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The Crusades The Quest For Holy Land

The Crusades: The Quest For Holy Land Essay, Research Paper


The Crusades: The Quest for Holy Land


Of course you have heard of the crusades, who


hasn t. The crusades were military expeditions launched


against the Muslims by the Christians in an attempt to


regain the Holy Land. They took place between 1095 A.D. and


1270 A.D. It was one of the most violent periods in the


history of mankind.


The start of the great crusades was on November 18,


1095 A.D., when Pope Urban II opened the Council of


Clermont. On November 27, outside the French city of


Clermont, the Pope made an important speech. He called upon


everyone to help the Christians in the east to regain peace.


The crowd’s response was very positive and pro peace. The


original object of the First Crusade was to help out the


Christian churches in the east (Mayer 41). The new goal,


became to free the Holy Land from Muslim control, especially


Jerusalem.


Pope Urban II stayed in France until September 1096,


to provide leadership and guidance for the members of the


First Crusade(42). He urged churchmen to preach the cross


in France. Urban wanted the crusading army to be mostly


made up of knights and other military personnel. Since the


news of his speech at Clermont spread through the west,


people from all social classes and occupations joined the


Crusade. As a result of Urban losing control of personnel,


violence was launched against the Jews of northern France.


This violence was mostly instigated by bands of the urban


and rural men led by men like Peter the Hermit and Walter


Sans-Avoir(43).


These groups lacked supplies and discipline. They


attempted to reach Constantinople but most of them never got


that far. The leaders in lands which they passed through


were frightened and killed many of the crusading groups.


Some did get to Constantinople and traveled across the


Bosphorus in August 1096(Encarta Online). There, they split


into two groups. One tried to overtake Nicaea and was


unsuccessful. The other was ambushed and slaughtered near


Civetot, in October. The remaining crusaders retreated to


Constantinople and joined the second wave of the Crusade.


The crusaders were eager to start the journey to


Jerusalem but they needed to capture the Anatolian Turkish


capital of Nicaea first because it blocked the road that


would be their main supply route(Permoud 33). It was held


by Seljuk Turks. In May 1097, the crusaders attacked


Nicaea. The Turks realized that they were defeated and


agreed to give the city to the Byzantines in exchange for


the lives of their men. The Byzantines agreed to this and


on June 18, Nicaea was under Byzantine control (Runciman


116). The leaders of the crusade disagreed and wanted to


slaughter the Turks because they were enemies of Christ. On


June 30, 1097, the crusaders were ambushed at the city of


Dorylaeum by Seljuk Turks led by Kilij Arslam, the Seljuk


Sultan(Mayer 50). The fight continued until July 1. The


crusaders won a big victory and nearly wiped out the Turkish


force. This victory opened up the way to Anatolia.


The crusaders attacked Anitoch in northern Syria on


October 21, 1097(Encarta Online). This was the main


obstacle on the road to Jerusalem. In a long and gruesome


battle, the city finally fell on June 2, 1098 (Encarta


Online). The crusaders were quickly attacked by a new


Turkish army from Al Mawsil. They arrived too late to revive


Anitoch’s Turkish defenders and they were forced to retreat


on June 28 (The Crusades).


The starting date for the march to Jerusalem was set


for November 1, 1098, but was delayed by an epidemic, and


also because of fighting to the south of Anitoch. On


January 13, 1099 the commander-in-chief, Count Raymond IV


of Toulouse, led the crusaders’ march to Jerusalem. They


avoided attacks on cities to conserve forces. In May 1099


they reached the northern border of Palestine. On June 7


they camped on the top of a hill where they could see


Jerusalem. Many soldiers were so happy they cried.


Jerusalem was well protected and only vulnerable from


the north and the southwest. On June 13, they tried to


storm Jerusalem but were defeated because of a lack of


supplies. Extreme heat and a water shortage lowered morale.


A priest called Peter Desiderius told them that if they


fasted and held a procession around the walls of Jerusalem


with devotion, the city would be theirs within nine days.


The crusaders did this and, when they completed building


three mini castles, they assaulted Jerusalem on July 13.


There was a frenzy of killing as everyone was hacked down.


The governor and his staff were the only Muslims to escape


alive.


After the First Crusade, four Levant states were


established: Jerusalem, Tripoli, Anitoch, and Edessa. The


success of this crusade was due to the weakness of the


Muslim powers.


The Muslim reunification started in the Middle East


under Imad ad-Din Zengi. The Muslims got their first great


victory versus the crusaders when they captured Edessa, in


1144, and destroyed the crusader state in that region


(Encarta Online). This led to the Second Crusade, which was


proclaimed late in 1145(Encarta). Many people joined the


crusade, including the King Louis VII of France and the holy


Roman emperor, Conrad III(Pernoud 7).


Conrad’s army left Nuremberg, Germany for Jerusalem


in May 1147. A few weeks later the French army set out for


Metz(Mayer 104). The Germans tried to cross central


Anatolia in October, but the Seljuks defeated them near


Dorylaeum. The survivors fled to Nicaea. The other German


contingent, led by Otto of Freising, was defeated by Turks


at Ladoicea. The remaining crusaders fled to the coast of


Pamphylia and were slaughtered in February 1148. Few


survivors finished the trip to Syria by ship.


The French army had reached Constantinople on


October 4, 1147. The French then journeyed through


Byzantine territory in west Asia Minor. The Turks destroyed


most of them, but the French king,the German Emperor, and


some knights survived and traveled by ship to Outremer from


Antalya on the southern coast of Asia Minor. Zengi had


died before the crusaders arrived so his sons took control;


Saif al-Din in Mosul, and Nur al-Din in Aleppo. Joescelin


II, the Frankish count of Edessa, took advantage of Zengi’s


death and tried to regain his capital, but Nur al-Din


massacred the Edessan population and retook it.


On June 24, 1148, the High Court of Jerusalem met at


Palmarea near Acre(Encarta Online). The decision was made


to a

ttack Damascus, since Edessa wasn t war objective


anymore. On July 24, they camped along the west side of


Damascus. The Palestinian barons convinced the two kings


that the orchards on the west were making the attack


difficult, so they moved to the southeast. They couldn’t


stay very long in the southeast because it was very open and


hot. On that same day, they took back their army. The


Second Crusade had failed miserably. Saladin took control


of the Muslims when Nur al-Din died on May 15, 1174 in


Damascus. In 1180, he joined forces with the Anatolian


Seljuk sultan, Kilij Arslan II. Saladin stopped the


unification of Aleppo and Mosul in 1182, brought Aleppo


under his control in 1183, and made a four year truce with


the Franks in 1185 after invading Palestine in 1183(Mayer


126). Reynald of Ch tillon, leader of the Franks, broke


the truce when he heard of a rich caravan of unarmed


merchants traveling on the east bank of Jordan. In


retaliation, Saladin invaded Palestine in 1187. The Franks


got their forces together to withstand Saladin at Zippori.


On July 4, Saladin defeated the Latin army at Hattin


in Galilee. Jerusalem surrendered on October 2(Pernoud 8).


On October 29, 1187, Pope Gregory VIII, who succeeded Pope


Urban II after he died from shock of the defeat at Hattin,


declared the Third Crusade(Mayer 136). Three major European


monarches joined: the holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I, the


French King, Philip II, and the English King, Richard I. It


was the largest force of crusaders since 1095. Frederick


died in Anitoch along with many others as a result of an


disease. Most of his army returned to Germany. Philip and


Richard reached Palestine but couldn’t regain Jerusalem.


Many cities along the Mediterranean coast were freed from


Saladin’s control. On July 12, 1191 Acre surrendered to the


Christians. Richard left the Holy Land on October 9, 1192.


The Latin Kingdom had been restored.


In 1198, Pope Innocent III proclaimed a Fourth


Crusade(Mayer 183). In April 1202, the crusaders asked the


Venetians for transport because they overestimated the


number of people who would sail. The Venetians agreed to


postpone the payment due to them if the crusaders helped


them recapture Zara which had been taken from them by


Hungary. The leaders of the crusade had no other choice.


Some protested, saying that an attack on a Christian city is


a sin. On November 24, Zara was captured(Mayer 187). On


June 24, 1203, the fleet anchored at Chalcedon, and on July


17, Constantinople was attacked from sea and land. Emperor


Alexius III fled in fear. Isaac II Angelus and his son


Alexius IV became co-emperors. In a revolt in January 1204,


both were murdered. Alexius V Ducas Murzuphlus became


emperor. On April 12, 1204, they stormed the city and took


control of the walls. On April 14, Constantinople was


captured (Mayer 191). The Crusaders and Venetians murdered


and looted for three days. Afterwards, the crusaders


started their own empire in the Byzantine ruins with a


Catholic religion, French speech, and Italian commercial


policies.


The Children’s Crusade of 1212 began in Rhineland and


Lower Lorraine. In the spring, large crowds of children


gathered there. The leader was a boy named Nicholas from


Cologne(Mayer 203). The goal of this crusade was to capture


the Holy Land. The French King persuaded a large group of


French children to return home. The group led by Nicholas


reached Genoa on August 25. They expected God to allow them


to walk across the sea but that didn’t happen. What


happened after that is a mystery.


In 1213,Innocent III opened a new crusade. He had no


doubt about the Fifth Crusade because the Book of


Revelations said that Islam would last less than 666 years.


It started in 622 A.D. so they thought it would end by 1288


A.D. Innocent III died on July 16, 1216 and Honorlus III


became his successor(Mayer 209). He was dedicated to the


crusade but lacked the political strength and energy of


Innocent III. In return for the capture of Zara during the


Fourth Crusade , the Venetians agreed to transport the


Hungarian army. The crusaders arrived at Acre in May 1218.


Egypt was now the target. If they could get it, all of


southern Palestine could be easily attained. On May 29,


1218, the fleet anchored off shore and the army was placed


on the west bank of the Nile. The crusaders overtook a


tower protecting Damietta. Instead of attacking Damietta,


the crusaders waited for reinforcements. Saladin’s nephew,


Sultan al-Kamil, attacked the crusader camp but was


defeated. In September al-Kamil offered Jerusalem,


Palestine, Galilee, and the return of the true cross if the


Christians evacuated Egypt. Cardinal Pelagius, leader of


the Christian army, rejected the offer. He didn’t want to


come to terms with the Muslims. On November 5, 1219,


Damietta was captured (Mayer 214). In August 1221, the


Crusaders attacked the Egyptians but were forced to


surrender Damitetta.


Emperor Frederick II took up the Sixth Crusade in


1215(Mayer 219). Political problems in the west kept him


from joining. He wanted to boost his appearance by


regaining the Holy Land. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated him


in 1227 when his journey was delayed more because of an


illness(Pernoud 10). He finally left for the Holy Land in


June 1228. In February 1229, Sultan al-Kamil surrendered


Jerusalem because he was afraid of Frederick’s


expedition(Pernoud 10). A ten year truce was agreed upon.


No blood was shed during this peaceful, political crusade.


King Louis IX of France organized the Seventh Crusade


after the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem in 1244. Louis spent


four years planning, and at the end of August 1248, Louis


and his army sailed to Cyprus(Pernoud 10). The army spent


the winter in Cyprus while waiting for reinforcements. The


fleet left at the end of May and stopped off at Damietta on


June 5, 1249. On June 6, the citizens of Damietta evacuated


in a panic. The crusaders spent the summer in Damietta


waiting for reinforcements. On November 20, 1249, the army


started to march to Cairo(Pernoud 10). In the spring of


1250, they attacked Cairo. Louis surrendered to the


Egyptians in April 1250. Damietta was given up and a ransom


was paid.


As you can see, the crusades were one of the most


violent periods of time. Throughout the Crusades the


crusaders lost focus of their original objective, which was


to promote christianity while regaining the holy land. In


the end they not only promoted christianity, they promoted


bloodshed.

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