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The Crusades
A series of eight wars that Europeans
fought to free Jerusalem and the Holy
Land from the Muslims from
1096 – 1270.
Christian Europe
Byzantine Empire
*Jerusalem
Islamic Empire
How the Crusades Began
• Jerusalem was a holy city to three
religions and for generations the city was
open to visitors of all types .
• Suddenly, in 1071A.D., a group of
Muslims, called Seljuk Turks, stopped
allowing Christian visitors to come into
Jerusalem.
Many Christians complained to the
Church.
Pope Urban II calls for action
• Twenty four years later, on
November 27, 1095, Pope
Urban II spoke to a Christian
audience in Clermont, France
urging his listeners to free the
Holy Land (Jerusalem, Israel,
and the areas around them)
from the Muslim Turks. His
words were strong and
powerful : " Jerusalem is now
held captive by the enemies of
Christ, those who do not know
God, the heathen (non
Christians). Jerusalem wants to
be free and begs you to come
help! Who will take up this
work, who will right these
wrongs, who will recover this
territory, if you won't ?"
Deus Vult! (God wills it!)
• After Pope Urban's speech a visiting monk
reported that the crowd shouted out "God
wills it! God wills it!" They began preparing
for war, Holy war.
The Christians' Motives
• Pope Urban had two reasons for sending
western Europeans to war. The first was that
Christians in the Byzantine Empire needed extra
protection against the Muslim Seljuk Turks. But
the more important reason for beginning the
crusades was to free the Holy Land from the
Muslim infidels ( people who did not believe in
Christianity), who were preventing Christians
from visiting the holy land.
The Peasants take off!
• Peasants had several good reasons for going on
the crusade. One reason was that the church
promised immediate salvation in heaven to
anyone killed while helping to recover the Holy
Land for Christians. A second reason was that a
peasant would not have to pay his rent to his
lord while on a crusade. Third, the crusades also
offered peasants an adventure.
The March to Jerusalem
• The journey is long
and the peasants are
poorly prepared.
Many die from
starvation and from
exposure. Many
others are killed as
they destroy noble’s
farms along the way.
Along the way
• The uneducated
peasants massacre
innocent Jews along
the way believing
them to be the enemy
because they are not
Christian.
A small number get to
Constantinople
• Hungry, diseased,
and exhausted a few
of the peasants
actually make it to the
Byzantine capital of
Constantinople.
Slaughter at Civetot
• Unfortunately the
peasants did not have
the training or the
weapons needed to
fight the Muslim
warriors. Most of
them were killed at
Civetot in Asia Minor
by the Seljuk Turkish
warriors.