Did Innocent III Promote The Fourth Crusades

This meant that Jews as well as Muslims had good reason to detest Christians, and may be the one of the roots of the tensions between the religions to this day. In addition to this, the Pope’s power and role changed over the course of the Crusades. The first Crusade was largely

During 434 Attila destroyed towns along the Danube River, before moving inland and destroying towns there. Additionally, he continued to present day Istanbul, defeating the main Eastern Roman forces. However, as he reached the capitals great walls, he realised the impossibility of his army’s success, and turned back to destroy what was left of the Eastern Roman Empires forces. Furthermore, Attila later invaded the Balkans. When Theodosius II, the emperor of Rome, begged for terms, Attila's tribute was tripled, but, in 447, he attacked the empire again and negotiated another, more expensive, treaty .

The regions within and beyond Syria were among the targets of Christian invaders. The Jihad fought hard against the crusades to preserve their land and possessions. The Muslims were sluggish and reluctant in getting into battle against the Christian Invaders. This explains why they were affected more as evidenced by the number of their people that were slaughtered by the Christian Invaders. The advantages of crusades included: advancement of education, development of technology, spreading of religion, decreased prices, increase of trade, and introduction of new writings art and literature.

Out of the Flames follows a Spaniard named Michael Servetus who was imprisoned in 1553, Geneva Switzerland for crimes against the Catholic Church. He simply wanted to share his thoughts with the world by publishing a book on the nature of Catholicism. He escaped execution in France but was later caught in Geneva due to his darker skin revealing his identity. John Calvin, his arch rival, ordered him to be burned alive for heresy. Heresy was considered one of the worst crimes because it could affect the minds of the faithful Catholic people.

He further tells them how the Muslims have destroyed their churches and defiled their altars, tortured and killed the Eastern Christian men and raped the women. This outraged the Franks as the Muslims were destroying Christianity and they were in control of their Holy Land (Jerusalem) and the Church of Sepulcher (built upon the site of Christ’s burial and resurrection). Therefore, the Franks felt it an obligation to Christianity to fight in the

Therefore, strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them". But this is an ironic thing to think as the Bible has 842 verses that are cruel or violent (roughly 3%). Christians feared the Muslims because of this teaching calling for war against non-believers and as a result of this teaching Muslims were killing Christians and other religions in the Middle East. So the first justification was that the Christians should retaliate and kill them in return. The second justification was that these “barbarians” had taken territory belonging to the Christians especially holy sites such as Jerusalem.

The first being unjust, cruel, bloody, and tyrannical warfare. The other after having slain all those who might yearn toward or suspire after or think of freedom, or consider escaping from the torments that they are made to suffer,...” (2 Bartolomee De Las Casas). This ideal displays the fact that England’s Christianity defense is unjust; killing people to steal their money and taking away their freedom is unlawful and

Christian knights from Europe seized Jerusalem from Muslims, causing a huge massacre and seizing of the Islamic group. On the night of June 7th, 1099, the Crusaders seized what rightfully belong to them as the Muslims had attacked Christians in Jerusalem, and since Pope Urban called for aid to those Eastern Christians in an act to grant their freedom and the seizing of the Holy Lands. In the first place, Muslims were causing trouble to Christians in Jerusalem, the group targeted Christians by the beginning of the 11th century; a mistake by the Islamic group who had no justification for the persecution of the Franks. Pope Urban’s decision to act against the unfair practices made by the Muslims was appropriate for the time being as many Christians were not only

This crusade was declared by Pope Eugenius III in 1147 after it became apparent the crusader states were still under threat of Muslim invasion. The Second crusade was led by King Conrad III of Germany and King Louis VII of France. (Source 5)The kings planned to march into Anatolia to push back the Turkish armies and provide reinforcements for the crusader states and once again solidifying the presences of Christianity in the Middle East however this would be difficult due to many knights having died during the first crusade. Both kings were eventually defeated by the Turks and called off the crusade in 1149 without making any significant achievements during their time crusading (Source 7). The second crusade was uneventful compared to other crusades and is considered a failure due to the lack of communication between King Conrad and King Louis, the defeat effected Europe in that it damaged their economy, many soldiers died on the journey and the crusade created internal turmoil.

The social disorder led to wars and rebellions which occurred in both the Roman empire and Han dynasty acting as a catalase to both of their falls. Riots caused by follower of Way of Great Peace, 184 AD a religious cult, although supresed within a year it created a ripple inspiring uprising from multiple other cults creating a situation the government was unable to contain leading to fatal the civil war that was the end of the Han Dynasty (Ebrey 84). Following the rebellion from the Way of Great Peace, the Han government officials were attacked over several parts of the country, Magistrates and prefects killed at any opportunity, in riots that took a year to control which was followed by more riots that the government was unable to control causing a civil war in which all generals with private armies were fighting for personal power until 189 A.D. when the civil war ended along with the Han dynasty as an general gained control and titled himself Emperor (Ebrey 84). In contrast the Roman Empire relied heavily on slaves for labors chores such as craftsman and milling fields as well as much more, thus when Romans steady supply of slaves from war was cut when the empires expansion ebbed to an end it negatively affected the lives of the romans causing disorder in the society (Andrews). The social disorder was magnified as it affected the divide between the rich and poor, enhancing it, dividing the

Document 9 states that “In 1240,the Christian Crusaders sacked Constantinople, leaving the city in Ruins and plundering wealth.” This is relevant because It shows us that the violence and atrocities all of the Crusades clearly outweighed the positive and religious points of view that they say they were fighting for. Another example is that in document 10 it states that “ One day I entered the Mosaic, repeated the first Formula, ‘ Allah is great’, and stood up in the act of praying, upon which one of the Franks rushed on me got hold of me and turned my face East words saying “This is the way you should pray!” a group of Templars hastened to him seized him and pushed him away from me. I went back to my prayer.

He set Rome ablaze and used the Christians as scapegoats. He accused them of arson and persecuted many by burning them alive or allowing dogs to tear them to pieces (Lunn-Rockliffe). Emperor Diocletian (284-305) was also notorious for the persecution of Christians. A fire broke out in his palace which caused him great anger. Like the Romans did to the Christians when Nero was in rule, they blamed them for the fire.

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.

Firstly, with the Crusades, people started to trade with each other. “The products of Damascus, Mosul, Alexandria, Cairo, and other great cities were carried across the Mediterranean to the Italian seaports, whence they found their way into all European lands” (Effects of the Crusades). The cities along the coast of the Mediterranean flourished by the exchange of goods. Silks, tapestries, precious stones, perfumes, spices, pearls, and ivory were so enchanting to those Crusaders (Effects of the Crusades). If people didn’t start trading, they could still be in the Middle Ages where Feudalism still existed.

Many issues throughout history can be looked at differently because of perspective. When looking at both sides of a conflict a person can learn a lot about both sides. The Crusades were a progression of religious wars endorsed by the Latin church in the medieval period. Particularly the campaigns in the eastern Mediterranean with the point of recouping the Blessed land from Islamic power. Christians and Muslims came up with different strategies for fighting the war.