The Holy Of The Middle East

1. Just in case you guys don’t about the history of why the crusades are happening, it’s all about Jerusalem and the Holy Land, or Palestine, have a complicated history. The Holy Land sits at the intersection of three continents, near the birthplace of some of the world’s oldest civilizations. It also borders the Mediterranean Sea, a major artery of conquest and trade. The region is valued as much for its location as for its religious history. The location itself may have been reason enough for people to settle there. In turn, those people developed civilizations that gave rise to the religions that have spent centuries competing for the sacred soil. The three competing monotheistic faiths-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-met in Jerusalem. Despite their common roots, the differences among the three religions-and their peoples-often sparked conflict.

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II gave a supposedly important speech at the end of a church meeting in Clermont, France. In it he had called upon the nobleness of the Franks, to go to the East and assist their Christian “brothers”, the Byzantines, against the attacks of the Muslim Turks. He also apparently encouraged them to liberate Jerusalem, the most sacred and holy city in Christendom, for the Muslims had ruled it since taking it from the Christian Byzantines in A.D. 638. The Crusades were a series of wars between Christians and others to take back Jerusalem.

According to Baldric's version of Pope Urban II's speech calling for holy war, the Pope's chief motive was to rescue or liberate Jerusalem from Muslim control, for the purpose of spreading Christianity (namely, Roman Catholicism.) Baldric wrote about the speech favorably, from a post-crusade perspective, biased by his support of the crusades and his knowledge of the victories achieved.

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.

The primary target of the First Crusade (and the intended target of many more crusades), preached by Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095, was Jerusalem. In the version of this sermon by Robert the Monk, Urban urges those present to admire rulers who “have extended…the territory of the Holy Church”, and to “enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves. That land which as

The third crusade started in 1189 and its main goal was to recapture the Holy land. Its successes, both Christian and Muslim, are still reviewed to this day. The crusade consisted of three major monarchs: Emperor Barbarossa of the Holy Roman empire, King Richard of England, and King Philip of France. They all had one common goal and it was to set out and recapture the Holy land from Saladin. This crusade began in 1189 and would last for three years. With the Muslims, under the leadership of Saladin, recently taking control of Jerusalem from the Christians in 1187, they now owned a region that many wanted. Although Saladin did successfully protect Jerusalem from invaders, the Christian attackers were successful in

During the Middle Ages in 1095, Pope Urban II influenced the first crusade in France to drive out Turks inhabiting Jerusalem with a speech. As pope, Urban II found active support for his policies and reforms among several groups: the nobility, whose mentality and interests he knew; the monks; the canons regular, for whom he became patron and legislator; and, increasingly, the bishops. Pope Urban II believed there were no other people that were better for the job but the Franks because showing the wrongdoings of humans will fully convey that the true meaning about what being Christian is and the teachings are about. As the Islamic empire grew, the Turks eventually took over Jerusalem and were actively purging the Holy Land. The pope gave an objective speech to the council of Clermont that inspired them to continue to fight for the religious freedom of Jerusalem.

In deciding the course of history in medieval Europe, one of the most influential events was the First Crusade. The events that occurred set in motion a fundamental change in European society, religion, and politics, and the ramifications have been thoroughly examined. In spite of the significant body of scholarship on this crusade, and the extensive documentation from medieval sources, many elements of the First Crusade still are debated or remain uncertain. One such aspect is the role that religion and sincere piety played in the motivations of the crusaders and in the call for crusade itself. From a modern perspective, it is not difficult to see the crusade as being the product of opportunistic politics, and for the crusaders

Pope Urban II speech gathered hundreds of nobleman and clerics, and in his speech he summoned the rich and poor to stop fighting and lead a righteous war to help the Christians from the East take back Jerusalem. His speech starts by him telling everyone about how the Holy Land is taken over and then he talks about what the attacks had done to the inhabitants and saying how desecrated the churches are. He then asks for everyone to stop fighting amongst each other and to begin fighting for what is theirs. Pope Urban’s call for war mobilized the clerics all throughout Europe to gather support for the crusade against the Muslims. About 60,000 to 100,000 people, which included 200 Bishops and Archbishops, 4,000 ecclesiastics, and 30,000 laymen, responded to his call to march in

In 1095 at the Council of Clermont in France, Pope Urban II over exaggerated the danger of the Turks and indicted them in defiling and damaging multiple churches. As part of his objective, he desired to create a Christian army to lead against the Turks. This army of warriors would be under the charge of the papacy and directed to conquer Jerusalem and regain the Holy Land back from non-Christians. Urban’s concept of a justified war would utilize a vast warrior class that exited in Europe at the time and held the promise of bringing the Eastern Church back under the rule of the Pope. The promise of lands and wealth held interest from many but was further enhanced by the popular concept of some preachers that this pilgrimage would bring penance

In 1079, Pope Urban II gave a speech at the Council of Clermont. Urban urged people to fight alongside the Greeks, and liberate the holy city of Jerusalem from Muslims. Christians in the West embarked on a dangerous journey to fight in the Holy Land after hearing Pope Urban's speech out of greed and redemption.

But under the administration of the Fatimid Caliphate its population fell from about 200,000 to almost half that number by the time of the Christian invaded in 1099. The Christians killed much of Jerusalem as they captured the city. Jerusalem is a sacred city for both Christians (It's where Jesus was crucified) and for the Muslims (A place for Prayer) because of the rich religious background and the Holy Lands of the

Since Jews, Christians, and Muslims all find profound religious significance in Jerusalem, “religious freedom and full access to holy sites must be a key component to any agreement on Jerusalem.”8 But no agreement has yet been reached, and Jerusalem continues to be a point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The recent political conflict can be traced to the end of World War I, when the collapse of the Ottoman Empire left the Middle East to be carved up by colonizing forces. During World War I, the British took control of the area by supporting an Arab rebellion against the Ottomans. About the same time, the Balfour Declaration was issued by Britain’s foreign minister “announcing his government’s support for the establishment

During this time in church history, part of the religious actions of church goers was to partake in visiting shrines and viewing relics. Some of the shrines included houses of certain saints, artifacts from the apostles, but most importantly, the city of Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem was the place of Christ’s death and resurrection, many people would take pilgrimages to the city. In fact, soon, pilgrimages to Jerusalem became a form of penance. However, Muslims eventually took control of the city, but they still allowed the pilgrimages to continue. However, in the eleventh century, this reality soon stopped which cause Christians to not have the ability to travel to the city. In order to have one of the most important shrines of the faith restored, it would have to be taken by force.

While the present day Jerusalem flourishes with the pilgrims attracted by the city’s religious significance and the tourists intrigued by its historical landmarks, it was merely a minor city-state in the ancient times. However, rather than a miracle that had occurred overnight, the social and economic status of Jerusalem was obtained through a process of evolution, the early parts of which were recorded in the Hebrew Bible, which is a collection of narratives based on genuine historical events while centering its stories on divine power. In the case of Jerusalem, the Bible provides intricate accounts of religiously significant events that were in sync with the stages of Jerusalem’s development, starting with King David’s choice to designate the city as the capital of the United Monarchy, and culminating around the time of Solomon’s construction of the First Temple, as well as the fall of the city to the Babylonians. Through these references to the Bible, which centralize early events of the Israelite religious history in the city of Jerusalem, it is unequivocal that not only has Jerusalem affected the religious society of the Israelites, but the evolution of the city into a political and spiritual capital is also related to the religious events that took place in the city.