Notes on Crusades

The Seljuq Turks, a Muslim people from Central Asia, took control of Palestine, the Holy Land. They also attacked part of the Byzantine Empire.  The emperor called on Pope Urban II  in Rome for help. Urban wanted to regain the Holy Land from the Turks. In 1905 he called a meeting. He asked the lords to stop fighting and to join in a great war to win back the Holy Land.
So the Crusades began. At least 10,000 Europeans took up the cause. They sewed a cross of cloth on their clothes and were called crusaders. (The latin word cruciata means "marked with a cross") Crusaders - some went to save their souls (They believed that if they died in war, they would go to Heaven immediately), some went to gain land and wealth in Palestine, some saw a chance to make money.

The first Crusade lasted from 1096 to 1099. After much discussion with the emperor of Constantinople, the crusaders passed through. They marched in their wool and leather garments. They suffered from heat and they lacked enough food and water because they had few pack animals to carry supplies. The Turks were quarreling among themselves and disunited, thus preventing the crusaders from surrounding the city. After a series of vicious battles, the crusaders captured Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. The crusaders' capture of Jerusalem brought much of the Holy Land under European control. They set up four small states and introduced feudalism and subdivided the land into fiefs with lords and vassals. The Christians and Muslims lived along each other and grew respect for each other.

The second crusade - began in 1147. King Louis VII of France and German king Conrad III led separate armies across Europe. At the city of Damascus, the two armies joined forces. The combined forces failed to recapture the city. The Turks held. In 1149 the crusaders returned to Europe in disgrace.


The third crusade - In 1187 the Muslim leader Saladin gained control of Jerusalem. Three European rulers ---Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip II of France, and King Richard I of England ---then led separate armies in the third crusade. the crusade lasted from 1189 to 1192. It, too, failed. When Barbarossa drowned on the way to the Holy Land, his army turned back. Philip and Richard quarreled, and Philip took his army back home. Through the truce, the crusaders received control of some towns along the Palestinian coast. It allowed Christians to enter Jerusalem freely.


The fourth crusade - Pope Innocent III gathered a group of French knights for  the fourth crusade. In 1202 they left on ships provided by the Italina city-state of Venice. The Venetians persuaged the crusaders to attack Zadar ---a trade rival to Venice ---as they moved down the Adriatic coast. Then in 1204 the crusaders attacked and looted Constantinople, another Christian city. Turks siezed Constantinople in 1453.


Other crusades - In 1212 the short-lived and unfortunate children's crusade took place. Young people from across Europe decided to march to the HOly Land and regain it for Christian Europe. They lacked adequate training. The pope sent some of them back home. Others crusaders later tried to recapture the Holy Land. The crusades continued until 1291, when the Muslims captured the city of Acre. It was the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land and with its fall, the Crusades ended.


Results - The Muslims regained control of Palestine. In Europe, the Crusades helped bring about many changes - Weapons and warfare, political changes, and ideas and trade.