THE CRUSADES Marched Against Islam

(Napisao: gosp. Marko Marelić -  S. Francisco - USA)
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The Crusades

The Crusades (1096-1291) were military campaigns and pilgrimages by European Christians to win back Palestine from the Moslems. Judaea in Palestine was considered to be the Holy Land, for it was the place where Jesus had lived and died.

In the eleventh century the Seljuk Turks, who were Moslems, captured much of Syria. In 1071 they won Jerusalem by defeating other Moslem groups. The Seljuk Turks soon began to insult and torture Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem. They threatened to take over more of the territory of the Byzantine Empire. Alexius Comnenus, the Eastern emperor, appealed to Pope Urban II in Rome for help.

Pope Urban answered his appeal. At the Council of Clermont in 1095, the Pope called upon Christians to embark on a great Crusade against the Moslem Turks to recapture the Holy Land for Christianity. He said that God willed the Crusade and would bless it: When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: "It is the will of God! It is the will of God!" [Deus vult.]

Motives of the Crusaders

People fought in the Crusades for many different reasons. Many deeply religious people went on the Crusades because they felt that it was their duty to free the Holy Land from the Moslems. Some nobles joined the Crusades because they saw a chance to win new territory for themselves from the Moslems. Restless knights went for the love of adventure and warfare. Hardened criminals became crusaders to escape punishment at home, and scheming debtors joined the Crusades to escape their creditors.

Some men went because they felt that their country was too small to provide a living for all the people in it; they decided to seek their livelihood in the East. The Pope had endorsed this motive too. Others joined in the hope of canceling out by their deeds the sins they had committed. The Pope had preached that those who were killed in a Crusade would be absolved from sin and assured of salvation. To medieval people, who were greatly concerned over life after death and dreaded the horrors of punishment in hell, this was a very vital reason for going on a Crusade. Some superstitious people fought in the Crusades because they heard that "the signs and omens" were favorable to the expeditions - a comet in the shape of a sword had been seen, and rumor had it that a child had been born who could talk at birth!

The crusaders came for many reasons and from many places. Kings, beggars, peasants, children - the devout, the evil, the ignorant, and the curious, sometimes it seemed as though they were bound together only by the sign of the cross that they wore.

Crusaders Attempt to Win the Holy Land

Between 1096 and 1204 there were four major Crusades as well as a number of smaller ones (see map). The First Crusade started in 1096 and was led by French, Italian, and German lords. The crusaders won lands in Syria and Asia Minor and captured Jerusalem in 1099. Then they set up the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Shortly afterward, two orders (or associations) of knights was established to protect Christians in the Holy Land. The Knights of the Order of St. John (the Hospitallers) and the Knights of the Order of Templars (the Templars) at first took vows of poverty, obedience, and service, and did much to help pilgrims. Later, the orders grew wealthy and selfish, and many of their members forgot their vows.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem soon found itself in danger from the Moslems. A Second Crusade therefore was organized in 1147, led by King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany. This Crusade ended in failure when the Christians failed to capture Damascus.

A Turkish leader, Saladin, then united most of the Moslems in Asia Minor and recaptured Jerusalem in 1187. Saladin was an extraordinary person. He was faithful, gentle, and kind to his people, and thought that money was no more important than dust. Once he told his son, "If I have become great, it is because I have won men's hearts by kindness and gentleness." Saladin was a devout Moslem who loved his religion deeply. He had no intention of letting the crusaders spread their religion or take the land he held.

A Third Crusade was started about 1189 and was known as the Kings' Crusade because three of Europe's most powerful monarchs took the cross: the French king Philip Augustus, the German emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), and the English king Richard I (the Lionheart). Of these three, only Richard won fame. Crossing a river, the 67-year-old Barbarossa fell from his horse and drowned. Philip Augustus caught a fever and went home.

King Richard fought valiantly to regain the Holy Land. In the process, he discovered that his foe, Saladin, could be as chivalrous as himself. Hearing that Richard was ill, Saladin sent his own personal physician and a refreshing gift of snow and peaches. The two leaders came to respect each other and in 1192 agreed to a three year truce. Jerusalem remained under Moslem control, but Saladin promised that unarmed Christians could freely visit the city's holy places.

Crusaders Sacked Constantinople

In 1202, a powerful pope named Innocent III appealed for still another Crusade, the Fourth Crusade, to rescue Jerusalem from the Moslems. But the knights who took part in this Fourth Crusade never came close to Jerusalem. Instead, they became entangled in Byzantine and Italian politics.

The merchants of Venice were the main culprits in this disaster. They promised to furnish the crusaders with ships and money for their journey to the Holy Land. In exchange, the crusaders were to attack one of Venice's trading rivals - the island of Zara in the Adriatic Sea. The Pope protested this diversion but was ignored. The crusaders took Zara and the pope struck back by excommunicating them.

Next, the crusaders moved against Constantinople and the unfriendly Byzantine emperor. The city, split between rival leaders, could not defend itself very well. When the crusaders entered the city, they went on a savage spree of looting. They stole the relics from the Hagia Sophia and loaded the jewel-studded communion table onto a Venetian ship. The ship sank and its priceless cargo was never recovered. The looters set fires that burned much of the city, including libraries with priceless ancient manuscripts. The sack of Constantinople in 1204 ended the Fourth Crusade.

European crusaders controlled Constantinople for 57 years, until the Greeks drove them out in 1261 and restored the Byzantine empire. The breach between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church widened into an ugly and permanent split.

The Crusading Spirit Dwindled

In the 1200's, Crusades became almost as common as medieval fairs and tournaments. In several later Crusades, armies marched not to the Holy Land but to North Africa. The Fifth Crusade (1218-1221, the Sixth Crusade (1228-1229), the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254) and the Eighth Crusade (1270) were all aimed at Islamic cities in Egypt and North Africa. The French king who led the last two Crusades, Louis IX, won wide respect in Europe and was later declared a saint. None of these attempts accomplished much, however.

The Results of the Crusades

The Crusades had a considerable effect on European life in the 12th and the 13th centuries. They did not cause all of the changes that appeared in Europe during this period, but the Crusades influenced the people of Europe in many ways.

The Crusades introduced or made popular many new foods and goods: sugar, lemons, rice, melons, apricots, muslin and damask cloth, glass mirrors, and even diapers. Trade fairs all over Europe stimulated further demand for products. New ideas as well as foods were brought back by the crusaders. Christians and Moslems were not always fighting with each other; they had many opportunities to exchange ideas. The crusaders learned the principle of the windmill and gained additional knowledge about medicine, mathematics, and astronomy.

Several Italian cities grew as a result of the Crusades. Such cities as Venice prospered by selling ships and supplies to the crusaders. Venice and Genoa became ports from which goods were shipped from the east to the west, replacing Constantinople as trade centers. This added to their wealth. Italian banking houses arose to help finance (and profit from) the crusades. Sea power in the Mediterranean shifted from the east to the west. By the 12th century, the Italian, French, and Spanish ports in the Mediterranean Sea were becoming more important trading centers than the Moslem ports.

The Crusades helped to break down feudalism. Many feudal lords sold their land rights in order to obtain money and supplies to go on a Crusade. Other nobles who were crusaders neglected the government of their fiefs in Europe. Many peasants who left their manors to travel east did not return to their lands. The presence of new products and new ideas drew others to the growing cities. Gradually, in some countries, centralized control by a king took the place of local government by many feudal lords.

The Crusades introduced modern national taxation to Europe. Considerable money and supplies were needed to provide for the armies of the crusaders, which numbered many thousands of men. Kings therefore began to tax their people to support the Crusades. Increased trade, which put more money in circulation, helped make such taxation possible. By 1300 national taxation was firmly established in both England and France.

As for the Church, the early Crusades probably added to the prestige and power of the pope. The Church had taken the lead in calling for the movements against the Moslems and it was respected for doing so. Later, some of the crusaders lost their religious spirit and became more interested in private gains. The Church often was blamed for the selfish acts of these individuals, and the Church leaders lost respect and support of many people.

Footnote to History

In 1212, a German boy named Nicholas convinced many children that they could succeed where armies of knights had failed. Some 20,000 German children set out for Jerusalem believing that the Holy Land would fall to them without a fight. As they crossed the Alps into Italy, many died of hunger. Finally, a bishop persuaded some of them to go home. Others remained in Italy, where some fell into the hands of dishonest shipowners who sold the young crusaders into slavery in North Africa.

> Excerpts from: "A WORLD HISTORY" by Daniel Roselle, pgs 188-191; and "WORLD HISTORY -Perspectives on the Past" by Krieger, Neill and Reynolds, pgs 242-243

Compiled by: Marko Marelich, Retired Mechanical Engineer
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
April, 2008