Introduction
The period that is associated with the crusaders can be described as the period towards the end of the tenth century to the end of fourteenth century. The paper will review the primary sources about the materials that were used by the crusaders in Jerusalem. The paper will also examine the political, social, and economic aspects of the Jerusalem city under the Christian and the Muslim rulers. The manuscript will evaluate how the different leadership influenced the manner of the lives of the people in Jerusalem, and the influence of the leadership to the social, economic, and political status of the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem. Christian and Muslim leaders significantly affected the social and economic status of the people that were living in the city of Jerusalem.
Problem Statement
The crusaders era is a period in the Christian and the Muslim history that is filled with mythos, fallacies, and facts about the struggle for dominance and the spread of the two religions in the period between the end of 10TH century to the period towards the end of fourteenth century. In Jerusalem, the city experienced change in the leadership that transited between the Christian leadership to Muslim leadership, and lastly, it was co-inhabited by the Christians and the Muslims through the signing if the peaceful treaties that fostered the existence of the two religions in the region (Carroll and James 3). The influence of the Christian and the Muslim faith and leaders in the society to the social economic aspects of Jerusalem has not been explained. Understanding the influence of the leadership to the people may offer an insight to the unending religious war that ensued and has dominated the region leading to the signing of the treaties that was aimed to promote peaceful co-existence between the two religions (Carroll and James 235). To gain an insight, the paper will focus on the available primary sources of the information used by the crusaders and the Muslim leaders during the time. Primary sources such as the chronicles, memoirs, letters, sermons, and poems will be used to give the insight towards the social-economic aspects of the people in the time.
Relevance of the Research
The crusaders era marks an important period in the history of the spread of the Islam and the Christianity religions in the World, and specifically in Jerusalem (Catlos 3). The city to date is in the struggle between the two religions as they seek control of the city. Understanding the consequences that led to the current situation in the region that has caused religious and political struggle in the Middle East for many centuries would be critical to finding a solution to the problem. Most of the information offered about the situation in the Jerusalem about its past are misleading and do not offer a precise insight to the effect and the influence of the Muslim and Christian leadership to the social economic affairs of the people that were living in Jerusalem. Understanding the manner of the Christian and the Muslim leadership during the time would offer an insight towards the causes of the rapid and repetitive capture and recapture of the city by Muslim and the Crusaders (Catlos and Brian134).
The insight would offer the effect of the events to the lives of the inhabitants and probably the reason for the treaty between the Christians and the Muslims to co-exist peacefully in the region; a thing that has caused religious and political unrest in the Middle East to date. Both the Christians and the Muslims regard the city of Jerusalem as their holy city that bears their sanctuaries and the most holy of the places. The two religions assert that their ancestors built the city and it belonged to them by birthright. With the claim coming from the two parties, it is impossible to rule the validation of the claim without digging to the historical affairs that dates to the crusaders era to ascertain the claims (Catlos and Brian178).
Study Questions
Did the Christian and the Muslim leaders provide different leadership to the Jerusalem dwellers, and if so, what was the influence of the leadership to the social-economic status of the people of Jerusalem?
Who were the crusaders and what part did they play in the religions, political, and socio-economic part in the city of Jerusalem?
Are there adequate primary materials of the crusaders era that can offer an insight to the manner of the lives of the people in Jerusalem during the crusaders era that can be used to explain the current religious and political disagreement between the Muslims and the Christians currently?
What manner of music, theatrical works, and forms of entertainment was available and created during that time and what was the influence of the entertainment segmentation to the social and religious stratification in Jerusalem?
Was the forms of entertainment specific to the different leadership in Jerusalem and what was the effect of the changes in the leadership to the manner of the entertainment in the region?
Literature Review
The crusader`s era in was the period in the Christianity history when the Christians sought to be the religious and the political Governance in the World. It marked the time when the Popes that formed the most significant Christian leaders organized their faithful and followers to wage religious wars against the non-believers, often capturing the cities that belonged to the other different religions and converting them of excommunicating them from those cities. At the same time, the Islams were advancing their religious faith employing the similar tactics as was employed by the Christians. Crusaders as they were known in the time were the holy warriors and formed the Christian armies that captured and conquered cities for the pope and Christ (Catlos and Brian 2).
In the beginning, the pope had claimed that the partakers of the quest would benefit with earthly and heavenly materials from their devotion to the work of God and Christ. He had claimed that they would have a part of the places that they conquered and they would be rewarded in heaven for their efforts by being forgiven of their sins. Every person that wished to participate and gain these favors was welcomed and formed the part of the crusaders army. Unfortunately, the pope did not live up to his words and the crusaders did not have a piece of the conquered lands. They conquered it for the benefit of the pope jurisdiction and moved on to invade other places. The clam about heavenly rewards in the manner of forgiving of sins is hard to substantiate but most unlikely to have been true (Levine and Lee 3).
The Crusaders and the Muslims had differing political and religious beliefs and cultural convictions that influenced significantly the type of the worship and entertainment in Jerusalem. In the early 10TH century, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Christian rulers that practiced the manner of the Christian worship, culture, and the entertainment. Christianity life is founded in the teachings of the Holy Bible that describes the forms of the entertainment that the people should observe (Levine and lee 43).
The entertainment was significantly tied to the historical Christian events such as the observation of the Passover feast, celebration of the Easter holiday, feast of the Tabernacles, and such religious events. The ceremonies were highly in the sacred manner and constituted of the religious dances, songs, sermons, liturgies, and chants. The chants were derived from the Old and New Testament with the Psalms of David forming a significant part of the poems and used in the construction of the plain songs employed in the entertainment. With the rise of the Christian leaders, all the dwellers of Jerusalem were supposed to lead a Christian life and observe their manner of entertainment, worship, and cultures (Caroll and James 23).
Plainsong and Gregorian chant dominated the forms of entertainment in the worship and in the social functions. The plain songs did not bear much of the accompaniments in the crusaders time. The melodies, psalms and liturgies constituted of Latin texts that were chanted in the masses. The psalms and the melodies could be sung in antiphonal manner where the choir was divided to two halves, each singing the melody verse In alteration. Sometimes they took the manner of the responsorial where the lead soloist alternated with the choir. Sequentia, Goliards, and troubadour songs dominated significantly the manner of the Christian music and entertainment. Goliards were texts from the wondering poets while the troubadour consisted of the responses to the fighting crusaders (Umich.edu 2).
When the city fell to the hands of the Islam, the manner of the Christian worship and entertainment was totally abolished in the city. The Muslims converted the churches to other social facilities such as schools and Madrasa. The Christian were forced to worship in the Islamic manner derived from the Holy Quran. The Christians that could not adapt to the Islamic way of life had either to flee the region while others were captured and shipped as slaves to Europe (Catlos and Brian 134). The vents led the external Christian community to plan an invasion to the city aimed to restore the former Christian Worship. In the attack, the Christians avoided the significant bloodshed of engaging in war and opted for a peaceful treaty that would liberate the Christians living in the city to pay their homage to the Christian faith and co-existed peacefully with the Muslims. Owing to the different in their manner of the Christian and the Islamic beliefs and cultural practices, the two communities did not have a common base that would foster their integration. The religious divide was much pronounced owing to the claim of the churches that had been converted to mosques to be returned to the Christians. The disagreement is still significant to the present day with each group claiming to have been the original constructor of the buildings (Carroll and James 246).
Methodology
The study employed primary sources for the test. The study was limited to the availability of the primary resources that were found relating to the issue. Despite the limitation, the study was able to gather substantial information about the crusaders in Jerusalem.
Results and Conclusion
The study found that the leadership under Muslim and Christians had a significant effect to the socio-economic aspects of the people in Jerusalem. The leadership was significantly biased towards the people of the other religion once it came to power. During the reign of each of the religious movement, the manner of worship, culture, and entertainment followed their cultural beliefs. Owing to the avoidance of more bloodshed in capturing and recapturing of the city, a treaty was made that would enable the different religions co-exist peacefully, though the peace was never attained fully.
Works cited
Carroll, James. Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry
Holt, 2004. Print
Catlos, Brian A. Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of
Crusade and Jihad. N.p., 2014. Print
Levine, Lee I. Jerusalem: Its Sanctity and Centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. New
York: Continuum, 1999. Print
Umich.edu. "Music of the Crusades Era." University of Michigan. N.p., 2016. Web.
26 Feb. 2016. <http://www.umich.edu/~marcons/Crusades/topics/music/music-article.html>.
