Crusades

Crusades were Christian military expeditions in the Middle Ages organized in Europe and promoted by the papacy, initially to recover formerly Christian territories under Muslim occupation in the eastern Mediterranean. They were soon directed to other regions. Crusading built on a tradition of pilgrimage to Christ's sepulcher in Jerusalem and the evolution of just war into biblically inspired holy war against the enemies of Christendom.

Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095 in response to a Byzantine appeal for mercenaries to fight the Seljuk Turks who had recently occupied Christian Asia Minor. The Crusaders’ initial victims were European Jews, but in 1099, they captured Jerusalem, ultimately establishing four Latin states. The second (1147–1149) and subsequent crusades sought to defend, recapture, or extend these territories, but none repeated the success of the first (1096–1102). Local Muslim warlords increasingly sought legitimacy through waging jihad against “the Franks” until Saladin (Salah al-Din) overcame them in 1187 at Hattin, near Tiberias, subsequently recovering Jerusalem. Christian rule there was restored by negotiation in 1229 but ended by conquest in 1244. The Third Crusade (1189–1192) had seized Byzantine Cyprus and retaken Acre, which was not finally lost until 1291. From the 14th to the 17th century, the Crusaders sought to fend off the Ottoman invasion of Europe.

Expeditions in Iberia and against the popes’ European opponents reflected the movement's origins, but Orthodox Christians, too, became the object of crusading, especially after the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) captured Constantinople. Crusades were launched against Cathar Languedoc (1209–1229), Hussite Bohemia (1420–1431), and Protestant England (the Armada of 1588). To the north, Crusaders and Teutonic Knights fought pagan Wends, Balts, and Lithuanians from 1147.

For six centuries, crusades were promoted by popes, church councils, and other Christian leaders. Most Crusaders to the east incurred huge debts, seeking treasure only in heaven through a lifethreatening form of penance. Christian warriors could now use their skills serving God rather than renounce them for the monastery, but these vocations were combined when military orders such as the Templars and Hospitallers conducted holy war instead of manual labor. As pilgrims, the Crusaders had a special symbol (a cloth cross), took a vow, and were promised remission of their sins (and even martyrdom) as well as ecclesiastical protection for their persons, families, and property.

Pope Urban had sought to liberate Eastern Christians from Islamic rule and bring them under papal jurisdiction. By stages, the Maronites and some Armenians entered into communion with Rome, but other Eastern Christians were deeply alienated. Among Muslims, crusading heightened appreciation for the sacredness of Jerusalem, but its impact was far less significant than that of the Mongol invasion. Only in modern times did Muslims learn to regard the crusades anachronistically as an early form of European imperialism. On July 22, 2011, a Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik, evoked the image of the Crusades by claiming to be a part of the Knights Templar, a [Page 267]Christian militia devoted to ridding Europe of Muslim immigrants. For both Muslims and Westerners, crusading became a powerful but ambivalent source of myth and symbolism.

...