly unarmed. Women and children were the majority of the tens of thousands of individuals heading to jerusalem. They traveled down the Danube valley and passed through Constantinople before the main crusade was supposed to meet. They were led by Peter the Hermit and a few other higher ranking knights but later became too much for them to control. Along their journey through germany and hungary their number grew shorter due to battles with the natives of the land. When the “People's Crusade” crossed the Asia minor they were surprised and slaughters by the Turks. A few thousand including Peter the Hermit survived and would eventually continue their march to

The First Crusade was called in 1095 by Pope Urban II in November. It was here that the Pope made a proposal: “Whoever for devotion alone, but not to gain honour or money, goes to Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God can substitute this journey for all penane” (Phillips, 21). Pope Urban II saw the first crusade as a chance for knights to direct their energy towards a spiritually rewarding experience, namely the recovery of the Holy City of Jerusalem from Islam. Knights were told that in return for their efforts their sins

The First Crusades was a military group that was started by Christians in Europe who wanted to gain back the Holy Land that was being occupied by the Muslims. Pope Urban II preached a sermon at Clermont Ferrand on November 1095. Most histories consider this speech to be the spark the fueled a wave of military campaigns to gain back the Holy Land. This speech was meant to unite the Europeans and to gain back what was taken from them. The holy land was a small area on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The First Crusades was a very successful military expedition that was driven by religious faith to reclaim Jerusalem and other holy places that fell under Muslim control. driven by religious faith. They wanted to gain back the Holy Land that was once theirs. Arabs and the Muslim Turks otherwise known as the Seljuk Turks were the Muslims that invaded and conquered land rightfully occupied by the Christian’s. Many European men, women, and children joined the Crusades and fought in the Middle East. Pope Urban II granted forgiveness of all sins to those who died in battle thus assuring them ascendancy into heaven. Which gave those who volunteered to fight assurance. Nobles and peasants responded in great numbers to the call and marched across Europe to the capital of the Byzantine empire. Having the support of the Byzantine emperor helped make them a stronger army. The Crusaders took over many of the cities on the Mediterranean coast and built a large number of fortified castles across the Holy Land to protect their newly established territories. Soon after seizing power the Seljuks face a very different challenge to Islamic civilization. It came from Christian Crusaders. Knights from western Europe who were determined to capture portions of the Islamic world that made up the holy land of biblical times. Muslim political division and element of surprise made the first of the Crusaders assaults, between 1096 and 1099, by far the most successful. Much of

The first crusade started in autumn of 1095. Pope Urban II initiated the first crusade by calling upon his Christians to reclaim the city of Jerusalem. The Crusade was also meant to seek revenge on the followers of Islam. The followers were accused of committing crimes against “Christendom”. Pope Urbans crusade was made possible by the work of St. Augustine on Christian Violence in the past. Many Christians joined the crusade because the Pope promised rewards for the afterlife. After the fourth century, Christianity underwent a transformation when it fused with the Roman state for which warfare was essential. St. Augustine and Pope Urban enabled violence to be an option for Christians and it can be described in this quote, “For the first time in Christian history, violence was defined as a religious act, a source of grace.” After the Pope’s Christian tour, many Christians were ready to destroy everything that stood in their way.

The first crusade lasted from 1096 to 1099. In 1095, the Pope declared war against the Muslims. Then in 1096 troops from France, Germany and Italy fought. The reason for this was to take back the holy land of Jerusalem. The person who was responsible of leading this journey was Duke Godfrey. Duke Godfrey was a very religious man, an example of his religiousness was

What was the cause for Western Europe to implement the Crusades? To answer this, we must go back the 11th century when the Seljuk Turks made their presence known in the east by conquering Armenia, Syria, and Palestine. They soon moved on to Jerusalem where they burned down Christian churches and murdered the clergy and many Christian pilgrims visiting there. Byzantium quickly saw the Seljuk Turks as a threat, and in 1071, met them at the Battle of Manzikert in Asia Minor. The Byzantines were slaughtered and it would not be long until the Seljuk Turks closed in on Constantinople. Byzantium's only hope rested on the shoulders of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus who quickly raised a mercenary army to help protect Byzantium.

The First Crusade was a number of wars between Christians and Muslims that was religious. The Muslims and Christians started securing control of holy sites considered by both groups. The eight crusade expeditions occurred between 1096 and 1291. The conflicts propelled the status of the European Christians. Thus, making them fight for land in the Middle East.

CRUSADES TAKE HOME EXAM I. There are three important reasons why the crusades started. One is Pope Gregory’s speech about saving people who would go fight for their savior Jesus Christ. Gregory motivated people to fight in the crusades to have a promised salvation. According to Thomas, “Gregory VII saw the Byzantine plight as the perfect opportunity to employ Europe’s warriors in the service of God” (Madden 6). On November 27 1095, at the Council of Cleremont, Pope Urban II preached the first Crusade.

The Turks were murdered, and since they were Muslim the Pope did not want the infidels to have any power. The People's Crusade Pope Urban II call to arms, the religious enthusiasm swept across Europe. In 1096 a French monk named Peter the Hermit pulled together an army that was Disorganized.