02x02 - The Crusades

EUH2001 – The Crusades

10/07/2007 10:24:00

← Background ← ←

Rise of Islam • by the middle of the 8th century Islamic armies have taken much of what is now Spain • in 732 took some of France

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Muslim & Christian Relationship • fairly amicable • great interest among intellectuals and cooperation • they also actively traded o Christian kingdoms in the north transported slaves to the Islamic kingdoms  they also traded amber and honey • many holy Christian sites rested in the Muslim world o 1Jerusalem

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Byzantine Troubles

• on its last legs • greatly reduced by the invasions of Islamic armies ←

Seljuk & Mongols • manzikert (1071) o the Seljuk take over a lot of the Byzantine empire on this battle • the Mongols take over the lands of the Seljuk and make them move west

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Threats to Western Unity • nobles & “just war” o fighting one another to gain greater power o “just war” Christians should not fight other Christians, but could do so in the face of oppression over authority • papal authority o the clergy are terrified by the violence that is spreading through the countryside o the church’s authority is not being followed

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Motives & Causes

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Unify Christendom • they wanted to create a unity Christian Europe

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Recapture the Holy Land • modern day Palestine and Israel • the birth of Christianity and now in Muslim hands

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Convert some heathens • conversion was not always the motive

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Reclaim Islamic holdings • to reclaim lands that had once been part of the roman empire that had fallen to the Islamic armies

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Aristocratic Prestige • land o they hoped to get land and carve out their own place of rule • spiritual gain

o they saw this as a great spiritual gain in the eyes of Christianity and the Pope o the pope said those who participated would be absolved of their sins ←

Economic Gain • trade o merchants could gain control of trade routes • debt o pope offered to cancel the debt of crusaders

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There are several crusades • over 18

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The First Four Crusades

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First Crusade (1095-1099) • Alexius (Byzantine emperor) o urges pope for help

• Pope Urban II o sees opportunity in this o appeals to lesser nobles to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims • Jerusalem o by 1099 crusading armies reach Jerusalem and take over • one of the most successful crusades • they establish the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem ←

Second Crusade (1145 – 1149) • Edessa (1144) o pope calls for a second crusade o located in the northern eastern of 5Jerusalem • Louis VII & Conrad III o They agree to set out and recapture Edessa and expand the kingdom of Edessa o they don't coordinate their efforts o in 1149 they lay siege to Damascus

• Damascus o They are defeated and turn back ←

Third Crusade (1187 – 1192) • Jerusalem o An Islamic army from Egypt take over 6Jerusalem • 4 Kings: Frederick of Barbarossa, Philip II, Leopold, Richard I o they set out to retake 6Jerusalem o mixed results  Frederick’s army goes through what is left of Byzantium and takes over o Byzantium o Frederick drowns and most of his army goes home o Acre is Captured in the northern part of 6Jerusalem

o Richard is able to negotiate a safe passage for Christian people going to Jerusalem o Infighting  Leopold and Richard begin to attack each other  Leopold’s soldiers capture Richard and hold him for ransom ←

Fourth Crusade (1202 – 1204) • Innocent III o He calls upon nobles to travel to the holy land and recapture it • Venice o He was helped by the merchants of Venice  The merchants make Innocent III take a detour to Zara  because of this the Pope excommunicates everybody involved for a short while

 the merchants also had their eyes on Constantinople • Constantinople o There was a dispute on who to put in charge of Constantinople o the Venetians find a way to put one of their own as ruler o the ruler is kicked off and the Venetians ransacked the city for three days

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Crusader States • “defender of the holy sepulcher” • French Duke Godfrey o First ruler of the kingdom of Jerusalem o Did not call himself king, but ‘defender of the holy sepulcher’ where Christ was his king • ‘multiculturalism’ o it can be used to describe the crusader states

o large amount of people living in the crusader states o there were indigenous people, people that came to visit and those that came to settle • Feudalism o They adopted the system of feudalism in Jerusalem o Nobles in western Europe were given vassals in Jerusalem • Military Orders o Warrior monks o Knights had been secular groups, this started to change with the crusade o Monks now had armor and became warriors to protect those that lived in the kingdom of Jerusalem o The Templar & Hospitallers

 The order of knights defended their domain by erecting fortifications throughout the area and presided in fortified castles o Christians  Those that came from the west and those that were already there  West  Installed their own bishops and their own schools  Intermarriage was punished by castration  No interest for the practices of orthodox Christians  they imposed roman practices o Muslims  Barbarians

 Muslims saw the Europeans as barbarians  They did not like the crusading armies and had no interest in their customs  Heathens  They saw the Muslims as heathens  depicted as inhuman  widespread believe that Muslims were polytheistic and pagan ←

Jews and Heretics • Efforts of reform by the pope to centralized the authority of the doctrine • campaigns against Jews and heretics o it made no sense to fight the infidels beyond their borders when there were infidels within their own backyard • Jews

o Europe  Ostracized  Forbidden from owning lands  had extra taxes  could not join guilds  arbitrarily ceased the holdings of Jews, businesses, family finances  Blood Libel  The myth that Jews killed children and drank their blood o Pogroms  Spontaneous attacks against Jews within a community  a large group in the local population goes into the Jewish population and destroy their property  Crusaders & Peasants  Peter the Hermit

• Detoured the path of soldiers to demand taxes from a Jewish community  Rhineland Massacres (1096) • Those that did not pay were killed  Response of the Church  Some priests attempted to protect Jews  some had to flee for trying to protect Jews  the Vatican, however, remained indifferent  during the first crusade there is no mention about the pogroms that had occurred throughout Europe • Heretics o Centralized of Church Doctrine

o Albigensian Crusades (1209 – 1229)  gets its name from the French town of ali  it is stronghold for the Cathars  they believed that all worldly matter was a representative of Satan and evil  and god was represented by light  they refused material possessions and did not eat anything that came from sex  they did not like the secular authority  Beziers  They became very powerful  they had their own bishops and the king sent soldiers to Beziers and killed a ton of people  only a minority were actual Cathars  15,000 only 700 cathars

 Political Motives  The cathars were in a region that was ruled by nobles that did not really care about the cathars  they did not just want to crush the cathars they also wanted to strengthen his hold over France o Papal Inquisition (Innocent III)  Secular obligation  The secular rulers had an obligation to stamp out heresy  ad hoc • a group of people got together and investigated, no central group  “confession” • people suspected of heresy were forced to confess

• they were tortured until they “confessed” • you could confess and repent and the bishop would sign a paper saying that your soul was absolved of your sins. However, the nobles were going to kill them anyway ←

European Crusades • Reconquista [1149 – 1215] o Spain’s strongest kingdoms o under Muslim rule at this time o the strongest kingdoms moved away from the Muslims  Aragon  castile  Portugal o Lisbon [1147]

 Battle of Lisbon begin to push Muslims out of Portugal  They say and opportunity because of a conflict between the Islamic kingdoms o Muslim Disunity  Al-Andalus  Rule Spain and northern Africa  Almohads  began in northeastern Africa saw the al-andalus as a corruption of the Islamic faith  start to attack territories ruled by the al-andalus  they take over the territories of Spain under al-dalus’s rule o Navas de Tolosa [1212]

 Aragon and castile defeat the army of the almohads  this is the beginning of the end for the Muslim rule in Spain  very slow process of decline  it doesn't completely end until 1492 o The Long Road • Northern Crusades o Baltic peoples  Slavs and wends  Parts of Holland  they had established a trade system with the western kingdoms  Trade and Raiding  Mostly amber, fur, and they also had raids • Raided Denmark and others o St. Bernard

 Traveled through the Danish kingdoms asking them to move east and convert the Baltic  the Danish were happy to do so because they were not happy with the raids taking place in their coasts o Valdemar and Henry  They push eastward until the Oder River (boundary between Germany and Poland) o Teutonic Knights  Established in Jerusalem in 1190 to protect pilgrims coming to the holy land  they spread throughout Europe and became very powerful  they conquered the Prussian tribes that started modern Germany  97 towns, 1400 villages o Cooperation of Eastern Rulers

The Later Crusades • Children’s Crusade [1212] o They recruited adolescents from impoverish parents o send them to convert people, were captured, and sold as slaves o big disaster • Fifth Crusade [1217 1221] o Innocent III calls for a 5th crusade o the idea was that Christians would land in Egypt, cease it and use it as a base to cross into Jerusalem and 20Palestine o they arrived to the city of Damietta  the sultan of Egypt offers a bargain  if they leave he will grant them the city of Jerusalem  the crusaders would not negotiate

 they attack the city of damietta  they cease it  within two years the Islamic armies expel them • Sixth Crusade [1228 – 1229] o Frederick II  Takes it upon to himself to take over Jerusalem  he gets to Jerusalem and arranges a truce with the sultan and negotiates the return of Jerusalem to the Christendom  the pope excommunicates him for negotiating  he comes back to the church later on • Seventh Crusade [1248 = 1254] o Jerusalem is seized yet again by the Muslims, 1244 o Louis IX

 he tries to retake Jerusalem  he lands in damietta and begins to move up the Nile  the Islamic armies come up behind him and the king is captured  they have to pay a ransom and leaves • Eight Crusade [1270] • The End o They don’t really end o these were just the largest o there is a crusade of the sea as well o the crusades end as major expeditions after the eight crusade o Islamic armies cease Jerusalem and acre by Baibars o Political Change  the European people are starting to look at crusades as a waste of time

 the end of independent warrior aristocracy ←

Muslim Resistance • Delayed reaction o They don’t really react at first o Islamic kingdoms are not really unified at this time and they don’t see this as permanent o for about a generation they don’t do very much o they let diplomacy work for a while instead of militarily • Zengi [Aleppo and Mosul] o He is having trouble from Damascus that is not following his rule o to consolidate his rule he beings a campaign to take over Damascus o he has to go through Edessa to get there  this wasn’t his goal

o he became a hero and is revered, all by mistake o this leads to the crusades as a jihad • Nur ed-Din o Reinventing Jihad  To consolidate his own power amongst the Islamic kingdoms  the earliest idea of jihad had been devised from the time of Islamic expansion. It was a form to justify expansion before this time  Nur ed-Din changes that meaning to be used as a form of just war because Islam was under threat and therefore they had the right to defend themselves o He defeats crusaders in Damascus o attacks the kingdom of 24Egypt • internal crackdown

o schools that teach scriptures • Saladin o Became major figure during the crusades o he started as a lieutenant, and was granted governance of 25Egypt o once Nur ed-Din dies he takes over and takes over Syria and Mosul into his empire o Saladin consolidates his empire and surrounds the crusader states o his army defeats them in the battle of Hattin o three months later in Oct. 1197 he ceases 25Jerusalem • Baibars o He defeats the crusaders once and for all o he was an Egyptian sultan o in 1253 he moves back the crusaders o he takes over all the military castles stationed in the holy land

• Edward the first takes over when the king of the eight crusade dies o He makes a deal with Balbars for a peace treaty of sorts ←

Legacy and Impact • End of Byzantium o Ceases to be influential with the end of the crusades o Constantinople is sacked, borders are shrunk and lost its power as an empire • Papal Authority o Gain strong influence as political leaders o a unified force among European 26Christians • Plenary Indulgence o A way of financing the crusades o encouraging people to go on crusades when the pope offers absolution in the afterlife • Spanish Inquisition [1478]

o Descendent of the reconquista o expel the last of the Muslims form the Iberian peninsula o crack down on Jews in Spain, force to convert or leave • Precursor to Imperialism o Crusades are a precursor to the imperialism in Europe • Muslim-Christian Divide o Bitterness and resentment between the Christian and Muslim empires

10/07/2007 10:24:00 ←

10/07/2007 10:24:00 ←