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Causes and Effects of the first crusades
Why did Pope Urban II call for a crusade
Causes and Effects of the first crusades
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Crusades, military expeditions that begun during the late 11th century that were organized by western European Christians. In 1095 the council of Clermont, “Pope Urban II called Christians in Europe to respond to an urgent plea from Byzantine Christians in the East.” (Madden, 2). This caused a striking expedition to Jerusalem in order to prevent the city from Muslim control. Many Muslim threatened to conquer the remnant of the Roman Empire for Allah. To many, Pope Urban II was a huge inspiration to willing participant. His works connected to every accomplishment to the works of God, which lead many to be intrigued. The crusades showed nothing but passionate devotion that most Western Europe had towards Christianity. It touched upon almost …show more content…
every aspect of life, from religious thought to politics and economics. “Ever since the explosion of Muslim warriors out of Arabia in the seventh century.” (Madden, 2) things began to collapse for many Christians.
With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam fought against Christians after Mohammed’s death. Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, one area that was heavily influenced by Christianity quickly collapsed, and was conquered by warriors. During the eleventh century, the Turkish jihad, conquered Asia Minor also known as modern turkey, which had been a Christian area since the time of saint Paul. This lead for the old Roman Empire to be reduced to a small portion, which had Christianity, a once large religion be practiced in a small area.
The birth from the crusades was not due to ambitious people; rather the birth of the crusades was due to Muslims capturing two-thirds of the old Christian world. Many following the Christian faith took a stand on their believes and defended itself by Islam. Like Thomas Asbridge’s states, “ The First Crusade was called in 1095 by Pope Urban II in response to an urgent plea for assistance from the Byzantine Empire, the last Christian state in the East” (Madden 2). Though the response to Pope Urban II speech was tremendous. Thousands of warriors prepared for war, misunderstanding what Pope II
meant. When Pope Urban II gave the speech at the council of Clermont, it encourages the western Christians to embark on a journey that would help the Byzantine Emperor. The Pope declared nothing that Christians everywhere should, “bewail the most monstrous devastation of the holy land” (Fulcher of Chartres). His works connected to the works of God leading many people to take the vow and join the expedition. He often times claimed that, “ by permission of God… as an ambassador with divine admonition” (Fulcher of Chartres). Not buy his own authority he was able to make these claims. Crusades was not the fulfillment of man, but it was the fulfillment of God’s will, and anyone who decided to join would have forgiveness of sins and a guarantee entrance to heaven. This led many yo join the crusades and fight the good fight to defend their faith, and regain power to the countries they once lost.
The First Crusade was propelled in 1095 by Pope Urban II to recover control of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Christian Holy Land from Muslims.
The Pope has agreed to help defend the Byzantine Empire! After being appealed to by Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in 1095, Pope Urban II assembled the Council of Clermont. In order to help the Byzantine Empire and ensure his power over the church he has decided to call for a military expedition to get back the Holy Land.
Contrary to many commonly held notions about the first crusade, in his book, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, Jonathan Riley-Smith sets out to explain how the idea of crusading thought evolved in the first crusade. In his book, Riley-Smith sets out five main arguments to show how these ideas of crusading evolved. Firstly, he argues that Pope Urban’s original message was conventional, secondly that a more positive reaction was drawn from the laity (due to the ideas surrounding Jerusalem), thirdly, that the original message of crusading had changed because of the horrible experiences of the first crusaders, fourth, that due to these experiences the crusaders developed their own concept of what a crusade was, and lastly, that these ideas were refined by (religious) writers and turned into an acceptable form of theology. Riley-Smith makes excellent points about the crusade; however, before one can delve directly into his argument, one must first understand the background surrounding the rise of the first crusade.
The First Crusade was called in 1096 by Pope Urban II. The reasons for the First Crusade was to help obtain Jerusalem known as the holy land. During this time period the Muslims were occupying Jerusalem. First Crusade contained peasants and knights’ whose ethnicities consist of Franks, Latin’s, and Celts which were all from the western part of Europe. To get peasants and knights to join Pope Urban II objectives in return of a spiritual reward called “remission of all their sins” which was to be redeemed of any sins the individual has committed. When sins are redeemed Crusaders believed that they will escape the torment of hell. When lords and knights joined the crusade they were known as military elites. Crusaders were known as soldiers of Christ.
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 Crusades took place in the Middle East between 1095 and 1291. They were used to gain a leg up on trading, have more land to show hegemony, and to please the gods. Based upon the documents, the Crusades between 1095 and 1291 were caused primarily by religious devotion rather than by the desire for economic and political gain.
It is amazing how much political and military supremacy the papacy position gained when the Crusades began. The First Crusade (1096-1099) was a military expedition initiated by Pope Urban the II to regain the Holy Lands in Jerusalem from the Muslim conquest. The Pope gave a speech requesting military action against Muslim takeover to the French people of Clermont. The speech eventually propagated to other nations for further recruitment. Urban’s political and military involvement helped regain the Holy Lands and save the Christian Crusaders souls. His famous speech changed the course of history in part because its dissemination was overly successful, and assembled over 40,000 Crusaders to do the will of God. Why was Pope Urban II so victorious in recruiting people for the First Crusade, and why was his influence so important?
In 1095 Pope Urban II called all Christians to take part in what would become the world’s greatest Holy War in all of history. Urban’s called on Christians to take up arms and help fight to take the Holy Land of Jerusalem back from the accursed Muslims. During this time of war, the whole world changed. Land boundaries shifted, men gained and lost and gained power again, and bonds were forged and broken. The Crusades had a great impact on the world that will last forever.
The emperor of the Byzantine Emperor was upset with Turks encroaching on his empire. He went to the Pope Urban II and complained. He made up atrocities about the Turks. In 1096, The Pope Urban II promoted the Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from the barbaric Turks. These crusades lasted till the 13th century. In the process, Jews were persecuted and lots of looting took place. Many countries took interest in the Crusades because they were ready for travel and adventure. They wanted to expand trade with the Middle and Far East and so the Crusades gave them a chance to open up trade routes with those countries. They used Christianity to justify the Crusades. In reality, they wanted to expand trade and gain more territorial land.
The Crusades were the first tactical mission by Western Christianity in order to recapture the Muslim conquered Holy Lands. Several people have been accredited with the launch of the crusades including Peter the Hermit however it is now understood that this responsibility rested primarily with Pope Urban II . The main goal of the Crusades was the results of an appeal from Alexius II, who had pleaded for Western Volunteers help with the prevention of any further invasions. The Pope’s actions are viewed as him answering the pleas of help of another in need, fulfilling his Christian right. However, from reading the documents it is apparent that Pope Urban had ulterior motives for encouraging engagement in the war against the Turks. The documents and supporting arguments now highlight that the Pope not only sought to recruit soldiers to help but also to challenge those who had harmed the Christians community and annihilate the Muslims. He put forth the idea that failure to recapture this lands would anger God and that by participating, God would redeem them of their previous sins.in a time of deep devoutness, it is clear this would have been a huge enticement for men to engage in the battle. Whether his motives were clear or not to his people, Pope Urban’s speeches claiming that “Deus vult!” (God wills it) encouraged many Christians to participate and take the cross.
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.
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 call to action from the Roman Catholic Church to go and free the Holy Land, Jerusalem, from other religious groups living there, such as the Muslim and Jewish people. At the time, The Church played an influential role in every aspect of a person’s life, and people looked to The Church to see how they should act. The Crusades were motivated by ideas of wealth, Heaven, and power. People were promised all of those things by The Church and Pope Urban II. According to Document B, the Crusaders treated the Jewish people and other groups harshly. These cruel actions led to bad relationships between The Church and other groups. The Crusades introduced a new way of living for the Europeans. After the Crusades, Europeans began to trade with the areas of the Holy Land. The Europeans wanted the new goods they had been introduced to, such as spices, sugar, and silk. The Crusades were caused by power and religious reasons, and they changed the European trade system and their interactions with other groups.
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.
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 ...