Download The Crusades East Meets West Definition: a long series of wars

The Crusades
East Meets West
Definition: a long series of wars between Christians and Muslims
Why they were fighting: they were fighting over control of Jerusalem,
which was called the Holy Land
Causes:
1. Adventure- There was an entire class of warriors who now had very
little to do but fight amongst themselves. A plea for help from the
Byzantine Emperor opposing the Muslim attacks and this appealed to
their sense of adventure.
2. Papal Politics or Religious Politics – The Great Schism, 1064, was the
division of Christianity into Easter Orthodox and Roman Catholic. The
primary cause was a dispute over papal authority.
3. European Expansion – William the Conqueror (from Normandy)
defeated England, captured Toledo from the Muslims and the
Normans captured Sicily from the Muslims
4. Muslim Advances – The defeat of the Byzantines, the loss of Anatolia
to the Turks, the Turks disrupted the pilgrim (people who were going
on a religious journey) traffic. The Turks are the Muslims.
The Call to Arms: Pope Urban II called for the defeat of the Turks –
this is the starting event of the Crusades
Who Answered the Call: The feudal lords, knights, and peasants all
fought for the cause together.
The First Crusade: (1069 – 1099)
- mostly composed of a peasant army
- many peasants killed by Muslim Turks
- knights succeeded in capturing Jerusalem which was good for the
Christians
The Second Crusade:
-the Turks eventually took back much of the territory that they lost in
the first Crusade
- Saladin, the Muslim leader, leads the Muslims to victory defeating the
Christians. This one goes to the Muslims.
The Third Crusade:
-King Richard (or Richard the lion-hearted) convinces the Turks to allow
Christians to visit the Holy Land. Technically the Muslims win but they
allow the Christians to come to the holy Land to make their pilgrimages.
Crusades continue through 1200’s
-Several more crusades attempted with no victories for the Christians
-Children’s Crusade – many of them under the age of 12 years old – but
they never made it to the Holy Land and many died
The Crusades die out mainly due to a lack of interest and rising European
prosperity (growing in wealth and power)
Effects of the Crusades:
-weakening of the Byzantine Empire
-stimulated Mediterranean trade
-the need to transfer large sums of money for troops and supplies led to
the development of banking techniques
-new knowledge introduced to Europe
-weakening of nobility rise of the merchant class or the middle class that
begins to rise up and gain power