WYH2010HF Christianity 843–1648

From 1100 to 1270

Links and resources

General

Map of Europe, about 1200

A virtual course on the crusades given at Boise State by Dr. Skip Knox

Sources for the First Crusade

The Fourth Crusade

Other crusades

 

 

 

 

 

The crusades

The First Crusade (1095–1099)

IN 1095, the Christian emperor in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) asked the Pope for help from western Christians to defend the Church from pagan Turks. Perhaps this wasn't a good idea. The request changed the course of history. On Nov. 27, outside the cathedral in Clermont, France, Pope Urban II preached a crusade. Thousands and thousands responded, at great cost and personal sacrifice. Over the next few years they made their way to Constantinople, either overland through Hungary or by sail across the Adriatic and then through Serbian territory (see the map), and then down the coast of Asia Minor to Syria. There was no commander-in-chief, and rivalries among the European leaders were intense and frequently bitter. The loss of life among Moslems, Jews, and Christians was enormous. Crusaders finally captured Jerusalem itself from the Moslems. All those inside the walls, men, women, and children, were butchered. On Christmas day, 1100, a French leader named Baldwin (French "Baudouin") was made king (see left). Later a Latin cleric was made bishop. (The blood-red cross above right is "the Jerusalem Cross" or "Crusader Cross", emblem of the Templar Crusaders.)

Among the principles of the Crusade: (1) the killing of heathen was declared to be no sin; (2) the pope declared the crusade a holy cause for God, and promised absolution of all sin for those who completed the crusade; (3) the pope promised to excommunicate those who committed themselves to the crusade but turned back prematurely; (4) popes became part of the military structure of Europe; (5) divisions among Christians were escalated; (6) by the time the crusades were completed, the reputation of Christians for butchery and perfidy was permanently established in the east.

The Second Crusade (1145–1148)

The crusading state of Edessa (in what is now eastern Turkey), founded in the first crusade, fell to the Seljuk Turks in 1144. Pope Eugenius III declared a crusade in 1145. Unlike the First Crusade, this one was led by kings: Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Their armies were defeated by the Seljuks in what is now Turkey. Surviving crusaders proceeded to besiege Damascus, and were defeated. Buoyed by their success, the Seljuks captured most of the crusading state of Antioch as well, and went on to unify most of the Muslim world from Syria to Egypt. There was, however, a small success when English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land helped capture Lisbon from the Moors (the Muslim empire in what is now Spain and Portugal).

The Third Crusade (1189–1192)

A Kurd named Saladin, pictured right, in an almost contemporary image, became sultan of Syria in 1174, ending Seljuk control there and beginning the Ayyubid dynasty. A powerful ruler, he eventually controlled Egypt and North Africa as well. He initially left the Crusaders alone, but after several raids by the rogue pirate Raynald of Châtillon, he attacked the kingdom of Jerusalem and destroyed the Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin, 1187, the turning-point in Crusading history. Within a few months he had reconquered most of the crusading states. It is said that Pope Urban III collapsed when he heard the news, and later died. His successor Gregory VIII proclaimed the third crusade. The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa took up the cross in March 1188, but was killed in a riding accident a year later in Turkey, and most of his army died of plague. France and England collected a "Saladin tithe" to support the Crusade. King Richard I "the Lionheart" of England, pictured left, led an English and Norman army to the eastern Mediterranean, where they took Cyprus from the Eastern Christians. With the French and the Germans, he recaptured Acre in 1191. The Crusaders did not, however, recapture Jerusalem; by a treaty between Richard and Saladin in 1192, the Muslims retained control of Jerusalem, but unarmed Christain pilgrims could visit the city.

The military hostilites between Richard and Saladin were chivalrous and respectful; when Richard was wounded, Saladin offered his personal physician (Muslim medicine was the most advanced in the world).

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204)

At first Pope Innocent III's call in 1198 for a fourth crusade was ignored. But preachers generated popular interest, and leaders of states began seeing opportunities for personal advantage. The ostensible goal was to recapture Jerusalem, and the strategy now was to attack Egypt first, where the sultan's power lay. Venice contracted to transport crusaders to Egypt, but when the crusaders couldn't pay the full amount agreed, Venice convinced them to attack the Catholic city of Zara in Dalmatia, and hand it over to Venice (1202). The pope then excommunicated the Venetians and the crusaders. After this, one Alexius Angelos, the son of a deposed Byzantine emperor, easily persuaded the Venetians to divert the crusaders to Constantinople and capture the city, where Alexius could be put on the throne, and the Venetians could gain considerable material profit. This they did in 1203. The new emperor Alexius was, however, strangled by a usurper, and anti-Latin factions frequently provoked the crusaders, who attacked, sacked, and burned Constantinople in 1204, torturing and massacring a considerable part of the population, and raping girls and boys. The Latin Empire of Constantinople was then established, with Baldwin of Flanders and a Venetian as patriarch. Land was distributed to the Latins, particularly the Venetians. (See Delacroix' painting of 1840, now in the Louvre.) (Constantinople was recaptured by the Byzantines in 1261.)

Further crusades

  • The children's crusade (1212). A German shepherd boy persuaded several thousand children to go on a crusade. They got as far as Italy, where many were sold into slavery. Recent scholarship suggests that no such crusade happened. There may have been a religious protest movement of peasants, called in contemporary sources pueri, a word which can also mean children.
  • The Fifth Crusade (1217–1221). In 1213 Pope Innocent III's bull Quia maior called for a fifth crusade, and the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) passed several decrees on the matter. The crusaders failed to recapture Jerusalem and disastrously failed to capture Cairo, but, with many deaths, won the port town of Damietta in Egypt.
  • The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229). The Emperor Frederick II managed to sign a truce with the sultan of Egypt, who wanted to keep Jerusalem from his nephew. Frederick entered Jerusalem and crowned himself king, and then went home. Jerusalem fell to the Mamluks in 1244. (The fifth and sixth crusades are sometimes counted as one.)
  • The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254). King Louis IX of France (St. Louis) and 20,000 soldiers took Damietta, and tried unsuccessfully to take Cairo. Many of his troops died of starvation and disease. Louis contracted dysentery, but was cured by a Muslim physician, then released on payment of a ransom. He made an alliance with the rulers of Egypt who allowed him to rebuild the old crusading cities, but when his money ran out, he went home.
  • The Eighth Crusade (1270). This was another crusade led by King Louis IX. He sailed to the African coast with his army, and he and most of his men died. His last word: "Jerusalem."
  • The Ninth Crusade (1271–1282). As the Mamluks were recapturing the last remaining crusading cities, Prince Edward of England and Charles of Anjou, sailed to Acre, where they reconciled some factions. Edward returned to England to become king, and Charles took control. Charles and the Venetians, with the pope's permission, then tried to recapture Constantinople from the Byzantine Christians, but Charles was prematurely forced to return home because of a political crisis (the Sicilian Vespers).
  • The end of the crusading states. In 1291, after Christians killed some Muslim merchants and refused to make restitution, the Sultan Khalil successfully besieged Acre, and killed 60,000 prisoners, and then recaptured all the rest of the crusaders' territory. 200 years of crusades had finally failed to achieve anything other than a great deal of death and destruction.