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Purpose of Christian crusades
Christians and the crusades
Christians and the crusades
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The crusades occurred due to many factors such as religious beliefs, political reasons, and desire for blood. Churches were worn-out of any new beliefs. They were associated to the pope’s wishes. Last but not least, they were satisfied by blood thirst without salvation. These are a few factors that can prove the crusades occurred. First, beginning with religious ,motivation is it known to be one of many factors that were motivations for the crusades. Pope John VIII said, “We confidently reply that those who, out of love to the christian religion, shall die in battle fighting bravely against pagans or unbelievers shall receive for eternal life.” Pope John VII promised that knights involved that they would be absolved of all sins and go to heaven. The church was weary of any new beliefs, so they could associate. St. Peter, the one who had the power of binding and loosing in heaven and on the earth, we discharge, as far as is permissible, all commend them by our prayers to the lord. …show more content…
This was associated with the pope’s wishes with the empire. It was also based to reconquer land hot under the chuch control.” The example of our Redeemer and the bond of fraternal love demand that we should lay down our lives to liberate them, said Pope Gregory. This means that if they were trusting in the mercy of god and in the power of his might and we are striving in all possible ways and making preparations to render aid to the christian
Throughout the ten-century, particularly in France, the world had become an extremely violent place. Feudal Knights were often quarreling over land possession, looting, and looking to lay people to provide them with sustenance . Likewise, the power of these knights and the extent of violence flourished due to the increasingly lacking power and authority of the kings . The Church, in an attempt to halt the violence and anarchy attempted to take control and issued such concepts as “the Peace of God” . Similarly, at this time other movements for peace by the Church were underway, and one of the commonly held ideas was the need to transform the world to more “monkish ideals”. From these ideals also sprouted the concept of the laity having “God-given functions to perform, functions that could include fighting to protect the Church”. Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) is an example of this idea; he often used militia to fight against his opponents. In the early eleventh century, there came a pivotal figure in the ideas of Church sanctioned war, Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085). Pope Gregory was involved in the Investiture Contest, and soon turned to scholars to seek out “justification for his conviction that violence could be used in defense of the Church and could be authorized by it”. The movements generated by Pope Gregory, as well as the results of the Inve...
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.
In document 1 by Pope Urban II, he stated that the Christians in the west should defend their fellow brethren in the east. He went on to state that Romania had been conquered and had to be taken back from the Turks and Arabs. The subjects had to fight for the land that they stand on to continue being good Christians. If you died fighting for this, you would get instant remission of sins, meaning you would be forgiven for all of their sins. He was the Pope; therefore, he stood on a different level than his subjects, and did not know how they felt about this matter. He had absolute power over everyone as the leader of their religion. In document 2 by Ekkehard in his book Hierosolymita, he praises the speech that Pope Urban gave in 1095 and told of how it le...
This was enough to convince about 60,000 Europeans, many of them peasants to start on the First Crusade to the Holy Land ("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). Many of the soldiers who went on the Crusades also hoped to acquire land and riches and return a war hero. This was the first time the Catholic Church had seen penitential warfare- “warfare in the service and defense of the Church for the ‘remission of your sins’”("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). The whole mentality of the Crusades was to destroy any other beliefs including paganism and Judaism, which lead to all kinds of violence and persecution, with Jews becoming a common target, even entire Jewish communities were slaughtered ("How Christianity Rose to Dominate Europe."). Even the Christians were not safe, as many were killed in settlements along the way. Pope Urban was the one who brought out this idea that it was okay to kill non-Christians, and, even beyond that, IF you went to the Holy Land on a Crusade, you received a free ticket to heaven even if you died there. Does this sound a little bit familiar? Perhaps a little like those who truly believe that they’re gaining salvation by blowing up a group of innocent people along with themselves? Or flying a plane full of passengers into building full of people? Well, the First Crusaders marched to Jerusalem leaving death and
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.
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
How could the Christian church, which bases itself off kindness and peace, allow the Crusades to happen? The religion known to be loving of all was the cause of the most catastrophic occurrence in the late eleventh and late thirteenth centuries because of misconceptions and avarice of the pope. Of all of the religious wars fought, this was the one with the highest level of ridiculousness. Members of the church fought for all of the wrong reasons and the outcome was poor because of it. Even though the Crusades were justified by the false philosophies of both parties, they were overall beneficial economically. Before one can analyze the thoughts of the people, he or she must know what came about to make them think like this.
The Crusades were an outlet for the intense religious tension between the Muslims and the church which rose up in the late 11th century. This all started because the church and the Catholics wanted the Holy Lands back from the Muslims. Around this time the church was the biggest institute and people were god-fearing. Pope Gregory VII wanted to control more lands and wanted to get back the lands that they had lost to the Muslims (Medieval Europe). So in order to get back these lands he launched The Crusades which he insisted to the peasants was a holy war instead.
The pope recruited people from southern Italy to Lombardy, France to Normandy, Flanders to Western Germany, Denmark and other places while on his preaching tour. Despite entering a war, people joined crusades for various reasons and benefits. The reason people joined the Crusades were for beliefs such as, “the certainties of faith; fear of damnation; temporal self-image; material, social, and supernatural profit; the attraction of warfare for a military aristocracy; an unequivocally good cause…” (Tyerman, the Crusades: A Very Short Introduction, p.14). People also went on crusades to clear themselves of their sins by serving God across the territories. People participated in crusades to gain privileges. Participating in the crusades granted families privileges such as church protection, property, interest repayments on debt and more. To gain these privileges, people had to swear a vow to an adoption of a cross, be blessed by a priest, and have the symbol be shown on clothing. In total, between 50,000 and 70,000 men had reached Asia Minor in the participation of the First Crusade with the motivation to spread their religion and conquer
God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark is well written and extremely interesting. His work is easy to read, yet scholarly in its approach to the Crusades. Every pastor should add this book to his library! In general, the book would be a valuable resource to any Christian who wants to better understand the historical struggle of faith during this important era of history. God’s Battalions is well researched, and contains a critical response to anyone who thinks the Crusades or Crusaders were greedy, anti-Jesus, or barbaric. The Crusades were necessary to defend the Christian faith from Islamic forces bent on making the world its footstool. This book is an essential tool and a reliable resource for understanding the present struggle between Christianity and Islam.
To rid of aggressive knights, to earn money, and to receive fame, were purposes which spurred every crusade. However, the Children’s Crusade had only the desire of saving the Holy Land (Beck, et al 346-344). The kids would chant "Lord God, exalt Christianity. Lord God, restore to us the true cross" (Alchin). True faith of these children is evident. By the chant, the children put their lives in god’s hands. Children involved in the Children’s Crusade never made it back; they earned no fame. The children were not kings, nobles, or knights, so they had no support. As powerful leaders kings, nobles, and knights were able to get the support of the Church and people, one feat the children could not achieve. The Children's...
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
During the Crusades, the Pope’s aspiration for power originated from political reasons. In 1095, there were many problems in the Christian land the Pope couldn’t do much about. For example, there was a great deal of fighting between knights and nobles, and the Pope had very little power (Visual, NA). When the Church tried to reform it by ordering a truce, it did not work. So when the Pope saw the holy land was controlled by Muslims that did not allow them to go there, he decided to use that as a way to restore order in the Church (Crusades, NA). He knew it would solve the problems he was faced with because it would send all the fighting knights away to war, and if they captured Jerusalem he would have control over the most sought out land, giving him power (Crusades, NA). He knew that many knights won’t want to leave the land when they can claim the land that another knight left when they went to war. So to ensure more knights’ participation, he promises remissions from all sins committed. However, the Pope knew he must convince more people than just knight to win Jerusalem and that reason is what Urban states in his speech. “Or rather the Lord, beseech you as Chris...
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 ...