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The Crusades
Mixed reasons and mixed results
Decline of Byzantium
Review
• In 1071, Muslim Turks
won an important
victory at Manzikert
• Byzantine factions then
turned on each other in
civil war, allowing the
Turks almost free rein
in Anatolia
• The Byzantine Emperor
asked Pope Urban II to
help him against the
Muslims
Pope Urban II
• Urban responded to
Byzantium’s request with
a rousing speech in
Clermont, France in 1095
in which he called upon
Christians to “Enter upon
the road to the Holy
Sepulcher; wrest that
land from the wicked
race, and subject it to
yourselves…”
• Urban’s speech would
help launch the first of
several Crusades
Reasons for the Crusades
• The Pope hoped to
unite the entire eastern
Mediterranean and the
divided Christian faith
under the banner of
the Latin Church
– Remember the Schism
from Chpt. 1
• Italian city-states, with
their large navies,
hoped for commercial
gains and were
therefore keen
supporters of the
Crusades
Reasons for the Crusades
• The Byzantine Empire
was in severe decline and
no longer could act as a
buffer between the
Muslim East and the
Catholic West
• Christian pilgrims visiting
the holy sites in
Jerusalem began
experiencing increased
harassment and danger
“A pilgrim camp near Jericho”
by David Roberts
Mobilization of the Crusades
• Pope Urban traveled to various cities for nine months
preaching the Crusade and offering extraordinary
inducements to include a plenary indulgence remitting all
punishments due to sin for those who died on the
Crusade
• Serfs were allowed to leave the land to which they were
bound
• Citizens were exempted from taxes
• Debtors were given a moratorium on interest
• Prisoners were freed and death sentences were
commuted by a bold extension of Papal authority to life
service in Palestine
The Crusaders
• The variety of motivations resulted
in a varied assembly
–
–
–
–
Men tired of hopeless poverty
Adventurers seeking action
Merchants looking for new markets
Lords whose enlisting serfs had left
them labor-less
– Sincerely religious individuals
wanting to rescue the land of Christ
The First Crusade
• The word “crusade”
comes from the
Spanish cruzade
which means “marked
with the cross”
– Crusaders wore red
crosses on their
chests to symbolize
their purpose
The First Crusade
• Urban had appointed August
1096 as the time of
departure, but many of the
impatient peasants, who
were among the first
recruits, could not wait
• Led by such personalities as
Peter the Hermit and Walter
the Penniless, they set out
in three groups and quickly
devolved into disorder,
hunger, and ill-discipline
• They were all but annihilated
by a force of Turks at Nicea
“Alexius Comnenus, Emperor
of the East, receives Peter the
Hermit at Constantinople,
August 1096”
by Gillot Saint-Evre
The First Crusade
• The more organized
Crusaders, under the
divided leadership of
various feudal leaders,
moved by various routes
to Constantinople
• There the Emperor
Alexius gave them
provisions and bribes in
exchange for a pledge of
fealty
– Alexius was somewhat
afraid the Crusaders
had designs on
Constantinople as well
as Jerusalem
Duke Godfrey of Bouillon was
among the most brave, pious,
competent, and fanatical of the
First Crusade leaders
The First Crusade
• The First Crusaders met
an even more divided
Muslim force and won
victories at Nicea on June
19, 1097 and Antioch on
June 3, 1098
• By June 7, 1099, after a
three year campaign,
12,000 of the original
30,000 Crusaders
reached Jerusalem
Siege of Antioch
The First Crusade
• On July 15 the
Crusaders went over
the city walls and
unleashed unbridled
carnage
– Blood reportedly ran
knee-deep
– 70,000 Muslims were
slaughtered
– Jews were herded into
a synagogue and
burned alive
The First Crusade
• Administrative rule of Jerusalem
proved problematic
• Eventually the kingdom was
parceled into practically
independent fiefs and barons
assumed all ownership of land,
reducing the former owners to the
condition of serfs
• The kingdom was further weakened
by the ceding of several ports to the
Italian city-states in exchange for
naval support and seaborne
supplies
• The native Christian population
came to look back on the era of
Muslim rule as a golden age
Godfrey served as the
first ruler of Jerusalem
Knights
• The establishment of new
orders of military monks
partially offset these
weaknesses
• The Knights of the Hospital of
Saint John and the Knights
Templar began by protecting
and nursing pilgrims but
gravitated to active attacks on
Muslim strongholds
• Both orders would come to play
prominent roles in the battles of
the Crusades and earned great
reputations as warriors
Seal of the Knights
Templar
Muslim Counterattack
• Most of the Crusaders
returned to Europe after
freeing Jerusalem, creating a
manpower shortage
• Muslim refugees retreated to
Baghdad and demanded a
force retake Jerusalem
• In 1144, Muslims under Zangi
retook the Christian’s
eastern-most outpost at alRuah and then Edessa
• Such developments would
spur the Second Crusade
The Second Crusade
• St. Bernard appealed to
Pope Eugenius II to call for
another Crusade, but
Eugenius begged Bernard to
undertake the task himself
• Bernard persuaded King
Louis VII of France and then
Emperor Conrad III of
Germany to accept the
Crusade
• At Easter 1147 the Germans
set out and the French
followed at Pentecost
Conrad approaching
Constantinople
The Second Crusade
• This time the Muslims were ready
• At Dorylaeum, the Germans were defeated so badly that barely one in
ten Christians survived
• At Attalia, nearly every Frenchman was slaughtered
• Eventually the Crusaders joined forces and lay siege to Damascus,
but were soundly defeated
The Second Crusade
• News of the defeat of the Second Crusade
shocked Europe
– Christians wondered how God could allow them to be
so humiliated by the infidel
– Bernard explained that the defeat must be
punishment for sins
– Enthusiasm for the Crusades waned rapidly
• While the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem continued
to be torn by internal strife, its Muslim enemies
were moving toward unity
Saladin
• In 1175, Saladin brought Egypt
and Muslim Syria under one
rule
• In 1185, he signed a four-year
truce with the Latin kingdom
but the Christians violated it by
attacking a Muslim caravan
and capturing Saladin’s sister
• He declared a holy war against
the Christians and captured
Jerusalem in 1187
– His terms were much more
generous than those of the
Crusaders in 1099
Saladin: one of the few
Crusade personalities
generally described
favorably by both Eastern
and Western sources
The Third Crusade
• The Christians were
able to retain Tyre,
Antioch, and Tripoli
and the Italian fleets
still controlled the
Mediterranean
• William, Archbishop
of Tyre, returned to
Europe to call for a
Crusade
• Frederick Barbarossa
of Germany set out
with his army in 1189
but had little success
“March of the Crusaders” by
George Inness
The Third Crusade
• Then Richard I the Lion
Heart of England took up the
cause and took Philip
Augustus, the French king,
with him to ensure the
French didn’t encroach on
English territory in his
absence
• The Christians captured Acre
and an ill Philip Augustus
returned to France, leaving
Richard in sole charge of the
Third Crusade
• Still Richard would face
divisions as the German
troops returned to Germany
and French troops
repeatedly disobeyed orders
The Third Crusade
• Richard and Saladin embarked on a “unique
campaign in which blows and battles alternated with
compliments and courtesies”
– (Durant, 599)
•
•
•
•
The two executed enemy prisoners they held
Richard proposed his sister marry Saladin’s brother
They signed peace treaties then rejected them
Richard conferred knighthood on the son of a Muslim
ambassador
• Richard got sick and Saladin sent him his own
physician and some fruit
• Saladin saw Richard unmounted in battle and sent
him a horse
The Third Crusade
• In the end Richard and Saladin
signed a peace for three years
beginning Sept 2, 1192
– Richard would keep the coastal
cities he had captured from Acre
to Jaffa
– Muslims and Christians could
pass freely into and from each
other’s territory
– Pilgrims would be protected in
Jerusalem
– But… Jerusalem would remain in
Muslim hands
The Third Crusade
• Richard had possessed superior brilliance, courage, and
knowledge of the military art, but Saladin’s moderation,
patience, and justice had carried the day
• The relative unity and fidelity of the Muslims had once
again triumphed over the Christians’ divisions and
disloyalties
The Fourth Crusade1202-1204
• Acre was free but Jerusalem was still in Muslim hands
• Europe was in turmoil with problems such as renewed
fighting between France and England, but the death of
Saladin and the breakup of his empire renewed hope for
another Crusade
• In exchange for its financial support, Venice exacted a
promise that the Crusaders would capture the important
port of Zara and turn it over to her
– Zara belonged to Hungary and was stiff competition to
Venice’s maritime trade
– Pope Innocent III denounced the scheme but to no
avail
– The Fourth Crusade would be marked by avarice
The Fourth Crusade
• Part of the avarice was
the temptation to capture
Constantinople which had
derived much profit from
the Crusades
• Seizing Constantinople
would not only provide
financial benefit, it would
also restore it to the
Western Church
• In 1204 the Crusaders
captured and looted
Constantinople
The Fourth Crusade
• The Byzantine Empire was divided into feudal
dominions, each ruled by a Latin noble
• Most Crusaders returned home, perhaps
thinking that by securing Constantinople they
now had a stronger base against the Muslims
• Only a handful continued to Palestine and had
no effect there
• The Byzantine Empire never recovered and the
Latin capture of Constantinople served to
prepare it for capture by the Turks two centuries
later
Collapse of the Crusades
• The scandal of the
Fourth Crusade and the
failure of the Third
quenched the greater
fire for Crusades but
several half-hearted
efforts would continue
until 1291
• In 1291, the Muslims
seized Acre
• Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, and
Beirut fell soon
afterward
Among the ineffective latter
crusades was the “Children’s
Crusade” of 1212 in which
thousands of children ended up
drowning or being sold into slavery
Results of the Crusades
• Failures
– Jerusalem was in Muslim hands
– Christian pilgrims became fewer and more fearful
than ever
– The Muslim powers, once tolerant of religious
diversity, had been made intolerant by attack
– The effort of the popes to bring peace and unity to
Europe had been thwarted by nationalistic ambitions,
avarice, and internal dissension
– The influence of the Catholic Church and the position
of the pope declined and the schism between the
Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church
widened
Results of the Crusades
• Failures
- Indigenous eastern Christians were caught in the
middle between Crusaders and Muslims, and many
who were outraged by the excesses of the Crusaders
or who wanted to avoid persecution by Muslim
leaders who saw them as collaborators with the
Crusaders converted to Islam.
• In fact, the Crusades ironically proved instrumental
in making the eastern Mediterranean
predominantly Moslem
Results of the Crusades
• Successes
– Serfs had used the Crusades to leave their lands and
many found new opportunities
– The Turkish capture of Constantinople was delayed
until 1453
– The Muslims, even though victorious, had themselves
been weakened, and fell more easily when the
Mongols attacked
• Remember from chpt. 4
– Trade and exploration were enhanced and new ideas
and products were brought to Europe.
Trade
• Italian traders obviously
benefited from supplying the
Crusades while they were
going on, but they also saw
an opportunity to expand
their market by establishing
direct trade with the Muslim
world
• The lucrative trade provided
great profit to the Italian citystates and ultimately
provided the economic basis
for the Italian Renaissance
we’ll discuss in Chpt. 7
Lorenzo de Medici was part of a
family that ruled Florence and
served as bankers for the
Crusades and patrons of the
Renaissance
Trade
• The most important trade
item were spices
– Other items included
cotton, linen, dates, coral,
pearls, porcelain, silk, and
metal goods
• Damascus was a key
center for industry and
commerce and a stopping
point for pilgrims on their
way to Mecca
Egyptian scarf or garment
fragment ca 1395
Trade
• European Christians also became exposed to new ideas
as they traveled throughout the Mediterranean basin
– The works of Aristotle
– Islamic science and astronomy
– “Arabic” numerals which the Muslims had borrowed
from India
– Techniques for paper production which the Moslems
had learned from China
• While the Crusades may have largely failed as military
adventures, they helped encourage the reintegration of
western Europe into the larger economy of the western
hemisphere