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The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period.
May 6, 2024 · Crusades, military expeditions, beginning in the late 11th century, that were organized by western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. The Crusades took place from 1095 until the 16th century, when the advent of Protestantism led to the decline of papal authority.
- There were at least eight Crusades. The First Crusade lasted from 1096 to 1099. The Second Crusade began in 1147 and ended in 1149. The Third Crusa...
- The Crusades were organized by western European Christians after centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. Their primary objectives were to stop the e...
- The First Crusade was led by Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Godrey of Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois, Bohemond of Otranto, and Robert of Flanders, and the...
- The First Crusade, called in response to a request for help from the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus, was astonishingly successful. The Crusader...
- The Crusades slowed the advance of Islamic power and may have prevented western Europe from falling under Muslim suzerainty. The Crusader states ex...
Oct 12, 2018 · The Crusades were a series of military campaigns organised by popes and Christian western powers to take Jerusalem and the Holy Land back from Muslim control and then defend those gains. There were eight major official crusades between 1095 and 1270, as well as many more unofficial ones.
- Mark Cartwright
- The Crusades affected Europe in that great wealth was invested in these wars and many of the ruling class died in them. Military orders were create...
- The three main causes of the crusades were: The Byzantine emperors wanted military help from Europe, the Popes wanted more power and prestige, and...
- The beginning of the Crusades was proclaimed by Pope Urban II.
- Who Wanted What in The Crusades?
- The Byzantine Empire
- The Pope
- Merchants
- European Knights
- Citizens
- Conclusion
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Why the Crusades happened at all is a complex question with multiple answers. As the historian J. Riley-Smith notes: An estimated 90,000 men, women, and children of all classes were persuaded by political and religious leaders to participate in the First Crusade(1095-1102 CE), and their various motivations, along with those of the political and rel...
The Byzantine Empire had long been in control of Jerusalem and other sites holy to Christians but, in the latter decades of the 11th century CE, they lost them dramatically to the Seljuks, a Turkish tribe of the steppe. The Seljuks, already having made several raids into Byzantine territory, shockingly defeated a Byzantine army at the Battle of Man...
Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099 CE) received Alexios' appeal in 1095 CE, but it was not the first time the Byzantine emperor had asked and got papal help. In 1091 CE the pope had sent troops to help the Byzantines against the Pecheneg steppe nomads who were invading the northern Danube area of the empire. Urban II was again disposed to assistance four ...
Merchants, although not so involved in the First Crusade, certainly became more involved from 1200 CE as they wanted to open up trade routes with the East, even to control such prosperous trade centres as Antioch and Jerusalem. Further, merchants could make a handsome profit from ferrying crusaders across the Mediterranean. Indeed, from the Second ...
By the 11th century CE society in medieval Europe had become increasingly militarised. Central governments simply did not have the means to govern on the ground across every part of their territories. Those who did govern in practice at local level were large landowners, the barons who had castles and a force of knights to defend them. Knights, eve...
Besides knights, the idea of a crusade had to appeal to ordinary foot soldiers, archers, squires, and all the non-combatants needed to support the cavalry units of knights when on campaign. That the ideal did appeal to ordinary folk, including women, is illustrated by such events as the people's army led by the preacher Peter the Hermit which gathe...
As the historian C. Tyerman points out in his God's War, in many ways 1095 CE was the 1914 CE of the Middle Ages - a perfect storm of moral outrage, personal gain, institutionalised political and religious propaganda, peer pressure, societal expectations, and a thirst for adventure, which all combined to inspire people to leave their homes and emba...
Learn about the motivations and objectives of the crusaders, from the Byzantine emperor to the knights, in the first campaign to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims. Explore the historical context, the papal role, and the impact of the crusades on Christianity and the Middle East.
- Mark Cartwright
Aug 20, 2019 · The Crusades were a series of military campaigns waged between Christians and Muslims, Christians and pagans (the Northern Crusades), and Christians against Christians (the Fourth Crusade and the Albigensian Crusade).
- Mark Cartwright
- Publishing Director
The objectives of the Crusades were to check the spread of Islam, to retake control of the Holy Land, to conquer pagan areas, and to recapture formerly Christian territories. The Crusades were seen by many of their participants as a means of redemption and expiation for sins.
Learn about the Crusades, the medieval military campaigns by Christians to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslims. Find out the key reasons, figures, routes and outcomes of the Crusades.
