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Reverted edits by Consevativeditor (Talk); changed back to last version by Masterbratac
[[Image:Crusader.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A returning [[Crusader]]]]
[[Image:Crusader.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A returning [[Crusader]]]]
The Crusades lasted 176 years from 1095 until 1271
The Crusades lasted 176 years from 1095 until 1271
The most famous military activity in the feudal period was the “Crusades”, a
series of wars covering nearly 200 years, from A.D. 1096-1291. Only the First
Crusade and to a lesser extent the Third Crusade were successful. One of the
main purposes of the crusades was to make [[Jerusalem]] safe for Christian
pilgrimages. At the request of the Byzantine Emperor, who wished fro a
mercenary force to aid his reconquest of his lands, in 1095 [[Pope Urban II]]
called for feudal [[knights]] to retake the [[Holy Land]] from the [[Seljuk
Turks]]. The Seljuk Turks seemed almost invincible as fighters, having
conquered [[Asia Minor]] and even beating the once-mighty [[Byzantine Empire]].
The Seljuk Turks ruled from the 1000s to the 1200s, and did particularly well under one particular ruler, [[Malik Shah]], who died in 1092. But some Moslems
were unhappy with being ruled by the Turks, and once Malik died dissension in
the Islamic world grew.
The Byzantine emperor, [[Alexius Comnenus]], had inherited an empire that had
been destroyed by Seljuk and Patzinak Turks and he asked the pope for mercenary
help to defeat the Moslems. He promised a reunion of the [[Eastern Orthodox
Church]] and the [[Western Church]] and to give Byzantine lands (“[[fiefs]]”)
to victorious knights from the [[feudal]] west.
At the [[Council at Clermont]] in southern France, Pope Urban II gave a famous
speech. Promising [[absolution]] and assurance of salvation to anyone who died
in the crusade, he urged a huge crowd to protect Christian pilgrims from the
Turks. He demanded that all internal feuds end and he threatened
[[excommunication]] for anyone who continued to bicker internally. Those who
decided to fight in the crusades were said to be “taking up the cross,” because
they would stitch small crosses onto their tunics.
At first [[Peter the Hermit]] answered the call of Pope Urban and led an
unprepared group of peasants in the first mission, which failed. But news of
its failure led to renewed determination by the Christians, and a well-equipped
religious mission led by the Normans was formed. This became known as the First
Crusade.
When the western forces reached [[Constantinople]] to join with Alexius’
soldiers, the western army was almost 20,000 men. It proceeded to capture
[[Nicaea]] in 1097, and went onward to Jerusalem despite intense fighting,
mostly between the various factions within the Crusade as opposed to with any
Moslem enemies and hardship.
In 1099 the First Crusade invaded and succeeded in capturing Jerusalem, and set
up four feudal kingdoms that would remain for nearly 100 years. However, the
Christian crusaders massacred the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and many other
towns in the process. But it was a huge military victory and Jerusalem was
temporarily made safe for the pilgrims.
A mixture of Christian spirituality and military adventure motivated the
participants in the Crusades like never before in history and perhaps never
since. Genovese Merchants participated also in the hope of undermining
Venice's trade links with Moslem Egypt. Many of the crusaders were acting to
advance the cause of Christianity. This was not necessarily true for all of
the crusaders. Criminals who fought were pardoned, and a crusader was exempt
from taxation from the time that he “took up the cross,” until he returned from
the war.
A Second Crusade in 1147-49 was a failure, owing to the French King's insistence
on betraying and attacking his only Moslem ally, Damascus. In 1187 the Muslims
captured Jerusalem under their leader [[Saladin]], and the Third Crusade
(1189-92) had the limited success of obtaining a truce from Saladin that
promised to allow Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem. That Crusade was led by
the leaders of [[France]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and [[King Richard]]
the Lion-Hearted of England. The first returned home after an argument with
Richard at Acre, and the second drowned; only King Richard saw the mission
through.
Two subsequent crusades were tragic. The Fourth Crusade (1202-04) Never reached
the Holy Land and ended with the crusaders’ sacking Constantinople — a Christian
City — wounding it forever and embittering the East against the West further
than the previous Crusades had done. A Children’s Crusade (1212) consisted of
peasants leading up to a thousand children on a mission of love to Jerusalem,
but the children were captured by Christian Genovese merchants and sold as
slaves to, ironically, the Moslem powers of North Africa. The later Crusades
saw a revival in religious motivation, indeed, the Fifth Crusade and the
Crusade of St. Louis both nearly succeeded in regaining Jerusalem by way of
attacking Egypt and failed only through the greed of men like Robert of Artois.
It seems that the Christian armies lost sight of our goals to bring and spread
love and Christianity along the way, got drunk with power and glory and decided
to pillage towns and murder people (note that this is breaking many commandments
“thou shalt not murder.” “thou shalt not steal”), although this murder and
pillage did, in it's own perverse way, spread the faith through fear, and
focused instead on founding feudal states instead of the Catholic Theocracy
dreamed of by Diambert of Pisa, the second Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Crusades went against our Christian teachings and the words of Christ, “love
thy neighbor as thyself” “turn the other cheek” etc.