The Crusades

1
The Crusades
2
Decline of Byzantium

• In 1071, Muslim Saljuqs won an important victory
  at Manzikert
• Byzantine factions then turned on each other in
  civil war, allowing the Saljuqs almost free rein
  in Anatolia
• The Byzantine Emperor asked Pope Urban II to help
  him against the Muslims

3
Pope Urban II

• Urban responded to Byzantiums request with a
  rousing speech in Clermont, France in 1095 in
  which he called upon Christians to Enter upon
  the road to the Holy Sepulcher wrest that land
  from the wicked race, and subject it to
  yourselves
• Urbans speech would help launch the first of
  several Crusades

4
Reasons for the Crusades

• The Pope hoped to unite the entire eastern
  Mediterranean and the divided Christian faith
  under the banner of the Latin Church
• Remember the Schism from Lesson 6
• Italian city-states, with their large navies,
  hoped for commercial gains and were therefore
  keen supporters of the Crusades

5
Reasons for the Crusades

• The Byzantine Empire was in severe decline and no
  longer could act as a buffer between the Muslim
  East and the Catholic West
• Christian pilgrims visiting the holy sites in
  Jerusalem began experiencing increased harassment
  and danger

A pilgrim camp near Jericho by David Roberts
6
A New Concept of War

• Augustines Just War Theory
• Waged under the auspices of the state
• Vindication of justice (defense of life and
  property)
• Restrained conduct with regard to the enemy,
  non-combatants, and prisoners

• The Crusades
• At behest of the Pope, but under operational
  control of the kings
• Defense of the faith
• No restraint in dealing with the infidel
• The change was justified based on the Biblical
  accounts of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua
  (remember Lesson 10)

7
Mobilization of the Crusades

• Pope Urban traveled to various cities for nine
  months preaching the Crusade and offering
  extraordinary inducements to include a plenary
  indulgence remitting all punishments due to sin
  for those who died on the Crusade
• Serfs were allowed to leave the land to which
  they were bound
• Citizens were exempted from taxes
• Debtors were given a moratorium on interest
• Prisoners were freed and death sentences were
  commuted by a bold extension of Papal authority
  to life service in Palestine

8
The Crusaders

• The variety of motivations resulted in a varied
  assembly
• Men tired of hopeless poverty
• Adventurers seeking action
• Merchants looking for new markets
• Lords whose enlisting serfs had left them
  laborless
• Sincerely religious individuals wanting to rescue
  the land of Christ

9
The First Crusade

• The word crusade comes from the Spanish cruzade
  which means marked with the cross
• Crusaders wore red crosses on their chests to
  symbolize their purpose

10
The First Crusade

• Urban had appointed August 1096 as the time of
  departure, but many of the impatient peasants,
  who were among the first recruits, could not wait
• Led by such personalities as Peter the Hermit and
  Walter the Penniless, they set out in three
  groups and quickly devolved into disorder,
  hunger, and ill-discipline
• They were all but annihilated by a force of Turks
  at Nicea

Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of the East, receives
Peter the Hermit at Constantinople, August
1096by Gillot Saint-Evre
11
The First Crusade

• The more organized Crusaders, under the divided
  leadership of various feudal leaders, moved by
  various routes to Constantinople
• There the Emperor Alexius gave them provisions
  and bribes in exchange for a pledge of fealty
• Alexius was somewhat afraid the Crusaders had
  designs on Constantinople as well as Jerusalem

Duke Godfrey of Bouillon was among the most
brave, pious, competent, and fanatical of the
First Crusade leaders
12
The First Crusade

• The First Crusaders met an even more divided
  Muslim force and won victories at Nicea on June
  19, 1097 and Antioch on June 3, 1098
• By June 7, 1099, after a three year campaign,
  12,000 of the original 30,000 Crusaders reached
  Jerusalem

Siege of Antioch
13
The First Crusade

• On July 15 the Crusaders went over the city walls
  and unleashed unbridled carnage
• Blood reportedly ran knee-deep
• 70,000 Moslems were slaughtered
• Jews were herded into a synagogue and burned alive

14
The First Crusade

• Administrative rule of Jerusalem proved
  problematic
• Eventually the kingdom was parceled into
  practically independent fiefs and barons assumed
  all ownership of land, reducing the former owners
  to the condition of serfs
• The kingdom was further weakened by the ceding of
  several ports to the Italian city-states in
  exchange for naval support and seaborne supplies
• The native Christian population came to look back
  on the era of Moslem rule as a golden age

Godfrey served as the first ruler of Jerusalem
15
Knights

• The establishment of new orders of military monks
  partially offset these weaknesses
• The Knights of the Hospital of Saint John and the
  Knights Templar began by protecting and nursing
  pilgrims but gravitated to active attacks on
  Moslem strongholds
• Both orders would come to play prominent roles in
  the battles of the Crusades and earned great
  reputations as warriors

Seal of the Knights Templar
16
Moslem Counterattack

• Most of the Crusaders returned to Europe after
  freeing Jerusalem, creating a manpower shortage
• Moslem refugees retreated to Baghdad and demanded
  a force retake Jerusalem
• In 1144, Moslems under Zangi retook the
  Christians eastern-most outpost at al-Ruah and
  then Edessa
• Such developments would spur the Second Crusade

17
The Second Crusade

• St. Bernard appealed to Pope Eugenius II to call
  for another Crusade, but Eugenius begged Bernard
  to undertake the task himself
• Bernard persuaded King Louis VII of France and
  then Emperor Conrad III of Germany to accept the
  Crusade
• At Easter 1147 the Germans set out and the French
  followed at Pentecost

Conrad approaching Constantinople
18
The Second Crusade

• This time the Moslems were ready
• At Dorylaeum, the Germans were defeated so badly
  that barely one in ten Christians survived
• At Attalia, nearly every Frenchman was
  slaughtered
• Eventually the Crusaders joined forces and lay
  siege to Damascus, but were soundly defeated

19
The Second Crusade

• News of the defeat of the Second Crusade shocked
  Europe
• Christians wondered how God could allow them to
  be so humiliated by the infidel
• Bernard explained that the defeat must be
  punishment for sins
• Enthusiasm for the Crusades waned rapidly
• While the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem continued to
  be torn by internal strife, its Moslem enemies
  were moving toward unity

20
Saladin

• In 1175, Saladin brought Egypt and Moslem Syria
  under one rule
• In 1185, he signed a four-year truce with the
  Latin kingdom but the Christians violated it by
  attacking a Moslem caravan and capturing
  Saladins sister
• He declared a holy war against the Christians and
  captured Jerusalem in 1187
• His terms were much more generous than those of
  the Crusaders in 1099

Saladin one of the few Crusade personalities
generally described favorably by both Eastern and
Western sources
21
The Third Crusade

• The Christians were able to retain Tyre, Antioch,
  and Tripoli and the Italian fleets still
  controlled the Mediterranean
• William, Archbishop of Tyre, returned to Europe
  to call for a Crusade
• Frederick Barbarossa of Germany set out with his
  army in 1189 but had little success

March of the Crusaders by George Inness
22
The Third Crusade

• Then Richard I the Lion Heart of England took up
  the cause and took Philip Augustus, the French
  king, with him to ensure the French didnt
  encroach on English territory in his absence
• The Christians captured Acre and an ill Philip
  Augustus returned to France, leaving Richard in
  sole charge of the Third Crusade
• Still Richard would face divisions as the German
  troops returned to Germany and French troops
  repeatedly disobeyed orders

23
The Third Crusade

• Richard and Saladin embarked on a unique
  campaign in which blows and battles alternated
  with compliments and courtesies
• (Durant, 599)
• The two executed enemy prisoners they held
• Richard proposed his sister marry Saladins
  brother
• They signed peace treaties then rejected them
• Richard conferred knighthood on the son of a
  Moslem ambassador
• Richard got sick and Saladin sent him his own
  physician and some fruit
• Saladin saw Richard unmounted in battle and sent
  him a horse

24
The Third Crusade

• In the end Richard and Saladin signed a peace for
  three years beginning Sept 2, 1192
• Richard would keep the coastal cities he had
  captured from Acre to Jaffa
• Moslems and Christians could pass freely into and
  from each others territory
• Pilgrims would be protected in Jerusalem
• But Jerusalem would remain in Moslem hands

25
The Third Crusade

• Richard had possessed superior brilliance,
  courage, and knowledge of the military art, but
  Saladins moderation, patience, and justice had
  carried the day
• The relative unity and fidelity of the Moslems
  had once again triumphed over the Christians
  divisions and disloyalties

26
The Fourth Crusade

• Acre was free but Jerusalem was still in Moslem
  hands
• Europe was in turmoil with problems such as
  renewed fighting between France and England, but
  the death of Saladin and the breakup of his
  empire renewed hope for another Crusade
• In exchange for its financial support, Venice
  exacted a promise that the Crusaders would
  capture the important port of Zara and turn it
  over to her
• Zara belonged to Hungary and was stiff
  competition to Venices maritime trade
• Pope Innocent III denounced the scheme but to no
  avail
• The Fourth Crusade would be marked by avarice

27
The Fourth Crusade

• Part of the avarice was the temptation to capture
  Constantinople which had derived much profit from
  the Crusades
• Seizing Constantinople would not only provide
  financial benefit, it would also restore it to
  the Western Church
• In 1204 the Crusaders captured and looted
  Constantinople

28
The Fourth Crusade

• The Byzantine Empire was divided into feudal
  dominions, each ruled by a Latin noble
• Most Crusaders returned home, perhaps thinking
  that by securing Constantinople they now had a
  stronger base against the Moslems
• Only a handful continued to Palestine and had no
  effect there
• The Byzantine Empire never recovered and the
  Latin capture of Constantinople served to prepare
  it for capture by the Turks two centuries later

29
Collapse of the Crusades

• The scandal of the Fourth Crusade and the failure
  of the Third quenched the greater fire for
  Crusades but several half-hearted efforts would
  continue until 1291
• In 1291, the Moslems seized Acre
• Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, and Beirut fell soon
  afterward

Among the ineffective latter crusades was the
Childrens Crusade of 1212 in which thousands
of children ended up drowning or being sold into
slavery
30
The Crusades and the Principles of War

• Maneuver
• Very limited. Heavy reliance on sieges.
• Mass
• The Germans and French advanced separately on the
  Second Crusade and were each defeated at
  Dorylaeum and Attalia, respectively
• Surprise
• The Second Crusade advanced along the same route
  as the First Crusade and the Moslems were ready
  for them
• Objective
• The Crusades meant different things to different
  people and the various objectives often worked at
  cross-purposes such as the economic motivations
  of the Italian city-states

31
The Crusades and the Principles of War

• Economy of force
• ????
• Offensive
• The Christians relative military, economic, and
  political power allowed them to take the
  offensive, but extended distances made the
  offensive difficult to sustain
• Unity of command
• The Crusaders seldom achieved this, such as in
  the Third Crusade when French troops refused to
  obey Richards orders
• Simplicity
• Motley crew of Crusaders required simple tactics

32
Results of the Crusades

• Failures
• Moslem civilization had been victorious over
  Christian civilization
• Indigenous eastern Christians were caught in the
  middle between Crusaders and Moslems, and many
  who were outraged by the excesses of the
  Crusaders or who wanted to avoid persecution by
  Moslem leaders who saw them as collaborators with
  the Crusaders converted to Islam
• In fact, the Crusades ironically proved
  instrumental in making the eastern Mediterranean
  predominantly Moslem
• Jerusalem was in Moslem hands
• Christian pilgrims became fewer and more fearful
  than ever
• The effort of the popes to bring peace and unity
  to Europe had been thwarted by nationalistic
  ambitions, avarice, and internal dissension
• Successes
• The Turkish capture of Constantinople was delayed
  until 1453
• The Moslems, even though victorious, had
  themselves been weakened, and fell more easily
  when the Mongols attacked

33
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CRUSADES

• This led to a rise in trade in commodities from
  the East like silk and spices and thus the
  reintroduction of currency/money economy as well
  as International Banking. The rise of the
  merchant class and the growth of towns occurred
  as well as the creation of powerful city states
  particularly in Italy. Some European serfs found
  new opportunities by travelling to the east as
  part of the various Crusader entourages.
• Increased social mobility and access to goods
  helped create a rise in the overall standard of
  living. The manorial system as the economic
  aspect of the feudal system began to die.
• This same interest ushered in the Age of
  Exploration helping to motivate explorers to take
  extraordinary risks in the hopes of making a
  fortune.
• Trade in that area also introduced the Black
  Plague.

34
Significance Contd

• The Moslem powers, once tolerant of religious
  diversity, had been made intolerant by attack and
  defeats galvanized the rift between the two
  faiths. This was a driving influence behind the
  strengthening of Spanish attempts to retake
  southern Spain (The Reconquista). Spanish
  nationalism subsequently flourished making it the
  preeminent power of the day and also saw it
  become the most fervent inquisitional state.
• The influence of the Catholic Church but more
  specifically the position of the pope declined as
  the failure of the Crusades undermined the
  infallibility of the Pope. The schism between the
  Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church
  widened as many Crusaders had attacked Orthodox
  Christians and wounds from the failure of the
  Crusades continued to fester. Also taxes used by
  the Church to finance the Crusades continued to
  be expected but were not surprisingly resented by
  the people who had to pay them.

35
Significance Contd

• Classical knowledge maintained in the Byzantine
  and Islamic world led to increased questioning of
  the Church.
• The majority of that knowledge first found its
  way to the Italian merchant states who were
  responsible for transportation of crusaders and
  goods. Thus the Renaissance was first seen in
  Italy and the area became very powerful
• The failure of the Crusades undermined the
  prestige of the knightly class and many
  troublesome nobles were killed off. Those same
  knight and the castles around them began to
  become obsolete as gunpowder and other
  technological developments were introduced from
  eastern merchants and eastern thought.
• Ultimately all these various effects would bring
  about the end of The Medieval Era.

36
Trade

• Italian traders obviously benefited from
  supplying the Crusades while they were going on,
  but they also saw an opportunity to expand their
  market by establishing direct trade with the
  Moslem world
• The lucrative trade provided great profit to the
  Italian city-states and ultimately provided the
  economic basis for the Italian Renaissance well
  discuss in Lesson 24

Lorenzo de Medici was part of a family that ruled
Florence and served as bankers for the Crusades
and patrons of the Renaissance
37
Trade

• The most important trade item were spices
• Other items included cotton, linen, dates, coral,
  pearls, porcelain, silk, and metal goods
• Damascus was a key center for industry and
  commerce and a stopping point for pilgrims on
  their way to Mecca

Egyptian scarf or garment fragment ca 1395
38
Trade

• European Christians also became exposed to new
  ideas as they traveled throughout the
  Mediterranean basin
• The works of Aristotle
• Islamic science and astronomy
• Arabic numerals which the Moslems had borrowed
  from India
• Techniques for paper production which the Moslems
  had learned from China
• While the Crusades may have largely failed as
  military adventures, they helped encourage the
  reintegration of western Europe into the larger
  economy of the western hemisphere

39
The Reconquista of Spain

• The Christians did have better success wresting
  Sicily and Spain from the Moslems in actions
  separate from the Crusades
• Sicily was regained relatively easily
• Moslems had conquered it in the 9th Century but
  in the 1090, after about 20 years of fighting,
  Norman warriors returned it to Christian hands
• Spain would be a bit more of a challenge

40
The Reconquista of Spain

• Moslems invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the
  early 8th Century and ruled all but small
  Christian states such as Catalonia
• In the 1060s Christians began attacking outward
  from these toeholds

41
The Reconquista of Spain

• By 1150 Christians had recaptured Lisbon and
  controlled over half the peninsula
• These successes lured reinforcements from England
  and France and a new round of campaigning in the
  13th Century brought all but Granada into
  Christian hands
• In 1492, Christian forces conquered Granada and
  the Reconquista was complete

42
Immediate Impact of the Reconquista

• After the successful Reconquista, the devoutly
  Christian rulers of Spain and Portugal were eager
  to dominate the Islamic states in North Africa
  and to convert non-Christians
• The desire to spread Christianity would be one of
  the motives for the European explorations

1492 was the year of both the completion of the
Reconquista and Columbus voyage to the New World
43
Relevance of the Crusades Today

• Just days after the September 11, 2001 attacks,
  President Bush declared, This crusade, this war
  on terrorism is going to take a while.
• Bushs word choice caused significant
  controversy, especially in Europe and Arab
  countries
• Later White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
  explained, I think to the degree that that word
  has any connotations that would upset any of our
  partners or anybody else in the world, the
  president would regret if anything like that was
  conveyed. But the purpose of his conveying it is
  in the traditional English sense of the word,
  it's a broad cause.

44
Clash of Civilizations

• We have to avoid a clash of civilizations at all
  costs.
• French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine
• That expressions come from Samuel Huntingtons
  1993 assessment that The clash of civilizations
  will dominate global politics. The fault lines
  between civilizations will be the battle lines of
  the future. Conflict along the fault line
  between Western and Islamic civilizations has
  been going on for 1,300 years. This
  centuries-old military interaction between the
  West and Islam is unlikely to decline. It could
  become more virulent