The Crusades

A Crusader Cross

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the objective being to restore Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem by forcibly taking control from the Muslims.

Since the time of Constantine, Emperor of Rome (306 to 337 AD), Christians had gone on pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Even though Muslims had ruled Jerusalem since 638 AD, Christians were still allowed to visit the city. But by the 11th century, the situation had changed. Just about the time the number and frequency of pilgrimages to Jerusalem was at a peak, the Turks obtained control of Jerusalem and put a stop to pilgrimages. The result was a series of war efforts that became known as the Crusades.

The Holy Land, as Jerusalem is often called is significant in Christianity because of the land's association as the place of birth, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whom Christians consider the Savior or Messiah.

Jerusalem in particular holds particular importance to Islam; it is believed to be the site of the alleged ascension into heaven of the prophet Muhammad whom Muslims believe to be the principal prophet of Allah / God.

Throw into the mix that Jerusalem also holds historical and religious importance for Jews as both the ancient capital of their ancestral home and the site of the Western Wall, which is believed to be the last standing part of the Second Temple, and you have the formula for allot of trouble, all for the “sake of God”.

The crusaders were made up of multiple military units from all over Western Europe, and therefore were not under unified command. Generally speaking, you could say that the Crusades were primarily fought by Roman Catholics against Muslims.

As both sides (Muslim and Christian) tried to gain favorable public opinion, the Catholic Church, which advocated a “Just War” in order to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims, offered remission or forgiveness of all sins for those who fought and died in their efforts to take control of Jerusalem.

This, “remission of sin” being offered by the various popes, of the era was a driving factor and provided any God-fearing man who had committed sins with an appealing way to avoid eternal damnation in hell.  Most Crusaders, in fact, believed that by retaking Jerusalem they would go straight to heaven after death.

There were nine (9) major Crusades. The era first began in 1095 AD with the last ending in 1272, for a total of 177 years.  They were:

I.       1095-1099, proposed by Pope Urban II and led by Peter the Hermit, Walter the Penniless, Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin and Eustace of Flanders, and others.

II.      1147- 1149, headed by King Louis VII.                                            

III.     1188-1192, proclaimed by Pope Gregory VIII in the wake of the catastrophe of the second crusade, it was led by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip Augustus of France and King Richard “Coeur-de-Lion” of England.

IV.     1202-1204 led by Fulk of Neuil.

V.      1217-1221 led by King Andrew II of Hungary, Duke Leopold. VI. of Austria, John of Brienne.

VI.     This one holy Roman Emperor Frederick II participated, from 1228-29; as well as Richard of Cornwall (in 1229).

VII.   Led by St. Louis (Louis IX of France), from 1248 to 1254.

VIII.  Led again by Louis IX in 1270.

IX.    Led by Prince Edward / Edward I of England in 1271 and 1272.

During the crusade era, the participants were never referred to as “Crusaders”. The original crusaders were known by various terms, such as the “Faithful of Saint Peter” or the “Knights of Christ”. They thought of themselves as undertaking a journey, a pilgrimage so to speak, except in those days, pilgrims were usually forbidden from carrying arms.

In View of their original purpose, the Crusades were utter failures. They made no permanent conquests of the Holy Land and they did not hinder the advance of Islam.  In addition, the image of the Catholic Church and Christianity in general suffered a major setback.

Sources ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades                                                                                      http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/crusades-timeline.htm                                                                         
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/crusades.stm                                                         http://www.clker.com/clipart-137253.html