Crusades
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Crusading, much like Imperialism in the 20th century, was all about expansion. During the middle ages however, it was more about the expansion of religion rather then power, or at least thats the way it was preached. Crusading by definition is; ” a holy war authorized by the pope, who proclaimed it in the name of god of Christ. It was believed to be Christs own enterprise, legitimized by his personal mandate” (1). This essay examines the background of the crusades to offer a better understanding as to why they occurred. It also examines the effects that the crusades had on the world. It is easy to look at the crusades as a violent meaningless act, but one must understand the type of setting this movement occurred during. This was a time when if you took part in the crusades, you were seen as a warrior of god, recruited by the pope. Any man who fought in the name of god would be rewarded in heaven. Popular belief in the 10th and 11th centuries was that the more you did for god, the less accountable you were for youre past sins. The more deeds you did, the better your credit in the ÐTreasury of God (2). The Treasury of God is a summarization of the good deed outweighing the bad deed principle of the time. Acts of violence in the name of god are far less common in the world today. But, as seen with September 11th, jihad or holy war is still occurring. This essay gives a basic timeline and underlying principles behind the crusading missions. Justification for these acts remains unclear and is simply opinion based.
To understand the effects of crusading one must be familiar with the background in which it took place. The major conflict that initiated the crusading endeavors occurred when the Seljuk Turks aggressively took Syria and Palestine. Turkish Muslims also invaded the Byzantine Empire and subjected all classes of people to their rule, even Christians. At the same time, Popes of the 11th century were trying to extend their religious power beyond its original borders. They did this by forcing religion upon certain groups such as: heretics, pagans, and most all non-Christians. When Pope Urban seen the action of the Muslims he then thought it was his duty to Christianize those people. These facts combined started the First crusade in 1095 (3). At a personal level however, crusading could be undertaken for many different reasons. Many European cities were becoming over crowded, meaning many people would join crusades in search of new land. Knights would go in the hope of acquiring power and control over this new land. The chance at commercial success in new places was a huge determining factor for the western merchants of the day. Adventure, money, land, and religion were all big reasons for participating in the Crusades of the Middle Ages (4).
The first Crusade began on November 27th 1095, as a response to the attack on the Byzantine Empire by the Muslims. Pope Urban II inspired many clergy and laypeople to join the crusading force. There was much excitement for the new adventure that awaited the people of Europe. They united at the Byzantine capital of Constantinople and launched a counter attack against the Seljuk conquerors of Anatolia. They then fought and overtook many city-states belonging to the Byzantine Empire with final destination Jerusalem, in their sights (5). The Majority of people who joined the crusades were from France, with others coming from Lorraine, Burgundy, Flanders, and Italy. Many common people were interested in crusading as well as noble individuals. The reason for this was the chance of finding and claiming any land once they had overtaken parts of the Middle East (6). The crusaders enjoyed considerable success during their first couple of years. In only their first month of crusading they conquered Anatolia in the year 1097. During the same year they won a decisive victory over the Turks, during which they nearly annihilated the Turkish army. The first major resistance against the crusaders took place at Antioch, where it took them eight months to defeat two separate waves of Turkish defenders. The final phase of the first crusade was not yet complete; they now looked ahead to Jerusalem. They waited months before attacking, gathering strength as they approached the holy city. On July 15th 1099 the final phase of the crusade was complete. The Egyptians fell to the strong crusaders, Jerusalem was now in the hands of the crusaders. One week later Godfrey of Bouillon was elected to rule over Jerusalem (7).
The crusaders made many advances but it would not belong before those advances would be challenged by conflict. The Muslims were reunified under a strong leader, one Imad ad-Din Zangi. The Muslims attacked the crusaders at Edessa in 1144 and were victorious. The response from the papacy to this second act of Muslim aggression became known fittingly as ÐThe Second Crusade. The second crusade was an absolute disaster. Conrad III of Germany and Louis VII of France were the major players in the second crusade. Both of these armies left to reclaim Jerusalem for the papacy in 1147. Both the German and French armies were ambushed severely on the way to the Holy City. Only a fraction of the original armies of both countries remained when they finally arrived at the city. When the crusading armies attacked the city in July of 1148 they were a depleted group and did not stand much of a chance. The attempt was hugely unsuccessful and what was left of both armies returned home (8).
The Muslims at this time had a considerable amount of power and force. They had defeated the crusade easily and had much time to regroup and prepare once more. Even after the death of Zangi, the Muslims got stronger. Under Zangis successor, Nur ad-Din, the Muslims took control of Egypt in 1169. After ad-Dins death Saladin succeeded as new ruler of the Muslims. Saladin before this was a commander in the army when the Muslims overtook Egypt and he was a great military leader. Saladin continued his militaristic ways as leader of the Muslims. He invaded Jerusalem, and defeated the Latin army in 1187. Saladin had control over most cities in the Middle East except for Tyre (9). The response to this aggression was yet again another crusade. Pope Gregory VIII proclaimed the Third Crusade on October 29th, 1187. This time they were more prepared for the crusade but the results were far worse less then anticipated. Not for lacking of planning nor for lack of enthusiasm did they fail. There were three major monarchs involved in this crusade: Fredrick Barbarossa of the Romans, Philip II of France, and Richard the Lion Hearted of England. The size of the force was as large as that of 1095, but it could not muster the same results against a prepared and unified Muslim army under Saladin. Their first downfall was when Barbarossa died on the way to Jerusalem and much of his army returned