Critical Analysis of the First Crusade

The First Crusade took place in 1096-1099 in the Middle East and it was a very dark place for the Jewish people living in this duration of time in history. A Crusade is a holy war or an enthusiastic movement for change socially, politically, or religiously. In the book The Chronicles of the First Crusade edited by Christopher Tyerman, it depicts the anger of Christians towards Jewish people after the crucifixion of Christ. The Jews were put to blame for Jesus’s death and the Crusaders decided that under God they needed to prosecute the Jews for not believing in Christ. Another reason behind The First Crusade is that Peter the Hermit with the help of Pope Urban II declared the goal of Christians having access to the holy lands, otherwise known as Jerusalem, which at that time was a place of ungodly practices. The Crusaders were ruthless, killing men, women, and children for what started out to be in God’s name and were killing for the “revenge” of Christ because it was what God wanted. The crusaders were motivated by religion at first but as time went on and battles were fought, armies mentalities began to shift due to the amount of slaughtering and killing of people, it became a competition to kill in order to make up for their own men that perished and the violence over power began to affect the armies and it’s leaders causing disorderly conduct.
To begin, the Christians viewed Jews as “enemies of Christian faith,” and Christians believed that the Jews were responsible for Christ’s death, making the start of a horrible “war of the Cross” (CFC, 30). Peter the Hermit, who was a priest from Amien, was the start to the massacres. Peter had taken an expedition to Jerusalem and saw the places that were supposed to be the most holy we...

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...tance of getting Jerusalem back to a holy and sacred place slowly dwindled into a huge excuse to destroy lives and to cut throats. The Chronicles of the First Crusade state, “Perhaps, however, we were fated to be misled often by our leaders, for what did they do in the end?” (CSC, 89).
In conclusion, the Crusaders were ruthless, killing men, women, and children for what started out to be in Christ’s name in vain of the Jews putting Jesus to death on the cross. The Crusaders were motivated by religion at first because of the ungodliness taking place in Jerusalem, but as time went on, the killings of the innocent began to effect the Christians. The Chronicles of the First Crusade state, “Perhaps, however, we were fated to be misled often by our leaders, for what did they do in the end?” (CSC, 89). In the end, the leaders led their armies to murdering innocent people.