The Crusades of the Holy Land
Many people, both professionally and personally, have discussed the reasons for the Crusade at great length. Ostensibly, the Pope asked the armies to rescue the Holy Sepulchre from Turkish hands, though pilgrims were traveling in peace to the religious site. The Crusade started in a time that was already volatile and full of conflict, when European knights were battling each other and the Muslim armies were carving up the East. It was an era ripe for war, but none of the participants could have known the Crusades would go on for almost two centuries before true peace was achieved. The Crusading armies set out garbed in bright red crosses, and the faithful all surely believed that theirs was a true mission of God.
The Europeans might have called them heathens, but the Muslim culture was a highly advanced one at the beginning of the Crusades. Warriors were more often than not learned men, educated and well-read. Their weapons were similar yet different, and they had a very foreign set of battle strategies. Despite European ideals, the crusading armies may have been outnumbered from the very start. The Crusaders marched forward to wrest away the land they considered Holy, and may or may not have realized that the Muslims also called the area the Holy Land.
The Crusades, Broken Down
Most sources count seven major Crusades, though there were many individual and minor campaigns that are not listed in that number. The seventh Crusade, led by Louis IX (King of France) was over by 1254. For one hundred and sixty years, between 1095 and 1254, The Holy Lands and the surrounding area were a battle zone. Armies from Europe marched south, establishing new ties as they negotiated their fleets into various harbors and occupying foreign lands that exposed them to new ways of life.
Early Success
A whole cast of characters from France, England, and Italy set out on the first Crusade. The armies were so large, the mere sight of them sent whole towns running in the other direction. City gates were left open and people fled the streets to allow the Crusaders free passage. The army was actually escorted through Tripoli on its way to attack Jerusalem. They camped before the city gates in the miserable heat of July, where Bishop Adhemar led them in a holy procession around the walls for nine days.
The city fell mid-month, in the year 1099, after the Arabs had fled to the Dome of the Rock. Every Muslim and Jew in the city was slaughtered. By all accounts, the carnage was horrifying. Blood pooled up in the streets, and Muslim holy places were desecrated. It was, mission accomplished, a victory for the Christians. The Holy City was put under European rule, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established with Armenia, Edessa, Tyre, and the city itself firmly in Christian hands.
Richard the Lion-Hearted and the Third Crusade
The Crusaders would never again hold the city for as long as they did after the end of the first Crusade. A second Crusade was called for when Edessa was cut off from the rest of the Christian world by advancing Muslim armies. The Crusade was a failure; Edessa was lost. Out of the heart of the Arab lands came a man named Saladin (Salah al-Dis Yusuf), a leader who commanded great respect and power. He successfully won back Jerusalem in a battle near Galilee in 1187, and suddenly had everyone’s attention.
Europe, at the time, set its hopes and dreams on the shoulders of a man widely considered to be great by the population. Fierce in battle and the new King of England, Richard the Lion-Hearted left in July of 1190 to go a-Crusading. His father before him had taken a Crusading vow shortly before falling into war (again) with King Phillip II of France. Upon his father’s death, Richard accepted the cross and massed his army, taxing the English population to do so.
The Third Crusade saw a time of two of the greatest leaders history has known. Saladin was a devout Muslim and by many accounts a very good man and leader. Richard was a military force to be reckoned with, and on his journey to the Holy City he managed to defeat the island of Cyprus (which he promptly sold to the Knights Templar for a great sum of gold), the city of Acre, and the lost coastal fortifications of Jaffa, Ascalon, and Daron. Richard and Saladin saw each other as equals, and had extensive communication through letters though they never met face-to-face. Legend holds that Saladin sent Richard gifts of fruit and snow when he was sick, and sent two horses to the King when Richard’s own mount was killed in battle.
Their communication opened the door for a treaty, and both finally found terms they could agree upon. The towns that Richard had recovered, save Ascalon, would remain in Christian hands. Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control, but allow free passage to all Christian pilgrims. There was peace in Palestine for five years.
Constantinople, “Jewel of Christendom”
The Fourth Crusade is perhaps the blackest stain on the history of Christendom. Where the papal seat in Rome was the head of the religious world of the West, the grand city of Constantinople was the seat of the Byzantine Empire in the East. A rift had torn apart the Eastern and Western churches a century before, though the beliefs of the two churches and even the practices were essentially the same. Constantinople and the Emperors of Byzantium remained friendly to the Holy Roman Empire, and the city had served as a jumping-off place for many Crusading armies.
Venice was the only city with a port large enough to accommodate the Crusader fleet, and the Duke of Venice obliged them for a nominal fee. A powerful leader, Doge Enrico Dandoelo had other plans for his army and the Crusaders both. After persuading them to attack the port of Zara, the Crusaders were approached by the leading family of Constantinople for help.
The Emperor had been deposed, and he and his son went to strike a deal with the Crusaders. The army took a fleet to the city to place the two back on the throne. When the people of the city revolted, killing both father and son, Constantinople suddenly became fair game.
For five centuries, the city stood against Muslim armies. Now it would fall, in the early part of the 1200s. Constantinople was sacked and desecrated, Crusaders destroying holy relics and works of art. Churches were used as gaming halls, and portraits were turned over for prostitutes to dance upon. It was for many years the richest city in all the world, but met its end when torn apart by Christian hands. It became the “Latin Empire”, and the Eastern and Western churches were declared reunited. If nothing else, the Fourth Crusade established Venice as the major trading power, controlling the routes from Europe to Asia Minor. But the Byzantine Empire would never again be the same, and eventually Constantinople was lost to Christendom evermore.
Repeated Failures
The Crusades continued to go downhill during the 1200s. Unsuccessful campaigns in the fifth, sixth, and seventh Crusades were conducted in Egypt. It had been decided by the church that attacking through Egypt was the course of action that lent itself to the best chance of success, and the mission was taken up in the fifth Crusade by a high-ranking Cardinal. When the Crusaders took the Egyptian town of Damietta, the Sultan offered Jerusalem and a large sum of money to the Christians in an effort for peace. The Cardinal refused, determined to fight. In the end, the battle was lost, and the fifth Crusade was a horrible failure.
A failure that was blamed largely on the absence of Emperor Frederick II of Germany, a young ruler who was unable to travel to Egypt during the fifth Crusade. He had taken a vow and not followed through, despite that he sent a very large army to help the Crusaders. Finally Frederick marched in 1227, starting the sixth Crusade. He’d made an enemy of the Pope (Gregory IX), and was excommunicated twice before ever reaching Jerusalem. Through a treaty with the Sultan, the Emperor won Jerusalem for Christendom once more. He crowned himself at the church of the Holy Sepulchre. His rule over the city was not acknowledged, and he was not accepted back into the church. Jerusalem would fall to the Turks in 1244.
King Louis IX assembled his army near Egypt, at Cyprus, and marched on Damietta for the seventh Crusade. The Muslim armies at this time were led by the Mamluks, slaves who were trained from infants to be warriors. They were educated and taught to read, thinking men who wielded deadly arrows and devoutly practiced the Muslim faith. The Crusade was a horrible failure, as King Louis was forced to trade Damietta for his own life. Thousands of Christians were murdered, and the army returned home in shambles in 1254. Louis would try to Crusade once more in 1270 but died en route, before ever reaching the Holy City.
The Benefit
The Muslims were highly advanced people. Their medical achievements alone outshone those of the Europeans. At the time, the English had no real means of treating the sick, possessing no hospitals or hospices. Muslims ate a healthier diet of fruits and vegetables, treating patients with good food and tender care. The Crusaders quickly adopted this practice, establishing the military order called the Hospitallers. Warrior-monks, the knights tended to the sick when they were not fighting for the Crusading cause.
Tyre, Acre, Armenia, and many other eastern locales became home to European-born Christians. New trading routes were opened up, and communication between Muslims and Christians became an every day affair. They lived with each other, traded with each other, and learned from each other in the time that Christians occupied Arab lands. Europe was branching out, suddenly exposed to a new way of life and new ways of thinking. When they returned home, they would bring new ideas with them.
After almost two centuries of war, many just wanted to find a peaceable way to live. The Crusades opened the door for the Renaissance that would start in Italy, bringing beauty and technology to Europe for all to share. Out of all the bad, people were able to harvest some good. The result was a great change in the way the world lived�but religion would never, ever be the same.
