Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars between
Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites
considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions
occurred between 1096 and 1291. The bloody, violent and often ruthless
conflicts propelled the status of European Christians, making them major
players in the fight for land in the Middle East.
Crusades, military expeditions, beginning in the late 11th century, that were organized
by western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of
expansion. Their objectives were to check the spread of Islam, to retake control of the Holy Land in the eastern Mediterranean, to conquer pagan
areas, and to recapture formerly Christian territories; they were seen by many
of their participants as a means of redemption and expiation for sins. Between 1095, when the First Crusade was
launched, and 1291, when the Latin Christians were finally expelled from their
kingdom in Syria, there were numerous
expeditions to the Holy Land, to Spain, and even to the Baltic; the Crusades continued for several centuries after 1291.
Crusading declined rapidly during the 16th century with the advent of the Protestant Reformation and the decline of papal authority.
The
Crusades constitute a controversial chapter in the
history of Christianity, and their excesses have been the
subject of centuries of historiography. The Crusades also played an integral role in the expansion of medieval Europe.
What Were the Crusades?
By the end of the 11th century, Western Europe had emerged as a
significant power in its own right, though it still lagged behind other
Mediterranean civilizations, such as that of the Byzantine Empire (formerly the
eastern half of the Roman Empire) and the Islamic Empire of the Middle East
and North Africa.
However,
Byzantium had lost considerable territory to the invading Seljuk Turks. After
years of chaos and civil war, the general Alexius Comenius seized the Byzantine
throne in 1081 and consolidated control over the remaining empire as Emperor
Alexius I.
In 1095,
Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the
West to help confront the Turkish threat. Though relations between Christians
in the East and West had long been fractious, Alexius’s request came at a time
when the situation was improving.
In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the
Pope called on Western Christians to take up arms to aid the Byzantines and
recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. This marked the beginning of the
Crusades.
Pope
Urban’s plea was met with a tremendous response, both among the military elite
as well as ordinary citizens. Those who joined the armed pilgrimage wore a
cross as a symbol of the Church.
The
Crusades set
the stage for several religious knightly military orders, including the Knights Templar, the Teutonic
Knights, and the Hospitallers. These groups defended the Holy Land and
protected pilgrims traveling to and from the region.
First Crusade (1096-99)
Four armies of Crusaders
were formed from troops of different Western European regions, led by Raymond
of Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois and Bohemond of
Taranto (with his nephew Tancred). These groups departed for Byzantium in
August 1096.
A less organized band of knights and commoners known
as the “People’s Crusade” set off before the others under the command of a
popular preacher known as Peter the Hermit.
Another group of Crusaders, led by the notorious Count
Emicho carried out a series of massacres of Jews in various towns in the
Rhineland in 1096, drawing widespread outrage and causing a major crisis in
Jewish-Christian relations.
When the four main armies of Crusaders arrived in Constantinople, Alexius
insisted that their leaders swear an oath of loyalty to him and recognize his
authority over any land regained from the Turks, as well as any other territory
they might conquer. All but Bohemond resisted taking the oath.
In May 1097, the Crusaders and their Byzantine allies
attacked Nicea (now Iznik, Turkey), the Seljuk capital in Anatolia. The city
surrendered in late June.
The
Fall of Jerusalem
Despite deteriorating relations between the Crusaders
and Byzantine leaders, the combined force continued its march through Anatolia,
capturing the great Syrian city of Antioch in June 1098.
After various internal struggles over control of
Antioch, the Crusaders began their march toward Jerusalem, then occupied
by Egyptian Fatimids (who as Shi’ite Muslims were enemies of the Sunni
Seljuks).
Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the
Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July.
Despite Tancred’s promise of protection, the Crusaders
slaughtered hundreds of men, women, and children in their victorious entrance
into Jerusalem.
Second
Crusade (1147-49)
Having
achieved their goal in an unexpectedly short period of time after the First
Crusade, many of the Crusaders departed for home. To govern the conquered
territory, those who remained established four large western settlements, or
Crusader states, in Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli.
Guarded by formidable castles, the Crusader states
retained the upper hand in the region until around 1130, when Muslim forces
began gaining ground in their own holy war (or jihad) against the Christians,
whom they called “Franks.”
In 1144, the Seljuk general Zangi, governor of Mosul,
captured Edessa, leading to the loss of the northernmost Crusader state.
News of Edessa’s fall stunned Europe and caused
Christian authorities in the West to call for another Crusade. Led by two great
rulers, King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany, the
Second Crusade began in 1147.
That October, the Turks annihilated Conrad’s forces at
Dorylaeum, the site of a great Christian victory during the First Crusade.
After Louis and Conrad managed to assemble their
armies at Jerusalem, they decided to attack the Syrian stronghold of Damascus
with an army of some 50,000 (the largest Crusader force yet).
Damascus’ the ruler was forced to call on Nur al-Din, Zangi’s successor in Mosul, for aid.
The combined Muslim forces dealt a humiliating defeat to the Crusaders,
decisively ending the Second Crusade.
Nur al-Din added Damascus to his expanding empire in
1154.
Third
Crusade (1187-92)
After numerous attempts by the Crusaders of Jerusalem
to capture Egypt, Nur al-Din’s forces (led by the general Shirkuh and his
nephew, Saladin) seized Cairo in 1169 and forced the Crusader army to evacuate.
Upon Shirkuh’s subsequent death, Saladin assumed
control and began a campaign of conquests that accelerated after Nur al-Din’s
death in 1174.
In 1187, Saladin began a major campaign against the
Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. His troops virtually destroyed the Christian
army at the Battle of Hattin, taking back the important city along with a large
amount of territory.
Outrage over these defeats inspired the Third Crusade,
led by rulers such as the aging Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (who was drowned
at Anatolia before his entire army reached Syria), King Philip II of France, and King Richard I of
England (known as Richard the Lionheart).
In September 1191, Richard’s forces defeated those of
Saladin in the battle of Arsuf, which would be the only true battle of the
Third Crusade.
From the recaptured city of Jaffa, Richard
reestablished Christian control over some of the region and approached
Jerusalem, though he refused to lay siege to the city.
In September 1192, Richard and Saladin signed a peace
treaty that reestablished the Kingdom of Jerusalem (though without the city of
Jerusalem) and ended the Third Crusade.
Fourth Crusade: The Fall of
Constantinople
Though Pope Innocent III called for a new Crusade in
1198, power struggles within and between Europe and Byzantium drove the
Crusaders to divert their mission in order to topple the reigning Byzantine
emperor, Alexius III, in favor of his nephew, who became Alexius IV in
mid-1203.
The new emperor’s attempts to submit the Byzantine
church to Rome was met with stiff resistance, and Alexius IV was strangled
after a palace coup in early 1204.
In response, the Crusaders declared war on
Constantinople, and the Fourth Crusade ended with the devastating Fall of Constantinople,
marked by a bloody conquest, looting and near-destruction of the magnificent
Byzantine capital later that year.
Final
Crusades (1208-1271)
Throughout the remainder of the 13th century, a
variety of Crusades aimed not so much to topple Muslim forces in the Holy Land
but to combat any and all of those seen as enemies of the Christian faith.
The Albigensian Crusade (1208-29) aimed to root out
the heretical Cathari or Albigensian sect of Christianity in
France, while the Baltic Crusades (1211-25) sought to subdue pagans in
Transylvania.
A so-called Children’s
Crusade took place in 1212 when
thousands of young children vowed to march to Jerusalem. Although it was called
the Children’s Crusade, most historians don’t regard it as an actual crusade,
and many experts question whether the group was really comprised of children.
The movement never reached the Holy Land.
In
the Fifth Crusade, put in motion by Pope Innocent III before his death in 1216,
the Crusaders attacked Egypt from both land and sea but were forced to
surrender to Muslim defenders led by Saladin’s nephew, Al-Malik al-Kamil, in
1221.
In 1229, in what became known as the Sixth Crusade,
Emperor Frederick II achieved the peaceful transfer of Jerusalem to
Crusader control through negotiation with al-Kamil. The peace treaty expired a
decade later, and Muslims easily regained control of Jerusalem.
From 1248 to 1254, Louis IX of France organized a
crusade against Egypt. This battle, known as the Seventh Crusade, was a failure
for Louis.
The
Mamluks
As the Crusaders struggled, a new dynasty, known as
the Mamluks, descended from former slaves of the Islamic Empire, took power in
Egypt. In 1260, Mamluk forces in Palestine managed to halt the advance of the Mongols, an
invading force led by Genghis Khan and his descendants, which had emerged as a
potential ally for the Christians in the region.
Under the ruthless Sultan Baybars, the Mamluks
demolished Antioch in 1268. In response, Louis organized the Eighth Crusade in
1270. The initial goal was to aid the remaining Crusader states in Syria, but
the mission was redirected to Tunis, where Louis died.
Edward I of England
took on another expedition in 1271. This battle, which is often grouped with
the Eighth Crusade but is sometimes referred to as the Ninth Crusade,
accomplished very little and was considered the last significant crusade to the
Holy Land.
The
Crusades End
In 1291, one of the only remaining Crusader cities,
Acre, fell to the Muslim Mamluks. Many historians believe this defeat marked
the end of the Crusader States and the Crusades themselves.
Though the Church organized minor Crusades with
limited goals after 1291—mainly military campaigns aimed at pushing Muslims
from conquered territory, or conquering pagan regions—support for such efforts
diminished in the 16th century, with the rise of the Reformation and the corresponding decline of papal authority.
Effects
of the Crusades
While
the Crusades ultimately resulted in defeat for Europeans and a Muslim victory, many argue
that they successfully extended the reach of Christianity and Western
civilization. The Roman Catholic Church experienced an increase in wealth, and
the power of the Pope was elevated after the Crusades ended.
