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Essay on the origins of the first crusade
World history 02.03 the crusades
World history 02.03 the crusades
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INTRO - In 1095 C.E. Pope Urban II made a speech at Clermont in the South of France, to mount the first crusade to rescue the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the (Seljuk Turks) Muslims and to give it back to the Christians. Religious obligation and personal gain would be the most important motivations for the crusades.
When the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire asked Pope Urban II to help regain the Holy Land for the Christians, the Pope agreed to help and gave out the call at Clermont for the Crusade (there are no transcripts) but a Priest named Fulcher of Chartres was present and documented the speech. The crusades involved people from every country in Europe. The Pope wanted them to give up their daily lives and to take the cross and to fight for the return of the Holy Land, the place where Christ was crucified and rose from the dead. The Pope never expected thousands of
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So the Church had to promise more benefits such as, peasants being freed from their roles in the feudal system, the Church would pay taxes owed by the people and any debt would be wiped out and property and family would be protected.
FINANCIAL GAIN – War also brought financial gain for Knights, Nobles, Lords and fighters. The benefits of the Crusades could bring them financial gain or even higher status in society. Lots of money wash spent on equipment to be ready for battle, so when they fought battles and plundered and pillaged different lands, they gained personal wealth by taking the riches in the Holy Land. The motivations of the Nobles were different to that of the other people. The did not act with what the Pope had said in his speech, instead they used the crusades as an opportunity to gain land and valuables by killing innocent people along the way to the Holy Land and taking the land and riches from the people they
The Crusades were an outlet for the intense religious tension between the Muslims and the church which rose up in the late 11th century. This all started because the church and the Catholics wanted the Holy Lands back from the Muslims. Around this time the church was the biggest institute and people were god-fearing. Pope Gregory VII wanted to control more lands and wanted to get back the lands that they had lost to the Muslims (Medieval Europe). So in order to get back these lands he launched The Crusades which he insisted to the peasants was a holy war instead.
The Crusades took place in the Middle East between 1095 and 1291. They were used to gain a leg up on trading, have more land to show hegemony, and to please the gods. Based upon the documents, the Crusades between 1095 and 1291 were caused primarily by religious devotion rather than by the desire for economic and political gain.
It is amazing how much political and military supremacy the papacy position gained when the Crusades began. The First Crusade (1096-1099) was a military expedition initiated by Pope Urban the II to regain the Holy Lands in Jerusalem from the Muslim conquest. The Pope gave a speech requesting military action against Muslim takeover to the French people of Clermont. The speech eventually propagated to other nations for further recruitment. Urban’s political and military involvement helped regain the Holy Lands and save the Christian Crusaders souls. His famous speech changed the course of history in part because its dissemination was overly successful, and assembled over 40,000 Crusaders to do the will of God. Why was Pope Urban II so victorious in recruiting people for the First Crusade, and why was his influence so important?
Throughout the duration of the crusades real motivations shone though on behalf of the Crusaders. Not only did they lack a religious purpose for fighting, but they made the Muslim’s lives complicated and valueless. They were power hungry, land coveting people who fought with non Christian ideals and Morales. It should be clear to anyone and everyone that the prime motivation behind the Crusader’s fighting was power and land which would eventually lead to wealth.
The emphasis of the Catholic religion during the Crusades resulted in the spreading of Christianity across many regions in Europe, and also resulted in an increase in trade. The Crusades were fought in order to take back the land of Jerusalem from the Muslims, and also to protect the Catholic Church. The Crusades began when Pope Urban II stated that “.an accursed race utterly alienated from God. has invaded the lands of the Christians and depopulated them by the sword, plundering, and fire. Tear that land from the wicked race and subject it to yourselves,” in which he blames the Muslims for the loss of their holy land.
The Crusade began when the new Pope, Gregory VIII, declared that the capture of Jerusalem was punishment for sins committed Christians across Europe. A new Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land for the Christians was called for, and Henry II of England and Philip II of France ended the conflict between them to raise money to finance the campaign. The first to depart for the Holy Land was the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, with an army of
In 1095, Pope Urban II called the first crusade. Happening between 1096 and 1099, the first crusade was both a military expedition and a mass movement of people with the simple goal of reclaiming the Holy Lands taken by the Muslims in their conquests of the Levant. The crusade ended with the capture of Jerusalem in July 1099. However, there has been much debate about whether the First Crusade can be considered an ‘armed pilgrimage’ or whether it has to be considered as a holy war. This view is complicated due to the ways in which the Crusade was presented and how the penitential nature of it changed throughout the course of the Crusade.
A main cause of the Crusades was the treatment of Christian pilgrims. They were robbed, beaten, and then sold. The main group of Turks, the Seljuk Turks, were threatening and growing in power. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexus I, began to become worried and sent out an urgent plea to Pope Urban II, in Rome. He requested for Christian knights to help him fight the Turks. Pope Urban II did agree to his appeal although Byzantine Emperors and Roman Popes were longtime rivals. He also did agree with Alexus I, in fearing that the Turks were expanding. Pope Urban encouraged French and German Bishops and Nobles to also take part in this. “ An accused race has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and had depopulated them by pillage and fire.” This is when Pope Urban II called for a crusade to free the Holy Land. Urban did agree to this having some of his own motives in mind. He was hoping his power would grow in ...
The First Crusade began as a pilgrimage but quickly turned to a military conquest by the Roman Catholic Church to gain back control of the sacred Christian sites in the Holy Land. After Muslim control for more than four centuries, on July 15th, 1099, a multinational army of more than 13,000 soldiers succeeded in regaining the Holy Land.
The first Crusade, initiated by Urban II, was a campaign undertaken for the sole purpose of reconquering the Holy Land. However, the compensation offered to the crusaders in later decrees suggests that the motivations for crusading were monetary, not spiritual. The orders surrounding the privileges of crusaders focus not on the land gained in Jerusalem or the crusader states, but on the Crusader’s worldly goods in Europe. The decrees of crusader privileges concentrate on the maintenance of property within Europe. Multiple proclamations emphasise on the cessation of interest payments on debt while a knight is in the Holy Land. The continual emphasis on the payment of interest and debt to creditors shows that the Popes focused on the lands they had jurisdiction over, promising citizens the opportunity to mortgage their property to the Church in order to participate in the crusades. In addition to an emphasis on the property of knights, the privileges of the Crusades also indicate a focus on the spiritual world, rather than the earthly realm. The most consistent guarantee given to knights and citizens alike is the remission of sins is available to all who participate in the crusades. The privilege ensured
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
In the year 1095 the First Crusade was just beginning. Pope Urban II called Christians to liberate the Holy Land from Muslim oppressors. He promised indulgences and the gift of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven for fighting in the holy war. Those that answered the call were peasants, beggars, the poor looking for riches and the unknown looking for glory. What started out as a pilgrimage to help fellow Christians secure their borders and repel foreign invaders soon became the first of many Holy Wars for the Kingdom of God.
The emperor of the Byzantine Emperor was upset with Turks encroaching on his empire. He went to the Pope Urban II and complained. He made up atrocities about the Turks. In 1096, The Pope Urban II promoted the Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from the barbaric Turks. These crusades lasted till the 13th century. In the process, Jews were persecuted and lots of looting took place. Many countries took interest in the Crusades because they were ready for travel and adventure. They wanted to expand trade with the Middle and Far East and so the Crusades gave them a chance to open up trade routes with those countries. They used Christianity to justify the Crusades. In reality, they wanted to expand trade and gain more territorial land.
Historian Arnold J. Toynbee said, “Sooner of later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God.” In regards to the Crusades, the popes in charge chose to worship their own power – yet they got thousands of Europeans to worship the power of God. The Crusades were a series of campaigns in which Europeans tried to take the Holy Land from the Muslims. Pope Urban II headed the First Crusade, which lasted from 1096 to 1099, after he received a request for military aid from Alexios I. Alexios I was the Byzantine ruler, and his empire was facing attacks from the Seljuk Turks. The Crusades soon overtook all aspects of European society, as the promise of salvation and wealth was too great to pass up. 31 years later,
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.