The Crusades

1. The Crusades • What do you already know about the Crusades? • Think about • Motivation • Parties involved • Outcomes

2. Main Idea • The Catholic Church underwent reform and launched Crusades against Muslims

3. Why It Matters Now • The Crusades left a legacy of distrust between Christians and Muslims that continues to the present

4. Background Information • Major religious cities • Constantinople – most important for Greek Orthodox in the East • Rome – most important for Roman Catholics in the West • Jerusalem – important to three major religions • Judaism – known as Zion (God’s own city) • Christianity – location where Jesus was crucified and resurrected • Islam – third “holy city” behind Mecca and Medina

6. In the 600s • Arab Muslims took control of Jerusalem and Palestine • However, they still allowed Christians to travel freely to Jerusalem for religious/personal reasons

7. 1200s • Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem • Seljuk Turks were warlike people who converted to Islam • Over time, the Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem became increasingly dangerous • Seljuk Turks began to threaten the Byzantine Empire

8. Reaction • Byzantine Emperor Alexis I asked Pope Urban II for help (to try to save the Byzantine Empire from the Seljuk Turks) • There was motivation to reunite the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church again • Fighting the Seljuk Turks could be profitable – could reclaim land from them • Pope Urban II claimed that God spoke to him and told him to go to battle and to kill for control of the “holy land” – “Dues Vult” became the battle cry (means “God wills it”

10. 1st Crusade 1096-1099 • Christians took up arms and launched the first of nine crusades – heading east toward the holy land • Peasants and nobility fought • Took provisions from the land as they crossed it • Killed non-Christians along the way • Three crusader armies met up in Constantinople and marched to Jerusalem together • Crusaders reached Jerusalem, and after a two month siege, Jerusalem fell • Crusaders killed many Muslim and Jewish inhabitants

12. What were the outcomes of the 1st Crusade?

13. 2nd Crusade – 1146-1149 • Turks capture Edessa in Greece and use it as a staging zone to launch future attacks • There were no decisive victories in the 2nd Crusade

14. 3rd Crusade – 1189-1192 • Turkish General Saladin practiced jihad • Invaded Palestine and Jerusalem • Won back the true cross and the Church of the Holy Sepulchure • Christians led by • King Richard the Lionhearted of England • Philip Augustus of France • Frederick Barbarossa of Germany • Ended in a truce between Saladin and Richard who couldn’t afford any more losses • Turks got Jerusalem • Christians got cities along the Mediterranean

17. Spanish Crusade • Reconquista was Spain’s attempt driving all of the Muslims and Jews out of Spain • Used the Inquistion to do this – it was a church court that tried people of heresy • Would question suspects for weeks, sometimes torturing them, and once they confessed, they were burning at the stake • Eventually, monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand expelled all non-Christians from Spain

18. Religious laws stated that the torture could not draw blood

19. Strappado

20. Waterboarding

21. Rack

22. Effects • For the West • Unsuccessful in taking back Christian lands • Helped break down feudalism and strengthen monarchies in Europe • Taxes levied by king in order to raise armies • Nobles without heirs died in battle and all of their land went to the king • Lesser nobles sold their estates to raise money for supplies or allowed serfs to be free farmers • Increased trade in the Mediterranean led to exchange of ideas, goods and technology (setting the stage for the Renaissance)

23. For East • United Muslims against a common enemy • Crusades deeply rooted in Islamic history – some historian believe that the Crusades are still continuing today

24. Crusades