Transcript The Crusades - jsimmersworldhistory

The Crusades
The Geographic Impact of
Holy Wars
Symbolism
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiDLRxLz-g
The Dark Ages
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhcJpal
bFxo
Origins
• Crusade- Holy War
– Crux or Croix- Latin for cross
• When a pope called for a crusade, warriors would “take up the
cross”
– Sew cloth in the form of a cross on their front or backs
• 3 reasons for the Crusades
– Nobility
• Idle nobility causing problems in Europe
– North Africa- Egypt
• Fatimids who were supposed to be protecting Christians making
pilgrimage to Holy land not doing so
– Groups of Muslims rob and kill on the roads to Palestine
– Seljuk Turk pressure on Byzantine Empire
• Emperor Alexius I Comnenus appeals to Pope Urban II for aid
“PeoPle’s Crusade”
• Council of Clermont (1095)
– Pope Urban II calls on people to take up the sword in defense of
the Christian Holy land
• Peter the Hermit
– Nasty fellow
– Gathers 15,000 plus and leads Peoples Crusade (1096)
• Steal their way from Cologne to Constantinople
• Lays siege and takes Xerigordon
– Return of Kiliy Arslan –ruler
– Routes Peter and his followers
» Many killed, many enslaved, some made it back to Europe
Council of Clermont/Peter
the Hermit
1st Crusade
• Tens of Thousands gathered through-out Europe
• Take many routes and assemble in Constantinople (1097)
– Comenenus happy
» Realizes quickly the numbers aren’t there to help him
» Majority there to take back Holy lands and place them back in
Christian hands
» Even some of Comenus’ lands
• Take Edessa and Antioch (1097 and 1098)
– Move on Jerusalem
– Lay siege to city but can not break defenses
– Traitor within city opens Eastern gate
• He was a Muslim
– Jerusalem falls and is sacked June 15, 1099
• The blood shed is relentless
– Thousands of Jews and Muslims flee
Why the Victory?
• Betrayal
– City gates
• Muslims are divided by sects and tribes
and can not mount a defense
• The numbers
– Many of the crusaders were knights
– Many more average men
– All in the name of Christianity, Salvation, and
yes…greed
Rule
• Lands are divided into Christian states
– Fiefs by pope
– Fairly large Christian migrations
• Knights Templar used as protection and banks
• Defense
– Muslims create problems via riots and attacks
– Christians build churches, but most energies
in defenses
• Actually stop growing crops and rely on imports
2nd Crusade
• 1144
– Muslim Army takes Edessa
• Led by Zongi of Aleppo
– Bernard of Clairvaux and Leo XII attempt to
retake city
• Utter failure
– Zongi is murdered and son Nur al-Din takes
power
• Later dies and rise of Salah al-Din
Fall
• Salah al-Din (Saladin)
– 1163-69
• Sent south by Nur al-Din to Egypt to consolidate power
– 1174-83
• In Damascus, Syria
– Nur al-Din dies and Salah al-Din now in control
– Gathers a large army and moves on Holy land
– Battle of Hattin (1187)
• King of Jerusalem leads defenders to take al-Din
• Drawn into dessert and away from supply lines
• Army is slaughtered and al-Din moves on Jerusalem
– October 1187
• Jerusalem falls
• Al-Din allows Christians to leave city
– Protected by his own men
3rd Crusade- 1189-93
• Led by Frederick of Barbarossa (Germany), King
Richard II the Lionhearted of England, and King
Philip I of France
– Frederick drowns on journey
– Richard and Philip dislike each other
• Reach Palestine but in fighting does not allow for a strong
siege of Jerusalem
• In fighting between two follows to Europe
– Philip attacks England in Richards absence
– On return Richard is captured by Henry VI
» England forced to pay large ransom
» Leads directly to Margna Carta of 1215
4th Crusade- 1201-1204
• 30,000 arrive in Venice, Italy to make way
to Egypt
– Can not pay for voyage
– Venetians offer to cover the cost if they take
port city of Zara
• They do
– Make way and sack Constantinople
• Pope Innocent III initially upset but sees
opportunity for western church in East
– City will fall to Michael Paleologus in 1261
So What Does All This Mean?
• The Crusades were and are seen as a clash of religions
• They still create tensions today between Christianity and
Islam
• For Geography though they are SOOOO IMPORTANT
– The exchange of land
– The changes brought to the lands by different peoples and
cultures
– The exchange of cultures both western and eastern
• So the Crusades are more than a war between
ideologies and religions, it is a pivotal moment in
Geographic History
Results of the Crusades
• Trade
– Not only of ideas but of goods between west
and east and Christian and Muslim
• A reacquaintance by Christians of Greek ideas and
thoughts
• Arabic numerals, which Muslims adopted from
India
• Paper production, which Muslims learned from
China
• Luxury goods such as silk, gems, and foods that
made many merchants (especially Italian) very rich
The Culture Exchanges
• Christians Brought
– Brought irrigation and new farming
– Restructured much of the landscape
• Christians took
– Art, Ideas, education that had been lost in the
West for nearly 600 years
– Silk, spices, and goods that turn small coastal
towns into ever growing cities
– It is the start of the Renaissance