The Crusades Dbq

Pope Urban made his proposition to them all. Pope Urban’s proposition was, that if they started a Crusade, then they could free the Holy Land, and to do that they needed to fight the Muslims and not each other. If they did this, then Pope Urban promised them that when they succeeded in doing so, then there were new lands in Palestine that would be easily accessible for them to conquer, as well as promised Spiritual Rewards.
The Knight’s Crusade split itself into four main armies, consisting mostly of people from French backgrounds, and their families, for they believed they would succeed and gain new land quickly. Although the four armies took different routes, they all had the same first destination – Constantinople. Each Army was led by a

different person, the leaders were; Bohemund – from Southern Italy, unlike the others who were all from France - Godfrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois - whom of which was the brother of King Philip I of France – Raymond of Toulouse, and Robert, Duke of Normandy (Robert, Duke of Normandy and Hugh of Vermandois led one army between them).
Terrified for his people, Emperor Alexius offered to help the armies of Knights across the Bosporus (a 19-mile narrow strait of water in North-western Turkey) and into Turkey in return for safety for his people. To convince them further, Emperor Alexius even supplied them with ships, money, food, and any other supplies they needed, but this was in exchange for an oath of Allegiance from each Crusade leader. The requirements of the oath of allegiance was that all Crusader Knights would not endanger the Byzantine Empire and its people, that all land they conquer which was formerly Byzantine Properties and Cities were to be returned to him under any circumstances, and that they all acknowledged Emperor Alexius as their superior overlord of all cities of which they conquered. This Oath of Allegiance to the Byzantine Empire, was willingly accepted by some, whilst others had to be bribed that it was the best thing for their Armies, but in the end, they all agreed to these terms and formed an allegiance with the Byzantine Empire, which would be put to the test in the times to come.
The Crusaders gained an early success soon after the oath was made and they conquered Nicea, and won the Battle of Dorylaeum. They then braved the scorching heat, and scarcity of food and water to go on to gain a significant amount of land and numerous towns, much like Antioch and Edessa.
Shortly after the gain of Antioch, the Turks managed to counter-attack them and besiege Antioch.

Within the Crusaders army, a Lance was found and this was thought a sign of good luck from God, as the Lance was a Holy Relic to the Christians, and the trapped Christians saw this as a sign of hope and surprise-attacked the Turks surrounding their land and managed to drive them away. With the Turks gone, the road to Jerusalem was clear and the Christians were able to get there without the constant fear of attackers.
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 Crusader Kingdoms were given to the Leader of the Army who conquered that land. The County of Edessa was given to Baldwin of Boulogne after manipulating and consequently murdering Thoros the ruler of Edessa at that point of time. The Principality of Antioch fell in the hands of Bohemund after he captured it for himself and disregarding his Oath of Allegiance with the Byzantine Emperor,

Alexius.
The fight for rule over Jerusalem was not as easily won as the battles over Edessa and the Principality of Antioch. Though the ruler ended up being Godfrey of Bouillon, it wasn’t a simple, easy won battle, much like they expected. It didn’t help that Jerusalem was built atop a hill with deep ravines upon all sides but North. The Crusaders laid siege to the city and attempted to storm the cities defences for five weeks straight. Their first attempt to barge into the city was that they placed ladders on the walls and as they tried to climb them, the defenders of the city pushed them back. Any Crusader that managed to get over the wall and into the city were so few and far that they never made it back out.
After five weeks of besieging the city, a new approach was taken and huge belfries were brought to the battle. The belfries were made of wood and covered with leather hides, so that it made it difficult for the Turks to set them alight. These belfries took several weeks to build, but once they were built, they were put immediately into action. The knights waited on the top platform of the Belfry and were kept safe from the spears and arrows via a drawbridge which they were behind. The belfries simultaneously began to move towards the cities walls, and before the defenders knew what was happening, they were under attack. The defenders fled from the walls, leaving the bordering wall defenceless, making it much easier for the Crusaders to get in.
The Crusaders took all that they could, from wherever they could, Gold, Silver, Horses, Mules, food, and they spread as far as the Temple of Solomon.

The Crusaders attacked the people of Jerusalem so mercilessly that they “waded in blood up to their ankles” (Page 10, paragraph 1, line 1). So many were slaughtered that day, a combination of Jews and Muslims, children and adults. The slaughter and rampage went on for three days before the looting, burning, and death began to cease. More than 70,000 corpses from that day were found by the end of the battle. Godfrey of Bouillon not only became Monarch of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but also Defender of the Holy Sepulchre.
A fourth Crusade Kingdom was captured and conquered soon after the conquer of Jerusalem, the County of Tripolis, and by the time the mid-12th Century came around, the Christian Knights of the Crusade had conquered approximately 800km long and 160km wide slab of land from under the rule of the Turkish

Empire.
The loss of this Crusade was great in both land (particularly from other people), and in lives. Both animal and human lives were lost in great numbers, thousands upon thousands of lives, of both young and old, Jewish, Muslim, French and many more. Though the Kingdom of Edessa was recaptured by the Muslims in 1144, and Pope Eugenius III and St Bernard of Clairvaux attempted another Crusade which ended up being a complete disaster as they never even made it to Jerusalem as they were either killed or had returned to Europe. This failure deterred others from attempting another Crusade, and the only known Crusades from History were the Knight’s Crusade, the Peasant’s Crusade, and the Crusade of the Muslim Reconquest.
4) Imagine that you are a young knight on a Crusade. Tell your story in the form of a letter to your wife in England or France. Make sure you cover such points as:
Dear (wife and children),
We have just reached Seribin which is a Hungarian town, and I managed to find a carrier pigeon to bring you my letter.