The Fourth Crusade and the reasons for the destruction of Constantinople
The period of the crusades can be seen as one of much death and destruction for minimal gains, without the crusades however, it is very plausible that Europe itself would have been swallowed whole by the invading Muslim armies. As much as the crusades had been seen as valiant efforts by the Christian knights, they also played a crucial part in many terrible acts occurring in the name of them, in particular The Fourth Crusades. During the Fourth Crusades the great city of Constantinople was sacked, the reasons for this could be attributed to greed, power, and desperation.
On April 12th, 1204 the city of Constantinople would have seen a terrifying sight, an army of approximately 20,000 soldiers, and 200 ships who were being crewed by Venetian warriors. This same city had resisted sieges by many different countries, including the Persians, Arabs, and many more, but they could not resist those who followed their same Religion. How did a religion that was supposed to be united, decide to destroy what would conceived as their greatest ally? During the years 1201 to 1202,
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Another intriguing fact is that while many individuals berated the Venetians for stealing from the people of Constantinople, many of the knights themselves stole relics and sent them back to the churches in Rome. A second reason that Queller and Day give for the Venetians role in the attack on Constantinople is that it could have been for religious purposes, many main stream historians believe this to be false, and that the true goal was for commercial trade. While it may have been true that Enrico Dandolo was interested in expanding his trade routes, he was quoted as being thankful to God for the opportunity to liberate the holy
Foss explains, “What Urban needed was an enterprise, clearly virtuous in serving the ends of Christiandome… in these moments of reflection, the popes mind turned towards Jerusalem.” Urban II reflects back on the first taking of the Holy City after the defeat of the Byzantine Empire in 1071, and begins to question what his people know about the Turkish race and really the ideology of Islamic thought. Foss goes on to examine the ignorance of westerners and needed to be “reminded [by the pope] of the infamous heathens, their cruelty and hatred of Christians,” hoping this would justify the first Holy Crusade. However, Foss identifies the creativity of the Pope’s language to persuade the knights and army of the people to embark on the Holy Crusade based on the Muslims cruel actions turned onto their fellow Christians. Claiming the Muslims “Killed captives by torture…poor captives were whipped…and others were bound to the post and used as a target for arrows.” Foss examines the Popes words as an effective effort of persuasion in creating an army of crusaders to help clean “…Holy places, which are now treated with ignominy and polluted with Filthiness” and any sacrifice in Jerusalem is a “promise of a spiritual reward… and death for
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 is often cited as one of the most damnable consequences of religious fanaticism. A careful inspection of the circumstances and outcomes, however, will reveal a resultant political restructuring of Europe under the banner of Christendom. The purpose of this investigation is to investigate Pope Urban II’s motives in initiating the First Crusade, with a particular focus on the consolidation of the Western Church’s influence in Europe. Among the primary sources that will be consulted are the letter sent by Patriach Alexios of Constantinople to Urban, and an account of Urban’s speech at Clermont. Relevant excerpts from both of these primary sources, as well as contextual evidence and a wide array of historiography, will be taken
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.
Although the crusades were seen as failures during their time, the crusades had a huge impact on the world. This impact can be seen through the many social, political, economic, and religious changes that developed during the crusades. Some of these changes still last to this day.
Some of the most widely-repeated interpretations of the Crusaders are that they are viewed as either motivated by greed or religion. According to Riley-Smith, historians throughout history have had various flipping beliefs as to what motivated the Crusaders on their raiding. Riley-Smith believes that views change "to reflect the mood of the times." He disagrees with the view that the Crusaders were motivated by greed because there is no direct evidence to bolster the contention that the Crusaders took these rash measures "to prevent the break-up of their estates" or because they were attracted "by the hope of adventure, spoils, and land overseas." He believes that many historians have disregarded motivation from religion because of a disdain
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.
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 Crusades were a bloody time period. They were a military campaign by the pope and the Roman Catholic Church to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims. They lasted from the 11th- 13th century. They were catastrophic and left Europe in ruins. Although the Crusades were such a violent period of time, they had a positive impact in history because of their role in the renaissance and exposing the Western world to the Eastern.
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.
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 ...
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 ...
To begin, the crusades left many cities in ruins and they were destroyed. For example, in document 9, it states that in 1204, Christian crusaders attacked Constantinople and left the city in ruins while also plundering its wealth. This is important because the city's wealth
In Medieval Europe a series of religious wars, recognised as the Crusades, were fought between the Christians and the Muslims and happened in the years 1096 to 1272. The purpose of the crusades was to retake control of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Whilst the Christians did not achieve their goal of obtaining the holy land from the Turks, there were positive and negative outcomes that changed medieval society. The positive outcomes of the crusades included people willing to participate in the war, the weakening of the feudal system and trade. However, there were also negative outcomes to the crusades including death from disease and battle, and an increase in taxes.
There are multiple causes of the Crusades. One is that the Christian people were being murdered and the Christendom people wanted to fight. Another Crusade was because the Turks were constantly making threats and even went after Constantine. The effects of the Crusades are that the kings increased the taxes in the kingdoms and increased their authority. The Crusades also led to land expansion and in some ways “militarized” churches.