The Holy Crusades

The Pope had all of the power and that led to mass amounts of people going to war for the Pope. In document 4 by the Islamic leader, Saladin, he states that his people should try to retake Jerusalem to get back their holy land and to please God. The people are trying to please their gods and to give their homage to their god. That would show a religious view for the Crusades and their brethren. Document 5 by the Jewish chronicler, Solomon bar Samson, shows that there was a religious aspect to the Crusades, mind it be extremism. The crusaders would see a pack of Jews on the way to the Holy Land and they would give the Jews two choices: 1. they could kill them to avenge the death of Jesus Christ or 2. They could incorporate them into their faith and acknowledge the offspring of promiscuity. Document 7, an excerpt from “In Praise of the New Knighthood” by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, tells of the two-fold war that was being fought by the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers. It was a normal killing people war, and it was a spiritual war. You are protected by the armor of faith and an armor of steel. Next, I would have liked a document from Pope Nicholas IV about how the Crusades had to stop. That would have filled in the ending to the story of the Crusades.

The crusades were a series of 4 religious based wars, that took place from 1095-1291, in which Western Christians (most notably from Italy and France) invaded the Mediterranean and Middle East in an attempt to recover the holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslim people, who were seen as the enemy. From the Christian point of view, the crusades were a holy war done to reunite Christian loyalty and faith, and also to recover Jerusalem and to protect the Christian faith and people from the spread of Islam. However, the Christian retelling of this event is the most common, and there is very little showing the Muslim perspective, or for that matter, Middle Eastern perspective, including Jewish and Orthodox Christians, who also suffered greatly at

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 Muslim ruler at that time Zangi had attacked and was capture on Christmas Eve 1144.We see that this second crusade was led by European king against Islam. Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany went across Europe separately and were defeated by the Seljuq Turks. What was left of the two armies marched on to Jerusalem and joined the attacked on Damascus. The Europeans crusade was unsuccessful, but a great victory for the Muslims. The Muslims continued to attack and capture land. However like the first Crusade the second crusade left a bloody

sThe Crusades (1095-1212) was an attempt by the Roman Catholic Church to regain the Holy Lands from the Muslims. Several Crusades took place during this time period. Although the initial Crusade was successful, later Crusades not only seemed to lose sight of their original purpose but also appeared to be an excuse for violence and thievery that damaged the reputation of the Catholic Church worldwide. The Crusades afterwards were only successful to the Third Crusade because the original crusades had a clear, organized, religious-based purpose, and later crusades outright failed due to ineptitude and greed.

There are many myths when it comes to the crusades. I have found through research that the Crusades did not happen extemporaneously or as a result of one individual event. In this paper I will examine a number of features that came together to create the political, social, religious, and economic environment that enabled the "crusading spirit" to take cause and spread throughout Europe. The crusades had been military campaigns during the time of Medieval England against the Muslims of the Middle East. In 1076 the Muslims had captured Jerusalem which happen to be the holy of holy places for Christians. This was due to the fact Jesus had been born in Bethlehem and spent most of his life in Jerusalem. He was crucified on Calvary hill,

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

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.

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

Islam wanted to destroy the Christian faith and culture so the Christian’s only defense was the Crusades. The Crusades were a double-edged sword; acts of great sacrifice and love, and on the other hand acts of brutal hatred. The widespread massacre of Muslims, Jews, and other non-Christians resulted in resentment even today. However, the Crusades produced stronger countries, the rise of towns as the center of trade and commerce, travel and transportation improved throughout Europe, Christianity spread, new knowledge and skills were acquired from contact with the East.

The Crusades began in 1095, when Christian armies from Western Europe reacted to Pope Urban II’s wish to go to war against the Muslim armies. The Christian army wore the cross made with red blood cloth to symbolize their religion. The Crusades took place between 1095 and 1291 and the goal was to stop the spread of Islam, to control of the Holy Land, to conquer pagan places, and to recapture Christian territories. Two-thirds of the ancient Christian world had been conquered by Muslims by the end of the 11th century but the Crusades, attempting to check this advance, initially enjoyed success, founding a Christian state in Palestine and Syria, but the continued growth of Islamic states denied those gains. There were a total of 11 official crusades in all. Only the First and Third Crusades were successful in achieving their main goal. In the long history of the Crusades, thousands of knights, soldiers, merchants, and peasants lost their lives on the march or in battle. But even though only the First and Third Crusades were successful in reclaiming parts of the Holy Land, the Crusades played an important role in the expansion of Europe.

The Crusades were one of the most prominent events in Western European history; they were not discrete and unimportant pilgrimages, but a continuous stream of marching Western armies (Crusaders) into the Muslim world, terminating in the creation and eventually the fall of the Islamic Kingdoms. The Crusades were a Holy War of Roman Christianity against Islam, but was it really a “holy war” or was it Western Europe fighting for more land and power? Through Pope Urban II and the Roman Catholic Church’s actions, their proposed motivations seem unclear, and even unchristian. Prior to the Crusades, Urban encouraged that Western Europe fight for their religion but throughout the crusades the real motivations shone though; the Crusaders were power

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

There were eight significant Crusades, which were sparked for many different reasons by many different people that left a lasting effect to the world. These years of bloodshed were led by men of power in order to gain control over Jerusalem at the expenses of others. Throughout the 11th to 13th century, nine significant crusades occurred. There were many other small crusades throughout this period, which continued into the 16th century, until the Renaissance and Reformation when political and religious climate of Europe was drastically different than that of the middle ages (CBN). The most successful of the rebellion was that of the First Crusade. After taking Nicea, the Anatolian capital of the Seljuks, the Crusaders captured Antoich in Syria and Jerusalem in 1099 (history bits). The success of these missions allowed Crusaders to establish permanent settlements

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.