The First Crusade Was More Of A Political War Essay

This crusade would grant remission of sin to those who undertook the crusade. Harris again remarks on the similarities, “The reaction in the papal curia when news arrived that Constantinople had fallen was much the same as it had been when Jerusalem had been lost to Saladin in 1187” (pg 195 2nd Edition). Pope Urban IV justifies this new crusade by saying that without Constantinople, the way to Jerusalem was blocked and any efforts to retake the Holy Land would fail. This call to crusade is similar to the one that launches the Third Crusade led by Richard Coeur de Lion to retake Jerusalem. However, here these parallels end. Unlike in the Third Crusade, Pope Urban IV's call for crusade fails and no armies are sent forth. At least none that could constitute a strict crusade due to a lack of promised remission of

Contrary to many commonly held notions about the first crusade, in his book, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, Jonathan Riley-Smith sets out to explain how the idea of crusading thought evolved in the first crusade. In his book, Riley-Smith sets out five main arguments to show how these ideas of crusading evolved. Firstly, he argues that Pope Urban’s original message was conventional, secondly that a more positive reaction was drawn from the laity (due to the ideas surrounding Jerusalem), thirdly, that the original message of crusading had changed because of the horrible experiences of the first crusaders, fourth, that due to these experiences the crusaders developed their own concept of what a crusade was, and lastly, that

The Crusades were missions to take back Jerusalem that the Christians believed were a “spiritual cleanse”. There were three Crusades that took place between 1095 and 1291. The three popes, and other Christian superiors during this time period were leaders that the Christians believed to be infallible. The first pope promised all sickness would be prevented, every sin would be erased and each Christian would be guaranteed a

At the beginning, the Third Crusade was called under the belief that by reclaiming the Holy Land of Jerusalem, the Christians would be repenting to God for their sinfulness. The sins of those who went on a crusade were so grave that they lived in constant fear that they would go to hell after death because of what crimes they had committed, and this was such a huge concern back then because most people did not live very long lives. Men usually died in their forties, and women were lucky to make it to seventy or eighty if they survived giving birth to multiple

In 1095, Pope Urban II called for an army to go to the Holy Land, Jerusalem. This was what was later known as the ‘First Crusade’. A crusade is a religious war or a war mainly motivated by religion. The first crusade consisted of 10’s of thousands of European Christians on a medieval military expedition to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. This doesn’t mean that the first crusade was just motivated by religion. Throughout this essay, I will be suggesting the main reasons of why people went on crusades and which different people went for specific reasons and why.

Another aspect that contributes to the statement that the crusades were not motivated by religious factors is that the crusaders wanted more land. Many Crusaders wanted to govern their own piece of land in a new area, so they decided to fight being guaranteed a piece of land; in this era land equaled money, the more land you had, the wealthier you were—religion didn’t get you very far. By having a new plot of land, in a new area the Crusaders would be able to rise above their social status and experience a newfound wealth that would be next to impossible back in their homeland. Through this, we can see the prime motivation of the Western European’s commencement of the crusades was their aspiration for land. Even Pope Urban II, an example and leader for all the people, wanted to fight just to get the Holy Land back. So if the prime example for the people, a leader that everyone looked up to was demonstrating greed and voracity then it would only be natural for his people to follow. Not only did Pope Urban II and officials express tremendous amounts of self-indulgence, but they very well knew what was going on beforehand; the selection mentions that they worked to “prepare” the people for a crusade by changing conditions within their society and economy. The changing of economic aspects portray that the Crusaders were unhappy with their current state of wealth and the easiest way to fix that was to

There are numerous accounts of the First Crusade. However the outlooks of the writers of these accounts are shown in the differing opinions and amount of focus on different events in the Crusade. The accounts of Fulcher of Chartres and Anna Comnena have different views on the relationship between the crusaders and the Byzantines, differing amounts of focus on certain parts of the crusades and the Muslims, and different views on the crusader leaders.

As The Pope states in the beginning of Document A," Although, O sons of God... to preserve the right of the church. " This statement shows how Pope Urban II believes that commanding the men to fight in the Crusades is Gods work. This idea is also supported when he states,"On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds... Moreover, Christ commands it..." After Pope Urban says these things

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban ll made a powerful and well planned speech. His message was clear and precise, ‘go to the holy land in Jerusalem and claim back what is rightfully yours or die trying, and in return remission of all your sins with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven’. He was addressing Christians from all over France calling for a ‘Crusade’ in the name of God and as many would argue, abusing his authority and status he received from the Catholic Church. What occurred during the First Crusade is well known to many, whereas the reason behind Pope Urban ll calling the Crusade is a highly debated and contradicting issue.

In order to establish reasons for Urban’s call for a crusade in 1095, we need to look at many accounts of the time, and find out what was happening in the rest of the Christian world which influenced both what and when he said what he did to launch the first crusade. At the time, religion played a major role in almost everyone’s daily lives, and the belief system of the afterlife was extremely strong. It was true that every Christian had a very vivid sense of sin, and believed that if one committed an act of sin, their afterlife would be spent in hell. They all thought of this afterlife as a reality rather than an idea. It was this belief which would help Pope Urban II recruit more men.

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 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.

Late in the year of 1095 Pope Urban announced on Tuesday, November 27 that he would hold a public session to make a great announcement. This was the beginning of what was to be the First Crusade . After having painted a real grim or somber picture the Pope made his appeal. He thought that western Christendom should march to the rescue of the East. Rich and poor alike should go and they should leave off slaying each other and instead fight a great war. Supposedly they thought it was God will and that God would lead them and Take care of them. During his speech Cries of "Dues le wolt! -- "God wills it!" - Interrupted his speech. Just after the Pope ended his speech the bishop of Le Puy fell to his knees and asked permission to join the "Holy Expedition." Hundreds crowded up to later follow his example.

It is important, first, to consider the nature of the crusading ideal. The First crusade was preached on the basis of two ideals, one concrete and one symbolic. The first was that Christian pilgrims were being physically harmed in the Holy Land. The second was that the Holy Land was the land of Christ. Thus, it was imperative to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. To anyone who would do this, Pope Urban granted remission of sins.

Catholic Church leaders including Pope Urban II regarded the Crusades as an ideological battle for religious superiority and control of the Holy Land. Urban emphasized the religious emancipation of the Crusades in his speech to thousands at Clermont-Auvergne in France, where he implored, “Undertake this journey eagerly for the remission of their sins, and be assured of the reward of imperishable glory in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Durant 587). However, just as religion can be attributed to the reason for Urban’s crusade, so too can the financial and economic goals of both the Church, nobility, and common folk. Changing economic structure in the medieval period fostered a need for change in commerce and trade. With that, came an ambition from the lower class to change their socio-economic status. The emergence of the merchant class, desire for commerce and trade among centralized empires, and the lure of financial freedom and prosperity propelled the Christian Crusades to regain the holy land and control of eastern territory against the Moslem “infidel”.