The Crusades

Decline of Byzantium
In 1071, Muslim Saljuqs
won an important
victory at Manzikert
Byzantine factions then
turned on each other in
civil war, allowing the
Saljuqs almost free rein
in Anatolia (Turkey)
The Byzantine Emperor
asked Pope Urban II to
help him against the
Muslims

Pope Urban II
Urban responded to
Byzantiums request with
a rousing speech in
Clermont, France in 1095
in which he called upon
Christians to Enter upon
the road to the Holy
Sepulcher; wrest that land
from the wicked race, and
subject it to yourselves
Urbans speech would
help launch the first of
several Crusades

Reasons for the Crusades

The Pope hoped to
unite the entire eastern
Mediterranean and the
divided Christian faith
under the banner of
the Roman Catholic
Church.
Italian city-states, with
their large navies,
hoped for commercial
gains and were
therefore keen
supporters of the
Crusades (they were
making money).

Reasons for the Crusades

The Byzantine Empire
was in severe decline and
no longer could act as a
buffer zone (an area of
protection) between the
Muslim East and the
Catholic West.
Christian pilgrims visiting
the holy sites in
Jerusalem began
experiencing increased
harassment and danger.

A pilgrim camp near Jericho

by David Roberts

A New Concept of War

The Crusades
At request of the Pope, but
under operational control of
the kings
Defense of the Roman
Catholic Church.
No restraint in dealing with
the infidel (Muslims)

Mobilization of the Crusades

Pope Urban traveled to various cities for nine months
preaching the Crusade. To get people to go he said that
if you had committed a crime and you went on a
Crusade, your sins would be forgiven.
Serfs were allowed to leave the land to which they were
bound.
Citizens didnt have to pay taxes while on Crusade.
If you owed money, there was no interest on it while you
were on Crusade.
Prisoners were freed and death sentences were
commuted if you agreed to life service in Palestine
(Israel).

The Crusaders
The variety of motivations resulted
in a varied assembly

Men tired of hopeless poverty

Adventurers seeking action
Merchants looking for new markets
Lords whose enlisting serfs had left
them laborless
Sincerely religious individuals
wanting to rescue the land of Christ

The First Crusade

The word crusade
comes from the
Spanish cruzade
which means marked
with the cross
Crusaders wore red
crosses on their
chests to symbolize
their purpose

The First Crusade

Urban had appointed August
1096 as the time of
departure, but many of the
impatient peasants, who
were among the first
recruits, could not wait
Led by such personalities as
Peter the Hermit and Walter
the Penniless, they set out
in three groups and quickly
devolved into disorder,
hunger, and ill-discipline
They were all but annihilated
by a force of Turks at Nicea

Alexius Comnenus, Emperor

of the East, receives Peter the
Hermit at Constantinople,
August 1096
by Gillot Saint-Evre

The First Crusade

The more organized
Crusaders, under the
divided leadership of
various feudal leaders,
moved by various routes
to Constantinople
There the Emperor
Alexius gave them
provisions and bribes in
exchange for a pledge of
fealty (loyalty)
Alexius was somewhat
afraid the Crusaders
had designs on
Constantinople as well
as Jerusalem.

Duke Godfrey of Bouillon was

among the most brave, pious,
competent, and fanatical of the
First Crusade leaders

The First Crusade

The First Crusaders met
a divided Muslim force
and won victories at
Nicea on June 19, 1097
and Antioch on June 3,
1098
By June 7, 1099, after a
three year campaign,
12,000 of the original
30,000 Crusaders
reached Jerusalem.
Siege of Antioch

The First Crusade

On July 15th the
Crusaders went over
the city walls of
Jerusalem
Blood reportedly ran
knee-deep
70,000 Moslems were
slaughtered
Jews were herded into
a synagogue and
burned alive

The First Crusade

Problems ruling Jerusalem

Eventually Jerusalems lands were
divided between the leaders of the
Crusade.
The kingdom was further weakened
by the giving of several ports to the
Italian city-states in exchange for
ships and supplies from Europe.

Godfrey served as the

first ruler of Jerusalem

Knights
The establishment of new
orders of military monks
partially offset these
weaknesses
The Knights of the Hospital of
Saint John and the Knights
Templar began by protecting
and nursing pilgrims but
gravitated to active attacks on
Moslem strongholds
Both orders would come to play
prominent roles in the battles of
the Crusades and earned great
reputations as warriors

Seal of the Knights

Templar

Moslem Counterattack
Most of the Crusaders
returned to Europe after
freeing Jerusalem, creating a
manpower shortage
Moslem refugees retreated to
Baghdad and demanded a
force retake Jerusalem
In 1144, Moslems under Zangi
retook the Christians easternmost outpost at al-Ruah and
then Edessa
Such developments would
spur the Second Crusade

The Second Crusade

St. Bernard appealed to
Pope Eugenius II to call for
another Crusade, but
Eugenius begged Bernard to
undertake the task himself
Bernard persuaded King
Louis VII of France and then
Emperor Conrad III of
Germany to accept the
Crusade
At Easter 1147 the Germans
set out and the French
followed at Pentecost

Conrad approaching
Constantinople

The Second Crusade

This time the Moslems were ready

At Dorylaeum, the Germans were defeated so badly that barely one in
ten Christians survived
At Attalia, nearly every Frenchman was slaughtered
Eventually the Crusaders joined forces and lay siege to Damascus,
but were soundly defeated

The Second Crusade

News of the defeat of the Second Crusade
shocked Europe
Christians wondered how God could allow them to be
so humiliated by the infidel (Muslims)
Bernard explained that the defeat must be
punishment for sins
Enthusiasm for the Crusades dropped quickly.

Saladin
In 1175, Saladin brought Egypt
and Moslem Syria under one
rule
In 1185, he signed a four-year
truce with the Latin kingdom
but the Christians violated it by
attacking a Moslem caravan
and capturing Saladins sister
He declared a holy war against
the Christians and captured
Jerusalem in 1187
His terms were much more
generous than those of the
Crusaders in 1099

Saladin: one of the few

Crusade personalities
generally described
favorably by both Eastern
and Western sources

The Third Crusade

The Christians were
able to retain Tyre,
Antioch, and Tripoli
and the Italian fleets
still controlled the
Mediterranean.
Call for another
Crusade.
Frederick Barbarossa
of Germany set out
with his army in 1189
but had little success.
March of the Crusaders by
George Inness

The Third Crusade

Then Richard I (The Lion

Heart) of England took up
the cause and took Philip
Augustus, the French king,
with him to ensure the
French didnt encroach on
English territory in his
absence.
The Christians captured Acre
and an ill Philip Augustus
returned to France, leaving
Richard in sole charge of the
Third Crusade.
Still Richard would face
problems as the German
troops returned to Germany
and French troops
repeatedly disobeyed orders.

The Third Crusade

Richard and Saladin embarked on a unique
campaign in which blows and battles alternated with
compliments and courtesies
The two executed enemy prisoners.
Richard proposed his sister marry Saladins brother
They signed peace treaties then rejected them
Richard conferred knighthood on the son of a
Moslem ambassador
Richard got sick and Saladin sent him his own
physician and some fruit
Saladin saw Richard unmounted in battle and sent
him a horse

The Third Crusade

In the end Richard and Saladin
signed a peace for three years
beginning Sept 2, 1192
Richard would keep the coastal
cities he had captured from Acre
to Jaffa
Moslems and Christians could
pass freely into and from each
others territory
Pilgrims would be protected in
Jerusalem
But Jerusalem would remain in
Moslem hands

The Third Crusade

Richard had possessed superior brilliance, courage, and

knowledge of the military art, but Saladins moderation,
patience, and justice had carried the day
The relative unity and loyalty of the Moslems had once
again triumphed over the Christians divisions and
disloyalties

The Fourth Crusade

Acre was free but Jerusalem was still in Moslem hands
Europe was in turmoil with problems such as renewed
fighting between France and England, but the death of
Saladin and the breakup of his empire renewed hope for
another Crusade
In exchange for its financial support, Venice exacted a
promise that the Crusaders would capture the important
port of Zara and turn it over to her
Zara belonged to Hungary and was stiff competition to
Venices maritime trade
Pope Innocent III denounced the scheme but to no
avail
The Fourth Crusade would be marked by greed

The Fourth Crusade

Part of the avarice was
the temptation to capture
Constantinople which had
derived much profit from
the Crusades
Seizing Constantinople
would not only provide
financial benefit, it would
also restore it to the
Western Church
In 1204 the Crusaders
captured and looted
Constantinople

The Fourth Crusade

The Byzantine Empire was divided into feudal
dominions, each ruled by a Latin noble
Most Crusaders returned home, perhaps
thinking that by securing Constantinople they
now had a stronger base against the Moslems
Only a handful continued to Palestine and had
no effect there
The Byzantine Empire never recovered and the
Latin capture of Constantinople served to
prepare it for capture by the Turks two centuries
later

Collapse of the Crusades

The scandal of the
Fourth Crusade and the
failure of the Third
quenched the greater
fire for Crusades but
several half-hearted
efforts would continue
until 1291
In 1291, the Moslems
seized Acre
Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, and
Beirut fell soon afterward

Among the ineffective latter

crusades was the Childrens
Crusade of 1212 in which
thousands of children ended up
drowning or being sold into slavery

Results of the Crusades

Failures
Jerusalem was in Moslem hands
Christian pilgrims became fewer and more fearful
than ever
The Moslem powers, once tolerant of religious
diversity, had been made intolerant by attack
The effort of the popes to bring peace and unity to
Europe had been thwarted by nationalistic ambitions,
avarice, and internal dissension
The influence of the Catholic Church and the position
of the pope declined and the schism between the
Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church
widened

Results of the Crusades

Failures
Moslem civilization had been victorious over Christian
civilization
Indigenous eastern Christians were caught in the
middle between Crusaders and Moslems, and many
who were outraged by the excesses of the Crusaders
or who wanted to avoid persecution by Moslem
leaders who saw them as collaborators with the
Crusaders converted to Islam
In fact, the Crusades ironically proved instrumental
in making the eastern Mediterranean
predominantly Moslem

Results of the Crusades

Successes
Serfs had used the Crusades to leave their
lands and many found new opportunities
The Turkish capture of Constantinople was
delayed until 1453
The Moslems, even though victorious, had
themselves been weakened, and fell more
easily when the Mongols attacked
Trade and exploration were enhanced

Trade
Italian traders obviously
benefited from supplying the
Crusades while they were
going on, but they also saw
an opportunity to expand
their market by establishing
direct trade with the Moslem
world
The lucrative trade provided
great profit to the Italian citystates and ultimately
provided the economic basis
for the Italian Renaissance.

Lorenzo de Medici was part of a

family that ruled Florence and
served as bankers for the
Crusades and patrons of the
Renaissance

Trade
The most important trade
item were spices
Other items included
cotton, linen, dates, coral,
pearls, porcelain, silk, and
metal goods

Damascus was a key

center for industry and
commerce and a stopping
point for pilgrims on their
way to Mecca
Egyptian scarf or garment
fragment ca 1395

Trade
European Christians also became exposed to new ideas
as they traveled throughout the Mediterranean basin
The works of Aristotle
Islamic science and astronomy
Arabic numerals which the Moslems had borrowed
from India
Techniques for paper production which the Moslems
had learned from China
While the Crusades may have largely failed as military
adventures, they helped encourage the reintegration of
western Europe into the larger economy of the western
hemisphere