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The Crusades
Beginning in the 11th century, the people of western Europe launched a series of armed
expeditions, or Crusades, to the East and Constantinople. The reason for the Crusades
is relatively clear: the West wanted to free the Holy Lands from Islamic influence.
The first of early Crusades were part of a religious revivalism. The initiative was taken by
popes and supported by religious enthusiasm and therefore the Crusades demonstrated
papal leadership as well as popular religious beliefs. They were also an indication of the
growing self-awareness and self-confidence of Europe in general.
Europe no longer waited anxiously for an attack from outside enemies. Now and for the
first time, Europeans took the initiative and sent their armies into the Holy Lands. It took
courage to undertake such an adventure, a courage based on the conviction that the
Crusades were ultimately the will of God. An unintended consequence of the Crusades
was that the West became more fully acquainted with the ideas and technology of a
civilization far more advanced than their own. The Crusades also highlight the initial
phase of western expansion into new lands, a movement of the peoples of Europe that has
influenced the course of western civilization ever since.
From the third century on, Christians had visited the scenes of Christ's life. In Jerusalem,
CONSTANTINE (c.274-337), built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there. Before the
Muslim conquest of the 7th century, pilgrims came from Byzantium and the West in
search of sacred relics for their churches.
The Egyptian ruler of Palestine, Hakim (c.996-1021), abandoned the tolerant practices of
his predecessors, and began to persecute Christians and Jews and to make travel to the
Holy Lands difficult once again. Hakim destroyed Constantine's Church of the Holy
Sepulchre and declared himself to be God incarnate.
By 1050 the Seljuk Turks had created a state in Persia.Jerusalem fell in 1071 and became
part of the new Seljuk state of Syria.
Pope Urban II (c.1042-1099) carried on the tradition of Gregory VII who had tried to
generate interest in a crusade to the Holy Land. To his Council of Piacenza (1095) came
envoys from Alexius, the Byzantine emperor, who asked for military help against the
Turks. Urban II delivered an address at Claremont in which he called upon the nobility of
Europe to join a crusade.
From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible
tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears:
namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a
race utterly alienated from God, a generation, forsooth, which has neither
directed its heart nor entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of
those Christians and has depopulated them by sword, pillage, and fire. . . .
---Pope Urban II, Proclamation at Clermont, 1095
The First Crusade: Pope Urban II emphasized the appeal received from the Eastern
Christians and painted the hardships that now faced pilgrims to Jerusalem. He summoned
his listeners to form themselves, rich and poor alike, into an army, which God would
assist. Killing each other at home would give way to fighting a holy war. Poverty at home
would be relieved by riches obtained from the East. If a man were killed doing the work
of God, he would automatically be absolved of his sins and assured of salvation. The
audience greeted the oration with cries of "God wills it," and the First Crusade had been
launched.
At the upper levels of European society no kings had enlisted in the Crusades, but a
number of great lords had been recruited including Godrey of Bouillon (c.1061-1100)
and his brother Baldwin (1058-1118), Count Raymond of Toulouse, Count Stephen of
Blois (c.1097-1154), and Bohemond (c.1057-1111), a Norman prince from southern
Italy. The armies led by these lords converged on Constantinople by different routes.
The main body of the Crusader army was besieging the great city of Antioch which was
finally conquered after seven months. The other crusaders then took Jerusalem by assault
in July 1099, followed by the wholesale slaughter of Muslims and Jews, men, women,
and children. Godfrey of Bouillon was chosen as "defender of the Holy Sepulcher," and
the third crusader state had been founded. When Godfrey died not long afterward, his
brother Baldwin of Edessa became the first king of Jerusalem in 1100. Venetian, Genoese
and Pisan fleets assisted in the gradual conquest of coastal cities ensuring the flow of
communications, supplied and reinforcements between the East and the West. In 1109 the
son of Raymond of Toulouse founded the fourth and last crusader state near the seaport
of Tripoli.
Second Crusade: In response to the conquest of the Crusader state of Edessa, St.
Bernard preached the so-called Second Crusade. Thanks to the enormous enthusiasm he
unleashed, King Louis VII (1120-1180) of France and King Conrad III (1093-1152) of
Germany came to the East. But the Second Crusade proved to be a failure. Relations with
the Byzantines were worse than ever. The western armies were almost wiped out in Asia
Minor. When the remnants of this army reached the Holy land, they found themselves in
conflict with the local lords who feared that these newcomers would take over their
kingdom. The crusader's failure to take Damascus in 1149 brought its own punishment.
Third Crusade: The next act of Muslim reconquest was carried out in Egypt by a
general who was sent to assist one of the quarreling factions in Cairo. This general
became vizier of Egypt and died in 1169, leaving his office to his nephew Saladin (11371193), a chivalrous and humane man who became the greatest Muslim leader during the
period of the Crusades. Saladin brought the Muslims cities of Syria and Mesopotamia
under his control and distributed them to faithful members of his own family. By 1183
his brother ruled Egypt and his sons ruled Damascus and Aleppo. In 1187 Jerusalem fell
and soon there was nothing left to the Christians except the port of Tyre and a few
castles.
These events made a Third Crusade (1189-1192) necessary. The Holy Roman emperor,
Frederick Barbarossa (c.1123-1190) led a German force through Byzantium, only to be
drowned (1190) before reaching the Holy Land. Some of his troops, however, continued
on to Palestine.
There they were joined by Philip Augustus of France and Richard the Lionhearted
(1157-1199) of England, former rivals in the West. The main thrust of the Third Crusade
was the siege of Acre, which was finally captured in 1191. Jerusalem could not be taken
but Saladin signed a treaty with Richard allowing Christians to visit the city freely.
The Children’s Crusade: Faith at its purest and most innocent was perhaps inherent in
one of the most horrifying and disastrous episodes, the so-called CHILDREN'S
CRUSADE of 1212. For these children, faith, love and hope could destroy the infidels
where force alone had failed. Their motivation was more simple, more primitive and
naive. Their faith and love was part of that general trend toward regeneration and
spiritual awakening that we mentioned at the start of this lecture.
There were two Children's Crusades which started simultaneously in 1212, one from the
Rhineland, the other in the Loire valley. A ten year old boy, Nicholas, preached the
Children's Crusade at Cologne and is said to have recruited more than 20,000 children to
his cause. When the pilgrims reached Italy, many of the girls were taken into brothels and
others were taken as servants. Those boys who eventually carried on to the east were sold
as slaves.
In May 1212, there appeared at Saint-Denis, a twelve year old boy by the name of
Stephen. He was alleged to have gathered 30,000 children but at Marseilles they fell into
the hands of thieves and were sold as slaves at Alexandria. Over 2000 alone perished
when their ships sank in the Mediterranean. The Children's Crusades were not merely a
brief episode but rather part of that deeply rooted unrest which had disturbed the
conscience of the masses. In the Fifth Crusade (1218-1221) the Christians attempted the
conquest of Egypt on the notion that this was the center of Muslim strength. That Crusade
was a miserable failure. Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) personally led the Sixth
Crusade (1228-1229). No fighting was involved. Speaking Arabic and long familiar with
the Muslims from his experience in Sicily, Frederick secured more for the Christians by
negotiation than any crusader had secured by force since the First Crusade. In 1229 he
signed a treaty with Saladin's nephew that restored Jerusalem to the Latin world.
Bethlehem and Nazareth were also handed over and a ten year truce was signed.
Collapse of the Crusader States: Slowly, the Christian possessions in the Holy Lands
were retaken. Acre, the last stronghold of the crusaders, surrendered in 1291.
Long Term Results of the Crusades: While the Crusades never accomplished their
announced goal of freeing the Holy Land from the “Infidels”, the had a profound and
long-term impact on Europe.
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The Crusades did manage to reduce the number of quarrelsome and contentious
knights in Europe. The Crusades provided an outlet for their penchant for fighting and it
has been argued that European monarchs were able to consolidate their control much
more easily now that the warrior class had been reduced in number.
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The Crusades also contributed to the economic growth of the Italian port cities of
Genoa, Pisa and Venice.
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In general, it can be said that the almost incredible success of the First Crusade
helped raise the self-confidence of the medieval west. For centuries Europe had been on
the defensive against Islam -- now a western army could march into a center of Islamic
power and take their coveted prize. With this in mind, the 12th century became an age of
optimism and rebirth.
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There was a negative side to the crusading balance sheet. There is no escaping the
fact of the Crusader's savage butchery -- of Jews at home and of Muslims abroad. The
Crusades certainly accelerated the deterioration of western relations with the Byzantine
Empire and contributed to the destruction of that realm, with the disastrous consequences
that followed. And western colonialism in the Holy Land was only the beginning of a
long history of colonialism that has continued into the 20th century.