First Crusades Dbq Essay

The First Crusade was a result of several reasons-politics, territory, knowledge, etc. It was even said to have begun simply to distract western Europe from fighting amongst themselves. However, the First Crusades was a totally unexpected campaign stirred mostly by religious fervor. People of multiple ethnicities randomly banded together and decided to quit their lives to fight a war from which many were fully aware they might not have returned from, because of their religious devotion. In 905, the Seljuk tribe of Turkish nomads began traveling west conquering lands as they passed. These invasions caused a period of unrest and instability in the Middle East. Besides negatively affecting the inhabitants of the land, the Christians already accustomed to frequently making pilgrimages to Jerusalem and other cities, were suddenly barred from doing so. Whereas the previous Muslim rulers of the region were quite tolerant of these pilgrimages, the Seljuk harassed and persecuted many of the Christian visitors.

In 1095, in his famous speech, Pope Urban convinced thousands to join forces and combat the Muslim invasion and to aid the Byzantine Empire. Interestingly, although Pope Urban’s forces did help the Byzantine army some historians believe it was likely the pope had an ulterior motive to lending his hand. It’s possible the Pope had already entertained the idea of rousing his military men to go and fight the Muslims to regain control of Jerusalem and the holy land, which many, at the time, believed was rightfully theirs, given by God himself. Therefore, Emperor Alexius’s summon arrived at just the right