The Crusades and Their Failure to Spread the Message of the Church and Chritianity

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The Crusades, starting in the eleventh century, were attempts by the Western Church to rid Europe of the new formulated and invading Muslims. Many Crusades had transpired over the centuries, including both a children’s and peasant’s crusade, in attempt to keep the new religious threat at bay. Many popes, kings, and rulers spent a great deal of money, time, and effort into these wars, but many ended up failing in their original purposes. However, much can be said about the success of these crusades in light of these failures. With these successes that took place, is the spread of Christianity included? Although the various Crusades had many successes and failures, the original Crusades failed to spread the message of Jesus and promote Christianity through the events of war.
Before looking into the reasoning as to why the spread of Christianity did not transpire, one must look into the original nature of the Crusades along with what were the original goals that were trying to be accomplished. In 1095, Pope Urban II called together a council at Clermont. These meetings, mostly between French bishops and the pope, lasted nine days before the Pope gave a speech to the general public. In this speech, the Pope called upon the people of the church to defend the Eastern Church from the invading Muslims, liberate Jerusalem from them, and, in term, stop the Muslim from advancing. At the end of this speech, the people almost unanimously agreed, and soon the Pope was spreading the message to people all across France and Germany. Many nobles, along with the populace, joined in on the cause. One possible reason as to this widespread acceptance of traveling across the empire was for the honor of knighthood. Some of the nobility believed that...

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Madden, Thomas F. “Inventing the Crusades.” First Things. May 2009. Accessed May 1, 2014. http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/05/inventing-the-crusades.

Shelly, Bruce L. “How Could Christians Do This?” Christian History, 1993. Accessed May 1, 2014. http://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/how-could-christians-do-this.

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Wani, Nazar Ul Islam. “Impact of Crusades on Islam and Christianity. ISSN 2, no. 3. (March 2013): 43–46. Accessed May 1, 2014. http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v2(3)/version-1/F234346.pdf.

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