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The crusades were launched to regain the holy land from muslims

In a rare public session in an open field, he urged the knights and noblemen to win back the Holy Land, to face their sins, and called upon those present to receive remission of sins and save their souls by becoming "Soldiers of Christ. This brief paper reviews the background that led to the crusades; recounts the actual crusades themselves; and concludes with a reflection on the aftermath of the crusades and the relevance to our world today.

Three reasons are primarily given for the beginning of the Crusades: Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem about 4 BC.


Jesus the Christ lived during the time of the Herodians, who served as vassal Kings for the Romans. John recorded that Jesus of Nazareth went to Jerusalem during his ministry to attend three Passovers and also the Feast of the Dedication John 10: Christ taught love and peace John 15: The Acts of the Apostles describes the infancy period of the early Christian Church, a time when Christianity spread like wildfire.

All that remains of the Jerusalem Temple is the Western wall of the Temple courtyard, known as the Wailing Wall, which is a place of mourning and prayer for the Hebrew people to this day. Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 that ended Christian persecution. It was not until Constantine and his mother Helena restored Jerusalem in the fourth century that Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem became safe for those who had the means to travel.

  • The terms were that Saladin was to return the True Cross, release Christian prisoners, and provide ransom for Muslim hostages within 30 days;
  • The Illustrated History, ed;
  • The one time that Richard gazed upon Jerusalem from a distance, he screened his view with a shield, saddened that he would be unable to return the city to Christian hands;
  • The major outcome of World War I was the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, which exposed the slaughter of 1;
  • MacMillan Education, 1970 , 112-138, 220-221;
  • Before their arrival, the Fatimid governor evacuated the Christians from the city, but allowed the Jews to stay.

He then took to the sword and conquered Mecca in 630 AD and cleansed the Kaaba with the Black Stone of all idols and rededicated it to the one true God. Mecca is the home of Islam to this very day, and all Muslims are to pray in the direction of Mecca. The founding of Islam by Muhammad changed the complexion of the Middle East. The four Rightly Guided Caliphs were the immediate successors to Muhammad and rapidly expanded Islamic territory. The concept the crusades were launched to regain the holy land from muslims holy war, or jihad, to further religious aims was embraced by the followers of Islam.

Islam was supposed to be a tolerant religion in victory to Religions of the Book in keeping with the teachings of Muhammad. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem remained Christian, and Christians were allowed to practice their religion with the payment of a special tax called the jizya.

The year 711 saw the Berber general Ibn Tariq and the Muslims conquer the Christian Visigoths and capture nearly all of Spain except the northern rim, where they were held off by Pelayo at Covadonga in Asturias in 722.

Spain was named Al-Andalus by Muslim leaders, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians for a while lived side by side in a spirit of religious toleration. The Reconquista of Spain, or the unification of Spain under Christian rule, was not completed until the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, when Granada was captured from the Moors on January 2, 1492. James, the Patron Saint of Spain. Paul Outside the Walls at Rome in 846. James Santiago in Spanish. The difference in perception of Church authority between the East and West produced the conflict over the addition of the word filioque "and the Son" to the Nicene Creed by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches claim that the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed "is the common possession of the whole church and that any change must be done by an ecumenical Council. Matthew of Edessa reported the slaughter of Armenian Christians and the defeat of the Byzantines at the decisive Battle of Manzikert in 1071, which gave the Seljuk Turks possession of Asia Minor.

A number of Eastern Christian Churches were destroyed. Under Sharia law, Christian Churches were not allowed to be repaired or new Churches to be built, and Eastern Christians were restricted in the practice of their faith. The Muslim chronicler al-Azimi of Aleppo, Syria reported that in the years 1093-1094 "the people of the Syrian ports prevented Frankish and Byzantine pilgrims from crossing to Jerusalem.

Those of them who survived spread the news about that to their country. So they prepared themselves for military invasion. The Emperor sent his emissaries to the Pope's Council of Piacenza in the March of 1095, with a request for knights to protect the East. Jesus Christ was an advocate of peace John 14: Martin of Tours in the fourth century declared "I am a soldier of Christ; I must not fight.

Augustine held that war was just at the bidding of God or a legitimate authority, for a right cause such as defense of one's property or recovering lost territoryand with the proper intention. The breakdown of civil authority during the age of feudalism primarily involved Christians, noblemen, and knights fighting each other over land, possessions, romance, or right of succession!

The founding of the French Benedictine monastery of Cluny in 910 led to the spiritual renewal of the Church and Western culture. They also encouraged the concept of pilgrimage Psalm 119: This expanded to the Truce of God, first declared at the Council of Toulouges 1027which banned warfare on Sundays and Holy days, as well as Advent and Lent.

A Code of Chivalry was developed for the proper conduct of knights. The Knights' Code called for the knight to defend and obey the Church and Commandments and to be the champion of right and good against injustice and evil. The Church raised the reception of knighthood to an honor through a Christian ceremony. The penitent seeking forgiveness was a form of evangelization to non-believers in a far-off land. The theory of combining pilgrimage with warfare in the defense of Christianity led to the genesis of the concept of crusade.

The reform Pope Gregory VII 1073-1085 believed in spiritual authority over temporal rule and further developed the relationship with knighthood in defense of the Church during the Investiture Controversy. But it was Pope Urban II 1088-1099 who formally invoked penitential warfare - warfare in the service and defense of the Church for the "remission of your sins" - remissionem peccatorum vestrorum, when he called for the First Crusade on November 27, 1095. This paper will primarily focus on the successful First Crusade, review the Third and Fourth Crusades, and present a capsule of the remaining five.

Robert the Monk of Rheims attended the Council of Clermont and refined the Gesta Francorum in a Christian context - in the light of Divine Revelation and as a fulfillment of the Council; his treatise was perhaps the most popular in the medieval era. The Pope nominated him to be the Papal Legate and head of the crusades were launched to regain the holy land from muslims Crusade, to ensure that the Church would lead the effort.

The choice was an excellent one, as Adhemar of Puy proved to be fair-minded, calm, and diplomatic in his attempt to coordinate the major armies that crossed Europe in different routes and assembled in Constantinople by early May of 1097.

  • Important to defense, subsequent Latin leaders continued to produce Crusader castles throughout their territories;
  • He also captured Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon in 1110 and incorporated the cities into the Kingdom of Jerusalem;
  • This proved detrimental to the cause.

While figures vary, it is estimated that roughly 60,000 Europeans were inspired to take up the cross and begin the expedition to Constantinople in the First Crusade. Those who took the vow for the Crusade were primarily motivated by their love of Christ. Religious fervor was the principal source of inspiration throughout the Crusade. Gilles, Count of Toulouse, was the first who "took up the cross.

The army left France in October of 1096 and crossed the Alps into Dalmatia and the Balkan states, through Thessalonica, reaching Constantinople in April of 1097. During the seige, Alexius sent a flotilla of ships from the west, which induced the Turks to negotiate with the Emperor, who took back Nicaea in June of 1097. The capture of Nicaea was the high point of Greco-Frankish cooperation. Following a victory at Dorylaeum which routed the Turks, the Crusaders faced the arduous task of crossing the mountainous terrain of Anatolia modern Turkey in Asia Minor.

The goal to reach Antioch took months to accomplish, and was marked by the Crusaders taking two different routes. Baldwin of Boulogne, Godfrey's younger brother, went through Armenian Cilicia, and, setting out on his own conquest, captured the County of Edessa by the Euphrates River. Edessa had also become an important school of theology for Syriac Christianity, as home to such writers as St. Baldwin was soon invited by the people to rule. The first Crusader state, the County of Edessa, was established on March 10, 1098.

Terrorist drives truck through a Bastille Day celebration

The first Patriarch of Antioch was St. Peter himself, and following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the city became important to early Christianity. Followers of Christ were the crusades were launched to regain the holy land from muslims called Christians in Antioch Acts 11: Matthew probably wrote his Gospel there, and Paul set out on three missionary journeys from Antioch.

Ignatius of Antioch established the order of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon for the early Church, the pattern which still exists today. The crusaders suffered a severe winter, and it would take nine months before the walls could be stormed. Rivalries began, as Bohemond of Taranto wanted Antioch for himself, while Raymond of Toulouse argued that it should be handed back to the Byzantines, as agreed upon in Constantinople.

Following a bribe by Bohemond of one of the Turks, the Crusaders scaled the walls and invaded Antioch on June 3, 1098. The town became a bloodbath with the massacre of the Turks. Just as they had taken over Antioch, they were besieged within the city by Kerbogha and an invading Turkish army from Mosul. Trapped within the walls, disease and discouragement set in. Emperor Alexius had been crossing Asia Minor to aid the Crusaders, but was dissuaded on June 20 at Philomelium by Stephen of Blois, who had fled Antioch when he thought the Crusaders were doomed.

Alexius turned back, leaving the Crusaders alone to face the enemy. This proved destructive to the Byzantine-Crusader alliance. Taken as divine intervention, the finding rallied Crusader morale. Spirits uplifted, the knights charged out of the city on June 28, with Raymond of Aguilers carrying the Holy Lance.

Mounted on their horses, and, pressing next to each other, the Crusaders routed the Turks. The cavalry charge was a formidable weapon for the Crusaders throughout their campaigns in the Holy Land. However, Adhemar died from an illness on August 1, 1098 and his leadership was sorely missed.

When the Fatimids of Egypt heard of the collapse of the Turks, the vizier al-Afdal captured Jerusalem on August 26, 1098. Bohemond remained in Antioch, having achieved his goal of taking Antioch for himself, but this produced delay of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and proved devastating to Roman and Byzantine relations.

The second Crusader state, the Principality of Antioch, was established on November 5, 1098.

  1. The sailors were arrested and imprisoned by the local lord.
  2. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. The unsanctioned Peasants' Crusade of 1096 led to massacre of Jews in Mainz and other German towns, but also provoked its self-destruction.
  3. They achieved an initial success that summer by seizing control of the Nile River at Damietta. Both the Armenian Cathedral and the Holy Sepulchre were restored about the same time.
  4. One cultivates vines, the other the fields.

Raymond of Toulouse was left the leader of the Crusaders and finally set out for Jerusalem January 13, 1099. Raymond walked barefoot, appropriate for a leader of a pilgrimage. He traveled safely on the coast to Tripoli, Lebanon, where the Emir of Tripoli purchased immunity and gave them supplies.

  1. At this point, the two mighty warriors of the Crusades decided to negotiate.
  2. The town became a bloodbath with the massacre of the Turks. He also captured Beirut and Sidon, Lebanon in 1110 and incorporated the cities into the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
  3. The Fatimid governor and about 500 who had withdrawn into the Tower of David paid ransom to Raymond of Toulouse for their lives and were allowed to escape. A Corpus of 4 Volumes Cambridge.
  4. A new agreement was struck.
  5. Stephen was killed at the Second Battle of Ramla in May 1102, achieving an honorable death. An interlude occurred in August 1219 when St.

While there, he discovered the Maronites, an Eastern Catholic community in the mountains of Lebanon that had resisted Turkish rule, and who confirmed loyalty to the Pope in 1181. Before their arrival, the Fatimid governor evacuated the Christians from the city, but allowed the Jews to stay.

Raymond of Toulouse set up post on Mount Zion. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, was joined by his brother, Eustace of Boulogne, and Tancred, and together they covered the northwest to the Jaffa Gate. Morale sank, as an initial attack by the Crusaders failed, and water became scarce. A Genoese fleet arrived with materials to help them scale the walls of the heavily fortified city.


But then the priest Peter Desiderius had a vision of the deceased Bishop Adhemar, who urged the Crusaders to fast and then walk barefoot around the city to atone for their sins. It was Godfrey of Bouillon who first breached the northern wall on July 15, 1099, and the Crusaders flooded into the city of Jerusalem. Many inhabitants fled the city or purchased their freedom.
