THE CRUSADES

1. What are they and why did the happen? a. What is a crusade? i. It is a series of religious wars launched by European Christians b. Why did they happen? i. European Christians’ goal was to take back Jerusalem and the area around it called the Holy Land 1. It was under the control of the Muslims ii. Jerusalem and the area around it, were considered holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims

2. Launching the Crusades a. Council of Clermont i. Called by Pope Urban II ii. Purpose of the meeting was to address the Byzantine emperor’s request for help against the Turks iii. Urban called on all Christian warriors to put aside their differences and fight against the Turks

3. Fighting the Crusades a. The First Crusade i. Set out in 1096 ii. Made up of two groups 1. The Peasants a. Were unskilled b. While they were passing through Germany some attacked Jewish communities c. Those who made it to Jerusalem quickly fell to the Seljuk Turks

2. Trained Knights a. Were unprepared for the hardships of their journey i. Will resort to looting towns and farms to get supplies when food and water ran low b. Took 3 years to reach the Holy Land c. Recaptured Jerusalem d. Created 4 states in the Holy Land i. Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli were the capitals of these four states ii. They were intended to be Christian strongholds

b. Second Crusade i. 1144, Muslims recaptured Edessa ii. European leaders will call for a second crusade in response to this iii. It was a failure

c. Third Crusade i. Saladin 1. New leader of the Muslims 2. Will drive the Crusaders out of Jerusalem

ii. Loss of Jerusalem starts the Third Crusade 1. Known as the Kings Crusade 2. Richard the Lion-hearted was the only king to fight in the Holy Land a. Had respect for Saladin b. He won several battles against the Muslims; was unable to drive them out of the Holy Land or retake Jerusalem

d. Fourth and later Crusades i. Fourth Crusade began in Crusaders could not pay the Venetians for transport 2. Agreed to attack the city of Zara, which had once belong to the Venetians, as payment a. The city was held by the Christian king of Hungary 3. Pope will excommunicate the crusaders for their actions 4. Crusaders will continue to the Holy Land; on the way the attack Constantinople 5. Disorganization and a lack of strong leadership made the Fourth Crusade a failure

ii. There were five more crusades that followed after the Fourth, none were successful iii. By 1291, Muslims had driven the Christians out of the Holy Land

4. Effects of the Crusades a. Economic Changes i. The Crusaders enhanced existing trade ii. Increase in trade added to the changing European economy of the Middle Ages

b. Political Changes i. Kings will take control of unoccupied land ii. Will give kings more power

c. Social Changes i. Brought knowledge of Muslim culture to Europe ii. Christians who participated in crusades came to respect other cultures; those who did not became more intolerant iii. Many Europeans began to view all non-Christians as enemies