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AP®︎ World History
Introduction to the Crusades
The Crusades begin in reaction to Pope Urban II's call to help the Byzantine Empire reclaim land from Muslim rule (especially Jerusalem).
Want to join the conversation?
- What does the Holy Land mean?(5 votes)
- The Holy Land is another name for Jerusalem. The reason it was so sacred was because each of the monotheistic religions had ties to it. For Christians, the Holy Land was where Christ was born and died. To Muslims, it was the area in which Muhammad ascended into heaven. Lastly, it was the homeland of the Jews and the promised land. All in all, Jerusalem was a center of faith for many people, and that was the motive to have control of the area.(23 votes)
- Can the crusades be compared to the jihad currently happening now? Or are they completely different?
EDIT What does jihad mean?(6 votes)- I wouldn't say so, the crusades were holy wars. Jihad is an Arabic word which literally means striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim.(7 votes)
- what are the reasons for the start of the crusades?(4 votes)
- There were probably many economic, political and even religious reasons for starting the crusades, but consider how the desire for adventure, ethnocentricism and racism may have played a role, too.(8 votes)
- Are the Vikings similar to the moguls?(3 votes)
- The Mughals or Moguls were similar to the Vikings in that they were religiously tolerant. A wide variety of religions were allowed to be practiced within both of their kingdoms. Like the Vikings, the Mughals were conquerors. The Mughals conquered much of India and reigned there until about the eighteenth century. However, while full Mughal people would typically practice Islam meaning that they were Monotheists, Vikings were Polytheistic, worshipping many gods.(7 votes)
- How is the city holy is they murdered thousands of innocent people?(3 votes)
- As a sacred religious place and historically long used name as Jerusalem(Holy City or the City of Peace) can't really change if there isn't a big change in the region. Because of all the greed made by the leaders of the Crusades and the Muslims, it doesn't make the Holy City less or any more in a way. Before the time of the Crusades, the Kings and the royal people didn't have much power because they were too many knights and landlord controlling land and people. By giving an excuse of taking over the Holy City back from the Muslims made the knights voluntarily fight. That made the landlords weak and the Royals stronger. I do agree with you it was and it is kind of a bloody place for such a Holy City. But take in mind it was a fight of greed made by the leaders, religion was just there and the leaders used it into something that was not supposed to be used to.(7 votes)
- What happened during the second crusade?(3 votes)
- Watch The Next video,"Introduction To The Crusades(Part2)
Hope it helps!
Slick(5 votes)
- Who owned the holy land before the crusades(3 votes)
- Various groups occupied these regions through various points in history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_periods_in_the_Palestine_region(2 votes)
- What direction did the Crusaders travel to reach the Holy Land?(2 votes)
- what did the holy land mean(2 votes)
- The term "holy land" referred to an area of the earth's surface (some land) where it was supposed that, because events narrated in the Bible had occurred, a certain aura of "holiness" was present. By controlling this region, the nations in charge and the subjects of the kings of those nations would, somehow, be nearer to God.(1 vote)
- what did they mean by "carry aid"?(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] We are in the year 1095. Just for context, this
is roughly half a century after the Great Schism between
the Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, or
centered at Constantinople, and what eventually gets known as the Roman Catholic church, or the Latin church, centered at Rome. We have the Byzantine Empire continuing to lose territory. Remember in the 7th century as Islam expanded out over Arabia, it quickly overran much of the territory in the Holy Land that at the time was controlled by the Byzantines, Byzantine being another word for the Eastern Roman Empire. By the time of this map, Islam had been in control
of the Middle East, the Holy Land, North Africa, and even a good chunk
of the Iberian Peninsula for several hundred years, as much as over 400 years. As we get closer to this time period, you have the Seljuq Turks
continuing to eat in to the Byzantine Empire and taking most of the
Anatolian peninsula. Also at this time, remember, we are in the high Middle Ages, which is a time when,
especially western Europe, is on the rise. There's increased
agricultural productivity, the population is increasing. And it's in this context that the emperor of the Byzantines, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire looks for help. Emperor Alexios I sends a delegation, sends an ambassador to Pope Urban II, and he essentially asks
for some mercenaries to help him retake some of Anatolia from the Muslims. Well, Pope Urban II sees
an opportunity here. It's been roughly half a century since the Great Schism. He has his own internal struggles going on and struggles with some
neighboring states. He sees this, potentially,
as an opportunity to focus attention elsewhere. And so later that year, in November of 1095, he makes a sermon at Claremont in the kingdom of France. There are varying accounts of his speech, but this is one of them. I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to
publish this everywhere and to perse, which is
another way of saying to persuade, all people of whatever rank, foot soldiers, and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians, so to the Byzantines, and to destroy that vile race
from the lands of our friends. When he's talking about vile race, he's talking about the Muslims who have control of
the Anatolian peninsula and of the Holy Land. I saw those to those who are present. It is meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it. And according to this account, he goes onto say, all who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or
in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. So this is this idea of indulgences, where hey you do something for me, I can forgive your sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested. O what a disgrace if such
a despised and base race, once again he's talking about the Muslims, which worships demons,
should conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is made glorious
with the name of Christ. Pope Urban II's speech has an impact larger than even he expects. Throughout Western Europe,
news of his speech, news of his call to go
and retake the Holy Land, to fight against this
despised and base race, the Muslims, takes hold. And before the Pope is
even able to organize a formal army, you have
someone by the name of Peter the Hermit lead what's called the People's Crusade in 1096. And this is often considered the first part of the first crusade. As they march through the Rhineland in what is now Germany, they massacre Jews, several thousand, calling them Christ killers
on their way to the Holy Land, and this is a theme that you will see throughout the Crusades. Even though the crusaders
ostensibly were there to help the Byzantines,
ostensibly to take back the Holy Land, as they
travel through foreign lands, they often wreak a lot of havoc, even sometimes on the
Byzantines themselves, but the People's Crusade itself was very unsuccessful. By the time they got to
the Anatolian peninsula, remember, Peter the Hermit was leading, there were women, there were children, there were untrained peasants fighting, they were massacred by the Turks when they got to the Anatolian peninsula. But eventually, the Pope
was able to organize a more formal, what eventually gets called First Crusade, and once again, it surpasses the Pope's expectations and far surpasses Alexios, the Byzantine emperor's expectations, and it's even a little
bit frightening to him where you have on the
order of 100,000 soldiers coming from western Europe taking these various routes by both land and by sea. And in 1099, they are eventually
able to take Jerusalem from the Muslims, and both
in their taking of Antioch and Jerusalem, most historical accounts say it was quite bloody with significant chunks of
the cities being massacred. This is a later image of what
it might have looked like when they conquered Jerusalem. And from that time period through most of the 12th century, they maintain control of the Holy Land. This is what the map looks like in 1135, and you might notice some changes now. The Byzantine Empire has reconquered chunks of the Anatolian peninsula, in particular the west and the north, and you see these blue regions here which are known as Crusader Kingdoms. We can zoom in on these Crusader Kingdoms, or Crusader states, and
what's interesting about them, even though these western
European crusaders, now they weren't called
crusaders at first, but they wore a cross on their outfits and were eventually called crusaders, even though their goal at first was apparently to help retake land for the Byzantines, when they
were able to take the land, for the most part, they kept it. And they set up these Crusader states, or these Crusader kingdoms that you see right over here that they're going to stay in control of for most of the 12th century. As you get into the middle
of the 12th century, the Muslims are able to take back a few significant cities, which is going to catalyze
the Second Crusades, but then as we get to 1187, the Muslim ruler Saladin is
able to take back Jerusalem, which as we'll see in the next video, will instigate the Third Crusade.