Could you believe that 10s of thousands of people were deceived by Pope in the middle ages to go fight for a lie? The Crusades were a set of “Holy” wars, as historians and even people from that time acclaimed, but there was an underlying reason for these wars, one that stretches more into a political and economic sense. These wars happened during the Middle Ages, also known as the dark ages due to the terrible state that towns and people themselves were in. Most people were very poor in that time as well. When the possibility of a Crusade was introduced, many people not from Europe were encouraged to head out so they could earn loot from the cities that were constructed in Jerusalem, and those from Europe wanted religious rewards. During the …show more content…
Wealth drives almost everything in today’s world, and that greedy nature stretched back to that area of time as well. The things that made people wealthy during that time were mostly land and of course, coins. This is seen primarily in a document by Fulk of Chatre’s Chronicles of the Crusades, where he says, “Those who had few coins, here possess countless besants, and those who had not a villa, here… already possess a city.” These words reveal how successful people became when they survived the bloody battles of the crusades and the wealth they managed to earn. Another part of the document says, “Some already possess here homes and servants which they have received through inheritance.” Even if the person fell during the battle, their family earns lots of money and riches for themselves. So all in all, people gained lots of wealth and fortune from the …show more content…
However, there is more support for the fact that these wars were driven by desire for political and economic gain in the long run. The religious parts were just to trick those who believed so strongly in their faith to fight so the large surviving army could bring back wealth and to impact the Silk Road trade in their favor. A document from a Christian Monk who had participated in the Crusade talks about people’s motivations to join the Crusades, stating, “for they bore the sign of the cross on their garments as a reminder that they should mortify the flesh and in the hope that they would in this way triumph over the enemies of the cross of Christ…” This line from the text shows how dedicated they were to fight against “Christ’s enemies”, which were the Jews and the Muslims, and how much they desired to claim the town of Jerusalem. Now, that was the original reason for those people to head out and serve. The other however many people were attracted to this fight for what document three says, “Those who were poor there, God makes rich. Those who had few coins, here possess countless besants, and those who had not a villa, here, by the gift of god, already possess a city.” This is practically the opposite of what the before document says. It seems that the promise of religious things had twisted the minds of the Christians and the real
Did you know that Christians in the middle ages were so dedicated to their religion that they held a children's crusade to take down the enemy that actual soldiers couldn’t defeat? That is just how dedicated people can be to their religion. I do not entirely blame them, in the middle ages religion was the one thing people can look forward to in life so it would just make sense that religious devotion, and the paradise of Heaven is what the religions were fighting for during the Crusades. The Crusades was a war between the Christians and Muslims during Europe's middle ages that is often viewed as a holy war, however some people are beginning to believe it was more about money or land. However this cannot be true because of how much people
Introduction: Provide background information on the Crusades, restate the DBQ question, state thesis with reasons. (include academic vocabulary and underline) The results of the Crusades was probably more negative than positive. In “Doc 4”, It states that “Moreover, the assault of one Christian people on another, when one of the goals of the Fourth Crusade was reunion of Greek and Latin churches, made the split between the Greek and Latin churches permanent.” The Crusades had a lot of hatred to the religions, and by 1204 the Crusaders had lost some of their appeal because the knights agreed to attack the Byzantine Capital instead.
He knew how to persuade people, so that they believed that he was right. That is why morale was a strong weapon of Christians, which was very useful to achieve their goal. Interestingly some historians like John Ward said that the First Crusade and following campaigns is a “movement of violent white supremacist colonialism”. According to this view, Christians look as expansionist aggressors, while Muslims are victims. But there are also opposite views, which state that movement to Holy lands is a defensive action to protect Christians from irreligious
Land ownership was the only reliable measure of wealth in medieval society (C. Smith ). Unlike currency or precious metals, it had a permanent value of producing food and other resources (C. Smith ). Because of this, knights generally rose from rich soldiers to wealthy members of the ruling class (Biel 9). Over time, the feudal
Pope Urban II’s speech at Clermont in 1095 was a call to crusade given outdoors to the nobles, commoners and church leaders of the Western European Christians (the Franks). The people were moved by this speech and it changed history, launching the first crusade to capture Jerusalem from the Muslim Turks. After hearing Pope Urban II’s speech, thousands of Western European Christians were moved to embark on the dangerous journey and fight in the crusade. I believe the main reasons they were moved and persuaded to fight was; 1) they felt it was their Christian duty, 2) Pope Urban promised them absolution for their sins and 3) they felt compelled to defend Christianity, their holy land and the Eastern Christians.
The crusade was typically made up of peasants due to the numbers of soldiers. Even though the peasants weren’t very skilled, it still the job because in 1099 the Christians beat the Turks and took over the Holy Lands. This was a very important crusade because it slowed down the Muslims for a decent amount of time, it brought Christians together, and it changed the lifestyle of many people throughout that time. Victory was
In 1198, Pope Innocent III preached the Fourth Crusade to reinstate Christian lands and recapture Jerusalem. Under Innocent III, for the first time in the history of the Crusades, the pope taxed the church in order to collect money for the war. In this Crusade, advocates followed Richard the Lionheart’s procedure and travel by sea rather than by land. As a result, crusaders leased vessels from Venice. Instead of going to the Holy Land, the Crusaders attacked Zara and Constantinople in order to acquire money to pay their debt and fulfill selfish reasons.
A lot of crusaders didn 't even return home, one out of twenty crusaders returned. These are many things that happened in the crusades.
The Crusades were successful failures because they did not meet many of their goals, but left lasting effects. The Crusades was an attempt by the Roman Catholic Church to regain the Holy Lands from the Muslims. They believed they were fighting for god and all sins would be forgiven and defend the Byzantine Empire from the Turks. The first Crusade (1096 -1099) was successful for the Christians because they had a clear and organized religious based purpose. Crusaders the Christian armies were able to hold Jerusalem and in the process led to a massacre of Jews.
The crusades affected trade in Europe. The way trade got affected was the bad causes that came because of the crusades. During one of the crusade wars, Europe 's good were affected during the wars, because after them, the were running low on merchandise and products. So not only was this bad for merchants, but it was bad for the townspeople, because they need resources. It also affected Europe in another way.
Carnegie, Conwell, and Alger Advocates of Wealth for All During the late nineteenth century, a form of Social Darwinism emerged called the Gospel of Wealth also known as the Success Gospel. Social Darwinism is “Herbert Spencer’s adaptation of Charles Darwin’s concepts of natural selection and “survival of the fittest” as it applies to human society” (Nash p. 417). Social Darwinists believed that the social order was the product of the natural selection of the individuals that were best suited for the existing living conditions. These individuals were white, Anglo-Saxon, wealthy men.
The Christian View vs. The Muslim View of the Crusades The crusades were a set of different military actions that were sanctioned by the Catholic Church and the papacy. Their intention was to recapture Holy Lands they believed were rightfully theirs from the Muslim people that had invaded it. As any attack on a large group of people would do, every major group was affected. The Christians had their own reasons and beliefs for going on these Crusades.
The Crusades were expeditions done by the Roman Catholic Church in alliance with Middle-Age Kingdoms and Empires. There were a total of nine Crusades during the period of 1095 to 1291, led by Saladin, Richard I "the Lionheart" of England, Pope Urban II, Frederick I the Holy Roman Emperor, etc. At first, the Crusades were a way to fight back the Muslims for their conquest of Jerusalem. The idea of the Crusade was a very good marketing strategy by Pope Urban II. It was told that any Crusader would be rewarded a place in heaven, and forgiven their sins.