Crusades Dbq

Karina Lambert

The First Crusade

10/11/14

The crusades, were many, massive military movements. The purpose was to regain what once was the Christians, which was now the muslims holy places.

Everything taking place, of course, in the East; there would be quarrels between Asia and Europe, and between the East and the West. All the way from 1096 AD to 1270 AD, the crusades would not stop fighting for what was believed to be theirs. The whole point from all the crusades, was not only about religious affairs, but also the church and chivalry, Peace and truce of God, Norman restlessness, and many other minor causes.

In the end of it all, there were various good things that happened as a result of the crusades, however, there were also a few negatives

After much sentiment towards losing the “holy lands,” Christians would visit Jerusalem in pilgrimages. Jerusalem to them was a very important place, where so many important artifacts of their history had taken place. This however, became very tough, as the

Muslims would make it as hard as possible for the Christians to get there. However, after some time the journey became torturous to anyone who would voyage it. Not only were the pilgrimages interrupted by the Turks, but also destruction came upon churches in Jerusalem, and the persecution continued. It came to the point where Christians no longer could nor would take it, and an army was formed out of the pilgrims.

Transformation from poor pilgrims to military was quite impossible for the church to do on its own. That is why, the help from- Quakers, medieval ordeals, and the spirit of chivalry, got the army ready for the Holy Wars. After all was going well, the

region of France directly pointed out the Christians and blamed all the gruesome fighting going on everywhere, on them. Hearing about this, the Christians started the

Truce of God, where they would rest certain days and abstain from certain activities

Seeking help from Pope Urban ll, Alexis

Comnenus sent out a letter explaining how without his help, Constantinople and all the holy relics would soon be in other hands.

Urban ll took everything to play, gathering everyone in a council meeting. The first few times they fought against Jerusalem they were conquered. But, soon enough the Crusaders got to Jerusalem and were victorious. Not only were they successful, but they had one of the greatest victories of them all. As Raymond of Agiles, one of the historians who describes the Holy War says- “Some of our men cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the temple of Solomon, a place where religious services were ordinarily chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it suffice