The Crusades and their Effects (Essay Sample)

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The Crusades and their effects
A Crusade refers to the medieval military expedition made by Europeans to re-capture from the Muslims the Holy Land in the between the 11th and 13th centuries. Between the year 1096 and 1291, historians identify seven key crusades although there were other minor crusades. Some historians consider Frederick II’s 5th crusade as two dissimilar battles. Therefore, the one launched by Louis IX in 1270 can be the 8th Crusade. In the middle ages, the Frank, who are Germanic-speaking members, in the 5th century attacked the Western Roman Empire, and they dominate the current Northern France, W. Germany, and Belgium. They formed an influential Christian monarchy of the initial feudal W. Europe. This war was fought by Muslims and Jews in defense of Jerusalem from seizure by the raiding Franks. Crusaders entered the city on 15th July 1099 and massacred the Jewish and Muslim remnant civilians besides looting and destroying mosques and the city. The purpose of the crusades was to restore Christian entry into Jerusalem holy places through Pope Urban II’s signal in the year 1095. Following the 1st crusade, there followed a sporadic 200 years fight over the Holy Land control (Amt and Emilie, 2014).
Background
Western Europe had ascended to become a significant power by the end of the 11th century, even though it was it still lagging behind far other Mediterranean development like the Byzantine Empire which was formerly the eastern Roman Empire half, the Middle East Islamic empire and North Africa. In the meantime, Seljuk Turks were seizing Byzantium’s considerable territory as they had defeated their Army at the Manzikirt battle in the year 1071 and had also captured and controlled a greater portion of Anatolia. General Alexius Comnenus clutched the Byzantine authority after many years of anarchy and civil war in 1081 and, as Emperor Alexius I combined control over the residual empire. Under the leadership of Nicholas, who claimed to have received an instruction to march to the Holy Land, a motley crew of children, women, the poor, adolescents and the elderly marched from Rhineland to Italy. Alexius sent representatives in the year 1095 to Pope Urban II requesting for The West troops to assist in confronting the Turkish menace. Christians in the East and West had had a restless relationship, but Alexius’ bid came as the situation was gradually getting better. It was until the year 1095 when the pope at France’s Council of Clermont asked Western Christians to get armed and help Byzantines to bring back the Holy Land by then under the control of Muslims. This call was highly supported by both among the lower levels military elite and the ordinary citizens. Those who participated in the armed pilgrimage wore a cross to symbolize the Church (Lapina and Elizabeth, 2015).
The First Crusade (1096 to 1099). It began in the year 1095 when Western Europe Christian armies heed Pope Urban II’s request to go and fight off Muslim forces from their Holy Land Jerusalem. In 1099, the city of Jerusalem was captured by Christians who established many Latin Christian states amidst Muslims’ vow to stage a jihad war to recover the region. On the sacking of Constantinople in the year 1204 Third Crusade, deteriorating relations culminated between Crusaders and Christian associates in Byzantine Empire. As the 13th century approached the end, an upcoming Mamluk dynasty in the African North, Egypt delivered the last reckoning for Crusaders collapsing coastal Acre throttlehold hence driving off Palestine and Syria the European invaders in 1291 (Madden and Thomas, 2014).
Four militias of crusaders left for Byzantium in the year 1096 as different Western European region troops and were led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond from Taranto, Raymond from Saint-Gilles and Hugh from Vermandois. A People’s Crusade, which was a shambolic band of knights-errant and commoners left earlier before others under Peter the Hermit, who was a popular preacher. The People’s Crusade trailed through the Byzantine Empire doing great destruction after resisting Alexius’ instruction to hold their fire for the other Crusaders and crossed Bosporus in August. Turkish army crushed Europeans at Cibotus in the 1st foremost crash between Muslims and the Crusaders. The second group of Crusaders carried out a series of Jews massacres in various Rhineland towns in the year 1096 under the leadership of notorious Count Emicho hence attracting extensive atrocity resulting into a major Jewish-Christian crisis.
Alexius claimed that the four main crusade leaders should take a loyalty oath to him recognizing his authority in any regained land from the Turks and any other zone they conquer. Only Bohemond, who resisted taking the oath, when they arrived in Constantinople. In the year1097, the Crusaders attacked the present day Iznik, which was then Nicea and Anatolia’s capital Seljuk admitted defeat in late June the same year. Although the relations between crusaders and Byzantine leaders was deteriorating, the collective force marched through Anatolia and captured the great Antioch Syrian city in the year 1098. Various internal brawls over control of the city, the Crusaders marched towards Jerusalem and then occupied by the Egyptian Fatimids who were Sunni Seljuks enemies. In June 1099, while encamping before Jerusalem, the Christians forced the city’s ruler to submit by July. Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of people in their triumphant entry into the city in spite of Tancred’s promise of protection (Lapina and Elizabeth, 2015).
The Second Crusade (1147 to 1149). Many Crusaders left for home having attained their goal the shortest period. Those who remained developed four large western crusader states in Jerusalem, Antioch, Tripoli and Edessa so as to govern the city. The crusader states retained the upper hand under the guard of daunting castles in the city until 1130 when Muslim forces began taking root in their jihad against these Christians referred to as the Franks. Seljuk general Zangi, who was the governor of Mosul in 1144, captured Edessa Crusader state to the northernmost. The news stunned Europe who led Christian ruling classes in the West called another Crusade invasion of the enemies. The 2nd crusade was led by France’s King Louis VII and Germany’s King Conrad III in 1147 in which the Turks crumpled Conrad’s army at Dorylaeum in October registering a great victory over the 1st Crusade. The two kings attacked the Syrian Damascus stronghold with 50,000 men army. Overpowered, Damascus’ ruler called on Mosul’s help, then led by Nur al-Din who was Zangi’s successor. This collective Muslim army massively defeated the Crusaders which definitively ended the 2nd Crusade, and Nur al-Din expanded his empire to Damascus to empire in 1154 (Madden and Thomas, 2014).
The Third Crusade (1189 to 1192). The Crusaders of Jerusalem made numerous efforts to capture Egypt and lastly Nur al-Din’s army led by General Shirkuh seized Cairo in the year 1169 forcing the Crusaders to leave. Following Shirkuh’s death, his successor Saladin presumed control and started a movement of defeats in 1174 and 1187 he began a foremost movement against the Jerusalem Crusader Kingdom. His troops devastated the Christian army at Hattin hence capturing the city and a large territory. Once again, indignation over the defeat enthused the 3rd Crusade, which was sphere headed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, France’s King Philip II as well as England’s King Richard I the Lionheart. Barbarossa was later drowned before his army touched Syria at Anatolia. Richard’s army defeated the Saladin forces in September 1191 in the Arsuf battle as the only real 3rd crusade battle. Richard later re-established Christian control from the recaptured Jaffa city and approached Jerusalem but refused to siege the city. He and Saladin in September 1192 signed a peace treaty hence restored the Jerusalem Kingdom which ended the 3rd crusade (Madden and Thomas, 2014).
The 4th to the 6th Crusade from 1198 to1229. Although the influential Pope Innocent III requested for a newfangled Crusade, the existence of power wrangles between Europe and Byzantium forced Crusaders to sidetrack their operation so as to collapse the ruling Byzantine ruler, Alexius III for Alexius IV his nephew June 1203. Stiff resistance met the new emperor’s efforts to surrender the Byzantine church to Rome and Alexius IV was repressed in a palace coup d'état at the beginning of 1204. The Crusaders declared war in response on Constantinople leading to the end of the Fourth Crusade with the defeat and raiding of the superb Byzantine in late 1204.
The remaining 13th century witnessed an assortment of Crusades, which were not directed so much at collapsing Muslim armies in the Holy Land but battling any of those who seemed enemies to Christians. Among the crusades was the Albigensian Crusade of 1208 to 1209 aimed to wipe the unorthodox Albigensian cult of France Christianity whereas the Baltic Crusades of 1211to 1225 was out to soothe Transylvania pagans. In the 5th Crusade that was steered by Pope Innocent III, Crusaders attacked Egypt but surrendered to Muslim guards who were led by Al-Malik al-Kamil, Saladin’s nephew in the year 1221. The attack was both from land and sea. The 6th Crusade in 1229 is where Emperor Fredrick II accomplished a peaceful handover of Jerusalem to Crusaders via arbitration with al-Kamil, at the treaty that expired ten years later and Muslims regained Jerusalem control easily (Amt and Emilie, 2014).
End of the Crusades
The end of the 13th century witnessed Crusaders...