During the Middle Ages, Pope Urban II called the First Crusade to take back Jerusalem from the Arabs. It was called during the Council of Clermont. He promised that those who fought in the war would be forgiven of all sins, and would go to heaven if they died during the war, allowing anyone to join the crusade, even people who kill people all the time in war. Thus sparking the beginning of the First Crusade, inspiring Christians all throughout Europe. It had people of all sorts fighting, no matter their class. It was ultimately a successful crusade, but the results of the war shows that it was not a legitimate war, due to its unjust qualities, and innocent deaths that resulted. The First Crusade was not a just because of the lack of rightful …show more content…
In the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote in his Summa Theologica what constituted a just war. His main requirement for a war to be just is that it must be declared and waged by a right authority, it must be waged for a just cause, and it must fought with right intentions. The First Crusade does not fully fulfill any of these requirements. Right authority for a war to be just indicates that it must be the “authority of the sovereign by whose command the war is to be waged” (Aquinas 40), such as the leader of a state. The First Crusade is called by a Pope Urban II, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, not a sovereign of a state. He is no position to be able to call a war. Not only is he not a leader of a state, he also does not wage the war that he had declared. A just cause is also required for a war to be just, and not selfish reasons such as power or monetary gain. During this crusade many of the leaders were driven by the possibility of gaining power. Even before they begin to retake cities, the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios Komnenos, ask that they return lands that were once …show more content…
Thomas Aquinas began to write on the subject of war, in the 5th century, St. Augustine’s wrote in his Contra Faustum Manichaeum, which was a letter to Faustus of Mileve of his thoughts on what constitutes a just war. His main points for a just war were that: there was a process through the state that decides whether or not to go to war, that there is a legitimate reason for going to war, and that it has to be the last option. The First Crusade however did not follow any of the rules that St. Augustine mentions. The First Crusade first began when Pope Urban II called it together in 1095. There was no state decision being made, it was just him making this decision. The reason for the First Crusade was to reconquer Jerusalem from the Arabs, because people could not go on pilgrimages there due to all the dangers that were there. Instead of settling this somehow Urban II declares war on the
The Crusades were an outlet for the intense religious tension between the Muslims and the church which rose up in the late 11th century. This all started because the church and the Catholics wanted the Holy Lands back from the Muslims. Around this time the church was the biggest institute and people were god-fearing. Pope Gregory VII wanted to control more lands and wanted to get back the lands that they had lost to the Muslims (Medieval Europe). So in order to get back these lands he launched The Crusades which he insisted to the peasants was a holy war instead.
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 was a widely appealing armed pilgrimage, and mobilized a vast conquering force at a time when the Christian Church was moving towards centralization and greater political influence in Europe. The Church gained a wider audience more accepting of its leadership, benefitted economically, and developed its own militarily force. These outcomes, along with the Church’s documented ambition to expand and its reversal of prior teachings, support the idea that the First Crusade was a deliberate political maneuver, intended to to expand and consolidate the authority of the
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.
In the end of the eleventh and middle of the thirteenth century there were nine wars between muslims and christians that are now called the crusades.All nine wars were meant to take over the holy land (what is now israel) from the muslims.The most successful of those battles was the first and second.The worst of the crusades was the fourth crusade.The Crusades didn’t have a positive effect on trying to take over the holy land.Document 1 states that ”the Crusades failed their chief goal: the conquest of the Holy Land.This is important because the crusades didn’t achieve their main goal and they weren’t recognized as much as the first crusades.Document 1 states that the left a bitter legacy in their quest to take the holy land..This is important
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.
A main cause of the Crusades was the treatment of Christian pilgrims. They were robbed, beaten, and then sold. The main group of Turks, the Seljuk Turks, were threatening and growing in power. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexus I, began to become worried and sent out an urgent plea to Pope Urban II, in Rome. He requested for Christian knights to help him fight the Turks. Pope Urban II did agree to his appeal although Byzantine Emperors and Roman Popes were longtime rivals. He also did agree with Alexus I, in fearing that the Turks were expanding. Pope Urban encouraged French and German Bishops and Nobles to also take part in this. “ An accused race has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and had depopulated them by pillage and fire.” This is when Pope Urban II called for a crusade to free the Holy Land. Urban did agree to this having some of his own motives in mind. He was hoping his power would grow in ...
The First Crusade began as a pilgrimage but quickly turned to a military conquest by the Roman Catholic Church to gain back control of the sacred Christian sites in the Holy Land. After Muslim control for more than four centuries, on July 15th, 1099, a multinational army of more than 13,000 soldiers succeeded in regaining the Holy Land.
The first Crusade, initiated by Urban II, was a campaign undertaken for the sole purpose of reconquering the Holy Land. However, the compensation offered to the crusaders in later decrees suggests that the motivations for crusading were monetary, not spiritual. The orders surrounding the privileges of crusaders focus not on the land gained in Jerusalem or the crusader states, but on the Crusader’s worldly goods in Europe. The decrees of crusader privileges concentrate on the maintenance of property within Europe. Multiple proclamations emphasise on the cessation of interest payments on debt while a knight is in the Holy Land. The continual emphasis on the payment of interest and debt to creditors shows that the Popes focused on the lands they had jurisdiction over, promising citizens the opportunity to mortgage their property to the Church in order to participate in the crusades. In addition to an emphasis on the property of knights, the privileges of the Crusades also indicate a focus on the spiritual world, rather than the earthly realm. The most consistent guarantee given to knights and citizens alike is the remission of sins is available to all who participate in the crusades. The privilege ensured
In 1095 A.D, a historic battle took place in Jerusalem. This was the first battle that initiated a war that lasted 200 years and caused an estimated 200,000 casualties, all to seize control of land that was considered Holy. The battle was between two adversaries; one being the Crusaders, the other the Muslims. These numerous battles that took place were called the Crusades; however, the most important conflict was called the first Crusade. For one to comprehend the significance of the first Crusade, one must know why the Holy land was considered critical to control and the events that occurred during the battle.
The First Crusade was established in 1095 in a council of the Church in Clermont. Alexius I Commenus, emperor of Byzantium, wanted to control Asia Minor and Northern Syria after losing to the Turks. He needed more Western troops and looked towards Pope
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 ...
In the year 1095 the First Crusade was just beginning. Pope Urban II called Christians to liberate the Holy Land from Muslim oppressors. He promised indulgences and the gift of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven for fighting in the holy war. Those that answered the call were peasants, beggars, the poor looking for riches and the unknown looking for glory. What started out as a pilgrimage to help fellow Christians secure their borders and repel foreign invaders soon became the first of many Holy Wars for the Kingdom of God.