1.1: 1.1 Crusades

The Crusades were a series of invasions of the Middle East by Europeans in the name of Christianity. They resulted in a shift in the identity of Latin Christianity, great financial benefits to certain parts of Europe, and many instances of horrific carnage. The Crusades serve as one of the iconic points of transition from the early Middle Ages to the “high” or mature Middle Ages, in which the localized, barter-based economy of Europe transitioned toward a more dynamic commercial economic system.

Located in the Middle East, the Seljuk were fierce fighters, trained by their background as steppe nomads and raiders, who had converted to Islam prior to the eleventh century. They proved even more deadly foes to the Byzantine Empire than had the Arab caliphates. By the late eleventh century, the Byzantine emperor Alexius called for aid from the Christians of western Europe, despite the ongoing divide between the Latin and Orthodox churches.

In 1095, Pope Urban II responded by giving a sermon in France summoning the knights of Europe to holy war to protect Christians in and near the Holy Land. Urban spoke of the supposed atrocities committed by the Turks, the richness of the lands that European knights might expect to seize, and the righteousness of the cause of aiding fellow Christians. The idea caught on much faster and much more thoroughly than Urban could have possibly expected; knights from all over Europe responded when the news reached them. The idea was so appealing that not only knights, but thousands of commoners responded, forming a “people’s crusade” that marched off for Jerusalem, for the most part without weapons, armor, or supplies.

Urban II offered unlimited penance to the crusaders, meaning that anyone who took part in the crusade would have all of their sins absolved. Furthermore, pilgrims were now allowed to be armed. Thus, the Crusades were the first armed Christian pilgrimage, and in fact, the first “official” Christian holy war in the history of the religion. In addition to the promise of salvation was the promise of loot (and, again, Urban’s speech explicitly promised the crusaders wealth and land). Many of the crusaders were minor lords or landless knights, who now had the chance to make something of themselves in the name of liberating the Holy Land. Thus, most crusaders combined ambition and greed with genuine Christian piety.

The backbone of the Crusades were the knightly orders: organizations of knights authorized by the church to carry out wars in the name of Christianity. Originally organized to provide protection to Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land, the “monk-knights” took monastic vows (of obedience, poverty, and chastity) but spent their time fighting as well as praying. The crusading period caused the orders to grow quickly. Two orders in particular, the Hospitallers and the Templars, would go on to achieve great wealth and power despite their professed vows of poverty.

In all, eight major Crusade expeditions — varying in size, strength, and degree of success — occurred between 1096 and 1291.

Consequences

The Crusades had numerous consequences and effects.

• First, the city-states of northern Italy, especially Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, grew rich transporting goods and crusaders back and forth between Europe and the Middle East. Indeed, some of these cities evolved to become the banking center of Europe and the site of the Renaissance starting in the fifteenth century.
• Second, the ideology surrounding the Crusades was to inspire European explorers and conquerors for centuries. The most obvious example was the Reconquest of Spain, explicitly seen through the lens of the crusading ideology at the time. In turn, the Reconquest was completed in 1492, precisely the same year that Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. With the subsequent invasions of South and Central America by the Spanish, the crusading spirit, of spreading Catholicism and seizing territory at the point of a sword, lived on.
• Third, there was a new concern with a particularly intolerant form of religious purity among many Christian Europeans during and after the Crusades. Numerous outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence occurred as many crusaders attacked Jewish communities in Europe while the crusaders were on their way to the Holy Land. In addition, anti-Jewish laws were enacted by kings and lords.

Going forward, European Christianity became harsher, more intolerant, and more warlike because of the Crusades.