Pope Urban Vii's Speech In The Crusades

The Crusades were an event that happened over a thousand years ago, and they shaped most all of Europe. There were tens of thousands of deaths, much destruction, and many resources used on all sides of the war. Even though the war did not have to be started in the first place, after Pope Urban II gave a speech in November of 1095 the two sides could never come to a compromise without violence. This is due to the inherent lack of similar characteristics that comes with religions, bundled by the Pope’s persuasiveness and appetite to “retake the holy lands.” He clearly wanted to reacquire the land that the Muslims controlled at that time, for he wrote letters to Flanders, Genoa, Bologna, Pisa, and Milan, as well as preaching about it wherever

he went.
Background:
In 1074, Pope Gregory VII made a proposal to “retake the holy lands.” He wanted to take over 50,000 men to war to liberate Jerusalem and areas around it.

When he died in 1085, Pope Urban II continued on the late Pope Gregory VII’s message of attempting to retake the holy lands. In March of 1095, an ambassador came from the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, informing the Pope of the Seljuk Turks who had recently invaded Anatolia, which was once a part of the Byzantine Empire. Later that year on November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II gave a speech to the people. There is no manuscript of the speech, however it must have been very effective, as the people started to rally up others to join the fight to extrude the Seljuk Turks from the Christian’s holy land. Part of one of his speeches was, “I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to perse all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it is meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it” (Urban, “Speech rallying people for the

crusades).
In the early spring of 1096 a group of crusaders left lead by Peter the Hermit. This crusade was called the People’s Crusade, and was intended to free the holy lands. Before they attacked, they went on side Crusades, exterminating villages of Jews along the way. “They rose in a spirit of cruelty against the Jewish people scattered throughout these cities and slaughtered them without mercy” (August, p54-56). Shortly after they left Bosphorus, “[They] were annihilated by the Turks in Anatolia.” (Davies, p73). However, the Christians still wanted to remove the Seljuk Turks from their Holy Land. They rallied an army of 75,000, led by Emir Kerbogha of Mosul, and successfully retook the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Muslim control.
In December of 1144, a second crusade is called for. The second crusade was launched to recapture land that was taken by the Seljuk Turks. Conrad III leads the German forces to the second crusade, crossing the Planes of Anatolia, where his army would be almost completely destroyed. Because of this, in 1146, King Louis VII stated that France would join the Crusaders in trying to retake some of the Muslim’s land. The crusaders ransacked villages in Hungary on their way to the Holy Land, and this caused a great deal of indignation amongst the Hungarians. After several smaller battles, the German crusaders under Conrad III are massacred by the Seljuk Turks. The French forces were left in Attalia by King Louis VII, and upon knowing their location, the Muslims descend into Attalia and kill nearly French fighter there. Even though their forces were nearly nonexistent, the remaining Crusaders set out to capture Damascus. The only forces who remain are the forces under Baldwin III, the very few survivors of Conrad III, and the Cavalry of Louis VII (they sailed directly to Jerusalem.) After only a week at Damascus, the forces were unable to stay, because the leaders, Baldwin III, Conrad III, and Louis VII were not able to agree on much of anything, and since the unity of the Muslims was so strong, the Christian forces were unable to do much.
The Third Crusade was sparked because of an event of 1187, the recapture of Jerusalem by the Muslims.

Frederick I, Richard I, and Philip II all decided to lead the Crusade to recapture the Holy City of Jerusalem. The Crusaders cross Sephora to engage Saladin’s (the new leader of the Muslims) forces, however, the hot desert and lack of water defeated the Crusaders nearly the same amount as the Muslims. Gerard de Ridefort, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller are taken hostage, and ransomed. After this, Saladin takes Acre, Beirut, and Sidon easily. Saladin plans to attack Jerusalem, and moves to do as such. Defense of the Holy City is led by Balian of Ibelin, who had personally escaped from capture at Hattin. Saladin had given him permission to go into the city and get his wife and kids, the people had begged for him to stay to defend the city, however Saladin had promised his family safe voyage. He is credited as a honorable leader because of events such as this one. After five days of scouting the city, he began to batter down the walls, where on the latter days of September of 1187 Jerusalem was surrendered back to Muslim control. When Pope Gregory VIII heard of this news, he immediately called for a Third Crusade. Henry II and Philip II met with the Archbishop to discuss the retaking of Jerusalem. They agreed to partake in the retaking once again of the Holy City. They imposed a tax on everyone to fund the Crusades, this

was known as the “Saladin Tithe.” As Austin Cline says, “This tax amounts to one tenth of a person's income over a three year period; only those who participated on the Crusade were exempt - a great recruiting tool.” Nearly a year later, the Crusaders set out for Jerusalem again, where on the way, they encountered lots of Jews, all of whom they slaughtered. When Jews in York heard of this slaughtering, and knew that the Crusaders were coming, they all commited suicide instead of being captured by the Crusaders. Two days after this, Philip II arrives at Acre to participate in the Crusade. In 1190 Philip II and Richard I arrive at Vezelay and start for the Holy Land, their armies total over 100,000 people. In 1191, Saladin attempts to assault the 50,000 remaining Crusaders. The Crusaders were able to take control of Acre, and drive the Muslims back. In April of 1192, Conrad of Montferrat is murdered by two assassins who were pretending to be monks. “The throne of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was now vacant” (Cline, “Timeline of the Crusades”). The Crusades march to Jerusalem and once again take control of the city. A treaty is made, known as the Treaty of Jaffa to end the hostility in Baron, Jaffa, Acre, and Ascalon. Through all of the fighting, the Kingdom of Jerusalem’s metaphorical and literal walls were weakened. Away from Jerusalem, Alexius III removes his brother from power in the Byzantine Empire, this is one of the factors that initiated the fall of the empire. In Jerusalem, Henry of Champagne, who was the king of the Kingdom, fell from a balcony. Amalric I is chosen as Henry’s successor as king of the kingdom.
The Fourth Crusade is not recognised as an “official” crusade by many people. This is because this crusade was not intended to attack the Holy Lands, but rather Egypt, “recognised as the center of Muslim power in the region and the main threat to the survival of the Crusader states.” (Woolf, p127). However, they were unable to pay for their Crusade from Venice to Egypt, so they diverted their course to Zaria, a port in Hungaria, of whom was an enemy of Venice. They altered their course once again, supporting a claimant of the Byzantine throne, who promised to fund the Crusaders if they helped them obtain the throne. When the party never paid the Crusaders for their services, they turned to ransacking Constantinople, where they set up a “Crusader State” that lasted until 1261.
The Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Crusades were also directed against Egypt, “both [were] costly failures” (Woolf, p126). The Fifth Crusade appeared to be working at first, however flooding in the Nile River impeded their progress, and thus they weren’t able to access Egypt. In the Seventh and Eighth Crusade, the Crusaders were able to reach Egypt, however they failed in trying to take the city.
The Sixth Crusade required no blood to be spilt, it was lead by Frederick II, who vowed that he would participate in said Crusade, however that vow was originally broken by him. Therefore he was under a great deal of pressure to do something. He was able to achieve diplomacy and a peace treaty which gained the Christians a great deal of cities, some of which included Jerusalem. During all of these Crusades, the Mongols were protecting the Crusader States from attack. This is because the Mongols posed a great deal of threat to the Muslims. At Ain Jalut, the Mamluks defeated the Mongols, meaning that the Christians were at a distinct disadvantage, and when the Muslims attacked the Crusaders, they had no trouble taking out the strongholds. The last Crusader State fell in 1291.