East Meets West The Crusades

Role of Church in Middle Ages Never was there a time when the Church was so powerful in Western Civilization. The Church was led by popes. Priests and nuns converted, gave care to people

Role of Church Monks were spiritual leaders (obviously) They lived in monasteries that acted like trade schools and YMCAs

Role of Church They spent years transcribing the Bible since the printing press wasn’t used in Europe yet.

Churches and Cathedrals during the Middle Ages

Crusade The word “crusade” comes from the Spanish cruzade which means “marked with the cross” –Crusaders wore red crosses on their chests to symbolize their purpose

E. Napp Many Europeans Joined the Crusades. Some joined for the promise of Heaven. Others joined hoping for wealth.

The Crusades: Causes European Expansionism  Conversion of Vikings and Magyars removes pressure on Europe  Agricultural advances increase food supply  Battle of Hastings, 1066  Capture of Toledo from Moslems, 1087  Capture of Sicily from Moslems, 1091

Europe

The Crusades: Causes Roman-Byzantine Rivalry  Great Schism, 1064  Cluniac (Benedictine) Reform causes church in West to be more attentive to business and provides impetus to attempts to reassert control

The Crusades: Causes Events in Moslem World  Battle of Manzikert,  Byzantines lose Anatolia to Turks.  Loss foreshadows eventual end of Byzantine Empire.  Turks disrupt pilgrim traffic.

Call for a Crusade  Urban II calls for Crusade, 1095  Objectives:  Drive Turks from Anatolia  Obligate the Byzantines  Provide occasion for healing Great Schism on Rome's terms  Capture Holy Land

Knights The establishment of new orders of military monks partially offset these weaknesses The Knights of the Hospital of Saint John and the Knights Templar began by protecting and nursing pilgrims but gravitated to active attacks on Moslem strongholds Both orders would come to play prominent roles in the battles of the Crusades and earned great reputations as warriors Seal of the Knights Templar

Why was Constantinople so important geographically?

The Arab world was relatively peaceful and civilized at the time. An Arab gentleman was expected to be a… poet philosopher and a warrior. Jerusalem itself was a multicultural city. Jews, Muslims and Christians all lived together harmoniously. Christians on pilgrimages to Jerusalem were freely allowed across to the Holy Places When the Crusades arrived in Northern Turkey, the carnage began. Lycea was captured and looted. babies cut to pieces; old people were tortured. Unfortunately, most of the inhabitants of Lycea were actually Christians… The Arab World

Major Events of Crusades  I Crusade  Achieves all major objectives in Holy Land  Turkish threat blunted, though not eliminated  Area not strategic to Moslems, could have been held indefinitely with a little skill.  Initial gains lost through diplomatic bungling.  Crusaders attempt to destabilize neighbors

The First Crusade Administrative rule of Jerusalem proved problematic Eventually the kingdom was parceled into practically independent fiefs and barons assumed all ownership of land, reducing the former owners to the condition of serfs The kingdom was further weakened by the ceding of several ports to the Italian city-states in exchange for naval support and seaborne supplies The native Christian population came to look back on the era of Moslem rule as a golden age Godfrey served as the first ruler of Jerusalem

Major Events of Crusades  II Crusade,  Military failure, discredits Crusaders as military threat  III Crusade,  Well-known in literature (Robin Hood)  Involved Richard I of England, Phillip II of France, Frederick I of Holy Roman Empire  Saladin on Moslem side.

Saladin In 1175, Saladin brought Egypt and Moslem Syria under one rule In 1185, he signed a four-year truce with the Latin kingdom but the Christians violated it by attacking a Moslem caravan and capturing Saladin’s sister He declared a holy war against the Christians and captured Jerusalem in 1187 –His terms were much more generous than those of the Crusaders in 1099 Saladin: one of the few Crusade personalities generally described favorably by both Eastern and Western sources

Major Events of Crusades IV Crusade,  Western-Greek relations always strained, mutual contempt.  To finance crusade, Crusaders work for Venetians  Crusaders sack Constantinople, 1204  Chance to heal Great Schism utterly lost.  In 1453, when attacked by Turks, Byzantines preferred surrender to asking Rome for aid.

Major Events of Crusades V Crusade –Capture Damietta, swap for Jerusalem –Moslems agree –Crusaders try to conquer Egypt, are routed VI Crusade1229 –Frederick II of Germany did little fighting and a lot of negotiation – Treaty gave the Crusaders Jerusalem and all the other holy cities and a truce of ten years – He was widely condemned for conducting the Crusade by negotiating rather than fighting.

Major Events of Crusades VII Crusade –Led by Louis IX of France –Nearly an exact repeat of the Fifth Crusade VIII Crusade 1270 –Led by Louis IX of France –Louis’ brother, Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, had strategic plans of his own and diverted the expedition to Tunisia, where Louis died. –The last Crusader cities on the mainland of Palestine fell in 1291 –One small island stronghold lasted until 1303.

Crusades died out  Lack of interest, rising European prosperity  Repeated military defeats  Discredited by "crusades" against Christians

Impact of Crusades  Fatal weakening of Byzantine Empire  Vast increase in cultural horizons for many Europeans.  Stimulated Mediterranean trade.  Need to transfer large sums of money for troops and supplies led to development of banking techniques.  Rise of heraldic emblems, coats of arms  Romantic and imaginative literature.

Impact of Crusades  Knowledge introduced to Europe  Heavy stone masonry, construction of castles and stone churches.  Siege technology, tunneling, sapping.  Moslem minarets adopted as church spires  Weakening of nobility, rise of merchant classes  Enrichment was primarily from East to West--Europe had little to give in return.

Results of the Crusades Failures –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 Successes –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 –Moslems 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 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

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 was the year of both the completion of the Reconquista and Columbus’ voyage to the New World

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?

Clash of Civilizations “We have to avoid a clash of civilizations at all costs.” –French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine That expressions come from Samuel Huntington’s 1993 assessment that “The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future…. Conflict along the fault line between Western and Islamic civilizations has been going on for 1,300 years.… This centuries-old military interaction between the West and Islam is unlikely to decline. It could become more virulent ”

E. Napp Questions for Reflection: Why were Christians upset that Muslims had gained control of the Holy Land? Define pilgrim. What is a crusade? Why did the Pope call for a Crusade? Why do historians call the Crusades “a successful failure”? What was an effect of the Crusades?