Title: The Crusades
Headings: The Crusades
The Crusades
Page Contents
Historical background
Historical context
The major crusades
Muslims recapture Jerusalem
Crusades in Baltic and Central Europe
Crusades legacy
The Crusades impact on Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Jews
References
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Content: The Crusades
The Crusades
Page Contents
The Crusades
Historical background
Historical context
The major crusades
Muslims recapture Jerusalem
Crusades in Baltic and Central Europe
Crusades legacy
The Crusades impact on Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Jews
References
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns first inaugurated and sanctioned by the papacy that were undertaken between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Originally, the Crusades were Christian Holy Wars to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims, then to defend Christian-held Jerusalem, but some were directed against other targets, such as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France, the Fourth Crusade which conquered Orthodox Christian Constantinople, and Crusades targeting Jews, non-conformist Christians, and un-Christianized populations living in Europe. Initially, the Crusades had the blessing of both the Western (Catholic) Church under the Pope and of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Byzantine Emperor. However, the Emperors withdrew their support as their own subjects became targets of Crusading efforts to root out what they saw as Christian heresy or paganism. Killing Muslims, Jews, or heretics was regarded as an act of merit, rewarded by paradise, and forced conversion was also widespread, although many chose death to renunciation of faith. Conquest of the Orthodox city of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204 (BNF Arsenal MS 5090, 15th century)
Few contemporary Muslim accounts exist of the Crusades, which were regarded as minor “skirmishes” inflicting “pinpricks on the fringes of the Islamic world” (Fletcher: 84). Crusader principalities were sometimes even regarded as strategically useful, providing a buffer zone between the rival sultanates of Egypt and Damascus. In contrast, the Crusades had profound and lasting effect on medieval Europe. From the Christian perspective until recent times, the Crusades were seen as wars of liberation, not aggression, aimed at restoring Christian sovereignty over the Holy Land.