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{{Middle Ages}}

{{Middle Ages}}

[[Image:Crusader.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A returning Crusader]]

[[Image:Crusader.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A returning Crusader]]

'''The Crusades''' (1095-1291) were a series of European Catholic campaigns into the Middle East, fought during the Middle Ages. They were the military responses made by Catholics, from western Europe to the Pope's pleas to re-capture the Holy Land from Islamic influence. After centuries of Islamic attacks, prior to the First Crusade in 1095, Muslims had conquered about two-thirds of the Christian world.<ref name="ency">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250908132840/https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades The Crusades] Encyclopedia Britannica </ref><ref name="Andrea" /><ref name="prior Islamic expansion">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250801015722/https://www.onthewing.org/user/Islam%20-%20Conquests.pdf List of Islamic Expansion on the West Prior to First Crusade]</ref><ref>O'Neill, John J. (2010) "[https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1805&context=ccr The Crusades: A Response to Islamic Aggression]," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 63: No. 63, Article 8.</ref> The First Crusade was Western Europeans performing a counter offensive, thus the First Crusade was not a initiation of conflict, but was instead the latest phase of an ongoing conflict for territory.<ref name="Andrea">Andrew Holt and Alfred Andrea. 2015. Seven Myths of the Crusades. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 9781624664038 Page 28 </ref> Current Crusade scholarship indicates that the Crusades began as both a response to Muslim aggression or attempts to recover territories that had been seized in the past.<ref name="JRS">Jonathan Riley-Smith. 2024. The Crusades: a History (4th edition). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 1350028614. Page 21 "The cause for a crusade was particularly important because at least at first, these wars were fought primarily by volunteers. The first crusaders were such by virtue of the vows they had made; in canon law a vow had to be a voluntary act. When a pope proclaimed a crusade this could be no more than an appeal to men and women to join an expedition of their own free will. He might threaten them with hell-fire, but he could not force them to make vows, or punish them if they did not, and there were occasions when efforts at recruitment failed. A convincing case was therefore essential, even if it had to be made post hoc. Expeditions to the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, or the Iberian Peninsula could be justified as responses to present Muslim aggression or as attempts to recover “Christian” territory that had been injuriously seized in the past."</ref><ref name="Brit">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250827143542/https://www.britannica.com/question/What-was-the-purpose-of-the-Crusades What was the purpose of the Crusades?] - Encyclopedia Britannica</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250616161718/https://apholt.com/2017/06/06/the-first-crusade-as-a-defensive-war-a-response-to-prof-gabriele/ The First Crusade as a “Defensive War”: A Response to Prof. Gabriele - Andrew Holt (2017)]</ref>  The '''First Crusade''' created new Latin states in the Holy Land. Subsequent crusades were less successful except when they attacked Byzantium.  Other medieval movements against heretics and infidels were also called crusades. The crusades ended with the Islamic recapture of all the Holy Land in 1291, when the last city controlled by crusaders, Acre, fell.

'''The Crusades''' (1095-1291) were a series of European Catholic campaigns into the Middle East, fought during the Middle Ages. They were the military responses made by Catholics, from western Europe to the Pope's pleas to re-capture the Holy Land from Islamic influence. After centuries of Islamic attacks, prior to the First Crusade in 1095, Muslims had conquered about two-thirds of the Christian world.<ref name="ency">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250908132840/https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades The Crusades] Encyclopedia Britannica "Approximately two-thirds of the ancient Christian world had been conquered by Muslims by the end of the 11th century, including the important regions of Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. The Crusades, attempting to check this advance, initially enjoyed success, founding a Christian state in Palestine and Syria, but the continued growth of Islamic states ultimately reversed those gains."</ref><ref name="Andrea" /><ref name="prior Islamic expansion">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250801015722/https://www.onthewing.org/user/Islam%20-%20Conquests.pdf List of Islamic Expansion on the West Prior to First Crusade]</ref><ref>O'Neill, John J. (2010) "[https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1805&context=ccr The Crusades: A Response to Islamic Aggression]," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 63: No. 63, Article 8.</ref> The First Crusade was Western Europeans performing a counter offensive, thus the First Crusade was not a initiation of conflict, but was instead the latest phase of an ongoing conflict for territory.<ref name="Andrea">Andrew Holt and Alfred Andrea. 2015. Seven Myths of the Crusades. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 9781624664038 Page 28 </ref> Current Crusade scholarship indicates that the Crusades began as both a response to Muslim aggression or attempts to recover territories that had been seized in the past.<ref name="JRS">Jonathan Riley-Smith. 2024. The Crusades: a History (4th edition). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 1350028614. Page 21 "The cause for a crusade was particularly important because at least at first, these wars were fought primarily by volunteers. The first crusaders were such by virtue of the vows they had made; in canon law a vow had to be a voluntary act. When a pope proclaimed a crusade this could be no more than an appeal to men and women to join an expedition of their own free will. He might threaten them with hell-fire, but he could not force them to make vows, or punish them if they did not, and there were occasions when efforts at recruitment failed. A convincing case was therefore essential, even if it had to be made post hoc. Expeditions to the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, or the Iberian Peninsula could be justified as responses to present Muslim aggression or as attempts to recover “Christian” territory that had been injuriously seized in the past."</ref><ref name="Brit">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250827143542/https://www.britannica.com/question/What-was-the-purpose-of-the-Crusades What was the purpose of the Crusades?] - Encyclopedia Britannica</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250616161718/https://apholt.com/2017/06/06/the-first-crusade-as-a-defensive-war-a-response-to-prof-gabriele/ The First Crusade as a “Defensive War”: A Response to Prof. Gabriele - Andrew Holt (2017)]</ref>  The '''First Crusade''' created new Latin states in the Holy Land. Subsequent crusades were less successful except when they attacked Byzantium.  Other medieval movements against heretics and infidels were also called crusades. The crusades ended with the Islamic recapture of all the Holy Land in 1291, when the last city controlled by crusaders, Acre, fell.

The crusades comprise a major chapter of [[Middle Ages|Medieval History]]. Extending over three centuries, they attracted every social class in western Europe. Kings and commoners, barons and bishops, knights and commoners&mdash;even teenagers&mdash;all participated in these expeditions to the eastern end of the Mediterranean. The motives of the crusaders were numerous: some sought riches; many sought adventure; most were moved by faith alone. Historians stress the central role of religious fervor, while mentioning as well the socio-economic factors crucial in enticing larger contingents. For example, crusaders often were fulfilling their feudal obligations. There were strong links between the papal reforms, the social necessity of violence and the exploitation of this inherent revivalistic imagination of the age of the Papacy.<ref>Douglas James, "Christians and the First Crusade," ''History Review,'' (Dec 2005), Issue 53</ref>  

The crusades comprise a major chapter of [[Middle Ages|Medieval History]]. Extending over three centuries, they attracted every social class in western Europe. Kings and commoners, barons and bishops, knights and commoners&mdash;even teenagers&mdash;all participated in these expeditions to the eastern end of the Mediterranean. The motives of the crusaders were numerous: some sought riches; many sought adventure; most were moved by faith alone. Historians stress the central role of religious fervor, while mentioning as well the socio-economic factors crucial in enticing larger contingents. For example, crusaders often were fulfilling their feudal obligations. There were strong links between the papal reforms, the social necessity of violence and the exploitation of this inherent revivalistic imagination of the age of the Papacy.<ref>Douglas James, "Christians and the First Crusade," ''History Review,'' (Dec 2005), Issue 53</ref>