Crusades

Historical Overview and Context

The initial spark and public appeal for the Crusades was given by Pope Urban II at the Church Council of Clermont in 1095, mobilizing the faithful to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land more broadly. The situation in medieval Europe at the time was ripe for such an initiative. Among other factors, historians note the presence of armed warriors as a result of the Christianization of the Vikings and Slavs and the breakdown of the Carolingian Empire at the end of the 9th century. Given the relative stability of borders at the time, these warriors turned their energies to terrorizing each other and the local populations. In addition, although Western Christians had been making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, in particular the Holy Sepulchre, for centuries, the Muslim rulers of the time made it increasingly difficult for pilgrims. To complete the picture, although the Byzantine Christians and Roman Catholics continued to be at odds, the Byzantine emperor Alexios I called on the Catholic pope to send mercenaries to help defend the remains of the Byzantine Empire from a new wave of attacks from the (Muslim) Seljuk Turks.

Thus, the Crusades were conceived of and instigated as liberation movements and an expression of the Christian faith, along with (re)installation of its power; in the Christian rhetoric, participation was promoted as a (penitential) pilgrimage. The first crusaders set off from France and Italy in 1096, arrived at Jerusalem in 1099, conquered the city, massacred the majority of the inhabitants, and subsequently established four crusader states. The retaking of Edessa, one of the four crusader states, by Muslims in 1144 led to a call for the Second Crusade, which began in 1147. From here, historians debate the number of subsequent Crusades, ranging from a total of seven to nine, with several other military campaigns with religious goals taking place in between. Traditionally, the fall of Acre in 1291 marks the end of the Crusades, but some historians extend them to 1798, when Napoleon expelled the Knights Hospitaller from Malta.

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