The Crusades Causes

The Crusades were a series attacks against the Muslim people in Jerusalem in an effort to take back the Holy Land. The causes of the Crusades are highly debated, but religious devotion is the obvious cause for Pope Urban the Second to call upon the Crusades. The religious reasons that lead to the creation of the Crusades is that the Christians wanted to take back Jerusalem, add another reason. The economical and political reasons that could oppose the religious reasons are that the Crusades were caused because people wanted to gain more riches and possessions and that Pope Urban wanted to protect the Byzantine empire from the Seljuk Turks. Although the economical and political reasons were the causes of the Crusades, the religious reasons

Although it is seen as a cause of the Crusades, it is rather a source of inspiration and motivation for the Christians to take part in the Crusades. It was not going to achieve much for the Western Christian churches, but only to benefit the Crusaders. An observation written by a Muslim noble, Usmah Ibn Munqidh, during the Frank’s arrival near Acre in Israel proves that new lands and possessions were just personal desires. He writes about how the Franks arrived in near Acre on ships and that they promised him and the Muslims safe conduct, but instead destroyed their ships and stole their possessions. They were meant to only pass through Acre to reach Jerusalem, but decided to pillage the region for their own benefit. It proves that the possibility of gaining riches and land in the Crusades was only a motivation to stir the Christians into joining the Crusades, and that it steered the Crusaders off their objective of reaching

The Byzantine empire was under attack from the Seljuk Turks and Alexius Comnenus, the emperor of the Byzantine empire, required help from Western Europe. Knights were sent for support, but during the Fourth Crusade, defending the Byzantine empire was not made an important priority, and the Crusaders therefore pillaged Constantinople for their own benefit. Pope Innocent the Third was outraged to hear that the Crusaders destroyed Constantinople, saying in the reprimand of papal legate, “It was your duty to attend to the business of your legation and to give careful consideration, not to the capture of the Empire of Constantinople, but rather to the defense of what is left of the Holy Land…”. Through the quote, it is proved that defending the Holy Land was a higher priority than attacking the Byzantine empire. Furthermore, Pope Innocent the Third did not mention that defending the Byzantine empire was the Crusaders’ ‘business of their legation’ and therefore means that the cause is very trivial, or it has been neglected. Although defending the Byzantine empire was a cause of the Crusades, it did not last long and did not contribute much to the creation of the other