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The Crusades: The Beginning. Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos who asked Pope Urban II for help (left). In 1093, Byzantine emperor asks for help fighting the Turks Pope Urban II issues a call for a Crusade—a “holy war” .
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The Crusades: The Beginning Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos who asked Pope Urban II for help (left) • In 1093, Byzantine emperor asks for help fighting the Turks • Pope Urban II issues a call for a Crusade—a “holy war” Artistic depiction of Pope Urban II (left), and him preaching the First Crusade (right)
Goals of the Crusades • Pope wants to reclaim Jerusalem and reunite Christianity • Kings use Crusades to send away knights who cause trouble • Younger sons hope to earn land or win glory by fighting (although historian Rodney Stark in God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades disagrees with that theory because the first three crusades were led by the heads of the royal families of Europe). • Later, merchants join Crusades to try to gain wealth through trade.
First Crusade: 1096-1099 • Pope promises Crusaders who die a place in heaven • First Crusade: three armies gather at Constantinople in 1097 • Crusaders capture Jerusalem in 1099 • Captured lands along coast divided into four Crusader states • Crusaders only win because Muslim states are not united
Second, Third, Fourth Crusades: 1147- early 1200s • The Short Version: lots of back and forth of conquering and reconquering the Holy Land • Highlights: • 1187:Saladin—Muslim leader and Kurdish warrior—retakes Jerusalem, and eventually allows Christian pilgrims • Muslims unite in the name of expelling European Christians • Crusaders sack Constantinople to create a Roman Catholic state in 1204 – Byzantium never really recovers Left: an artistic representation of Saladin Right: Looting of Constantinople
The Effects of the Crusades • Europeans encounter ideas of Aristotle and other classical works • “Arabic” numerals and paper production to Europe • Food and goods exchanged between Europeans and Muslims • “Largely failed as military ventures [but] helped encourage the reintegration of western Europe in the larger economy of the eastern hemisphere,” Bentley p. 543 • LCrusadesshow power of Church in convincing thousands to fight • Lasting bitterness between Muslims and Christians