The Crusading Ideal and Appeal
In the High Middle Ages, the people of Europe experienced a massive wave of religious enthusiasm. The outlet for this surge of religious enthusiasm ended up being a massive movement called “The Crusades.” Spielvogel describes the Crusades as “... a curious mix of God and warfare...” (Spielvogel. 257). The Crusades were essentially a war against the unbelievers in an attempt to convert them. Religious enthusiasm was not the only incentive behind The Crusades. If the people went and fought in The Crusades, they were granted forgiveness from all of their sins. The Crusades were and outlet for the surge of religious enthusiasm and changed the civilization of Western Europe and had far reaching effects that are visible even today.
The Crusade that started them off was the “Peasant’s Crusade” also known as the “Crusade of the Poor.” Pope Urban II’s speech started off this crusade, talking about the need to reclaim the Holy City and take revenge on the murderers of Christ, lighting a fire underneath the people. There was an overwhelming response, especially among the peasants earning the crusade its name. Essentially, the crusade was not a huge success and many of the peasants sacked houses, stealing whatever they could, and persecuted Jews because of their misguided interpretation of them being the murderers of Christ from what they heard in Pope Urban II’s speech. Though some of the motives behind the Peasant’s Crusade may have been misguided, it did help spark the other crusades. The First Crusade proved to be more successful and was compromised of knights recruited by Pope Urban II from the warrior class in western Europe and especially France. Pope Urban II placed his faith more in this crusade and believed that men who were trained in the art of war would be more successful. Many of the men recruited were motivated by religious enthusiasm and the potential of power. In 1097 the group of warriors headed out to Constantinople The Emperor Alexius did not trust the warriors or their motives so he gathered up his own band, not from mercenaries, but rather from western nobles with their own motives and he made the crusaders swear allegiance to him. After 1098 when they captured Antioch they moved down to the Holy City and massacred it and took control in 1099. After more success in the Palestinian lands, the allegiance to Alexius was forgotten and the land was divided into four states; Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli and were all under the rule of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Eventually the states started to fall apart and the Muslims took advantage of their weakness. Edessa, the first to fall, collapsed in 1144 and the Muslims reclaimed control over it. This led to the Second Crusade. St. Bernard of Clairvaux organized the Second Crusade and aimed his message towards the knights. St. Bernard managed to enlist the help of King Louis VII and Emperor Conrad III of Germany. Despite that, the Second Crusade was still poorly organized, did not have cooperation from the leader of Jerusalem and failed to get rid of the Muslims.
The rest of the crusades were not much more successful. Once the Holy City of Jerusalem fell in October of 1187, the religious enthusiasm was once again set on fire. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, Richard I the Lionhearted of England and Philip II Augustus King of France took charged and organized the Third Crusade. Emperor Frederick had an overwhelming response in Asia Minor and he greatly contributed to the success of the crusade. He also contributed to its failure when he accidentally drowned while swimming in a river one day. After his death the Third Crusade was lacking a strong leader and even though they succeeded in the costal areas, they fell apart when they tried to move inland. The Fourth Crusade experienced a decline in the morals and the original cause of The Crusades. Pope Innocent III supported the Fourth Crusade and directed his message towards the nobles. Many nobles from the Netherlands and and France responded and joined the crusade. Unfortunately, the crusading morals greatly disintegrated during the Fourth Crusade. “Christian crusaders took gold, silver, jewelry, and precious furs while the Catholic accompanying the crusaders stole as many relics as they could find.” (Spielvogel pg. 261). They also sacked Constantinople and became twisted into the politics of the Byzantine empire and fell. The Crusades spiraled downward from that point on.
Even though the Crusades were not successful in their original movement, they did manage to impact the economy and the civilization as a whole. Economically, they helped the Italian port cities grow and overall enhanced the revival of trade. They also helped eliminate young warriors that would have ended up fighting each other. Unfortunately, they did massacre the Jewish people and failed in their original movement. Their short term effects were not as obvious or as great as the far-reaching effects of The Crusades. Architecturally, castles were built for fortification and many of them are still standing today, giving us insight to what life was like back then. Since The Crusades spread people to new areas, cultures, ideas and knowledge spread with them. Geographic knowledge was spread as well as medical knowledge and warfare skills.
The Crusades, though they did not succeed in their original goal, did help impact our society now. The Crusades provided an outlet for the religious movement and enthusiasm and helped spread the cultures and ideas through the Crusades. During that time, they did not appear to be a huge success but later on, and even today, it is evident that they impacted society. Originally, the motives were pure, though carried out in the wrong way, but over time the motives became corrupted and lead to the downfall and overall short term failure of The Crusades. Long term, however, The Crusades impacted the culture by the spread of it through the people and provided a release for the religious fervor that swept over Europe.
No comments:
Post a Comment