Spanning from 1095 to 1212 C.E, the Crusades were an effort made by medieval Christians to regain their holy lands back from the Muslims. There were five crusades in total going in order from the First Crusade to the Children's Crusade. A few were effective in their own respects although these Crusades proved costly to the European Kingdoms as a result of large losses of life. This paper will explore these crusades and explain why some succeeded whereas others failed. The year was 1095; Pope Urban II was caught in a war with Germany, and he had multiple conflicts in France as well as amongst his countrymen. In the midst of all this chaos, the Pope still wanted to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims who occupied the city. So he decided to start a pilgrimage to the holy land in order to regain it back. This pilgrimage was called The First Crusade. The Pope led a rally at Claremont, a town in France in 1095, to gain the support of the christian community. In his speech he said, “Arm for the rescue of Jerusalem under your captain Christ. Wear his cross as your badge. If you are killed your sins will be pardoned." He made men feel obligated to fight for this cause as if Christ himself was being defiled. These pilgrims were also given benefits such as exemption from taxes and their protection by the church. The trip to the Holy land proved to be difficult, for the Crusaders could not use the Mediterranean Sea because it was controlled by the Muslims. Instead they had to cross the land in scorching heat and also deep snow in order to reach their destination. They soon ran out of fresh water and had to resort to drinking blood and their own urine in order to survive. They suffered from heat stroke and dysentery caused by drinking the di... ... middle of paper ... ...ty of the Nile’s flooding, they were trapped behind a canal and slaughtered from all sides by the Egyptians who were led by the leader of the Damietta, Sultan Al-Adil. With their army slaughtered and no reinforcements, the Crusaders had no choice but to return Damietta to the Egyptians. This was the final failure of the Crusades era, after this, the Church did not unify any other countries in order to take back Jerusalem. In conclusion, among other triumphs, the sole purpose of the Crusades was to reclaim the Holy Land: Jerusalem. Some crusades were successful, and some failed, however, they as a whole have had long term effects on history. The Crusades were important because not only were they a factor in the history of the progress of civilization, but their effects have influenced the Catholic church’s wealth and power as well as other matters (Alchison 1/1).
The eminent historian Jonathan Riley-Smith defines ‘crusade’ as “holy war fought against those perceived to be the external or internal foes of Christendom for the recovery of Christian property”. This would suggest that the Crusades were primarily an endeavour intended to promote Christian expansionism through the acquisition of both territory and religious converts. However the Crusades can also be interpreted as a means for independent Christian rulers to demonstrate their piety, amass wealth through loot and enhance their prestige; all of which would be beneficial to the rule of their own territories. In addition to this, the Crusades were intended as a defensive measure in
Among some of the largest conflicts in the world stand the Crusades; a brutal conflict that lasted over 200 years and was debatably one of the largest armed religious conflicts in the history of humankind. Since this is so clearly an event of importance, historians have searched vigorously for the true answer as to why the crusades began. Ultimately, because of accusatory views on both the sides of the Christians and of the Muslims, the two groups grew in such hatred of each other that they began to act in deep discrimination of each other. Moreover, Christian motives seemed to be driven mostly by the capture of Jerusalem, the dark ages of Europe and the common-folks desperation for land, wealth, and a spot in heaven. What seems to be continually
The success and failures of the crusades “was closely related to the fortunes of the high-medieval papal monarchy” (454). The first crusade started when Pope Urban II called a plea of military aide to “free Jerusalem from Islamic control”. The first crusade was a “great early victory for the papal monarchy” (454-455). However, the crusades were not all victories for the papacy, the failures of the crusades ignited the decline of the papacy control. The crusades began when the Pope appealed to the people “to rescue the Holy Land from the infidels.”
In the early medieval period, the Seljuk Turks were the dominant power in the Middle East. Their influence and empire spread like fire, spreading from India to eastern Anatolia. When the Turks reached the Byzantine Empire, trouble began to spew. The Byzantine Emperor Alexius I asked Pope Urban II for assistance in raising an army, but the Pope had plans to not only defend Byzantine, but reclaim lands captured by Muslims centuries before. What followed were a series of wars from 1096 until the 1400’s that were aimed towards reclaiming holy lands that were in Muslim hands, called the Crusades. Though the Crusades may be disguised as a religious duty, it was more of a campaign for monetary and power gain.
In 1095 A.D, a historic battle took place in Jerusalem. This was the first battle that initiated a war that lasted 200 years and caused an estimated 200,000 casualties, all to seize control of land that was considered Holy. The battle was between two adversaries; one being the Crusaders, the other the Muslims. These numerous battles that took place were called the Crusades; however, the most important conflict was called the first Crusade. For one to comprehend the significance of the first Crusade, one must know why the Holy land was considered critical to control and the events that occurred during the battle.
Some people might believe that the crusades were a failure because most of the crusades after the the 3rd crusades were complete failures. However, they're wrong because, the crusades may not have brought riches to most of the crusaders, but, they brought new traditions, foods, and faiths. Also, the crusades were a complete success at first when they reconquered land from the Muslim. Those were more reasons why the crusades were a
The crusades was a very sad time. The crusaders were Christian and they were fighting for the Holy land. Pope Urban II told them to take the place back from the “non-believers.” Although there were some positives to the crusades, the negatives outweigh them. Some negatives would be that the result was innocent people getting murdered and many cities destroyed. In the next paragraphs, I will explain the reason why the outcome of the crusades was more negative than positive.
With the mission seemingly completed after the First Crusade, the armies demobilized and many of the Crusaders departed Jerusalem. The remaining Crusaders divided the conquered lands into four territories for governance: Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa, and Tripoli. In time, the Muslims countered with their own holy war (jihad) against the Christians with the goal or regaining control over Jerusalem. In 1144, the Seljuks recaptured Edessa. This development led to other Crusades. Since the military battles are not the major focus of this research effort, I will only briefly describe the remaining Crusades.
Since Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade in 1095, crusaders, including monarchs, peasants, and clergymen, continued to fight the Muslims over control of the Jerusalem. Yet again, in 1244, the Muslims burned Christian churches, massacred Christians, and recaptured the Jerusalem from the Christians. King Louis IX of France immediately responded and took the cross to recapture the Holy City, once and for all, in reverence for God. Louis IX believed he would succeed because his family’s experience in crusading, his piousness, and he had the resources to lead the Crusade. While Louis IX prepared, “…the best-funded, best organized enterprises that Christendom had ever launched,” the crusaders still could not defeat the Muslim. Although the Seventh Crusade failed, individuals still respected Louis IX and his efforts as pious and honorable.
Between the 11th and 13th century the Crusades have been fought by many dauntless knights who wanted to protect the Holy Land. They encountered many problems, however they were driven with their goal in mind. They thought that "protecting the Holy L...
On the one hand, the Fourth Crusade had created good conditions for the reestablishment of political and religious power in the Mediterranean regions. Its destructive role in causing the great Byzantine empire to collapse had provided a great opportunity for the Western European nations to access this region through convenient ways of ocean transportation. On the other hand, the Fourth Crusade had many negative consequences for the crusades. It seemed that this crusade had created some great achievement in the Mediterranean regions. But, due to these twists and turns of events had never enabled the crusaders to reach the holy land of Jerusalem and fulfill their dedicated goals to save the holy land. Besides, fighting against the Venetians had incurred more enemies for the crusaders, which further created more hardships and troubles for them to reach and save the holy land. This had actually created a stumbling stone for the later crusades. What is more, for those individual crusaders, they had nothing gained from this dangerous and risky adventure in the Byzantine Empire, and some of them were faced with the outcome of being moved out of the church, which proved to be a huge blow to them who were previously so religiously committed to the goal. Therefore, there is no wonder that the Fourth Crusade had actually weakened the crusaders’ position both in the crusades and back
At the end of the conflict, the christian side failed in several aspects. Around 1272, the final christian city in Syria, Acre, fell to Mamaluke attacks from Egypt (“Minor Crusades”). This marked the fall of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). One reason the Crusades ended up failing are that the christians were never fully united. The Greek and Roman churches hated each other and prevented united action (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). Another reason is that they lacked control of the Mediterranean Sea. Instead of being able to go straight to Syria, they had to take a long, overland route from France or Germany through Bulgaria and the Roman Empire’s territory (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). In addition, the Crusaders never had enough people to colonize a country the size of Syria and absorb its Muslim population (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). By this time, people had lost faith in the Crusades, and stopped believing in them as “the way of God.” They believed Jerusalem would be best retaken “by love, by prayers, and by the shedding of tears.” (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”)
The Crusades were a progression of progressive developments that began in the eleventh century. They denoted the first run through expansive quantities of devotees left their country to convey their way of life and religion to far away grounds. The Crusades were comprised of a mix of religious interests and military ventures. The Christian Europeans were willing to recapture their Holy Land of Jerusalem. The force of the congregation was at its tallness and pioneers of the congregation, Popes, were enthusiastic to transplant their religion to outside countries
The Crusades were a series of discontinuous military campaigns that took place in the years from 1096 to 1487 authorized by several Popes. As any historical fact, opinions vary depending on which side you defend. For some people the Crusades have some positive consequences, but for others, the Crusades were a major mistake that brought disastrous consequences. The First Crusade was developed after Emperor Alexius turned to the west and asked Pope Urban II for military assistance against the Seljuk Turks. This Crusade generates difficulties for the Byzantines because the emperor’s wishes were ignored by the crusaders, who organized the four crusading states of Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and Jerusalem, after conquering Antioch, Jerusalem, and
In the year 1096 AD, a wave of violence struck the Jewish population of the Rhineland. Pope Urban II’s call for the First Crusade prompted an unprecedented response. Christians all throughout Europe gathered to embark on the Crusade to Jerusalem in order to bring the Holy City under Christian control. One unintended consequence of this movement was the formation of a more extreme band of crusaders focused in the Rhineland who, instead of immediately departing for the Holy Land, directed a mass of violence against the major Jewish communities, who reacted in further unprecedented ways.