The Fourth Crusade is considered one of the most successful yet one of the most confusing. There has never been a clear cut answer as to why this happened other than Pope Innocent III had called to return to the Holy Land and take Jerusalem the “Holy City” back from the Middle East. But was this really the end goal of the Fourth Crusade. I propose no, that this wasn’t the main goal but instead it was merely a guideline for the Fourth Crusade. The real meaning behind the call for the Fourth Crusade was to reunite the Roman and Byzantine Churches, to obtain wealth from Byzantium and to pay off the Venetians.
To better understand the events of the Fourth Crusade we first need to look at the history that lead up to the Fourth Crusade. “The Byzantine Empire was founded in 330 AD by Constantine I” . “In 395 A.D. the Empire was split into two by Theodosius and he left this to his sons Arcadius and Honorius” . “The Empire consisted of the Eastern side of Asia Minor, the islands of Cyprus, Aegean, Ionia, and Crete, the Balkans south of the Danube, and the cities of Cherson and Bosperos in Crimea” . Looking at the amount of land that the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire had points out that it was only a matter of time before the East
…show more content…
split off and became the Byzantine Empire. This Roman Empire was under the leadership of Germany and the Papacy which was stationed in Rome. Rome felt that it was the true church and that they were the ultimate leader. The division of the two empires caused huge divides between Constantinople and Rome. “The Byzantine Empire was referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, but make no mistake they had their own system of government” . Over the years this created quite a divide between the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire in that the Eastern half was more successful than the Western half. To demonstrate this “the Western Empire fell in 476 A.D.” Yet the Byzantine Empire was able to outlast its brother until roughly 1204 A.D. The Fourth Crusade found its crux and it fell to the Eastern Roman Empire. Research shows that Eastern and Western halves were like two completely opposing countries that followed their own laws and ways of life. “The Empire had its very own ruling elite and many of these individuals were highly educated. But the education you received could only be found in the Capitol” . As the Great Roman Empire split into the East and West, Constantinople became the capitol of Byzantium. This Emperor resided in Constantinople once it split in 395 A.D. we see many disagreements between the East and West such as how much influence the Roman Pope should have, if the capitol should fully support the crusades, and if so how much. Upon looking at the vast territories that encompassed the Byzantine Empire, one can only wonder if it was a matter of time before we see a divide between the Western and Eastern Empires. The reason that I say this is because Constantinople was the capitol and it was in charge of many provinces. But the capitol was the ultimate place that needed protection as the Byzantine Emperor resided here as well as the secular body or senate. If Constantinople fell so would the rest of the empire. One may think that just because the Western Roman Empire fell before its brother the Eastern Empire that it had lost its power. For a time this may have been true but as time went on the fracture between the two Empires actually strengthened the Western half and ultimately caused the downfall of the Byzantine Empire and the collapse of Constantinople, the once flourishing city of the East. The Empire separated itself from Rome and established its own policies, procedures, chain of command and form of Christianity. As we see the Papacy united the once fractured Western Roman Empire and gave it a cause. Many leaders and kings looked to Rome for instructions. It provided a united front and gave the Empire the will to outlast and regain the glory it had once lost by conducting and participating in Crusades. The church of the Byzantine Empire was Greek orthodox. This doesn’t mean that there weren’t any Latin influences but that the Empire was predominantly Greek. “The Empire is different in that they followed their own line of succession which was not based on succession and the Pope knew this and had pointed this out in his letter in 1202” . This is the exact opposite of what we see in the Western half of Roman Empire in that land and titles were passed down from father to son and is just one of many differences. In the West it didn’t matter if your father was Emperor before his death if he let the empire fall into disarray with a lack of leadership then it was ultimately up for grabs and anyone could take this by force. We see an example of this during the reign of Alexios III, ‘he is dethroned by his brother Isaac and was purposely blinded for lack of leadership’ . This would become important specifically during the Fourth Crusade. The Empire was known for ruling tyrannically and broke itself from Rome Early on and became independent from the West4. After ties had been broken a church was set-up almost independent from the Papacy of Rome5. This caused tensions between the two halves of Europe and is one of the reasons why we see so much tension between the halves of the Roman Empire, because the papacy didn’t have the control that it had on the Eastern front. We can see the amount of influence that the Papacy had in the Western states by reading a quote by Innocent III which said it best, this states “To princes power is given on Earth, but to priests it is attributed also in heaven.” This demonstrates the amount of authority that the Papacy had in the Western States. The Eastern Roman Empire may have fallen some years earlier but it was held together by Papal Rome, my reasoning for saying this is because all countries looked to Rome for guidance and many time a person’s influence was dictated by the Papacy. This illustrates that the Church reigns supreme and not the ruling elite, that if a crusade is called by the Church then this is so. Many of the important Christian cities are located within the Empire. There were five important Christian cities that we see play an important role throughout the history of the Crusades. “The cities of the utmost importance Constantinople, the gateway to the East, Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria” . Of these five, four of them are located within the Empire. “Constantinople was considered a Holy City” . In order for the Crusades to be successful, Western Europe needed access to Constantinople. It needed to march through this city as it was a major supply station and rest point. The divide between the churches of Rome and Constantinople was a very prominent problem in so much that the Byzantine Empire ruled independently from its Western half. They identified as previously stated as Greek orthodox and this became an issue because there were different practices. Rome had a Pope and Constantinople had a Pope and “Rome completely disagreed with this because they identified as the true Church” . “The emperor was considered God-like and he didn’t answer to anyone” . This meant that whatever the Pope pronounced was carried out. This helps one to understand why it was such an issue to have more than one Pope because the one in Constantinople could easily contradict what was being preached by Rome. This caused many contention between the two halves and even an excommunication pronounced upon one another. “At the beginning of the eleventh century we see that the Byzantine border was under attack on the Danube.
The Pechenegs started to make incursions just as the Seljuk Turks are trying to invade Armenia and the Normans are conquering the provinces of Apulia and Calabria” . The reason that this is so important to mention is that the Byzantine Empire spanned large of expanses of land. As the eleventh century progresses we see that Byzantium starts to lose more and more land until the Empire has lost Antioch and all of Asia Minor. Eventually Southern Italy is lost to the Normans. The Normans continue to be a thorn in the side of the Empire so much so that we see “Guiscard and Bohemond attack the Balkan Provinces across the Adriatic”
. As time progresses the Turks become unavailable to aid Byzantium and this becomes an issue as they had assisted previously been mercenaries for the Empire, this references the issue of being invaded by the Normans and Pechenegs. As this happens a “reliance is starting to be built on the Normans as mercenaries to help fight their battles” . One such agreement that may have been a catalyst regarding Constantinople is in 1071 to 1093 when “Robert I the Frisian made a pact with Byzantium and received five-hundred horsemen to serve as allies. Men are also recruited as they make their pilgrimage through Constantinople to Jerusalem” . The reason that I say this is that Constantinople was forced to recruit troops that Michael VII had previously sent
The Crusades were a number of military expeditions by Europeans of the Christian faith attempting to recover the Holy Land, Jerusalem, which was then controlled by the powerful Muslim Empire. In his book People of The First Crusade, Michael Foss an independent historian tells the story of the first Crusade in vivid detail illustrating the motives behind this historic event, and what had really occurred towards the end of the eleventh century. The Christian lands of Western Europe were slowly deteriorating from invasions of the North, and the passing of corrupt laws from within the clergy and the high lords. However, these were not the only challenges those of European Christian faith had to face. Islam strengthened after the conversion of the
Now, in 1198, in order to raise the papacy rather than take the Holy Land, Pope Innocent III, called for another crusade. This crusade is mostly being led by French Knights and instead attempting to capture Jerusalem, they end up sacking the Christian city of Constantinople! After the fourth Crusade, the other crusades were disorganized efforts that accomplished little to
The First Crusade was a widely appealing armed pilgrimage, and mobilized a vast conquering force at a time when the Christian Church was moving towards centralization and greater political influence in Europe. The Church gained a wider audience more accepting of its leadership, benefitted economically, and developed its own militarily force. These outcomes, along with the Church’s documented ambition to expand and its reversal of prior teachings, support the idea that the First Crusade was a deliberate political maneuver, intended to to expand and consolidate the authority of the
The first crusade was held only in order to fulfill desire of the Christians of the recapturing the center of the Christian faith-Jerusalem, which has been controlled by the Muslim nation for more than 400 years. This military campaign was followed with severe cruelty and harsh actions against Muslims which cannot be justified with anything but religious and material interest.
How did the Crusades affect the Christians, Muslims, and Jews? The crusades impacted them all greatly for they were all a key part of the Crusades. Occasionally A religion may get a positive consequence but most of the time it was a negative one. Why did they all want Jerusalem? They all wanted it because it had a religious value to them. For the Jews, it was their spiritual city where the great temple once stood. For the Christians, it was where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. Last but not least for the Muslims it was where Muhammad rose to heaven during the night journey.
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
Thomas Madden’s Crusades is an exposition of the crusades, which occurred during the Middle Ages. The Crusades were a series of military conflicts of a religious character. They remain a very important movement in human history, and are hard to understand, as they include several themes and they lasted for a long time (about two hundred years, and the author covers a period of about eight centuries in his chronological work). Religion is, of course, the most recurrent theme we think about the Crusades, but is it the only factor to explain them? How does Madden, considered as one of the most foremost historian of the Crusades, expose them in his book? Is his work effective to understand this period of History? Madden has the ambition to relate the Crusades from the Middle Ages to today events, such as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. For him, it is a recall of what happened in the past, and what can still happen today: making wars for religion. Madden wants to intrigue readers with this concise book so they go further to discover more about the Crusades.
The crusades in the middle ages were a long-lasting series of vigorous wars between Christians and Muslims over the Holy Land, Jerusalem. The crusades lasted for almost two hundred years. They began in 1099 and approximately ended in 1291. (What were the motives, and causes of these gruesome wars?) is the first question one might ask. To properly answer this question, I am about to analyze the first four crusades that had began in 1099 and ended in 1212.
The Crusades were one of the most prominent events in Western European history; they were not discrete and unimportant pilgrimages, but a continuous stream of marching Western armies (Crusaders) into the Muslim world, terminating in the creation and eventually the fall of the Islamic Kingdoms. The Crusades were a Holy War of Roman Christianity against Islam, but was it really a “holy war” or was it Western Europe fighting for more land and power? Through Pope Urban II and the Roman Catholic Church’s actions, their proposed motivations seem unclear, and even unchristian. Prior to the Crusades, Urban encouraged that Western Europe fight for their religion but throughout the crusades the real motivations shone though; the Crusaders were power hungry, land coveting people who fought with non Christian ideals and Morales.
That is relevant because the fourth crusade, one of their goals were to reunite the Greek Latin churches but it only made it worse and made them split up and got assaulted. That is a major reason on how the crusades had its negative outcomes than positive outcomes.Those are some reasons on why the crusades were mostly poor results than good results.There are many different reasons why there were lots more negative outcomes than positive results for instance lots of people would lose their lives and their homes and communities would be destroyed.
The goal of the Crusades was to regain the Holy Lands in the name of the church and drive the Muslims out of Jerusalem.
The First Crusade from 1095 to 1099 has been seen as a successful crusade. The First Crusaders carefully planned out their attacks to help promote religion throughout the lands. As the First Crusade set the example of what a successful crusade should do, the following crusades failed to maintain control of the Holy Land. Crusades following after the First Crusade weren’t as fortunate with maintaining the Holy Land due united forces of Muslims, lack of organization, and lack of religious focus.
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.
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
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).