The First Crusade was organized in 1096 by the decision of Pope Urban II at the request of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I with the aim of helping the Eastern Christians in the defense of Anatolia (Asia Minor) from the onset of the Seljuks. During the campaign, further objective turned out to be the liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. Initially, the Pope`s appeal was addressed only to the French knights, but, later, the Crusade turned into a full-scale military campaign, and its idea spread to all the Christian states of Western Europe. The feudal lords and the common people of all nationalities moved to the East freeing the western part of Asia Minor from Seljuk Turks` control and eliminating the Muslim threat to the Byzantine Empire. Already in July 1099 Jerusalem was conquered by the knights.
The idea of the First Crusade in particular, and the whole crusading movement as a whole took its roots in the situation that prevailed in Western Europe at the end of the early Middle Ages. After the division of the Carolingian Empire and the conversion of the Hungarians and the Vikings to Christianity, relative stability settled down. However, over the past few centuries, all over Europe, a class of warriors was formed which had to use their strength in internecine conflicts. The First Crusade was the perfect way to apply military potential of numerous armies.
In addition, the Middle East was the region where Christianity originated: in this area the first Christian communities existed, majority Christian shrines were located there. For this reason, Christians believed this region to be their property. But at the end of the VI century, Muhammad (570-632) united the Arabs and started thinking over an aggressive campaign for the creation of the Arab-Muslim Empire.
Because of this, the Christians began to develop an idea that they needed to protect their fellow believers against the persecution and regain control over lost ground and shrines. Calls of the Pope and other religious figures caused an unprecedented rise of activity. In different parts of France, Germany and Italy, military campaign were hastily fitted out and planned. In addition, thousands of people were spontaneously gathering in groups and moving to the East.
Ongoing conflict with the Muslims allowed to cherish the idea of a holy war against Islam. When the Muslims took Jerusalem – the heart of the Christian religion – Pope Gregory VII in 1074 called on the soldiers of Christ to go to the East and help the Byzantine Empire, which three years earlier had suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Manzikert, to recapture the holy land. Pope's appeal was ignored by the chivalry, but nevertheless drew attention to the events in the East and fused pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Soon Christians began receiving reports about abuse and persecution of pilgrims by Muslims on pilgrims` way to Jerusalem and other holy cities. News about the oppression of pilgrims caused a wave of indignation among Christians.
Crusade of the knights was preceded by a crusade of the poor peasants. Peasants sought to find in the East deliverance from the yoke of the feudal lords and the new lands for settlement. They dreamed of escaping from endless feudal strife and famine. Following the call of the Church to launch a Crusade, the peasants began to leave their motherlands in large numbers.
In the spring of 1096 unorganized poor peasants troops set off to Constantinople. They walked unarmed, with no supplies or money. Naturally, the population of those countries, through which these "crusaders" moved, was ruthlessly killing them.
Although anti-Semitism existed in Europe for centuries, there were no large-scope acts of violence against Jewish by Catholics sine the VII century. However, everything changed in November 1095 with a Pope Urban II call to recapture the Holy Land from the infidels. The public mood quickly became uncontrolled by the church. Jewish chronicles of the time indicate that, after the Pope`s decree, calls to kill Jews started being spread in the cities of France and Germany. The Jews back then were considered no less enemies than the Muslims, for the guilt of the crucifixion of Christ and their rejection of the Christian faith.
A more practical reason for the Jewish massacres was crusaders` desperate need of money. At the same moment, the Rhineland Jewish communities were rich and prosperous, which was caused by their isolation and resolution authorities to engage in usury (while Catholics were forbidden to do so). Attacks against the Jews became the easiest way to get rich – whether by direct plunder or by ransom. Many crusaders had run into debts to Jewish moneylenders for the acquisition of weapons and other equipment for a Crusade, so the murder and robbery of the Jews was settled by holy objectives.
Emperor Henry IV ordered all the dukes and bishops to defend the Jews against the Crusaders. However, only certain individuals were able to stop massacres of the Jewish population. For example, Peter the Hermit entered largely Jewish-populated Trier with his troops in April 1096 and limited violence only with demanding money from the Jewish community. This was an exception. Absolute majority of warriors were ruthlessly persecuting the Jews on their way to the Holy Land. These were months full of grief and sorrow for the people of Israel.
The Roman Catholic Church has never considered any of the Crusades as something bad. The First Crusade was not an exception – the Church completely justifies it. First of all, the Popes coined out an idea that killing others except Christians guarantees a ticket to heaven for the Crusaders. This brought no hesitations to warriors and led to the fact that thousands of men having combat skills were heading to the Middle East to fight for “justice” as they thought. Even today, after millions of Catholics have found the Crusades be violent and even useless, some Catholic Church representatives find it a bit different and completely justify the Crusades. In order to develop a common position on the "noble objectives" of the Crusaders, Vatican convened a scientific conference. During the debate, Italian historian Roberto de Mattei called the Crusades a “response to the Muslim invasion of Christian lands and the Muslim devastation of the holy places”. Mattei reminded the audience that Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade after Muslims` desecration of the temple of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1009. The Crusaders, according to him, were "martyrs" who sacrificed their "lives in the name of faith".
Mattei`s position was supported by professor at Cambridge University, Jonathan Riley-Smith. He acknowledged that the Crusaders sometimes behaved like barbarians, which led to the sad excesses, such as the capture of Constantinople in 1204. However, according to Riley-Smith, the image of the Crusades in modern mass culture, as in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" by Ridley Scott, in which Muslims are shown civilized people and Christians as barbarians, is absolutely unacceptable and anti-historical.
Other examples of a valiant courage and brilliant feats of the Crusades are available in book “Gateway to the Heavenly City” by Sylvia Schein. The author emphasizes that Crusaders were largely distinguished by the heroism, humility, virtue, which were unknown to the Muslims. Schein continues that the Crusaders did not bother with their deeds: they attributed God's help and the prayers of the faithful to the success of every battle. It often happened that they were arguing with others over spoils section, but they never challenged each other's glory. The spirit of humility which was never leaving the soldiers of the Cross saved them from the cruel strife and was a great blessing to the nations.
Another distinctive feature of the Crusaders was the feeling of brotherhood. Clergymen of holy wars were continually preaching the gospel of brotherly love; medieval kings and princes were examples of this love. For example, King Richard during the Crusades often showed generous self-sacrifice, heroic Christian love and never retreated before any sort of danger when it was necessary to protect the weak.
As the author of the book states, in ordinary wars, soldier participates only weakly in the interests of the cause he defends; but in the war, which had the sole purpose of the triumph of faith, all the fighters had the same fears, the same hopes, and same ambitions. This commonality of feelings and interests gave much strength and hope to Crusaders.
Bibliography
Riley-Smith, Jonathan Simon Christopher. What Were the Crusades? Lanham, MD, USA: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009.
Schein Sylvia, Gateway to the Heavenly City. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2005.
WND. “Vatican Changes Heart Over Crusades – Again,” wnd.co. Llast modified March 25, 2006, http://www.wnd.com/2006/03/35413/
