Why Did The Crusaders Gain Control Over The Holy Land?

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.

The Crusades were great military missions developed by Christian nations of Europe for the purpose of rescuing the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the hands of the Moslems. Jerusalem was extremely important to the Moslems and Christians at this time. Many religious events happened there, and many landmarks of both religions were located in Jerusalem. There were many Crusades some more significant than others, but in general the Crusades were very important to the spread of Christianity and religious based knowledge. The Crusades are an example of religious rebellion that is timeless and universal throughout the world.

The mentality was that Christian crusaders were to Islam/Judaism at any costs. It doesn’t matter even if it was achieved through violence or war. During the course of the crusades, the death toll was high for Christians and Muslims. In few crusades, innocent people including women were raped and slaughtered. These victories lead to conquering kingdoms for Christianity but they were all unsustainable especially in 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.

According to the Christian Faith Jerusalem holds significant religious importance due to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and many other important religious sites. This is detailed in The Capture of Jerusalem by John France “Jerusalem had a special place in the religion and culture of medieval europe for it was the place Christ had died and his empty tomb in the church of the holy sepulchre was the very symbol of christian belief”. Pope Urban II called for the crusades to secure these sites for christians in that area and around the world. These sites also hold a religious importance to the Islamic Faith to this day, which is also seen in The Capture of Jerusalem “For Jerusalem is sacred to islam: its name al-Kuds, ‘the city of the sanctuary’, refers to the important shrine we now call the

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.”

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.

It was difficult to maintain the crusaders kingdom and they had failed to take over the holy land.They would have to depend on Western Europe for supplies and soldiers.

The Crusades was a very dark time in history. In case you didn’t know, there was a series of nine wars that came to be known as the Crusades. The Crusades were fought mainly for land. The land that was fought for was Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a holy town where Christians, Jews, and Muslims could go to and worship. They all have their own holy shrines at Jerusalem. The Christians have the Western Wall, the Muslims have The Dome of the Rock, and the Jews have the Great Temples of Harad and Solomon. The Crusades destroyed numerous beautiful buildings, and many people were killed or injured in these bloody wars.

It was a war to recover the Holy Land power, land, boost up social status' and obtain great amount of money. Source 15 and 16 prove the point of the crusaders wanting treasure and gold. Source 15 is a painting that demonstrates when the crusaders were rampaging through the city. It was thought that the crusaders were only coming to execute the Muslims and take back the Holy Land but instead they were looting the gold stealing the Muslims treasures and possessions. Source 16 is also another source that displays about how the crusaders only came to take the riches of the Holy Land, but why did they steal the gold weren’t they supposed to just kill all the Muslims and free the Holy Land.

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

During the time of the Crusades land was considered of much value and symbolized power. More land someone owned the more powerful that person became. Pope Urban called the first Crusades because it was an opportunity to gain control of the holy land of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is located next to seas and waterways making it perfect for trade. The map shows Jerusalem located next to the Mediterranean Sea. (document 7) Gaining control of lands near waterways meant more money gained from trade. This would boost economy. According to Chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres “for those who were poor there, here God makes rich. Those who had few coins, here possess countless besants...who had not had a villa, here, by the gift of God, already possess a city.” (Chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres, document 3) The people in the East were blessed with riches and land. According to the Jewish chronicler, Solomon bar Samson “...Frenchmen and Germans...passed through the towns where Jews dwelled…” (Jewish chronicler, Solomon bar Samson, document 5) The Christians passed through many different lands on their way to Jerusalem. This was an opportunity to conquer the people of the foreign lands and take their money. Easy way to increase their economy. This motivated the Crusaders to keep on

By this time most of the crusaders had left to go home, and those who remained ad built four settlements. The purpose of these four settlements were to guard and govern conquered territory. These Crusader states were Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli. However, the Muslim forces began gaining ground around 1130, and in 1144 Zangi who was the Seljuk general captured Edessa (northern Crusader states. By this time Pope Eugene III called for a second crusade, his call was answered by King Louis VIII and his wife Eleanor. Louis was a very religious man and he wanted to honor the first crusaders and his goal was to take the cross and expand the Crusader kingdoms. Unfortunately, Louis had very little military experience, but he still set out with more than 30,000 crusaders to recapture the holy land. This journey took five months because they traveled through France to Asia Minor. This wasn’t a good strategy because by doing this they would pass through Turkish lands and therefore put themselves in danger. The Turks took advantage of this situation by attacking Louis’s group (there were two groups traveling). Louis and his wife were able to survive but there were thousands of crusaders that were killed. Louis decided that best approach would be to abandon his army to look for a new route. His original route was Edessa but he took the way of Damascus (Palestine) because it was closer to Jerusalem. Nur Al-Din who was the son of Zangi (Turkish General), went to unite all of the Muslims in preparation for the war. Even though Nur Al-Din was determined to take back Jerusalem it was Louis who made the first move in 1148. Nur Al-Din had a choice to take Damascus and if he did so he would have more power, (Aleppo and Damascus were the eastern part of the Crusader states. The results of the battle was that there were thousands of Muslims that were dead, the Damascus ruler begged Nur Al-Din to send his army. Louis had to make a

Many of the Crusaders goals were to reconquer the Holy Land from the infidels and then go home once the job was finished. With this being the case with many of the crusaders, this left Jerusalem empty and vulnerable to be reconquered by the enemy. This then lead to the people who decided to stay in the Holy Land to fear the idea of being captured and possibly killed. The fear of this forced the leader of Jerusalem to send out word he needed more people to populate the city. Sending out this message was a good idea, but lead to the problem of having multiple types of people living within one area. This being the situation that means many of the people were not going to agree with one another and not like one another. This then lead to the solution of

The leaders of the four major armies were jealous of each other and quarreled consistently. Much of the time they spent more energy plotting against each other than fighting the Muslims. The Muslems too were disunited. At first neither side realized the problems of fighting soldiers of different types than they were used too. But the sheer endurance and strength of mail clad crusaders on their huge horses won the campaign. (Windrow 53). After moving their way successfully through Asia Minor and Palestine they conquered Jerusalem (Windrow 53). Once inside the walls of Jerusalem the Crusaders succumbed to mass hysteria. Because of their hunger, thirst, injuries and death to their fellow Crusaders they exploded into a lust for revenge. The