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Notes: Chapter 8, Section 3: The Crusades
Period: ____________
A. The World at the time of the Crusades
1. Western Europe was behind
a. In 1050 Europe was just finally entering a period of advancement and moving
out of the “Dark” Ages
b. Elsewhere, other civilizations were advancing and moving ahead, and had
gained an advantage over the Europeans
c. One of these was the Muslim civilizations of Islam
d. Islam had conquered lands from the Middle East, through North Africa and
Spain
2. The Turks
a. One group that had helped expand the Muslim empire, was the Seljuk Turks
b. They had come from central Asia to the Middle East, where they converted to
Islam, and then invaded the Byzantine Empire
c. They were able to capture part of the empire, including the Christian Holy Land
which included the city of Jerusalem
d. Muslims had controlled this area before but it had not been a problem, because
Christian pilgrims were still allowed to travel there
e. The Turks did not allow Christians into this land, which angered the Christian
kings of Europe
B. The Crusades
1. A call to war
a. The Byzantine Emperor called upon Pope Urban II for aid from the Christian
kings of Europe
b. Even though the Emperors and Popes had been rivals for many years, the Pope
agreed to help
c. Pope Urban sent word to the Christian kings of Europe to raise armies to take
back the Holy Land
d. The First Crusade was called at the Council of Clermont in 1095, and
thousands of knights set out the next year for the Middle East
e. They went to protect their religion, and in search of wealth, glory, and power
2. Fighting a losing battle
a. The only crusade to ever come close to victory was the first
b. Christian knights were able to capture Jerusalem in 1099, and then massacred
the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of the city
c. The Crusades lasted for over 200 years, and each time the Christians would
conquer territory and set up new kingdoms, Muslim armies would destroy them.
d. Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin, in 1187, and the Christians tried to
retake it, but failed
e. After this third crusade, Saladin and the Christians worked out a deal to reopen
the city to pilgrims.
f. The Fourth Crusade ended even worse, as the crusaders ended up fighting other
Christians instead
g. This eventually ended up with the capture of Constantinople and marked the
beginning of the downfall of the Byzantine Empire.