The Crusaders

Mrs. Kresal

Western Civilization I

October 30, 2009

Crusading for Christendom – The Reasons Behind the Crusades

            The Crusades marked a stressful period in Western history. Its effects spread like a plague, involving several different nations, intertwining fatal consequences for England, France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Syria and the area around Jerusalem.  From the literary view of these battles, we are acquainted with heroic descriptions of religious zeal and courage in battle…. but as most unbiased historical research unveils, the Crusades were just as misguided, misled and inglorious as most battles.

            Reading the accounts from the people of the day, we get an understanding of who the participants were and feel of their naïve vision in the events leading up to the Crusades. Pope Urban II received an epistle from the Holy Emperor, Alexius, from Byzantine saying that a band of Turks were stealing his land and slaying his people. He knew that the Pope had more power and sway over the people than all the dignitaries in Europe, so he appealed for military aid. Also, Christian pilgrims were being attacked along the routes to the holy places along Damascus and Jerusalem.

            Pope Urban took the opportunity, stating that it was the moral and sacred duty of the followers of Christ to help protect their brethren in the East, to cut down the opposing forces of “heathens”, to “destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends.” (Account of Fultcher of Chartes)

He talked of the sins of the people, how their baseness and failure of spiritual duty made them susceptible to be overcome by their enemies. He instilled in them a fear of God’s wrath and an awareness that they needed to recommend themselves to Him for salvation. The Pope addressed the gravest problem among the European nations, internal conflict. He told them that they had fought amongst themselves for unreasonable motives, that they had been so focused on gain and power, fallen from the grace of God.

The Islamic people were not only enemies, but demons, according to his apostolic judgment, and were to be treated as such. He condemned any who was not prepared to wipe them from the earth. Urban filled his speech with grotesque imagery of the Islamic people, painting a sickening picture of fiends and mercenaries, attackers without sentiment or ethics. He called them the Antichrist (Account of Guibert de Nogent) signaling proof that a scriptural revelation was coming to pass about the last days. He charged them that they were duty bound to God, country, and Pope to wrest the Holy places out of foreign hands. In return, he assured them of their salvation and unity with heaven. With pounding hearts, they lapped up the promises of eternal riches and sanctity through valiant sacrifice and valor.

Because of their deeply-rooted customs of following the church, being dependent upon the leaders for every knowledge and interpretation of God’s will, they backed the Pope more than whole-heartedly – even over-exuberantly. Plus, everyone liked a good fight.

Looking at the ordeal hundreds of years down the road, we can see multiple flaws in the Pope’s reasoning. First of all, the Islamic nation as a whole didn’t even start the fight. The group of Seljuk Turks who attacked the Byzantine area were just converted Islamics, not the nation as a whole. And also, the attackers and murderers of the Christian pilgrims were very often bands of robbers, not whole organized armies and not affiliated with any main coalition with Islam.

Even though these were the facts, the Pope played off the misconceptions for his own reasons. He was tired of the constant battling and bickering of the nations in his jurisdiction. The constant power-fight was wracking on his nerves, and he saw this as the perfect opportunity to divert the testosterone and redirect it elsewhere. Also, by reclaiming the holy lands, it would only broaden his power-filled horizon. The idea was drenched with a surety of economic growth, as trade routes would be opened and plunder would be claimed. Many noblemen of lesser power saw it as a chance to claim a piece of earth for themselves, away from the restraints of primo geniture custom and lording eyes. Because of these motives, thousands of people marched forth with bright eyes and anxious hearts, blindly led to a death not warranted.

The eye witness accounts were taken internally, certainly painting a brilliant picture of glory and promise. It is said that an individual will conform to any thought pattern if caught up in the excitement of belonging to a group. The motivation to be a part of something more can inspire even the most unreasonable insanity or numbness of thought. Though each account has the general message and feeling to it, I’m sure different individuals took notice of different aspects of the Pope’s speech, therefore giving us a biased and sketchy viewpoint of the intentions of the Crusades.

As time has cleared the air of one-sidedness and the layout of the real events has been noted, we can see that the Crusades did not even accomplish the things the dreams that the early Christians set out to pursue. They did not return with glory, they did not gain the Holy Land, they did not conquer the Arabs; instead they returned home battered or dead, or not at all. It was a tactical error from beginning to end, but began the drive for imperial European expansion that led to countless battles as history progressed.