Question 6: While the First Crusaders army were preparing to head off to Constantinople, other groups were gathering being led by some very “charismatic preachers”. One such movement would be known as the People’s Crusade, or the Peasant’s Crusade. This crusade was led by a Monk by the name of Peter the Hermit. Peter had heard Pope Urban the II’s sermon and was rallying people around him, namely peasants. Twelfth century historian, Albert of Aachen, gives an account of Peter the Hermit persuading people to join in the crusade. “In every admonition and sermon, with all the persuasion of which he was capable, he urged setting out on the journey as soon as possible”. (Allen, pg. 43) In response to his sermons and admonition many people joined …show more content…
Along the way they massacred many people, people they considered to be “infidels”. Many of these individuals were Jews. However, some of the people that they massacred were fellow Christians. In one example some Frenchman in Peter’s “army” went to Nicaca the Turkish capital and pillaged and massacred it. Even though the people their practiced the Christian faith. The Germans wanted to pillage as well and wanted to outdo the French. So they attacked a castle. However, they were soon surrounded by Turks and the Germans had not choice, but to either convert or to die. The Turks used the Germans and were able to trick the People’s Crusade. The Turks were then able to ambush the People’s Crusade and massacre them. So, even though the People’s Crusade, or the Peasant’s Crusade, did not last long, it had some long term results and implications for future Crusades. One example is with the fighting of the Jews. The People’s Crusade was the first Crusade to bring about the fighting and killings of Jews, and this will continue and gets much worse in the First Crusade. The Jews became target practice for the Crusaders as they readied themselves to fight the Muslims. The People’s Crusade started the fighting with Jews and it only got worse from
The Crusades were a number of military expeditions by Europeans of the Christian faith attempting to recover the Holy Land, Jerusalem, which was then controlled by the powerful Muslim Empire. In his book People of The First Crusade, Michael Foss an independent historian tells the story of the first Crusade in vivid detail illustrating the motives behind this historic event, and what had really occurred towards the end of the eleventh century. The Christian lands of Western Europe were slowly deteriorating from invasions of the North, and the passing of corrupt laws from within the clergy and the high lords. However, these were not the only challenges those of European Christian faith had to face. Islam strengthened after the conversion of the
The year is now 1096 and Peter the Hermit is assembling the People’s Crusade! Although Peter’s sermons were great at pulling people together, his army is very disorganized
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
On the 18 of May 1906 the army of the crusaders under the rule of the Emicho of Flonheim reached the walls of Mainz and demanded to open the city’s gates. After three days of invasions the archiepiscop of the city opened the gates and the knights entered the city, and started to attack Jewish district. In several days the whole Jewish diaspora of the city Mainz was buried in this bloody slaughter - Mainz had the biggest Jewish district in Europe with the population of more than 1000 people (counting the fact that hardly every other city of Medieval Europe had a population of more than 5000 citizens). All the symbols of the Jewish faith were destroyed, the synagogue in which were held yearly meetings of the heads of the jewish faith was set up in flames. The same fate crushed upon cities like Ruan, Reims, Trier, Prague, Metz and others. Crusades started with military campaigns and massive robberies, which were not the major purpose. Eventually, robberies were daily basis for the knights , and Jews were killed for the ridiculous reason like "Their grandparents crucified Jesus". The Emicho of Flonheim himself before starting his military campaign to Jerusalem roberred several churches. Other leaders of the First Crusade like Godfrey of Bouillon and Duke of Lower Lorraine were regularly devastating monasteries in their own la...
In 1095 Pope urban II call all Christians to take part in what would become the world’s greatest Holy War in all of history. Urban’s called 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. There were many major social, political, religious and economic changes that occurred during the crusades. But first, a brief history to give backbone to these reasons.
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.
What is a Crusade? How did a Crusader crusade? What caused him to seek “holy war?” Is a Crusade a Holy War or a Pilgrimage? Did a crusader only leave to find his own economic benefits? What caused the success of the first crusaders? These are some of the many questions that laid before me when I started my research. The crusading movements are such widely debated among the modern historian that they leave many readers confused about what actually caused the crusades, and what a crusade actually entails. In the coming pages I hope to give my reader something to ponder, understand, and acknowledge about it’s origins, and eventually lead my reader into the first crusading movement. Thus, the argument I intend to make examines the events in previous centuries, and the culmination of political and moral changes, as well as economic ones that occurred before Urban’s call for crusade. We will explore Feudalism, it’s war-centric society and how this caused Urban (as well as some Popes and religious figures before him) to seek a peaceable solution that would ensure safety for the clergy, the peasant, and the non-violent. Furthermore, Pope Urban sought to continue Pope Gregory's (and Cluniac) reform to solidify Papal authority over Christendom, and respond to years of Muslim raids along the Mediterranean and upper Italian Coastlines that threatened Italian unity. In effect, the first crusading movement represented and embodied the European culture, society, and ideologies of the time.
The Crusades were a bloody time period. They were a military campaign by the pope and the Roman Catholic Church to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims. They lasted from the 11th- 13th century. They were catastrophic and left Europe in ruins. Although the Crusades were such a violent period of time, they had a positive impact in history because of their role in the renaissance and exposing the Western world to the Eastern.
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
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 ...
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
In 1095, the conflict between the Christians and the Muslims started a crusade (a military campaign in defense of Christianity) for the battle of Jerusalem. This crusade involved people of other religions besides Christianity such as the Jews but they did not play a major role during this time. The Crusades lasted almost two decades and consisted of eight different crusades. With all of the events and actions that took during the Crusades, it led too many effects throughout years. There were short term effects and long term effects from the crusades that effected people of all different cultures. Two places which have had many effects from the Crusades are Europe and Islam. The Crusades has had short term and long term effects on power, economic and classical knowledge throughout Europe and Islam.