First Crusades Dbq

The First Crusade was seen from many different points of view, and every account and reference in the source must explain where, when, and by whose interests was it written. Each participant made their own crusade, and the leaders had their own beliefs. Different views often put them at odds with one another. There were four different accounts on the First Crusade from Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Byzantines. These accounts of the First Crusade all had different interpretations because of differences in religious and cultural beliefs. For Christians, the First Crusade was seen as enacting the will of God. It was also seen as a retaking of land they thought belonged to them. Based on the Four Accounts sources, we can see that there were

Muslims referred to the Crusaders as “Franks”. Muslims viewed the Christian settlements as illegitimate, and believed that they were made to hurt the native population. That native population were displaced or massacred due to those settlements. Many Muslims viewed the early Christians as ruthless and barbaric people. On this source, the historian Ibn Al-Athir related the First Crusade to the Christians’ rebellions against Islam. He spoke about the Christians regaining control of Spain, along with the Norman invasion of Sicily. According to Al-Athir, the Franks were a force not to take lightly. "The power of the Franks first became apparent when in the year 478/1085-86 they invaded the territories of Islam and took Toledo and other parts of Andalusia. Then in 484/1091 they attacked and conquered the island of Sicily and turned their attention to the African coast." The reason that caused the Muslims to lose in the First Crusade was because of Kerbuqa’s failure. He led the Muslim charge and treated the Muslims "with such contempt and scorn." Because of him the Franks were not defeated due to the fact that Kerbuqa did not let the Muslims kill them when they had the