First Crusades Essay

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 to capture Jerusalem, to have Christian territories, resolve fighting, and gain territory and political. Fulcher of Chartres was an eyewitness to all of this. Pope Urban II would go on to say that he wants the vile race to disappear from everywhere and for the Lord to protect

Thomas F. Madden’s The Concise History of the Crusades focuses on the Holy Land between 1095 and 1291. In the foreword, Madden explains that, “the heightened public interest in the Crusades since 9/11 has created a market for popular histories (Madden, viii).” This is important to note, as his previous editions of the book were not as focused on the idea of present day relations between the Islamic and Western world. While Madden answers the question of what the relationship is between the medieval Crusades and the problems of modern Israel, his argument throughout the monograph follows a traditionalist account that of the Crusades as being tied to Jerusalem as a destination. However, it can be understood by the reader that Madden’s main argument answers the question, what were the motivations of the Crusades, and how have the Crusades contributed to Islamic rage and terrorism today?

The Crusades were a series of holy wars between the Christians and Muslims. In the year 1095, Pope Urban ll called for a Crusade to free the Holy Land from non-christians. In my opinion I believe that the Crusades had a negative impact. Between the end of the eleventh and thirteenth century there had been nine wars in total.

Overall, the Crusades were wars were over religious matters. The first Crusade was a war over Holy Land in which is said to bare the tomb of Christ. The second Crusade was over the fall of Edessa, which was said accomplished nothing. The third crusade was over Jerusalem, which was captured by Saladin. In summary, the Crusades were religious wars.

The crusades were a religious dispute between Christianity and Islam that took place in order for the Christians to take back their holy land, Jerusalem, from the Muslims. Urban II initiated the crusades at the Council of Clermont through a speech, with an audience of noblemen and clerics. His main goal was to urge “European princes to stabilize Christendom’s borders and then go further to recapture Jerusalem and restore Christian rule to the holy land” (Bentley et al. 422). These expeditions sparked new political, religious, and economic developments for the world. The crusades were a huge accomplishment for the people of Christian faith because new people began to convert.

Introduction: Provide background information on the Crusades, restate the DBQ question, state thesis with reasons.

The 4th crusades were a wasteful and destructive event that resulted only in further dividing the Christian World. Constantinople in 1204 was a savagely taken with many lives lost. Crusading lost much of its appeal for most Europeans, Jerusalem remained under Muslims' control. Document 1 states that.

The Crusades was a turning point in history because it depleted the population, made the relationships between religions very strained, and introduced a variety of new ideas and products to the Europeans/Crusaders. The Crusades began after Emperor Alexius requested Pope Urban III to find him a couple of hundred mercenaries who would help him take back the Holy lands after the Muslims had taken it over and had limited their access to their biblical sites. He supported their claim to the crusades by saying that God owns all the land and that it was meant for his children, but since the Muslims stole and inhabited his land, so they must take it back. Pope Urban III gave a speech to all of western christendom, saying, “This royal city, therefore, situated at the center of the world, is now held captive by His enemies, and is in subjection to those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathens. She seeks therefore and desires to be liberated, and does not cease to implore you to come to her aid.”.

The Crusades in Medieval Europe, from approximately 1069 – 1270 had a significant impact on the teachings and influence of the Catholic Church. It was a series of military expeditions caused by religious and personal motives that caused the church to become a vital and powerful part of the European lifestyle. The Crusades were a series of Holy wars during the time of Medieval Europe against Middle Eastern Muslims. These military expeditions were undertaken by those of every class and had the ultimate goal of recapturing the Holy Land, Jerusalem. During this time the Church began to feel threatened by the growing power and land capturing of the Islamic Muslims.

After the Roman Empire inevitably fell, trade fell along with it. Manors grew more popular as they produced everything anybody needed - they were self-sufficient. Not only this, but the populations of towns and cities shrunk. Everybody was involved in these new self-sufficient manors and the manorial system. But due to the Crusades, trade was revived. The thousands of crusaders brought back “exotic” goods like dyes, medicines, silks, foods and spices which made the Europeans considerable profits. The crusaders made these profits by taking their goods to where everybody was, where there was more to trade for and higher chances of making money. Thereafter, towns grew in population because people no longer needed to rely on the manorial system.

Relationships between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were worsened, and the Pope lost a great deal of his power during the Crusades. European politics were shifted dramatically from feudalism to large towns and cities with bustling trade. Monarchs ruled the beginnings of modern European countries. People learned about other cultures and expanded their views of the world because of the effects of the Crusades. A large amount of crucial progress was made in medieval Europe as a result of the Crusades, and the battles fought over Jerusalem created ripples that still show in European countries to this

The Crusades were a series of military and religious expeditions to reconquer the holy land of Jerusalem. They were led by the Christians and were meant to get the land back into Christian power and get rid of the ruling Muslims. From 1000 to 1400 over a dozen Crusades took place from all across Europe, where hundreds of thousands of soldiers fought, however, there were three major Crusades. Pope Urban II encouraged his people to join the first Crusade and started the biggest series of battles ever to take place. As a result of the first Crusade, four Christian kingdoms were created.

In spite of that time-frame, the relations between the Middle-Age Empires and the Roman Catholic Church prior to the

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.