Transcript The Crusades

THE CRUSADES
• What is a Crusade?
• How many Crusades were there?
• What were the Crusades fought over?
• Why did they start?
Mr. Blais
European Middle
Ages
Causes of the Crusades
• Around 1050 A.D. the
Seljuk Turks invaded the
Byzantine Empire.
• The Turks had converted to
Islam and had taken almost
all Byzantine lands in Asia
Minor as well as the Holy
Land (Jerusalem).
• This would force the
emperor of the Byzantine
Empire to ask the Pope in
Rome for military
assistance
Goals of the Crusades
• Religious Goal: Recapture the
holy land
• Military Goal: Stop Muslim
attacks on the Byzantine Empire
• Political Goal: Kings and the
Church saw the Crusades as a
way for the knights of Europe to
fight together instead of against
one another.
• Personal Goal: Young men saw
the Crusades as a way to gain
wealth and a better position in
society.
The First Crusade
• In early 1097 an army of 50,00060,000 knights and people of all
classes gathered outside
Constantinople.
• The Crusaders were ill prepared
and knew very little if anything
about the climate, geography, or
culture of the holy land.
• After over 2 years and thousands
of miles the Crusader army of
only 12,000 besieged Jerusalem
for a month and captured it on
July 15, 1099.
The Feeble Second Crusade
• By 1144 the city of Edessa
was taken by the Turks and
the Second Crusade was
launched to retake the city.
• This Crusade was led by the
King of France and the King
of Germany and both of their
armies were separately
defeated by the Turks.
• The Crusade was an utter
disaster.
The Third Crusade
• In 1187 (only 88 years after its capture) Jerusalem fell to Muslim
forces led by a skilled military commander named Saladin (Salah alDin).
• Richard the Lion-Hearted (King of England) was also a skilled
warrior and led the Christian forces on the Third Crusade to retake
Jerusalem.
• After many battles the two commanders settled on a truce in 1192.
The Muslims kept control of Jerusalem but would allow unarmed
Christians to pilgrimage to the city.
Richard and Saladin
• Richard was noted for his
courage, charm, grace, and his
utter ruthlessness.
• After his capture of the city Acre
he slaughtered some 3,000 men,
women, and children.
• Saladin was, and still is, one of
the most famous Muslim leaders.
• He was a devout, honest, and
brave man.
• His most renowned act was
sparing the lives of all Christians
in Jerusalem once he captured it.
Effects of the Crusades
• Trade: Merchants who lived in the Early Crusader states expanded
trade as far as southeast Asia benefitting all in Europe.
• Society: For those who remained home, especially women, the
Crusades gave them the opportunity to manage affairs on the estate or
operate shops and inns on their own.
• The Church: With the failure of almost all the Crusades the Church’s
power in Europe began to decline.
• Politics: With Church Power declining and many powerful nobles
now dead or displaced Kings and Monarchs began to consolidate
power and began to create more centralized governments.
• Religion: The intolerance between Christian and Muslims that began
during the Crusades created long lasting bitterness and hatred between
the two religions.
• Exploration: This new knowledge of a world beyond Europe would
drive later Europeans to trade with far away regions like China.
• By 1400,
Muslims only
held onto the
Kingdom of
Granada.
• Then when the
two powerful
monarchs of
Spain
(Ferdinand of
Aragon and
Isabella of
Castile) married
they were able
to force the
Muslims out for
good in 1492.
The Reconquista
• This was a long draw out effort by the
European Christians to drive the Muslim
forces out of Spain and Portugal.
1030
1180
1100
1300
1492
The Spanish Inquisition
• In order to increase the power of
Christianity in Spain, Queen Isabella
and the Church established the
Inquisition in order to suppress and
eliminate any heretics in Spain.
• Heretics were people who had any
beliefs that differed from the Church.
• People suspected of heresy could be
questioned and tortured for weeks and
then once they confessed they were
burned at the stake.
• Hundreds of thousands were burnt at
the stake and at least 150,000 left the
country.