During the 11th century, Western Europe slowly began to emerge as a significant power as it sought to reclaim the Holy Land (an area located roughly between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which encapsulates the ancient kingdoms of Judah and Israel) from the Muslims who took it in the conquests of Levant. This event that initially started off as a widespread pilgrimage but gradually snowballed into a military expedition was known as the First Crusade. This Holy war( many would call it) did not solely involve knights and nobles, but monks, peasants, the sick, even women and children, they all joined the cause as they strived to rid the world of the horrible atrocities happening at the hands of christians in the Holy Land and once …show more content…
At the time it is easy enough to say that religion was deeply rooted within the culture, but the hard part is seeing how far down those roots really went. When the First Crusade was initially brought up by Pope Urban the II at Clermont(this being in response to Emperor Alexius the 1st plea for help in his battle against the muslims), Urban had this to say regarding the matter. “ 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, named, that a race from the Kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God...has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire…..and has either entirely destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of its own religion.” Urban expands upon this information as he tells those who are present at Clermont about how the Christians are being circumcised, flogged, their intestines are dragged out, and even comments on the rape of women which is prevalent there. Pope Urban tells all of this to say that you (“you” being the audience at Clermont) are the ones who will right this wrong in the Holy land. Who better yet than one who envelops great courage, has an active body, and receives glory in arms from God should lead the charge in this crusade? Urban the II gives this speech knowing full well that the atrocities he spoke of would strike a chord with his audience. Pandering to their thoughts on piety, Urban the II presents the first crusade not as bloodbath or a war of greed, but more as an opportunity (better yet, an obligation or by the very will of God a duty) to rid the Holy Land of the evil/ wicked race that has it in their possession. This
Foss explains, “What Urban needed was an enterprise, clearly virtuous in serving the ends of Christiandome… in these moments of reflection, the popes mind turned towards Jerusalem.” Urban II reflects back on the first taking of the Holy City after the defeat of the Byzantine Empire in 1071, and begins to question what his people know about the Turkish race and really the ideology of Islamic thought. Foss goes on to examine the ignorance of westerners and needed to be “reminded [by the pope] of the infamous heathens, their cruelty and hatred of Christians,” hoping this would justify the first Holy Crusade. However, Foss identifies the creativity of the Pope’s language to persuade the knights and army of the people to embark on the Holy Crusade based on the Muslims cruel actions turned onto their fellow Christians. Claiming the Muslims “Killed captives by torture…poor captives were whipped…and others were bound to the post and used as a target for arrows.” Foss examines the Popes words as an effective effort of persuasion in creating an army of crusaders to help clean “…Holy places, which are now treated with ignominy and polluted with Filthiness” and any sacrifice in Jerusalem is a “promise of a spiritual reward… and death for
The First Crusade was called in 1096 by Pope Urban II. The reasons for the First Crusade was to help obtain Jerusalem known as the holy land. During this time period the Muslims were occupying Jerusalem. First Crusade contained peasants and knights’ whose ethnicities consist of Franks, Latin’s, and Celts which were all from the western part of Europe. To get peasants and knights to join Pope Urban II objectives in return of a spiritual reward called “remission of all their sins” which was to be redeemed of any sins the individual has committed. When sins are redeemed Crusaders believed that they will escape the torment of hell. When lords and knights joined the crusade they were known as military elites. Crusaders were known as soldiers of Christ.
The First Crusade is often cited as one of the most damnable consequences of religious fanaticism. A careful inspection of the circumstances and outcomes, however, will reveal a resultant political restructuring of Europe under the banner of Christendom. The purpose of this investigation is to investigate Pope Urban II’s motives in initiating the First Crusade, with a particular focus on the consolidation of the Western Church’s influence in Europe. Among the primary sources that will be consulted are the letter sent by Patriach Alexios of Constantinople to Urban, and an account of Urban’s speech at Clermont. Relevant excerpts from both of these primary sources, as well as contextual evidence and a wide array of historiography, will be taken
The Crusades took place in the Middle East between 1095 and 1291. They were used to gain a leg up on trading, have more land to show hegemony, and to please the gods. Based upon the documents, the Crusades between 1095 and 1291 were caused primarily by religious devotion rather than by the desire for economic and political gain.
The first crusade was held only in order to fulfill desire of the Christians of the recapturing the center of the Christian faith-Jerusalem, which has been controlled by the Muslim nation for more than 400 years. This military campaign was followed with severe cruelty and harsh actions against Muslims which cannot be justified with anything but religious and material interest.
This was enough to convince about 60,000 Europeans, many of them peasants to start on the First Crusade to the Holy Land ("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). Many of the soldiers who went on the Crusades also hoped to acquire land and riches and return a war hero. This was the first time the Catholic Church had seen penitential warfare- “warfare in the service and defense of the Church for the ‘remission of your sins’”("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). The whole mentality of the Crusades was to destroy any other beliefs including paganism and Judaism, which lead to all kinds of violence and persecution, with Jews becoming a common target, even entire Jewish communities were slaughtered ("How Christianity Rose to Dominate Europe."). Even the Christians were not safe, as many were killed in settlements along the way. Pope Urban was the one who brought out this idea that it was okay to kill non-Christians, and, even beyond that, IF you went to the Holy Land on a Crusade, you received a free ticket to heaven even if you died there. Does this sound a little bit familiar? Perhaps a little like those who truly believe that they’re gaining salvation by blowing up a group of innocent people along with themselves? Or flying a plane full of passengers into building full of people? Well, the First Crusaders marched to Jerusalem leaving death and
The Crusades were one of the most prominent events in Western European history; they were not discrete and unimportant pilgrimages, but a continuous stream of marching Western armies (Crusaders) into the Muslim world, terminating in the creation and eventually the fall of the Islamic Kingdoms. The Crusades were a Holy War of Roman Christianity against Islam, but was it really a “holy war” or was it Western Europe fighting for more land and power? Through Pope Urban II and the Roman Catholic Church’s actions, their proposed motivations seem unclear, and even unchristian. Prior to the Crusades, Urban encouraged that Western Europe fight for their religion but throughout the crusades the real motivations shone though; the Crusaders were power hungry, land coveting people who fought with non Christian ideals and Morales.
In 1095, Pope Urban II called the first crusade. Happening between 1096 and 1099, the first crusade was both a military expedition and a mass movement of people with the simple goal of reclaiming the Holy Lands taken by the Muslims in their conquests of the Levant. The crusade ended with the capture of Jerusalem in July 1099. However, there has been much debate about whether the First Crusade can be considered an ‘armed pilgrimage’ or whether it has to be considered as a holy war. This view is complicated due to the ways in which the Crusade was presented and how the penitential nature of it changed throughout the course of the Crusade.
There was a series of brutal wars undertaken by the Christians of Europe, this took place between the 11th and 14th century, that was the crusades. It happened to recover the great holy lands from the Muslims.
In 1095, Jerusalem was a flourishing city that was the main powerhouse for three religions; all three religions wanted complete control over the holy land. These three religions were Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and all three religions were known to use Jerusalem as a place of religious reasons. But in turn, the best part about Jerusalem was the political power it held. Pope Urban’s demand for power and Jewish Israel’s desire to control Palestinians are the factors in the political conflict over the holy land.
The First Crusade from 1095 to 1099 has been seen as a successful crusade. The First Crusaders carefully planned out their attacks to help promote religion throughout the lands. As the First Crusade set the example of what a successful crusade should do, the following crusades failed to maintain control of the Holy Land. Crusades following after the First Crusade weren’t as fortunate with maintaining the Holy Land due united forces of Muslims, lack of organization, and lack of religious focus.
The First Crusade took place in 1096-1099 in the Middle East and it was a very dark place for the Jewish people living in this duration of time in history. A Crusade is a holy war or an enthusiastic movement for change socially, politically, or religiously. In the book The Chronicles of the First Crusade edited by Christopher Tyerman, it depicts the anger of Christians towards Jewish people after the crucifixion of Christ. The Jews were put to blame for Jesus’s death and the Crusaders decided that under God they needed to prosecute the Jews for not believing in Christ. Another reason behind The First Crusade is that Peter the Hermit with the help of Pope Urban II declared the goal of Christians having access to the holy lands, otherwise known as Jerusalem, which at that time was a place of ungodly practices. The Crusaders were ruthless, killing men, women, and children for what started out to be in God’s name and were killing for the “revenge” of Christ because it was what God wanted. The crusaders were motivated by religion at first but as time went on and battles were fought, armies mentalities began to shift due to the amount of slaughtering and killing of people, it became a competition to kill in order to make up for their own men that perished and the violence over power began to affect the armies and it’s leaders causing disorderly conduct.
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
The Crusades took place during the brutal middle ages, there were many components to starting these holy wars. Religious reasons for this war were evident, but more than just religion caused these wars. There were cultural motives, political motives, and economic motives. Another motive was acts of greed, and of course the benefit of getting wealthy from obtaining Constantinople. There was the promise of military valor, and the promise of fertile land. The promise of a better life and eternal salvation, and when the world was so dark, people would do anything to escape poverty. The majority of the people who participated on the Christian side of the Crusades took part in the war because of thoughts for a better life, as the middle ages were
However, there were additional motivations such as economic and political gain, adventure, and the vassals obligation to follow his lord into battle as becoming a soldier for Christ was an expression of total devotion to God. The first Crusade began in 1095 when Pope Urban II called for Christian invasion of Holy Land. As the Byzantine people had also asked for help, Pope Urban was hoping to bring peace, ending wars between the peoples and unite them in a common principle. Urban also intended to enhance the papacy's power and, possibly restore its leadership over the Eastern Church. Another goal of Urban was not just to seize Holy Land but to expand Christianity through combat in the name of faith, against the Muslims, who were the first to prove how successful and powerful it could be.