The Crusades were a series of religious and political wars fought between 1096 and 1291 for control of the Holy Land. Pope Urban II initiated the First Crusade (1096–1102) in order to aid the Christian Byzantine Empire, which was under attack by Muslim Seljuk Turks. As a result of this crusade, Europeans captured Jerusalem in 1099. Muslims quickly unified against the Christian invading and occupying force and the two groups battled in subsequent wars for control of the Holy Land. By 1291 the Muslims firmly controlled Jerusalem and the coastal areas, which remained in Islamic hands until the twentieth century.The crusading movement involved men and women from every country in Europe and touched upon almost every aspect of daily life, from the Church and religious thought, to politics and economics.
The Crusades were a series of religious and political wars fought between 1096 and 1291 for control of the Holy Land. Pope Urban II initiated the First Crusade (1096–1102) in order to aid the Christian Byzantine Empire, which was under attack by Muslim Seljuk Turks. As a result of this crusade, Europeans captured Jerusalem in 1099. King Richard I, the Lionheart (September 8, 1157–April 6, 1199) was an English king and one of the leaders of the Third Crusade. He is known both for his military skill and the neglect of his realm because of his long absence.
It also found its way into the arts, as patrons and artists from diverse backgrounds and traditions were brought together to create new forms of expression. Frescos, mosaics, sculptures, and even coins reflected a blend of Western (Latin/Catholic) and Eastern (Byzantine/Eastern Christian) traditions. Crusaders appeared in histories as well as in French and German epic poetry from the twelfth century, such as the Chanson d’Antioche, an account of the 1098 siege in Antioch. The crusading movement involved men and women from every country in Europe and touched upon almost every aspect of daily life, from the Church and religious thought, to politics and economics.Christians understood the Crusades as a path to salvation for those who participated.
As the French monk Guilbert of Nogent wrote in his twelfth century chronicle of the Crusades, “God has instituted in our time holy wars, so that the order of knights and the crowd running in its wake might find a new way of gaining salvation. And so they are not forced to abandon secular affairs completely by choosing the monastic life or any religious profession, as used to be the custom, but can attain in some measure God’s grace while pursuing their own careers, with the liberty and in the dress to which they are accustomed.” Those who “took up the cross” were recipients of both spiritual and earthly rewards. The spiritual reward was the indulgence, or the forgiveness, of sins. The earthly rewards included plunder from conquest, forgiveness of debts, and freedom from taxes, as well as fame and political power.
Crusaders did not only fight for control of the Holy Land; they also worked to secure the Church’s power in Europe. Like the wars against the Muslims, these conflicts were promoted by various popes in Christ’s name and led by crusaders who took vows and received special privileges and indulgences.
The “enemies” of the Church in Europe included people who were not Christians. It also included Christians who were labeled heretics, that is, people who challenged the official teachings of the Church or who questioned the pope’s power and authority.Millions of people, Christian and non-Christian, soldiers and noncombatants lost their lives during the Crusades.
In addition to the enormous loss of life, the debt incurred and other economic costs associated with the multiple excursions to the Middle East impacted all levels of society, from individual families and villages, to budding nation-states. The wars also resulted in the destruction of cities and towns that lay in the crusaders’ wake.
In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon refers to the Crusades as an event in which “the lives and labours of millions, which were buried in the East, would have been more profitably employed in the improvement of their native country.”Beginning in 1095 with Pope Urban II’s proclamation and concluding, according to some historians, with Napoleon’s conquest of Malta in 1798, the Crusades had a lasting impact on European and Middle Eastern culture and politics that still continues to this day. The following documents offer insight into the religious and social motivations and benefits for undertaking a crusade, as well as a glimpse into the more mundane administrative details required to make this transcontinental excursion to the Holy Land. They also suggest how the Crusades were both commemorated and criticized in literature and history for centuries after they had ended.Please consider the following questions as you review the documents.What were Western Christian religious beliefs, political relationships, and personal values during the Middle Ages?.How did the motives, organization, and effects of the Crusades change over time?.How have writers from the eleventh century on criticized the Crusaders’ goals and actions?The Call to Crusade. In the years approaching the twelfth century, some Christians began to believe that an individual’s thoughts and meditations—in addition to one’s actions—were an important indicator of piety and goodness.
Devout Christians increasingly pursued religious pilgrimages, or journeys, to the places where Jesus lived, died, and was buried. At the time of the First Crusade, the Church taught that an individual’s sins could be remedied, at least in theory, by acts of penance that demonstrated remorse and a desire for forgiveness.
As communications through Central Europe improved, and Italian trade in the Mediterranean increased, more Western European people than ever before could journey or make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and seek penance for past sins. The First Crusade, proposed by Pope Urban II in 1095, was undertaken by many as a devotional act of pilgrimage.A literal transcription of Urban’s words at Clermont does not exist, however there are multiple recorded versions of the speech. This version was written by the priest Fulcher of Chartes, who was most likely present when Urban spoke at Clermont. Fulcher of Chartes traveled to Constantinople during the First Crusade and witnessed the events that he describes in his famous chronicles.Questions to Consider.What task does Urban II place before the Christian people of Europe? What is the spiritual purpose of this task? What is the political purpose?.What is the “twofold reward” for undertaking this task? What punishments could result from inaction?
Who will receive these rewards or benefit from them?.What does Urban, or the Church as a whole, stand to gain by the Crusades? How will the Crusades affect the pope’s or the Church’s in Europe and the world?“Speech of Urban II at the Council of Claremont, November 26, 1095” Pope Urban II. From Translations and Reprints from Original Sources of European History Vol. MetadataDetailsItem TypeBook SectionTitleSpeech of Urban II at the Council of Claremont, November 26, 1095Publication TitleTranslations and Reprints from Original Sources of European History Vol. 2Short TitleSpeech of Urban II at Claremont, 1095Book TitleTranslations and Reprints from the Original Sources of HistoryCreatorPope Urban IIPublication Date1897VolumeVol.
4–5Call NumberLocationGeneral Collections 2nd floorThis item appears in the collection. The Church promoted taking the cross and going on to the Holy Land as a demonstration of Christian love and devotion to God. Likewise, knights were taught that to be a good Christian knight, one must undertake acts of love and charity. Among these acts of charity were “Love of God” and “Love of Neighbor.” Defending the Holy Land and protecting Christians in their time of need were seen as acts of loving one’s neighbor.
Bernard of Clairvoix, commenting on the Muslim victories in the Holy Land wrote, “If we harden our hearts and pay little attention where is our love of God, where is our love for our neighbor?” While there were additional motivations for taking up the cross—opportunity for economic or political gain, desire for adventure, and the feudal obligation to follow one’s lord into battle—to become a soldier for Christ was to express total devotion to God. According to historian Jonathan Riley-Smith, taking up the cross was based on Christ’s statement: “Whoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14. Underscoring this belief, priests encouraged participation in the Crusades by praising acts of devotion to God and invoking fear of the last judgment for failure to act.Popes and kings granted special privileges to crusaders to reinforce this message. Initially, Pope Urban II promised forgiveness of sins to those who took up the cross.
However, as the wars continued, Church and political leaders found that they had to promise additional benefits, beyond the spiritual, to encourage participation. These benefits included forgiveness of debts and interest payments, protection of property and family, even different courts of justice for those crusaders who commit criminal acts.The following documents include an account of the privileges granted to crusaders by Pope Eugene III and a poem portraying the Crusades as the ultimate act of Christian devotion.Questions to Consider.According to Pope Eugene III, what types of actions will the Church take on behalf of crusaders?.Review the privileges granted to crusaders outlined in this document. Hypothesize the types of problems encountered by families when a member went on crusade.How does this document reveal the relationship between Church spiritual and secular (non-religious) authority?.What is the message of the poem “You Who Love with True Love”?.The poet writes, “A sensible merchant spends money from his purse.” What is implied by this line?.According to the poem, what is promised to those who take up the cross?
What lies ahead for those who procrastinate?.How does a Christian’s devotion to God compare to the feudal relationship between a lord and vassal?Privileges Granted by Eugene III Eugene III. From Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of History, 1894. I.You who love with true love, awake! V.For us there is no tomorrow,We can be sure of that.Many a man imagines that he has a very healthy heartAnd four days later he can no longer prizeEither all his goods or his knowledgeWhen he sees that death holds him on a rein,So that neither foot nor handCan he move to shake it off or remove it.He leaves his feather-bed and takes to the straw litter,But realizes his mistake too late.Translated in Louise and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: Idea and Reality 1095–1274. London: Edward Arnold, 1981.
British interest in the Crusades increased following the translation of Italian poet Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata (“Jerusalem Delivered”) into English in 1600. In 1639 Thomas Fuller, an English historian, published the first, modern, full-length account of the Crusades in English.
Three more editions of his four-volume History of the Holy Warre appeared within the next decade. Fuller researched his subject extensively, drew on numerous sources, and included maps and a supplemental commentary in his history.
Fuller was sharply critical of the papacy for promoting the Crusades and devoted nine chapters of The History of the Holy Warre to describing their failure.The first document below is the frontispiece of the first edition of Fuller’s history. A portrait of Baldwin, King of the Crusader state of Jerusalem (1100–1118), appears on the top left of the image and, to the right, a portrait of Saladin, the Muslim sultan who defeated the crusaders and captured Jerusalem in 1187. The image below the portraits shows the crusaders’ advance and retreat between Europe and Jerusalem, and the words, “We went out full but returned empty.” The Latin phrase Vestigia pauca retrorfum in the upper right of the image means “few lived to return home.”British publisher Henry George Bohn included the second image below as the frontispiece to his Chronicles of the Crusades. Bohn writes that the image is a reproduction from a fourteenth-century illuminated manuscript.
It portrays an event in 1270, when three French knights “were accosted by three Saracen knights requesting baptism.” While the Frenchmen spoke with the Saracens (or Muslims), they were attacked, and “sixty Christians were slain before the infidels were put to flight.”Questions to Consider.Fuller’s illustration is a map of the Third Crusade. Describe the various groups that are represented here. Who is taking this journey?.Describe the two men portrayed at the top of the image. How do you interpret the meaning of the text surrounding the portraits?.Explain the symbolism of the two buckets at the top of the image.
What is implied by the phrase “We went full but returned empty”?.Describe the image of “Crusaders & Saracens in Conference.” How do the French knights and the Muslims appear? What do their clothes and postures convey?.Why do you think this event—in which Muslims who appeared to embrace Christianity acted as decoys before a military assault—seemed significant to historians of the Crusades?The Historie of the Holy Warre Thomas Fuller. From The Historie of the Holy Warre, 1639. While anyone could join in a crusade, it became clear in later crusades that success often depended on having well-qualified personnel on the battlefield.
Those best prepared came from the warrior classes: the knights, heavy cavalry (armored front-line troops), and support personnel such as bowmen, foot soldiers, and siege engineers. Other strategic personnel included those with special skills, including priests who were literate and could perform church rituals as well as administrative tasks, merchants who controlled the supplies, surgeons, and members of the crusader lord’s household staff. In later crusades, sailors were crucial as the journey to the Holy Land involved sea voyages. However, the knights were the core of the crusading forces and it was under their leadership that the armies were organized.Participating in a crusade became widely accepted as an important feature of knightly behavior. Deciding who would go on crusade was dictated by the social and political structure of the region. If a king “took up the cross” or undertook a crusade, it was assumed that those in his circle would be obligated to join him out of political loyalty or duty to him, rather than as an expression of religious devotion. As one knight observed in Jean de Joinville’s account of the Crusades, “if we do not take up the cross, we shall lose the favor of the king; if we do take it, we shall lose God’s favor, since we shall not be taking it for his sake, but through fear of displeasing the king.”Kinship also influenced participation in a crusade.
It was common for sons to accompany fathers, brothers to go with brothers, or uncles with nephews. The decision of which family members would take up the cross, and which would remain behind was often made collectively.
The family members who remained behind were tasked with the maintenance and administration of the family property and position.The Crusades, like all wars, were extremely expensive. For example, Louis IX spent an estimated 3,000,000 livres, or 12 times his annual income, on his first crusade in 1248 until his return in 1254.
Expenses included provisions for Louis and his household, wages for the knight and soldiers, replacement and purchase of horses, mules and camels, shipping, gifts to crusaders, and Louis’ ransom after he was taken prisoner by the Egyptians in April 1250. Individual lords were also expected to contribute toward the costs of the crusade and ransom.
Paying for the war was a continual concern for all those involved. Though there was the opportunity for plunder, the costs of the crusade were rarely offset by the captured treasure.The following document identifies the knights who accompanied Louis IX on his first crusade (1217–1221) and describes their terms of agreement. It was published in the nineteenth century as an appendix to an English edition of Jean de Joinville’s Life of Saint Louis, which Joinville completed in 1309. Joinville was a counselor and close friend to the king. He led a successful effort to have Louis canonized (or deemed a saint) by the Catholic Church after Louis’ death in 1270.Questions to Consider.What information does this list record?
Why was this type of record keeping necessary?.What does the document tell you about the organization and logistics of a crusade?.How does it reflect lessons learned from previous crusades?“A List of the Knights Who Accompanied Saint Louis on His Expedition to Palestine” Henry G. From Chronicles of the Crusades: Being Contemporary Narratives of the Crusade of Richard Coeur De Lion. And of the Crusade of St. Louis, 1848. MetadataDetailsItem TypeBook SectionTitleA List of the Knights Who Accompanied Saint Louis on His Expedition to PalestinePublication TitleChronicles of the Crusades: Being Contemporary Narratives of the Crusade of Richard Coeur De Lion.
And of the Crusade of St. LouisShort TitleKnights Who Accompanied Louis, 1217Book TitleChronicles of the Crusades: Being Contemporary Narratives of the Crusade of Richard Coeur De LionPublisherLondonCreatorHenry G. BohnPublication Date1848Pagespp. 532–533Call NumberLocationGeneral Collections 2nd floorThis item appears in the collection.
Therefore presently he sent letters to the lords of his country and they came as he bade them. Then before these lords and prelates, he made his testament, and to many religious bodies he gave money in great quantity for the saving of his soul. He provided right well for his soul, and when this was done, he said, “Sirs, so far as the day is gone with me that there is only one thing left, that is, without fear to meet death, as every man must needs do.
I thank God that He has given me space to repent this in life”Translated by George Eyre-Todd (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/brucendx.htm). “ for through me and my wars there has been a great spilling of blood, and many an innocent man has been slain. Therefore I take this sickness and this pain as reward for my trespass.”“My heart was firmly fixed, for the saving of my sins, to make a crusade against God’s enemies when I should come to prosperity.
And since He now takes me to Him, so that the body cannot fulfill the device of the heart, I would that the heart, wherein that resolve was conceived, were sent thither. Therefore, I pray you, every one, that among you ye choose one who is honest, wise, doughty fearless, and a noble knight of his hand, to carry my heart against the enemies of God, when my soul and body shall be parted.
I would that it were brought there worthily, since God will not that I have the strength to go thither.”Translated by George Eyre-Todd (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/brucendx.htm). Riley-Smith, Jonathan, and Louise Riley-Smith. The Crusades: Idea and Reality, 1095–1274. London: Edward Arnold, 1981.Riley-Smith, Jonathan. “Crusading as an Act of Love.” Journal of the Historical Association 65 (June 1980): 177–192.Riley-Smith, Jonathan, ed. Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades.
2001.Harf-Lancner, Laurence. “Rutebeuf Chantre de la Croisade?
La Disputation du Croise et du Decroise.” Synergies 2 (2007): 19–28.
.The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the, the founded by Christian princes in 1099 when the took the city., the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, himself refused the title of king, and instead chose the title 'Defender of the '. Thus, the title of king was only introduced for his successor, King in 1100. The city of Jerusalem was, but the Kingdom of Jerusalem survived, moving its capital to in 1191. The city of Jerusalem was re-captured in the, during 1229–39 and 1241–44.The Kingdom of Jerusalem was finally dissolved with the and the end of the Crusades in the Holy Land in 1291.After the Crusader States ceased to exist, the title of King of Jerusalem was claimed by a number of European noble houses descended from the or the. The (purely ceremonial) title of King of Jerusalem is currently used.
It was claimed by as Habsburg pretender, and by the until 1946. See also:In 1127 received an embassy from King. Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated his daughter to succeed him.
Baldwin II wanted to safeguard his daughter's inheritance by marrying her to a powerful lord. Fulk was a wealthy crusader and experienced military commander, and a widower. His experience in the field would prove invaluable in a frontier state always in the grip of war.However, Fulk held out for better terms than mere consort of the Queen; he wanted to be king alongside Melisende.
Baldwin II, reflecting on Fulk's fortune and military exploits, acquiesced. Fulk then resigned his titles to his son and sailed to become King of Jerusalem, where he married on 2 June 1129. Later Baldwin II bolstered Melisende's position in the kingdom by making her sole guardian of her son by Fulk, born in 1130.Fulk and Melisende became joint rulers of Jerusalem in 1131 with Baldwin II's death. From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favored fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done; but as Fulk was far less powerful than his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority.
The marriage of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Maria Comnena atAlmaric's wives, now married to, and, the dowager Queen, who had married in 1177. His daughter by Agnes, Sibylla, was already of age, the mother of a son, and was clearly in a strong position to succeed her brother, but Maria's daughter had the support of her stepfather's family, the.In 1179, Baldwin began planning to marry Sibylla to, but by spring 1180 this was still unresolved.
Attempted a coup, and began to march on Jerusalem with Bohemund III, to force the king to marry his sister to a local candidate of his own choosing, probably, Balian's older brother. To counter this, the king hastily arranged her marriage to, younger brother of, the of the kingdom.
A foreign match was essential to bring the possibility of external military aid to the kingdom. With the new French king a minor, Guy's status as a vassal of the King and Sibylla's first cousin – who owed the Pope a penitential pilgrimage – was useful.