The Crusades were the military expeditions launched by the European Christians between the 11th and 13th centuries to free Jerusalem from the Muslim invaders. In 626, in the city of Yatreb (Medina), in his new monotheistic religion, Mahoma had said to his followers, "the war against the infidels is holy, and those who die in battle will go straight to paradise; killing an infidel is the straight path to heaven." From then on, more than four centuries before the First Crusade had taken place, the Muslims began the invasion of territories to impose Islam on Gentiles, Christians, and Jews, killing the "infidels" (human beings), destroying the cultural identity of peoples as they went. Between 634 and 644, more than four centuries before the First Crusades, Caliph Omar invaded Syria and then took Jerusalem. By 732, three centuries before the Crusades had taken place, the Muslims had seized a huge chunk of the world, as they had expanded from the very small town of Yatreb to Persia, Asia Minor, northern Africa, Spain, and southern France. If it had not been for the Frankish Chief Charles Martel and the Christian Visigoths in Spain, the Western Civilization would not have developed and Europe would be completely different from what it is today.
The First Crusade (1095-1099)
Although the Muslim holy war against human kind began early in the 7th century, two immidiate events triggered the First Crusade: 1) The destruction of the Church of Holy Sepulchre in the year 1009, ordered by the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. 2) In the first half of the 11th century, a new wave of Muslim invasions took place. The Muslim Seljuk Turks, after defeating the Byzantine armies, crossed Asia Minor, and took Jerusalem in 1076, perpetrating all kinds of abuse and cruelties against the Christians and Jews as they established their capital in Nicea, near Constantinople.
Pope Urban II organized the First Crusade. In 1095 he made one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages, calling on Christian princes in Europe to go on a crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks. In the speech given at the Council of Clermont in France, on November 27, 1095, he combined the ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a war to liberate Jerusalem from Islam. Both knights and peasants from many nations of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea towards Jerusalem and recaptured the city from the Muslim invaders in July 1099, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other Crusader states.
People’s Crusade: Urban had planned the departure of the crusade for August 15, 1096, the Feast of the Assumption, but months before this a number of unexpected armies of peasants and petty nobles set off for Jerusalem on their own. They were led by a charismatic priest named Peter the Hermit of Amiens. Lacking military discipline, and in what likely seemed to the participants a strange land (Eastern Europe), they quickly landed in trouble. The problem faced was one of supply as well as culture: the people needed food, and they expected host cities to give, or at least sell it to them at a reasonable price. Thousands of people perished along the way, fighting for food and dying of starvation. As they entered Asia Minor, they were massacred by the Turks, but Peter the Hermit and a hundred others survived and joined the main crusade.
The Princes’ Crusade: set out later in 1096 in a more orderly manner, led by various nobles with bands of knights from different regions of Europe. The four most significant of these were Raymond IV of Toulouse; Bohemond of Taranto, representing the Normans of southern Italy; The Lorrainers under the brothers Godfrey of Bouillon, Eustace and Baldwin of Boulogne; and the Northern French led by Count Robert II of Flanders, Robert of Normandy (older brother of King William II of England), and Hugh of Vermandois the younger brother of King Philip I of France, who bore the papal banner. The entire crusader army consisted of about 30,000-35,000 crusaders, including 5,000 cavalry. Raymond IV of Toulouse had the largest contingent of about 8,500 infantry and 1,200 cavalry.
Leaving Europe around the appointed time in August, the various armies took different paths to Constantinople and gathered outside its city walls between November 1096 and May 1097, two months after the annihilation of the People’s Crusade by the Turks. Accompanying the knights were many poor men (pauperes) who could afford basic clothing and perhaps an old weapon. Peter the Hermit, who joined the Princes’ Crusade at Constantinople, was considered responsible for their well-being, and they were able to organize themselves into small groups, perhaps akin to military companies, often led by an impoverished knight.
The Princes arrived in Constantinople with little food and expected provisions and help from Alexius I (emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire). Alexius was understandably suspicious after his experiences with the People’s Crusade, and also because the knights included his old Norman enemy, Bohemond. At the same time, Alexius harbored hopes of exercising control over the crusaders, who he seems to have regarded as having the potential to function as a Byzantine proxy. Thus, in return for food and supplies, Alexius requested the leaders to swear fealty to him and promise to return to the Byzantine Empire any land recovered from the Turks. Without food or provisions, they eventually had no choice but to take the oath, though not until all sides had agreed to various compromises, and only after warfare had almost broken out in the city. Only Raymond avoided swearing the oath, cleverly pledging himself to Alexius if the emperor would lead the crusade in person. Alexius refused, but the two became allies, sharing a common distrust of Bohemond.
The crusaders, still accompanied by some Byzantine troops under Taticius, marched on towards Dorylaeum, where Bohemond was pinned down by Kilij Arslan. At the Battle of Dorylaeum on July 1, Godfrey broke through the Turkish lines, and with the help of the troops led by the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy- who attacked the Turks from the rear – defeated the Turks and looted their camp. Kilij Arslan withdrew and the crusaders marched almost unopposed through Asia Minor towards Antioch. On June 28 the crusaders defeated the Turkish leader Kerbogha in a pitched battle outside the city, as Kerbogha was unable to organize the different factions in his army. While the crusaders were marching towards the Muslims, the Fatimid section of the army deserted the Turkish contingent.
On June 7 the crusaders reached Jerusalem, which had been recaptured from the Seljuks by the Fatimids of Egypt only the year before. Many Crusaders wept on seeing the city they had journeyed so long to reach. As with Antioch, the crusaders put the city to a lengthy siege, in which the crusaders themselves suffered many casualties, due to the lack of food and water around Jerusalem. Finally on July 15, 1099, the Crusaders took the City of Jerusalem after forty days of siege, by breaking down sections of the walls and entering the city. Some Crusaders also entered through the former pilgrim’s entrance. The conquered territory was divided and allocated among the expedition chiefs, starting the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem.
Second Crusade (1147–1149)
The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe, called in 1145 by Pope Eugene III in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year. Edessa was the first of the Crusader states to have been founded during the First Crusade. The Second Crusade was led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other important European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and, in 1148, participated in an ill-advised attack on Damascus where the crusaders were defeated. The Second Crusade was a a failure and it would ultimately lead to the fall of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.
The Third Crusade (187-1192)
The Third Crusade, also known as the Kings’ Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land which had been taken by the Turkish chief Saladin in 1187. The fall of Jerusalem shocked the western Europe, and Pope Clement III called a new crusade. The elderly Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa responded to the call immediately. He took up the Cross at Mainz Cathedral on March 27, 1188 and was the first to set out for the Holy Land in May of 1189 with an army of about 20,000 men, including 5,000 knights.
The Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelus made a secret alliance with Saladin to impede Frederick’s progress in exchange for his empire’s safety. On May 18, 1190, the German army captured Iconium, the capital of the Sultanate of Rüm. Unfortunately for the Third Crusade, the emperor drowned in the Saleph River on June 10, 1190.
Henry II of England and Philip II of France ended their war with each other, and both imposed a tax on their citizens to finance the venture. In Britain, Baldwin of Exeter, the archbishop of Canterbury, made a tour through Wales, convincing 3,000 men-at-arms to take up the cross.
Henry II of England died on July 6, 1189 following a defeat by his son Richard I (Lionheart) and Philip II. Richard inherited the crown and immediately began raising funds for the crusade. In 1191, Philip sailed straight to Acre to join the siege, while Richard stopped to conquer Cyprus, which gave him a secure base. The French king arrived at Acre on 8 June 1191, taking control of the siege, and only four days later (12 July), Acre surrendered, ending a two year siege. Soon after this, Philip II returned to France, where he began to plot the conquest of Richard’s French lands, breaking the convention that one did not attack the lands of a crusader. Meanwhile, Richard took control of the crusading army, now 50,000 strong, and in August began to march down the coast. Richard managed to create one of the best organised of crusader armies, and marched slowly down the coast, keeping his troops free, and denying Saladin any chance to pick away at the crusading army. Finally, Saladin set up an ambush (battle of Arsouf, 7 September 1191), but Richard had a pre-prepared plan to deal with this, and when it was put in place, the Turks were routed. Saladin never again risked a direct attack on Richard. The crusaders wintered at Ascalon, and in 1192 marched on Jerusalem.
However, Saladin used a scorched earth strategy, and, denied supplies of water and fodder, Richard had to abandon his plans to besiege the city. Richard came within sight of Jerusalem twice, but each time retreated in the face of Saladin’s larger army. Saladin then attempted to retake Jaffa in July, but was defeated by Richard’s now much smaller force on July 31. On September 2, 1192, Richard and Saladin finalized a treaty by which Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control, but which also allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims to visit the city. Richard left for England at the end of September, ending The Third Crusade.
The Fourth Crusade (1202-12049)
The Fourth Crusade was called by Pope Innocent III with the aim of reconquering Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian (Eastern Orthodox) city of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. The Crusaders were persuaded by Alexius, son of Isaac Angelus, the dispossessed Emperor of Byzantium, to turn aside to Constantinople in order to restore him and his son to the throne. A motley collection of French knights setting out from Venice by sea to fight in the Holy Land, the crusaders appealed to the Venetians for transportation and food.
Venice held extensive commercial interests in the eastern Mediterranean and wished an eastern emperor who would be compliant and supported a candidate for post. The merchants of Venice agreed to furnish at a high price, more than the crusaders could pay, and also to contribute 50 armed warships if they could share equally in all future conquests. The Duke of Venice, the blind Enrico Dandoelo, used the indebtedness to use the crusaders to his own political ends. They were to capture for Venice, the port of Zara, who had revolted against Venice and had gone over to the king of Hungary.
Venice was now quarreling with Constantinople, and the Crusaders consented to begin their expedition with an attack on their fellow Christians. There was no great Bernard to inspire enthusiasm, but a preacher of a distinctly lower type, Fulco of Neuilly, succeeded in obtaining support from a number of French nobles, who involved themselves in the unworthy obligations to blind Dandolo. So the crusade began with the sack and destruction of a Roman Catholic town, in 1202. Angrily, the pope had excommunicated the crusaders. Pope Innocent was infuriated by this bargain which had diverted them from such a noble cause and excommunicated the Crusaders.
This departure from their original design was followed by a still more remarkable deviation. Instead of proceeding to Palestine, they sailed for Constantinople, to dethrone the usurper, Alexius Angelus. The crusaders succeeded in restoring the lawful emperor, Isaac, to his Empire. The reward which they required was extravagant, and Isaac’s efforts to comply with the stipulations provoked such resentment, that he was deposed by his subjects, and put to death, together with his son. But worse was to follow. In July, 1203, the Crusaders took Constantinople by assault. The imperial capital was stormed by the very men whose forefathers had promised rescue a century before. Untold treasures of gold, silver, and holy relics were plundered during the subsequent pillage and rape. Literary classics, great and wonderful works of art and treasures untold were either destroyed or carried away. Many of its priceless treasures were carried off to Europe. But the greatest prize of all were the relics. bones, heads and arms of saints.
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