In 1065 Jerusalem was taken by the Turks, who came from the kingdom of ancient Persia. When the Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem, thirty-thousand Christians were massacred and the remaining Christians were mistreated. Christians were forbidden from making pilgrimages to the Holy City. The Turks then threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire and take Constantinople. Byzantine Emperor Alexius I made a special appeal to Urban II for help. The idea that Europe could be united under one common enemy, and awakened the desire to save the Holy Land and Jerusalem from the Turks, and the hope for acquiring new territory in the East were all causes of the Crusades. A significant cause for the Crusades was Pope Urban II’s call to fight the Seljuk Turks and defend Constantinople in order to unite Europe. Pope Urban II explained to his people that Alexius of the Byzantine Empire needed help in defending Constantinople from the Seljuk Turks and asked for all of the true Christians to join in the fight. The Pope used this as an opportunity to unite Europe. Catholic forces were fighting with each other all over Europe and the Pope came up with an idea to get all that war out of Europe and send it somewhere else, Jerusalem ; fighting together as one big army. He promised that all of those who wanted to volunteer would be repented of their sins. Feudal lords, knights and peasants were convinced by Pope Urban II’s speech that it was their duty as Christians to fight in the
At first, the goals of the First Crusade were widespread. Christians of all backgrounds set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to strengthen their ties to tradition (The First Crusade). The Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested the help of Pope Urban II to repel invading Seljuk Turks from Eastern Anatolia, and return Byzantine land to Byzantine control (First Crusade). However, the goal which eventually dominated the others was the reconquest of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and its surrounding areas (First Crusade). Pope Urban II cleverly noticed that the first two goals would rally enough support in order for him to concur Jerusalem and restore
The Crusades, a series of wars, are an extremely important part of history in the 12th century, occurring during the Middle Ages. The Middle East or the Holy Land was always a place that Christians traveled to to make pilgrimages. The Seljuk Turks eventually took control of Jerusalem and all Christians were not allowed in the Holy City. As the Turks power grew, they threatened to take over the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, asked Pope Urban II for help and Pope agreed, hoping to strengthen his own power. He He united the Christians in Europe and In 1095, Pope Urban II waged waged war against muslims in order to “reclaim the holy land.”
The Crusades were a series of holy wars that began in 1095 CE. These wars were fought between Christians and Muslims to gain control over the sacred land. The Turks moved into the middle east during the early part of the 11th century CE. Most of the Turks served the Islamic armies and would invade land rapidly using combat forces. This alarmed the Greek emperor and caused him to seek out Pope Urban II and ask for mercenary troops to confront the Turks. The Pope called a council and had 300 attendees to show up. During this council, the Pope made a plea to free the Holy Land, which received an enthusiastic response. After this, Pope Urban II promptly waged war against the Muslims and took armies of Christians to Jerusalem to try and
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.
L. The main reason the crusades started was to take Jerusalem from the Turks. Before 1087, Christian pilgrims frequently traveled to Jerusalem, “the holy land”. However, according to document 6, “from 1087 onwards, turks stopped christian pilgrims from entering Jerusalem.” Basically, the Turks claimed Jerusalem as their own, and prevented any pilgrimages. Pope Urban II was not happy about this. He called European Christians to war in 1095 to recapture Jerusalem. According to Document 1, he says, “I, or rather, the Lord, beseech you as christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich….to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends.” Basically, Pope Urban II is urging the people to fight the Turks, and win back Jerusalem.
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
Some reasons for the crusades were based off religion. Both Christians and Muslims consider Jerusalem a holy place. Both also wanted control of the city because it would please their god. Pope Urban II should defend their fellow brethren in the East. Even though Eastern Orthodox was a different branch of Christians that didn’t follow the pope, he still considered them his “brethren” and wanted to help them fight for their
The First Crusade was cause by conflicts between the Christians and the Muslims for the Holy Land, Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the holy city for all three groups of different faiths; the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims. For the Christians, Jerusalem was where Jesus was crucified and resurrected. For the Muslim, Jerusalem was the place where Muhammad had ascended to heaven. For the Jews, it was their God 's city and it was the sit of Solomon 's temple. The main idea of the First Crusade was good against evil, in which the crusaders were on the good side and the Muslims and Jews on the evil side; after all they were the one who killed Jesus. The two main leaders that called for the First Crusade were Alexius I, emperor of the Byzantine
In the first crusade the byzantine emperor was afraid of the Turks, Alexius I asked the roman church for help. he thought that eastern and western Christians should join forces and make the Turks moves from Anatolia and Palestine. This movement would be called a holy war or crusade. The pope whose name was Urban II, agreed to this plan for two reasons, the first reason was because he thought that combining the east and the west war against the Turks would reunite the eastern and western churches. The second reason was because he wanted to free Palestine and Jerusalem from Muslim rule
In addition to the horrors carried out by the Seljuk horde on Christians and their shrines, the Byzantines were also begging the pope to protect their empire from other Turkish tribes. Urban II's main incentive for answering this plea for help was not entirely contingent on the letter he received from the Holy Roman Emperor, but more so from the notion that the Eastern and Western sects of the church could be unified. Moreover, they might be fused under the Pope, granting him sovereignty over the entire Christian church. This Papal hope has been revealed to historians through, among other sources, the different accounts of his speech at Clermont. For example, Guibert of Nogent recalls the pope declaring: "And you ought, furthermore, to consider with the utmost deliberation, ..., that the Mother of churches should flourish anew to the worship of Christianity, whether perchance, [God] may not wish other regions of the East to be restored to the faith against the approaching time of the Antichrist" (Peters, Guibert of Nogent, 35). Unfortunately, the Holy Roman Emperor feared his throne was in jeopardy due to the large number of crusaders that arrived to drive out the Turks. He demanded that they press on towards the Holy Land, and for reasons that need not be discussed, strong ties with the Papacy were severed soon
The Crusades did not happen extemporaneously. An upsurge of newly converted nomadic Muslims, called the Turks came together challenged the vulnerable Byzantine Empire. Unable to cease further development of the Turks, Pope Urban II, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, hoped to raise an army to free the Holy Land, overtaken by the Muslim Turks. The Pope got the attention of many leaders, including, bishops, abbots, lords and kings. The decision to raise an army and crusade to Jerusalem was agreed. A Holy war was launched. (Acrobatiq, 2014)
During the eleventh century aggressive Muslims as well as Turks penetrated deep into the Byzantine Empire and subjected the Christian people to their rule. Going on at the same time was a dramatic increase in the European population as well as increased commercial activity. The crusades were a reaction to each of these events. Lay people saw the crusades as a devotional act of pilgrimage with the promise of eternal salvation. For land hungry knights it was a rich commercial opportunity for the merchants in the growing west. The first crusades began November 27, 1095 following a sermon given by Pope Urban II on November 26, 1095 at the Council of Clermont. In his speech the pope encouraged noblemen and their armies to join forces with the Christians of the Byzantine Empire and attack the Muslims. In his speech Urban
In 1095 Pope Urban II delivered a riveting call to arms that led to the formation of a divinely inspired army intent on retaking Jerusalem from Muslim control. He grounds this appeal on a command from God: “I, not I, but God exhorts you as heralds of Christ to repeatedly urge men of all ranks…to hasten to exterminate this vile race from our lands and to aid the Christian inhabitants” (Fulcher 66). Though Urban emphasizes the need to assist the Byzantine Christians, the hordes of common people, clergy, and nobility that answer his call have diverse motives for embarking on the crusade. The rationalization for the first crusade is revealed expressly by participants who authored chronicles. However, some of the most conclusive evidence is
Time would pass, and so too would many knights and soldiers as the first three waves of Christ’s warriors in the First Crusade would meet certain death at the hands of the awaiting Saracens who, by this point, had gathered by the hundreds of thousands in anticipation of the enemies of Allah. However, the First Crusade, by the sheer overwhelming numbers of Europeans assembled, captured the areas between Antioch and Jerusalem between 1096 and 1099. They would create three Christian kingdoms despite the warnings of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I. (XXXX) Extolling revenge for the incomprehensible losses and sufferings experienced, the Crusaders slaughtered every Muslim man, woman and child in the City of David, some estimate well over 20,000
The Crusades were Christian soldiers who fought for the glory of God to protect their religion. The Crusades believed that it was acceptable to murder in war as long as it was for Jesus Christ. In 753 A.C., Pope Stephen II tells the ruler of the Franks Pepin Carolingian that “St. Peter would remit the sins of the men who goes to war for his church” (Lords and Ladies). “The priests could not fight in the wars with weapons but only to help celebrate mass and pray for Christian victories or to carry relies of saints” (Lords and Ladies).