Count Stephen In Blois Letter To His Wife

The crusades were religious wars between Christians and Muslims. Often, the Church would want its crusaders to believe that they were going to fight a holy war for God and getting back the holy lands. In the first primary source, Count Stephen in Blois Letter to His Wife, he letter illustrates the similar perception and approach. In the letter to his wife, Stephen relates occasions that occurred in the attack of Antioch with much enhancement. The letter is romantic and very tedious through its retelling of how the armed force came to recover Cappadocia, Assam, and afterward Antioch from the Turks.

The First Crusade was propelled in 1095 by Pope Urban II to recover control of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Christian Holy Land from Muslims.

He connects all their action as the will of God and tries to rationalize their immoral act. During the crusade, Stephen’s army had to kill innumerable people to conquer each place, but with God’s grace, they were successful. As Stephen states in the letter, “we fought with the fiercest courage, under the leadership of Christ.” According to him, the battle was fought fearlessly by God’s brave army against the sinful Turks. There is a portion in the letter which clarifies what Urban promised to the crusaders before going to war with Turks. Urban said, “in all these seven battles, by the aid of the Lord God, we conquered and most assuredly killed an innumerable host of them. In those battles, indeed, and in very many attacks made upon the city, many of our brethren and followers were killed and their souls were borne to the joys of paradise.” Urban promised forgiveness of all wrongdoings and basically a free ticket to paradise only to fight and dye in the crusade. Promises like this from Count Stephen and Urban was intended to persuade warriors that fighting against the corrupt and evil Turks to recover Jerusalem was the best thing they could do for