The Crusades . . . Wars for Christ
...tinople seeked help from the West. Shortly after that, the Turks took over Jerusalem, the scene of Christ's preachings and burial. Trips to holy places became dangerous and the papacy claimed that unbelievers had taken over Jerusalem. The papacy feared the Turks would be less obliging to Christian pilgrims than the Muslims were. Pope Urban II went to Clermont in France in 1095 and wanted a great Christian holy war against the Turks he claimed the Christians were suffering and being persecuted in Jerusalem. Pope Urban II urged Christian knights who were fighting each other to fight the true enemies, the Muslims. This was one of the few speeches in history to have such a dramatic effect on Pope Urban's call for the First Crusade. The response to Urban’s call for a crusade was enthusiastic. Immediately after that, great lords such as Godfrey of Bouillon and Geoffrey of Lorraine sewed the cross of the Crusader on their tunics. Popular preachers encouraged thousands of people to join the Crusade. Most of the Crusaders were French and some were pilgrims from many regions. The enormous support for the First Crusade shows the Europeans’ religious and emotional fervor and the influence of the reformed papacy. The two main reasons that most people joined the Crusades were: Religious convictions and worldly motives. The Crusades offered foreign travel and excitement for the curious and the adventurous. For some people the Crusades was a time for them to do what they wanted but never had the chance to do it. Kings who were trying to establish order and build states had a chance to get rid of troublesome knights. For land-hungry sons it was a chance to acquire fiefs in the Middle East. The Crusade helped make profit for the members of the middle class who stayed home. Some nobles had to borrow money from the conservative middle class citizen to pay for expeditions, and put part of their land as security. If the noble couldn’t go home or pay the interest on the loan, the middle class creditor took over the land. The Crusades also brought Christian prejudice against the Jews to the surface. Jews settled in the trade routes of Western Europe and played a major role in international trade between the Muslim Middle East and the West. Jews also lent money to peasants, townspeople, and nobles and because of this, the kings and lords protected them. When the First Crusade started, a lot knights had to borrow from the Jews to get supplies for the expedition. Their debt to the Jews made them mad. Christian preachers mainly focused on Jerusalem, the scene of Jesus’s crucifixion, and didn't mention that Jesus had forgiven his executioners. With their minds clouded with hatred for the Jews, the Crusaders attacked Jewish communities leading to great massacres. Despite all this, the First Crusade was successful due to all the enthusiasm of the Crusaders. The Crusaders didn't know much of anything except about their religions. They had no knowledge of the geography or the climate of the Middle East but, there were some people with military experience. The Crusaders could not decide on a leader causing the whole expedition was filled with disputes. Lines of supply were never made and starvation and disease hit the army. The Turks killed many noncombatants. The Crusaders war cry, “God wills it,” helped the army defeat the Turks and regain Jerusalem in 1099. What helped this victory to occur was that the Arabs were in disunity. The First Crusade was the most successful of all the expeditions. The Third Crusade was to recapture Jerusalem again from the sultan Saladin in 1187. Frederick of Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, Richard of England, and Philip Augustus of France joined the Crusades and the Third Crusade was better financed than other ones were, but disputes about leaders and strategic problems arose and prevented any lasting results. The Fourth Crusade lasted from 1202 to 1204 and careless preparation and inadequate financing had disastrous consequences for Latin - Byzantine relations. When the Crusaders could not pay the Venetians the money promised for transport to the Holy Land, the Venetians delayed the debt in return for an attack on a Christian city of Zara in the Dalmatian coast, the source of oak for Venetian ships. On November 24,1202, the Crusaders took Zara and the Crusaders and the Venetians took over Constantinople in April 1204, de...