In 1095, Pope Urban the second, was the one who declared religious war against the Muslims now known as the Crusades. In order to get an army, plenary indulgences was offered to anyone who joined resulted in tens of thousands joining in on the campaign. This meant that anyone who joined was “cleansed” of their sins by the Pope which helped believers be more pure in the spiritual world. The crusades began in the late eleventh century by the Western European Christians. These Europeans went with armies to take back the Holy Lands which is modern day Israel, or as the Jews and Christians refer to as Palestine. “ The first official armies to take part in the pope’s crusade departed from Kingdoms in Germany, France, and Italy in August 1096 and began to arrive in Constantinople in late 1096 and early 1097” (5). For the next 200 years, Christians and Muslims would battle over the Holy Lands.
Many were talked into the campaign. A speech at Clermont that initiated the Crusade had a larger appeal than intended and led to an immediate organization of a popular crusade preached by Peter the Hermit, full of fanatical and ill-prepared participants. On their way to the Holy Land, they attacked Jewish quarters in French and German cities then moved on to Constantinople. After their arrival in Constantinople, they were captured and moved by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I to Anatolia, to only be massacred by the Seljuks at Nicaea.
One of the first cities taken by Christians was Nicaea otherwise known as Iznik, Turkey in 1097. Then soon after Antioch, now Hatay Province, Turkey in 1098. The Crusaders reached and captured the center of the Holy Lands, Jerusalem, in June of 1099; they were reduced to half due to starvation, injuries, and sick...
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...g after he gained alliance with Roger Crusade and the Greek empire then began reforming by isolating the hostile German Empire Henry the fifth. Soon after would gain military alliance with the first Lombard league in 1093. A few years later, the Crusades would start in urban its command after many desk came to the end of the dark ages Pope urban the second would soon later die In July 29 1299 in Rome, Italy.
Works Cited
“Crusades.” Gale Student Resources in Context. Detroit: Gale,2010. Student Resources in Context. Web. 24 Mar.2014
“ Pope Urban Calls for Crusades: November 27, 1095.” Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Ed.Jennifer Stock.Vol.4 : Europe. Farmington Hills, MI : Gale, 2013. Student. Resources in Context, Web. 24. 2014
“Urban, II.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit : Gale, 1998. Student Rescorces in Context. Web. 24 Mar.2014
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.
Saladin’s forces took Jerusalem from Christian control which resulted in a call for another crusade. Three kings, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, King Phillip II of France, and King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) led this crusade but accomplished little.
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.
Pope Urban II was sought by Alexius Comnenus, a Byzantine Emperor who wanted the papacy to help his army hold off the advancing Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. The reason for Alexius Comnenus contacting the pope rather than another emperor or monarch wasn’t just the fact they were secular, but because the pope would have more power to persuade the people. The Gregorian movement in 1050-80 was ultimately was responsible for the new instilled power of the papacy’s position over nonreligious rulers. The pope agreed to aid the Byzantine emperor, but he also had his own agenda when it came to the military advances and the new power of his position. The papacy did not intend to only help the Byzantine Empire but to further save all of Christendom from being overrun.
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.
The First Crusade was established in 1095 in a council of the Church in Clermont. Alexius I Commenus, emperor of Byzantium, wanted to control Asia Minor and Northern Syria after losing to the Turks. He needed more Western troops and looked towards Pope
God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark, will cause readers to question much of what they know about the Crusades, the Crusaders themselves, and the formidable Muslim forces they encountered along the way in liberation of the Holy Land. Stark gives compelling reasons for the Crusades, and argues that readers should not be too quick in following the lead of historians who cast the Crusaders in less than positive light. Stark makes his case supported by evidence that vindicates the valiant struggles of the Crusaders who accomplished the task of keeping Christianity alive through troubled times.
At the start of the Second Crusade, it had been four decades since the First Crusade had taken place and the stories from the first expedition had become legends. However, these legends soon began to unravel: Edessa, once a Christian held city from the First Crusade, fell to the Muslims under the forces of Zengi. After the fall of the city of Edessa, "the Christian aura of invincibility was shattered" and they were overcome with panic because this was the first time they recognized the invading Muslims as a threat (Madden 50). This fear was precisely what ignited the Second Crusade. Although Pope Eugenius III called upon the Second Crusade, it was technically considered Bernard of Clairvaux’s crusade. Bernard was a French abbot who was appointed to his position by the Pope in order to preach about the crusade. Bernard regarded the Second Crusade "as a means of redemption" and preached across Northern France and Germany in hopes of rallying civilians to stand by his side in the name of Christ (Madden 52).
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 ...
Five months after ridding themselves of the Turks, the Crusaders began to head towards Jerusalem. Though all the leaders of the Crusade armies claimed to have wanted to accompany on this journey to reclaim the Holy Lands for the Church, but some were more interested in the prospect of new lands to be founded and conquered.
The crusades is a time when radical religion took that what is good and turned it to evil. The crusaders were attacks by Christians against the Muslims to reclaim the holy lands. These attacks were motivated by a speech given by Pope Urban. Pope Urban took his power as the Pope and misused it to encourage the Christians to attack the Muslims. He told the Christians that the Muslims were bad people and made-up a lot of false things they had done. Pope Urban also took a positive part of the Christian religion in going to heaven and turned used it make the Christians do evil things. Pope Urban told the Christians they would be given eternal life if they killed Muslims. Pope Urban used the positive Christian idea of believe in a central figure and used it for his own gain. He claimed that God wanted the Christians to attack and they would be rewarded if they did. This shows that Pope Urban’s
The First Crusade was an extreme and explosive upheaval of religious elation that reached a state of perfection in a brilliant military achievement. Pope Urban II, in his call to the Crusade at Clermont in late 1095, touched a nerve in western Christendom, unleashing a power that far exceeded his desires outcome and proved difficult to control. Motivation both honorable and selfish prompted multitudes of crusaders to voyage to the east. Regardless of the considerable obstacles, large portions of these military powers succeeded in arriving at the Holy Land; in mid-1099 they broke the walls of jerusalem and in a paroxysm of madness prevailed over the Muslims and gained the Holy City. But in this essay I focus on: why did so many western Europeans joined this movement.
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 ...
The first crusade was controlled by Godfrey of Bouillon and more French leaders , they stormed from Constantinople through lands held by the Seljuk Turks to Antioch. They battled isolated Turkic forces, and Godfrey's brother Baldwin stopped to set up the first Crusade State at Edessa. The crusades captured Antioch.