Essay about The Crusades - 2031 Words

After the death of Charlemagne in 814 and the eventual collapse of his empire, Europe was under attack and on the defensive. Nomadic people from Asia pillaged eastern and central Europe until the 10th century. Beginning about 800, several centuries of Viking raids disrupted life in northern Europe and even threatened Mediterranean cities. But the greatest threat came from the forces of Islam. Eventually these threats became real. Battles broke out and these battles turned to wars spanning from 1095 to 1229; all this over one city, Jerusalem, on country, Israel, one land, the Holy Land. Islamic forces had already conquered North Africa, the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and most of Spain by the 8th century. They also established†¦show more content†¦The First Crusade attracted no European kings. They came primarily from the lands of French culture and language. These Crusaders faced many obstacles. They had no obvious or widely accepted leader, no relations with the churchmen who went with them, no definition of the popes role, and no agreement with the Byzantine emperor on whether they were his allies, servants, rivals, or perhaps enemies. These uncertainties divided the Crusaders into factions that did not always get along well with one another. Some leaders who did show up were Robert of Flanders and Bohemond of Taranto of one group of Crusaders, while the other major groups were those of Godfrey of Bouillon and Raymond of Toulouse. As the Crusaders marched east, they were joined by thousands of men and even women, ranging from petty knights and t heir families, to peasants seeking freedom from their ties to the manor. Many people with all sorts of motives and contributions joined the march. They followed local lords or well-known nobles or drifted eastward on their own, walking to a port town and then sailing to Constantinople. Few people knew what to expect but they all had one goal, retake the Holy Land. They knew little about the Byzantine Empire or its religion, Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Few Crusaders even understood or had much sympathy for the Eastern Orthodox religion, which did not recognize the pope, usedShow MoreRelatedThe First Crusade And The Crusade1192 Words   |  5 PagesThe first crusade started in autumn of 1095. Pope Urban II initiated the first crusade by calling upon his Christians to reclaim the city of Jerusalem. The Crusade was also meant to seek revenge on the followers of Islam. The followers were accused of committing crimes against â€Å"Christendom†. Pope Urbans crusade was made pos sible by the work of St. Augustine on Christian Violence in the past. Many Christians joined the crusade because the Pope promised rewards for the afterlife. After the fourthRead MoreThe Second Crusade And The Third Crusade1896 Words   |  8 Pagesthe facts for what they are. After much discussion and exploration, we figure that the third crusade actually did follow the principles of Christianity to some extent. Portions of the third crusade were definitely morally wrong and conflicted against the teachings of Christianity, but not all of it fell out of order in which the foundation upon which Christianity was built. At the beginning, the Third Crusade was called under the belief that by reclaiming the Holy Land of Jerusalem, the ChristiansRead MoreThe Children s Crusade : A Crusade Of The Holy Land859 Words   |  4 PagesThe brief campaign of the thirteen-century Children’s crusade was not technically a crusade in the sense that medieval Europeans understood the term and lasted only a few months during the year 1212. It lacked Papal sanction and its participants marched without the customary indulgences granted to those engaged in warfare to defend the Faith. Uncharacteristic as it was, the Children’s Crusade was a revealing chapter in medieval history, as it exemplified the depths of crusading zeal along with theRead MoreThe First Crusade And The Crusades1974 Words   |  8 PagesAs the historian John Riley Smith points out â€Å"The First Crusade was a violent and brutal episode during which the crusaders cut out a swathe of suffering through Europe and Western Asia.† In this description of the First Crusade (1095/6- 1099) Smith makes it difficult for us to see and, or uncover any elements of pilgrimage in the crusaders actions. However, there are many different ways in which the crusades have been described, the historian Christopher Tyerman on the other hand, steers towardsRead MoreThe Crusade Of The Children s Crusade861 Words   |  4 PagesDuring the early 13th century, while the wars against he Albigensians were occurring, crusade preaching became integral aspect of life in parts of Germany and northern France. On top of the already present religious fervor the most of Europe had, these preachings drove people to act on their devoutness to God. The Children’s Crusade, which was a popular religious movement in Europe during 1212, was a movement in which thousands of youth assembled and took crusading vows, their objective was to recoverRead MoreThe Crusades : The First Crusade Essay1995 Words   |  8 Pagesthe Crusades, I only com e out of them with a vague understanding of the situation. So, I sought out to gain a greater understanding through the vision of the question, Was the first crusade a success, and if so, what made it a success? Using The Crusades: A Reader, specifically the writings and documents from pages 33-79, I will make a decision based on specific occurrences and their ultimate goal (CITE SOURCE WITH FULL CITATION).I plan on picking out important aspects of the first crusade andRead MoreThe World Of The Crusades1518 Words   |  7 Pageslearning about the crusades. The people, weapons, food, diseases, and technological advances (or disadvantages since it was the Dark Age) were all taught to us and now it is time to put it to the test. We learned that the crusades affected all three religions that have ties to Jerusalem, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. We watched Kingdom of Heaven, a historical fiction movie based on the crusades. The time of the story that we see is based between the seco nd and third crusade. Although the movieRead MoreImpact of the Crusades642 Words   |  3 Pagesthe Crusades The Crusades were a very important part of history. It has been said that The Crusades are what started the beginning of modernization. Not only were they what started the beginning of modernization, they also had many impacts on Europe. The four major areas of impact on Europe were in the Economic, Political, Social, and Religious parts. Though all the areas were impacted, not all were good impacts. One of the areas that will be focused on is the Economic area. The Crusades wereRead MoreThe First Crusade During The Crusades1721 Words   |  7 Pageshe subject of the crusades is still a very controversial topic that spans across various time periods and has religious, social, and political implications. The first crusade started off as a widespread pilgrimage that ended as a military expedition resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099. The crusades initiated from a call from help from Alexius for the protection of Constantinople and the recovery of Anatolia. For centuries textbooks have repeated with routine regularity, that the immediateRead MoreCrusades and the Church Essay549 Words   |  3 PagesCrusades and the Church At the time of the Crusades, the official church had become corrupt and politically motivated. It should be noted, too, that crusaders did not take vows to go on crusade. The very term crusade, in English or in any other language, is a much later invention. What we call crusades, contemporaries knew as pilgrimages or even simply journeys. Aside from a tiny elite, people were illiterate and even if they could read, there was no access to a Bible or any scriptural