Transcript East Meets West The Crusades

East Meets West
The Crusades
Crusades
• A long series or Wars
between Christians
and Muslims
• They fought over
control of Jerusalem
which was called the
Holy Land because it
was the region where
Jesus had lived,
preached and died
Causes: Adventure
• After Christianization of the
Vikings, Slavs, and Magyars there
was an entire class of warriors
who now had very little to do but
fight amongst themselves and
terrorize the peasant population.
• A plea for help from the Byzantine
Emperor Alexius I in opposing
Muslim attacks thus appealed to
their sense of adventure.
Causes: Papal Politics
Roman-Byzantine Rivalry
• Cluniac (Benedictine) reform
caused the church in the West to
be more attentive to business and
provided impetus to attempt to
reassert control
• The Great Schism, 1064, was
a division of Christianity into Eastern
Orthodox and Roman Catholic. The
primary cause was
a dispute over papal authority.
Causes: European Expansionism
• In the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William
the Conqueror (from Normandy) defeated
England and brought unity and strength to
that country.
• After the capture of Toledo from the
Muslims in 1087, it became the residence
of the kings of Castile and the
ecclesiastical center of the whole of Spain
• The Normans captured Sicily from the
Muslims in 1091 and paved the way for
the unification of that country.
Causes: Muslim Advances
Events in Moslem World
• The Battle of Manzikert,
1071, resulted in the
defeat of the Byzantine
Empire and the capture of
the Emperor by the Seljuk
Turks (muslims).
• The Byzantines also lost
Anatolia to the Turks.
• The Turks disrupted
pilgrim traffic.
Causes of the Crusades
Muslim Turks
captured Jerusalem
from the Byzantine
Empire
Muslims stopped
Christians from
Visiting Holy Land
Christian pilgrims
were attacked
Byzantine Empire
feared attack on
Constantinople
The Call to Arms
• Pope Urban II
called for the
defeat of the
Turks, returning
the Holy Land to
the Christians
Who Answered the Call?
• Feudal Lords
• Knights
• Peasants
The First Crusade (1096-1099)
• Peasant army
– Untrained
– Lacked military
equipment
– Many killed by
Muslim Turks
• Knights
– Succeeded in
capturing Jerusalem
Second Crusade (1147-1149)
• After victory many Christians went back
home.
• The Turks eventually took back much of
the territory.
• King of France and Emperor of Germany
sent troops to stop the Turks.
Second Crusade (1147-1149)
• Saladin leads the
Muslim Turks to
victory, defeating
the Christians
• * He was considered a very
wise ruler. He was known for
his sometimes kind treatment
of fallen enemies. Many
Christians saw him as a model
of knightly chivalry.
Third Crusade (1189-1192)
• King Richard of
England convinces
the Turks to allow
Christians to visit
the Holy Land
Crusades Continue Through 1200’s
• Several more crusades attempted with no
victories for the Christians
• Children’s crusade, - 30,000 soldiers many of them under 12 years old – Never
made it to the Holy Land
The Crusades Died Out
• Lack of interest, rising European
prosperity
• Repeated military defeats
Effects 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.
• Romantic and imaginative literature.
Effects 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.