1. 14.1 Church Reform and the Crusades
The Catholic Church underwent reform and launched Crusades against Muslims.

2. The Age of Faith Spiritual Revival
Starting in the 900s, monasteries help bring about a spiritual revival
Reformers help restore and expand Church power
Coat of Arms of Cluny Abbey: "Gules two keys in saltire the wards upwards and outwards or overall a sword in pale argent".
Founded in 910, this is the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny as it looked in 2004.

3. Problems in the Church
Some Church officials marry even though the Church objects
Some officials practice simony—selling religious offices
Kings use lay investiture to appoint bishops
Reformers believe only the Church should appoint bishops

5. Reform and Church Organization
Starting in the 1100s, popes reorganize the Church like a kingdom
Pope’s advisors make Church laws; diplomats travel throughout Europe
Church collects tithes; uses money to care for sick or poor
“Peasants paying tithes” (17th century) school of Pieter Brueghel the Younger

7. New Religious Orders Dominican and Franciscan orders form
Friars in these orders vow poverty; travel and preach to the poor
Some new orders for women are founded
Portrait of a Carmelite friar, about 1610, by Peter Paul Rubens

8. Cathedrals—Cities of God
Early Cathedrals
Between , churches are built in Romanesque style
Style includes thick walls and pillars, small windows, round arches

9. A New Style of Church Architecture
Gothic style evolves around 1100; term from Germanic tribe, Goths
Gothic style has large, tall windows for more light; pointed arches
Churches have stained glass windows, many sculptures
About 500 Gothic churches are built from 1170 to 1270

10. Gothic Architecture
The master builders in France, where the Gothic style originated, developed techniques of structural engineering that were key to Gothic architecture:
ribbed vaults that supported the roof’s weight
flying buttresses that transferred weight to thick, exterior walls
pointed arches that framed huge stained glass windows
tall spires that seemed to be pointing to heaven

11. Traditional Church Floor Plan
“Liturgical East”
Source: ( a website explaining church architecture.

12. Typical “Chancel” Layout
“Liturgical East”
Notice that the “apse” is “fenced off” by a communion rail. Only the clergy attending the altar or table are allowed past this point. The sacrament is dispensed only through the clergy bringing it to the rail.
Source: ( a website explaining church architecture.

13. The Crusades: The Beginning
Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos who asked Pope Urban II for help (left)
In 1093, Byzantine emperor asks for help fighting the Turks
Pope Urban II issues a call for a Crusade—a “holy war”
Artistic depiction of Pope Urban II (left), and him preaching the First Crusade (right)

14. Goals of the Crusades
Pope wants to reclaim Jerusalem and reunite Christianity
Kings use Crusades to send away knights who cause trouble
Younger sons hope to earn land or win glory by fighting (although historian Rodney Stark in God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades disagrees with that theory because the first three crusades were led by the heads of the royal families of Europe).
Later, merchants join Crusades to try to gain wealth through trade.

15. First Crusade:
Pope promises Crusaders who die a place in heaven
First Crusade: three armies gather at Constantinople in 1097
Crusaders capture Jerusalem in 1099
Captured lands along coast divided into four Crusader states

16. Second Crusade:
Muslims take back Edessa in 1144; Second crusade fails to retake it
In 1187, Saladin—Muslim leader and Kurdish warrior—retakes Jerusalem
Left: an artistic representation of Saladin
Right: Saladin the Victorious by Gustave Dore

17. The Third Crusade:
The Third Crusade was led by three powerful rulers
Frederick I “Barbarossa” of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
Richard I of England—”The Lion-Hearted”
Phillip II of France

18. The Third Crusade :
One is Richard the Lion-Hearted—king of England
The Robin Hood stories and legends often surround Richard I returning from the Third Crusade.
19th-century portrait of Richard by Merry-Joseph Blondel

19. The Third Crusade:
Phillip II of France abandons Crusade after arguing with Richard
The argument was over Richard breaking off an engagement with Phillip’s sister.

20. The Third Crusade :
Frederick I of Germany (Holy Roman Empire) drowns during the journey
Right: A depiction of Frederick I drowning in the Saleph River in Turkey from the Saxon Chronicle.

21. The Third Crusade :
In 1192 Richard and Saladin make peace after many battles
Saladin keeps Jerusalem but allows Christian pilgrims to enter the city

22. The Crusading Spirit Dwindles: The Later Crusades
Fourth Crusade ( )
Crusaders sack the Christian city Zara and are excommunicated by the pope for it.
The Venetian leadership keeps their excommunication a secret. Then Crusaders sack Constantinople in 1204
Two other Crusades strike Egypt, but fail to weaken the Muslims
Looting of Constantinople, painting by Eugene Delacroix, 1840

24. The Children’s Crusade
The Children’s Crusade by Gustave Doré
This event may very well merely be a legend embellished over time.
The traditional story says that in 1212 thousands of children possibly die or are enslaved in a failed crusade.
But these stories are surrounded by legend and fiction. The fact that this really happened is disputed.

25. Two Stories about the Children’s Crusade
Leader: Nicholas
Country: Germany
Purpose: intended to lead a crusade to convert the Muslims to Christianity by the preaching of children. Nicholas promised a miracle that the waters of the Mediterranean would divide so they could walk to the Holy Land.
Result: A following of about 7,000 people, both adults and children arrive in Genoa, Italy after preaching a crusade throughout Germany and crossing the Alps. The waters did not divide. The movement continues to Rome but begins to break up. The Pope instructs the group to return home. Nicholas does not survive the return home.
Leader: Stephen
Country: France
Purpose: He claims Jesus appeared to him and gave him a letter for the king of France.
Result: Phillip II, king of France is unimpressed. Stephen, however, continues to preach and tries to lead a group to Marseilles. It seems like many surviving youths returned to their families.

26. A Spanish Crusade Most of Spain controlled by Moors, a Muslim people
Christians fight Reconquista—drive Muslims from Spain,
Spain has Inquisition—court to suppress heresy; expels non-Christians
Inquisition scene of people accused of heresy being tortured.

27. The Effects of the Crusades
Crusades show power of Church in convincing thousands to fight
Women who stay home manage the estate and business affairs
Merchants expand trade, bring back many goods from Southwest Asia
Failure of later crusades weakens pope and nobles, strengthens kings
Crusades create lasting bitterness between Muslims and Christians