THE CRUSADES Holy War At Its Finest

Remember Do not copy anything in Italics Do not copy anything in (……) Do not copy anything that has Remember at the top.

The Kingdom of England In the early 400’s people called the Angles and Saxons took over much of England. They took control of the territory from the Celts. In the late 800’s the Vikings attacked that part of England. A King by the name of Alfred the Great united the Angles and Saxons and drove the Vikings away. Alfred’s new kingdom became known as Angleland, or England.

Alfred the Great was one of the first rulers to unit England under one empire. He was successful at defending the island from Viking invaders on several different occasions.

ALFRED the GREAT Alfred the Great was a very strong ruler. He founded schools He hired interpreters to translate books from Latin into the Anglo Saxon language. His power as a ruler kept his people together. Most of those rulers that came after him were weak and could not hold the people together

Stonehenge was built by unknown people of ancient England who finished building it some 2000 years before the Druids came to Salisbury Plain. Stonehenge means "hanging stones." There are many different legends. Some even say UFO's were involved. But the scientific evidence shows that it was probably an "observatory" to view the various stages of the moon and sun. Looking in Stonehenge Decoded by Gerald Hawkins reveals many of the stages in its pictures, such as showing the sunset exactly on the tip of the "heel stone."

VIKINGS ARE BACK In A.D. 900 the Vikings attacked and conquered the northern coast of France and renamed it Normandy. By A.D Normandy was ruled by William, a descendant of a Viking ruler and cousin of Edward, the King of England. When Edward died William thought he should be the new king of England so he went to war with England.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR Harold Godwinson had claimed the English throne after the death of Edward. William went to war against the English troops in His men were on horseback and defeated the English at a battle called Hastings. He was then crowned King of England and became known as William the Conqueror.

WILLIAM KING OF ENGLAND To assure loyalty, William gave estates to his Norman knights. They had to pledge their loyalty to him in return for land and protection from the King. William brought European culture to England. He made everyone speak French, and many of his knights intermarried with English women. The cultures mixed and eventually became the English culture we have today.

HENRY II AND JOHN William died, a Henry II became king of England. Henry made the position of King much more powerful. He set up a court system and had judges and juries. When he died his son John became king and was not a very good one. Under John nobles revolted and made him sign the Magna Carta. This document had great influence on our government when it was being formed.

The Magna Carta was a document that laid out specific rights for the people of England and took some of the power from the king. It was a document that had a great amount of influence on our own Constitution.

Prelude to a Crusade The Byzantine empire was quickly losing power. It was being attacked from the east by the Muslim Turks who were very powerful. These invaders seized most of Asia Minor. The emperor of the empire asked the Pope for help because he had neither the men or the money to repel the invaders.

Pope Urban II In response to the plea for help from the Byzantine Emperor, Pope Urban II made a speech calling for all Christians to leave their homes and go and drive the Muslims out of the Holy land. Their battle cry became…..”God wills it!”

1 st CRUSADE Several thousand knights and as many as ten thousand foot soldiers headed east to fight in the crusade. Many wore the sign of the cross on their shields to remind them who they were fighting for. In 1098, they captured Antioch in Syria. In 1099, they reached Jerusalem and slaughtered most of the cities inhabitants Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

2 nd Crusade Having driven the Muslims out of the Holy Land, the Crusaders created four states: Kingdom of Jerusalem in Palestine, The County of Edessa, The Principality of Antioch in Asia Minor, and the County of Tripoli. However, the Muslims fought back and recaptured Edessa. The Christians responded with the second Crusade which was total failure.

Saladin In 1174 a Musli8m came to power named Saladin. He was determined to create a Muslim empire in the middle east. He led the Muslims against the Christians and recaptured Jerusalem in He was one of the most successful Muslim Warriors of all time.

3 rd Crusade The fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims caused the cry for a 3 rd Crusade. This Crusade was led by Richard the Lionhearted, King Phillip II of France, and Emperor Fredrick of the Holy Roman Empire. This crusade had some issues. Frederick drowned crossing a river. The French and English landed by sea, but could not capture much more than a small coastal town. Phillip went home and Richard agreed to a small safe travel corridor for Christians.

4 th Crusade Around 1200 A.D. Pope Innocent III called for a new crusade. Merchants from Venice wanted to use the crusade to weaken their main trading partners, the Byzantine Empire. The crusaders attacked Byzantium instead of Muslim cities and sacked and looted the city for three days. This attacked shocked the rest of Europe and weakened the Byzantine Empire substantially.

Other Crusades Six more crusades were launched over the next 60 years, but the achieved very little. The Muslims eventually regained everything they had lost during the first crusade. In 1291, almost 200 years after the first crusade had set out, the last Christian City fell to the Muslims.

Effects of the Crusades The crusades had a large impact on the world. More trade between Europe and the Middle East. Serfs were freed by nobles who sold their land and went to war. Kings began taxing trade from the middle east. Stronger kingdoms emerged in Europe.