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The Crusades
In the Middle Ages, kings and knights from Christian countries mounted military
expeditions called Crusades to try to conquer theHoly Land and Jerusalem in
particular.
The Crusades
Historians disagree about what to include as 'the Crusades', but a sensible list would include:
First Crusade
1096‒
1099
First an army of peasants led by Peter the
Hermit set off for the Holy Land. They
were massacred by the Turks.
An army of knights followed, led by Godfrey of
Bouillon, which captured Jerusalem in 1099.
The Crusaders massacred the Muslims until, it
was said, the streets ran with blood.
1145‒
1149
Second Crusade
King Louis VII of France invaded the Holy
Land, but was defeated at Damascus.
Third Crusade
In 1187, the Muslim ruler Saladin had
recaptured Jerusalem.
1189‒
1192
The Crusaders (who included King Richard I of
England) captured the port of Acre. But they
quarrelled, and failed to capture Jerusalem.
On the way home, Richard was kidnapped.
Fourth Crusade
The Pope wanted to unite western and eastern
Christians under his authority. He diverted
12021204
this Crusade, with the help of Venice, and
captured Constantinople in 1204. Christians
fought Christians.
1212
1217‒
1250
1396
Children's
Crusade
Fifth, Sixth and
An army of young people set off on Crusade.
They were kidnapped and sold as slaves.
All failed.
Seventh
Crusades
Battle of
An army of French and Hungarian knights
Nicopolis
wasmassacred. Some historians refer to it as
sometimes called the 'last' Crusade.
the 'last' Crusade
Overview
In the Middle Ages, the Muslim world stretched from India to Spain, including Jerusalem and
the Holy Land. It was scientifically and culturally ahead of the Christian countries of western
Europe.
By 1070, more and more Turkish nomads were settling in the Christian Byzantine
Empire and the Byzantines felt threatened by this. Then, from 1087 onwards, Turks stopped
Christian pilgrims from entering Jerusalem.
In 1095, Pope Urban II promised the knights of Europe forgiveness of their sins if they went
on a Crusade to win back Jerusalem for Christianity.
An army of knights and nobles captured Jerusalem in 1099. It was claimed that the
Crusaders killed the Muslims until the streets ran with blood. The loss of Jerusalem was a
terrible blow to the Muslims.
Over the next three centuries there were many more Crusades. The Crusaders failed to
keep any of the territory they conquered, but they discovered many new things, including
better castle design, gunpowder, science, medicine and numbers that were easier to use
than Roman numerals.
Writers in the 1800s portrayed the Crusades as great romantic adventures. In fact, the
Crusaders were invading a foreign country, and many Crusaders committed what we would
regard today as criminal atrocities.
Reasons for going on Crusade
In the 1000s, tension increased between Muslims and Christians:

In 1071, Muslim Turks defeated the army of the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert
and Turkish nomads settled in the Christian Byzantine Empire. In 1095, the Emperor of
Byzantium appealed to Pope Urban II for help. Pope Urban II asked the knights of Europe to
go on a Crusade to win back Jerusalem for Christianity.

In the 1090s, the Muslim Turks made it harder for Christian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem.

An army of knights and nobles captured Jerusalem in 1099. It was claimed that the
Crusaders killed the Muslims until the streets ran with blood. The loss of Jerusalem was a
terrible blow to the Muslims. For them, Jerusalem was, and still is, the third holy city of
Islam.

The Crusaders took over the two Muslim sacred buildings, the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome
of the Rock. They deeply offended the Muslims by the way they behaved in them.

Christians in Spain began to move southwards and recapture lands that had once been
Christian from the Muslims.
The historian Giles Constable says: "each participant made his own crusade". Some reasons
for going were:

To obey the Pope's call.

To be forgiven for past sins. This was important for knights who had killed many people in
battle.

To steal and kill. Kings encouraged violent knights to go on Crusade because it got them out
of the country.

To see the world, have an adventure and prove their bravery.

To get land overseas. This was tempting for a younger son who would not inherit his
father's lands.

Serfs joined the Crusades because the Pope promised them their freedom if they went.
Consequences
The Crusades failed, but they changed the western world.
Rather than defeating the Muslims, the Crusades provoked a Muslim backlash. In 1453, the
Turks captured Constantinople and by 1529 had conquered south-eastern Europe, including
Hungary, and were besieging Vienna.
However, the Crusades changed western Europe:

The Crusaders learned more about warfare – better castle design and gunpowder.

Muslim scholars taught European scholars many things about science and medicine. The
number system they used (1, 2, 3, 4) was more straightforward than Roman numerals (I, II,
III, IV) and made calculations easier to do. We still use this system today.

Western Europeans learned that the Muslim world stretched to India and traded with China.
The Crusades taught them that the world was much bigger than they had thought.

Western Europeans learned about many things they had never seen before eg lemons,
apricots, sugar, silk, cotton and spices used in cooking.

These goods were in great demand and became very expensive, especially as the Muslims
charged merchants high duties to pass through their lands. One of the reasons Christopher
Columbus discovered America was because he tried to avoid these duties by sailing west to
India.

Not all the Crusaders went home after fighting the Muslims. Many of them who went to the
Holy Land liked it so much that they stayed and adopted a Middle Eastern way of life,
including using bathhouses and soap.
Interpretations
Western interpretations
In the Middle Ages, the Crusaders were seen as Christian heroes.
Writers in Britain in the 1800s, like Sir Walter Scott, produced a romantic, chivalric
interpretation of the Crusades - a meeting of noble warriors on both sides who respected
each other.
20th century writers, however, tended to condemn the Crusades as 'violent
white colonialism' for which Christians needed to ask forgiveness.
Some historians have compared the attempts to conquer kingdoms in the Holy Land to the
establishment of colonies by the British Empire in the 1800s.
In recent times, there has been a growing opinion that the Crusades were defensive – a
reaction to Muslim aggression – and that they were not as violent as had been claimed.
Eastern interpretations
Muslim writers of the time condemned the Crusades. Many Muslim writers saw the Crusades
as an unimportant event in their history until 1900 when the Ottoman Empire in Turkey got
into difficulties. Muslim writers started to portray the Crusades as aggressive empirebuilding wars waged by western colonialists.
This opinion grew in the 20th century when France, Germany, Italy and Britain ruled many
Middle Eastern states. Some feel that there is a 'legacy of bitterness' in Muslim countries
against the Crusades. Osama bin Laden called the Americans 'Crusaders' in his speeches on
the Internet.
What is your interpretation of the Crusades? Justified romantic adventures or vicious
embarrassing wars? A waste of resources, or worthwhile?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/middle_ages/the_crusades/revision/1/
Source :
http://mrbrunken.happykidsschool.com.tw/_/rsrc/1438715638928/middleschool/news/amapassignmentthecrusade
s/Crusades%201-4%20map.jpg
Click this link to see John Green’s 11 minute history of
the Crusades :
http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch
?videoId=X0zudTQelzI
Click this link to see an 8 minute video overview of the
Crusades:
http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch
?videoId=HIs5B2U7US0