A Quest for the Holy Land

Crusades  A long series or Wars between Christians and Muslims  They fought over control of Jerusalem which was called the Holy Land because it was the region where Jesus had lived, preached and died

Causes of the Crusades Muslim Turks captured Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire Muslims stopped Christians from Visiting Holy Land Christian pilgrims were attacked Byzantine Empire feared attack on Constantinople

  Pope Urban II called for the defeat of the Turks, returning the Holy Land to the Christians The Call to Arms

  Pope Urban traveled to various cities for nine months preaching the Crusade and offering extraordinary inducements to include a plenary indulgence remitting all punishments due to sin for those who died on the Crusade  Serfs were allowed to leave the land to which they were bound  Citizens were exempted from taxes  Debtors were given a moratorium on interest  Prisoners were freed and death sentences were commuted by a bold extension of Papal authority to life service in Palestine Mobilization of the Crusades

  Feudal Lords  Knights  Peasants Who Answered the Call?

  Peasant army  Untrained  Lacked military equipment  Many killed by Muslim Turks  Knights  Succeeded in capturing Jerusalem The First Crusade ( )

  After victory many Christians went back home.  The Turks eventually took back much of the territory.  King of France and Emperor of Germany sent troops to stop the Turks. Second Crusade ( )

  Saladin leads the Muslim Turks to victory, defeating the Christians  * He was considered a very wise ruler. He was known for his sometimes kind treatment of fallen enemies. Many Christians saw him as a model of knightly chivalry. Second Crusade ( )

  King Richard of England convinces the Turks to allow Christians to visit the Holy Land Third Crusade ( )

  Richard and Saladin embarked on a “unique campaign in which blows and battles alternated with compliments and courtesies”  (Durant, 599)  The two executed enemy prisoners they held  Richard proposed his sister marry Saladin’s brother  They signed peace treaties then rejected them  Richard conferred knighthood on the son of a Muslim ambassador  Richard got sick and Saladin sent him his own physician and some fruit  Saladin saw Richard unmounted in battle and sent him a horse Richard and Saladin

  Several more crusades attempted with no victories for the Christians  Children’s crusade, - 30,000 soldiers - many of them under 12 years old – Never made it to the Holy Land Crusades Continue Through 1200’s

  I.F. Turks Traveled they would Trade  I = Improvements – Ships, Maps, Explorers  F = Feudalism declines because Feudal lords die or spend too much money on military.  T = Turks still rule the Holy Land  T = Travel – Europeans want to travel more  T = Trade – Europeans want product from the East such as sugar, cotton, silk, spices, etc. Results of the Crusades

  Maneuver  Very limited. Heavy reliance on sieges.  Mass  The Germans and French advanced separately on the Second Crusade and were each defeated at Dorylaeum and Attalia, respectively  Surprise  The Second Crusade advanced along the same route as the First Crusade and the Muslims were ready for them  Objective  The Crusades meant different things to different people and the various objectives often worked at cross-purposes such as the economic motivations of the Italian city-states The Crusades and the Principles of War

  Economy of force  ????  Offensive  The Christians relative military, economic, and political power allowed them to take the offensive, but extended distances made the offensive difficult to sustain  Unity of command  The Crusaders seldom achieved this, such as in the Third Crusade when French troops refused to obey Richard’s orders  Simplicity  Motley crew of Crusaders required simple tactics

 Results of the Crusades  Jerusalem was in Muslim hands  Christian pilgrims became fewer and more fearful than ever  The Muslim powers, once tolerant of religious diversity, had been made intolerant by attack  The effort of the popes to bring peace and unity to Europe had been thwarted by nationalistic ambitions, avarice, and internal dissension  The influence of the Catholic Church and the position of the pope declined and the schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church widened

 Results of the Crusades  Muslim civilization had been victorious over Christian civilization  Indigenous eastern Christians were caught in the middle between Crusaders and Muslims, and many who were outraged by the excesses of the Crusaders or who wanted to avoid persecution by Muslim leaders who saw them as collaborators with the Crusaders converted to Islam  In fact, the Crusades ironically proved instrumental in making the eastern Mediterranean predominantly Muslim

 Results of the Crusades  Serfs had used the Crusades to leave their lands and many found new opportunities  The Turkish capture of Constantinople was delayed until 1453  The Muslims, even though victorious, had themselves been weakened, and fell more easily when the Mongols attacked  Trade and exploration were enhanced

Trade  Italian traders obviously benefited from supplying the Crusades while they were going on, but they also saw an opportunity to expand their market by establishing direct trade with the Muslim world  The lucrative trade provided great profit to the Italian city-states and ultimately provided the economic basis for the Italian Renaissance we’ll discuss in Lesson 24 Lorenzo de Medici was part of a family that ruled Florence and served as bankers for the Crusades and patrons of the Renaissance

Trade  The most important trade item were spices  Other items included cotton, linen, dates, coral, pearls, porcelain, silk, and metal goods  Damascus was a key center for industry and commerce and a stopping point for pilgrims on their way to Mecca Egyptian scarf or garment fragment ca 1395

 Trade  European Christians also became exposed to new ideas as they traveled throughout the Mediterranean basin  The works of Aristotle  Islamic science and astronomy  “Arabic” numerals which the Muslims had borrowed from India  Techniques for paper production which the Muslims had learned from China  While the Crusades may have largely failed as military adventures, they helped encourage the reintegration of western Europe into the larger economy of the western hemisphere

The Reconquista of Spain  The Christians did have better success wresting Sicily and Spain from the Muslims in actions separate from the Crusades  Sicily was regained relatively easily  Muslims had conquered it in the 9 th Century but in the 1090, after about 20 years of fighting, Norman warriors returned it to Christian hands  Spain would be a bit more of a challenge

The Reconquista of Spain  Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8 th Century and ruled all but small Christian states such as Catalonia  In the 1060s Christians began attacking outward from these toeholds

Immediate Impact of the Reconquista  After the successful Reconquista, the devoutly Christian rulers of Spain and Portugal were eager to dominate the Islamic states in North Africa and to convert non- Christians  The desire to spread Christianity would be one of the motives for the European explorations 1492 was the year of both the completion of the Reconquista and Columbus’ voyage to the New World

The Reconquista of Spain  By 1150 Christians had recaptured Lisbon and controlled over half the peninsula  These successes lured reinforcements from England and France and a new round of campaigning in the 13 th Century brought all but Granada into Christian hands  In 1492, Christian forces conquered Granada and the Reconquista was complete

Relevance of the Crusades Today  Just days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, President Bush declared, “This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while.”  Bush’s word choice caused significant controversy, especially in Europe and Arab countries  Later White House spokesman Ari Fleischer explained, “I think to the degree that that word has any connotations that would upset any of our partners or anybody else in the world, the president would regret if anything like that was conveyed. But the purpose of his conveying it is in the traditional English sense of the word, it's a broad cause.”  Why the fuss?

  Use your notes and the textbook pages to create either a recruitment poster or a crusades board game. Your project should include:  A definition of the crusades.  A map of the crusades.  The four causes of the crusades.  Pope Urban’s call for defeat of the Turks to return the. holy land top the Christians.  Who answered or needs to answer the call.  A description of all four crusades.  The results of the crusades. Assignment: Recruitment Poster