INTRODUCTION: A CLIMATE FOR CRUSADING
Christian concepts of ‘holy war’ before the First Crusade
Jerusalem had been lost to Muslim control in 638, but Christians
were usually still allowed to go on pilgrimage there.
1. THE FIRST CRUSADE
Pope Gregory VII’s failed scheme of 1074 to lead an army to
Jerusalem. Pope Urban II was already sponsoring wars against
Muslims in Spain. Alexius I Comnenus of Constantinople asked the
Pope for military assistance against the Turks.
Urban II’s 1095 decree: that those who, for devotion alone, go to
Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God can substitute this journey
for all penance. They would also be given immunity from law suits
and interest repayment on debts. There was no word for crusading
until centuries later: those who went on crusade were crucesignati
– ‘signed with the cross’.
First crusaders: Western European military aristocrats whose
sufficient funds and followers was matched by an awareness of their
sinfulness and a desire for penance.
Peter the Hermit’s ‘Peasants’ Crusade’ – antisemitic pogroms in
Rhineland (1096). These forces, not princely-led but still
containing nobles, reached Asia Minor before being defeated by the
Turks.
With no single commander, the main armies reached Constantinople
and just defeated the Turks at Doryleaum (1097), before besieging
Antioch (1097-98) and conquering Edessa.
1099: March on Jerusalem, taking advantage of divisions among
Muslim opponents. Conquering Jerusalem in July and defeating
Egyptian relief army at Ascalon in August.
2. CRUSADER STATES: LIFE, PEOPLE AND POLITICS
Following the capture of Jerusalem, four principalities were
established: kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291), principality of
Antioch (1098–1268), county of Edessa (1098–1144) and county of
Tripoli (1102-1289). Explosion of pilgrimage trade.
Life in the crusader states – religion not race formed the test of
civil rights and citizenship. Outremer was a picture of enforced
inequality, but Franks learnt Arabic and married with local
Christians and converted Muslims. At court, witnesses were
permitted to swear on their holy book – be it the Bible, Torah or
Koran. The great hospital at Jerusalem treated people of all
religions.
An open Jerusalem: In 1229, a deal was made with the Sultan of
Egypt restoring Jerusalem to the Franks. The city was to be open to
all, with the Islamic authorities controlling Temple Mount. In
1244, forces for the Sultan retook Jerusalem and it remained under
Muslim control until 1917.
Box feature: Crusader castles, such as Crac de Chevalier and Margat
in Syria, and Belvoir Fortress in Israel.
3. THE SECOND CRUSADE AND THE RISE OF SALADIN
With the loss of Edessa to the Turkish warlord Zengi in 1144, Pope
Eugenius III launched the Second Crusade. This time he eagerly
enrolled monarchs, such as Louis VII of France. Abbot Bernard of
Clairvaux conducted a preaching tour in Flanders and the Rhineland
to recruit crusaders. Box Feature: How preachers drummed up
support.
On reaching Outremer, the Second Crusade failed utterly. Where the
First Crusaders had benefitted from Muslim disunity, in the 12th
century, Syria unified under Zengi’s son, Nur al-Din, whose Kurdish
mercenary Shirkuh conquered Egypt. With Shirkuh’s nephew, Saladin,
Nur al-Din created an Egypto- Syrian Empire. Outremer was now
surrounded.
With internal dynastic weaknesses in Jerusalem, Saladin defeated
the kingdom of Jerusalem’s forces at the Horns of Hattin in Galilee
in July 1187. Ports and castles fell; Jerusalem fell that
October.
Box Feature: the crusades in western art: The Tympanum at Vezelay
Abbey (1130), depicting the first Pentecostal Mission to spread the
word of God to all the people of the world, some of whom are
presented as mythical beasts. A spiritual defence of the crusades.
Box Feature: Jihad and how it differs from crusade.
4. TWO KINGS JOURNEY TO THE HOLY LAND
The West responded to the loss of Jerusalem with the Third Crusade.
A profits tax was introduced in France and England to pay for the
crusade. King Guy of Jerusalem besieged Acre. Frederick Barbarossa,
king of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, led an army through
unhelpful Byzantine territory and hostile Turkish Anatolia, before
he drowned crossing the River Saleph in June 1190. Demoralized,
only a few of his soldiers reached Acre.
The following summer Richard I of England arrived. After six weeks
of pounding, Acre fell to the crusaders. Philip II of France,
overshadowed by Richard’s military prowess, now left the crusade,
but most of the crusaders stayed on with Richard I and marched on
Jerusalem. With insufficient troops to make a full assault on the
city, the situation fell to a stalemate. Richard reached an
agreement with Saladin: the Treaty of Jaffa (1192) left the Franks
in control of the coast from Acre to Jaffa and allowed access to
Jerusalem for pilgrims. Box Feature: financing a crusade
5. THE FOURTH CRUSADE
Intended to attack Egypt, the Fourth Crusade was to be manned by a
Venetian fleet, but, lacking sufficient funds to pay the Venetians
in full, the crusaders had to agree a deal with the Doge: in return
for Venetian support, the crusaders would have to help the
Venetians capture the Dalmatian port of Zara, even though this was
a Christian city belonging to a fellow crusader.
This was followed by a further diversion: Alexius Angelus, son of
the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II, promised to subsidize the
crusaders’ attack on Egypt if they helped him take the Byzantine
throne from his usurping uncle Alexius III. Many crusaders refused,
but the bulk took part in the amphibious assault on Constantinople.
But, Alexius Angelus and Isaac were unable to honour their promise
of subsidy. Having been reinstated, they were deposed and murdered.
The new government was unsympathetic towards the crusaders. Western
leaders decided to partiton Byzantium. Crusaders attacked the city,
looting it for three days before a Latin emperor was installed. The
crusade to Egypt, though, was abandoned.
6. CRUSADES IN WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE
Northern Crusades – Firstly, Danish and German anti-slav aggression
during Second Crusade. Christianization and Germanization of lands
was given a religious gloss by the term crusading – ‘Conversion or
extermination’.
Military Order of Teutonic Knights active across Prussia and the
Baltic. After 1245, the pope gave them the unique right to grant
crusade indulgences without special papal authorization. Peaking in
the 14th century, the Teutonic Knights were defeated by a
Polish-Lithuanian army at Grunwald in 1410, their castle at Malbork
was besieged, and thereafter their influence was curbed.
Iberian Crusades – Members of the Second Crusade helped reconquer
Lisbon from the Moors, before continuing their journey to the
eastern Mediterranean. 1212 Crusade against Almohads in Spain.
Albigensian Crusades (1209–29) against the Cathars in southern
France, degenerated from a genuine attempt to cauterize widespread
heresy into a brutal land seizure.
7. THE LAST OF THE CRUSADES
Smaller crusades and the disastrous crusade of Louis IX (1249).
Antioch fell in 1268, Tripoli in 1289 and, finally, Acre, in 1291.
To ensure that the Franks didn’t return, the Sultan levelled their
ports.
Christendom redirected its efforts against the Ottoman Turks from
the mid-14th century. At Nicopolis (1396) and Varna (1444),
crusaders were defeated by the Ottomans, who had received aid from
Christian allies – Serbs and the Genoese.
In the East: Constantinople finally falls to the Turks in 1453.
Belgrade was saved by a crusading force in 1456.
In the West: Completion of the Reconquista of Spain with the
expulsion of Islamic power in 1492.
Ultimately, crusading faded when secular powers claimed morality
and the control of warfare, not the Church.
Further reading
Index
Fully illustrated history of the medieval Christian crusading movements
Chris McNab is the author of many history and military history titles, including Battles That Changed History. In addition to his writing work, Chris has made regular contributions to radio and TV programmes. He holds a PhD from the University of Wales and lives in south Wales, UK.
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