Introduction
The crusades were a sequence of Holy Wars waged by Christian states of Europe in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. The declared purpose of the Crusades, which were orchestrated and supported by the papal policy, was to reclaim the city of Jerusalem as well as other religious pilgrimage locations found within eastern region from the control of Muslims. The Muslim Turks conquered Palestine and Syria during the mid-eleventh century causing concern among Western Christians. Crusades started in 1095, when Pope Urban II preached at the Council of Clermont where he proposed that Western Europe should wage war against the Muslim Turks. Between 1097 and 1099, the First Crusade waged war against the Turkish army at Dorulaeum and concurred Antioch and Syria, and captured Jerusalem. The Crusades were powerful military expeditions undertaken by Christian nations of Europe with the aim of rescuing the holy places of Palestine from the hands of Muslims. There were eight Crusades, with the first one called the Principle Crusades, and the remaining four Minor Crusades. Additionally, they had had Children’s Crusades. The Crusades engaged in several other expeditions, but were not significant in numbers or results. This paper analyzes the political religious, social background of the Crusades.
Political background
It is important to consider the history of Europe and Middle East in the period before 1095 in order to assess the political background of Crusades. The religion known as Christianity emerged at the begging of first century A.D. in Palestine and spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire. Toward the end of the fourth century, the Roman Empire had primarily and officially became Christians due to peaceful missionary activity within the society. Other neighboring regions including Palestine, Jerusalem, and Syria had predominantly become Christians. By this time, pagan Roman authorities had dispersed the Jewish population residing in Jerusalem following anti-Roman revolts by Jewish, and only few Jewish remained. By the seventh century A.D., another religion known as Islam emerged in the Arabian Peninsula. Like Christians Islam also believed in peaceful conversions. On the contrary, Islam instructed its followers to make sure that the world came under the political control of Islam. As a result, Islam resorted to spreading its political domination by the sword.
In their bid to increase political dominance, Islam burst out of Arabia and quickly conquered Middle East. The two powers in the area, Persia and Byzantium, were worn out by prolonged conflict with each other. The Islamic world defeated and absorbed Persia before defeating the Christian Byzantine Empire and Jerusalem. By the early eighth century, Arab forces had many regions within Europe conquering many Christian strongholds. For the next 300 years, Muslims and Christians engage in a series of wars, including the seizure of Sicily and other Mediterranean islands and the siege of Constantinople by the Muslims.
The Turks later conquered the Arabs and took over leadership of Islam after converting to the religion. Consequently, the Turks extended their territory as far as Nicaea. Additionally, the Turks posed as potential threat to Byzantines, and in 1071, the Turks invaded Byzantine army. There was a brief contest of the Imperial Byzantine crown following Bari and Manzikert. Alexius Comnenus emerged the winner and after realizing that the Empire lacked its primary training ground and breadbasket, he sent out for help from the west, particularly the pope. The pope considered his pleas but he was too preoccupied to embark on an expedition eastwards by himself in support of Byzantine. Alexius continued appealing to the West and by 1095 Pope Urban II allowed delegates from Byzantine to address the Council of Piacenza and enticed the nobles to support Byzantine. The Pope proceeded into France to attend church businesses. Later that year while in Clermont, the Pope gave a speech that caught the imagination of the West and advised them to wage a war on Muslims.
Religion
Religion played a significant role, particularly Christianity, which played a significant role in the daily life of people in the Western Europe. However, some scholars maintain that Crusades towards the East were purely defensive wars. They were attempts by Christians to defend against Muslim conquest of Christian Lands. Since the time of Constantine, Christians had conducted pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Despite conquering Jerusalem since 638, Christians were still allowed to visit the city. However, by the 11th century following the defeat of Arabs and subsequent conquest of the area by Turks, the situation changed. The Turks took control of Jerusalem and prevented pilgrimages just as the frequency and number of pilgrimages was at its peak. Christian started walking in large armed groups when going to the Holy Land and this could be viewed as initial preparation for Crusades.
Using his religious influence, Pope Urban II assisted Emperor Alexus in launching the first crusade after he appealed to the Pope for military assistance against the Turks. The Pope made one of the most influential speech in Clermont calling on all Christians to go on a crusade to salvage the Holy Land from the Turks. In his speech to the Council of Clermont while in France at the in November 1095, the Pope combined the ideas of making pilgrimage to the Holy Land together with the idea of waging a holy war against the infidels. The Pope made the Council believe that they were not waging a war but defending their fellow Christians.
Social
Western Europe Christians believed that pilgrimages to the Holy Land would warrant forgiveness of sins and heal the sick bodies and souls. In addition to closing Jerusalem to both Jews and Christians, the Turks also started advancing towards Christian lands of the empire of Byzantine. Faced with the threat Alexius noticed that the Empire could lose its training ground and source of food. These aggressive moves by the Turks forced Alexius to send his envoy to the pope seeking for support.
On receiving the request, the pope took it as a political opportunity to extend the power of the church in Palestine and Europe. He took the opportunity to use his influence to convince the large crowd gathered at Clermont to support the crusade. Socio-economic factors contributed to the formation of the Crusades. During the first half of the millennium, West Europe had made a number of innovations, including the horse collar and heavy plow. These innovation increased food production, which in turn lead to increase in population and enhancing expeditions. Additionally, the rise in number of class of lesser nobles who had resources to support the Crusades could have also motivated people to wage retaliatory attacks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Crusades served their purpose but ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms. The fourth Crusade only served to severe the relationship between Latin and Greek Christendom. The expansion of Islam remained a threat for centuries, with crusading order establishing strongholds to protect Mediterranean islands. However, the Crusades in Spain succeeded militarily, ultimately leading end of Islamic power in the region.
Bibliography:
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Kostick, Conor. “The” Social Structure of the First Crusade Leiden: BRILL, 2008.
Riley-Smith, Jonathan. Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith, The Crusades (second Edition): A History. Werner Mark Linz: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005), 213.
Tyerman, Christopher. God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006.
