Books 10 And 11 Of Impulsed By Anna Comnena

The greatly needed stability for the Holy Roman Empire motivated the political leaders for the undertaking of the Christian Crusades. At this time the Holy Roman Empire was a poverish and the majority of the people who were in the middle and lower class were not able to live comfortably. In addition the government was not strong enough to advance let alone support the people. The fairly new feudalist government created a separation within the classes the made the lower class serfs, Middle class knight and the upper class lords and kings fight for mobility and power. In result of this violence and chaos erupted.

Jerusalem was the Holy city for Christians, which is why they wanted control over it again. Therefore, the Byzantine empire asked the Pope to call upon his people into war. Painting people as “Heathens” also fueling their desire to conquer Jerusalem, showing how unholy people don’t deserve to have control over the Holy Site. Many Christian empires already considered non-Christians as barbarians, so this added fuel to the fire. This brought community among Christians and stopped at-home wars, turning their focus onto Muslims and Jews.

The Crusades were a violent series of battles that Christians fought against Muslims in order to gain back the holy land, Jerusalem. The Christians felt threatened by the intimidating rule of the Islamic Empire, and their response was the first Crusade. These attacks continued and grew unsuccessful throughout many years, and are often due to the intense bond between Christians and God, however there are other influences, like wealth and power. Some argue also that the actions committed during these events were not necessarily “barbaric”, considering the historical time period. The Crusades should be remembered as a series of attacks with a variety of motives and influences that were violent and barbaric.

The Crusade Wars were holy quests to gain the Holy Land, Jerusalem. It is recognized as a series of religiously sanctioned military crusade wars in Europe. Christianity was the dominant religion of power and wealth. Pope Urban II, initiated the first crusade by responding to a request from the Emperor of Constantinople for military help. Those who took to the crusade would be released of their debts and paying taxes.

The end of the 11th century was the beginning of the first campaign called Crusade, which was later followed by other crusades. It was a period of great fighting for the lands and religious ideologies between Christians and Muslims. In other words it was a period of big changes, when thousands of peasants and soldiers died and a lot of towns were devastated. The first crusade was the biggest movement of Christians to Holy land. In comparison with other campaigns it was the most successful.

Both Document 5 and Document 10 illustrate the political tension that ensued between the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe. Anna Comnena, the daughter of Alexius I, wrote in her history of her father’s reign, that the prospect of seizing Constantinople was an underlying motivation for many of the European crusaders (5). Anna was a high-class noble in the very sophisticated Byzantine state, so she, as well as many other Byzantine nobles, saw the Western European crusaders as uncultured and violent. Because of this she and many other Byzantines were suspicious of the Western crusader’s motives. The cultural differences between the two cultures eventually distracted from the original hope of unification.

In the 11th century, Pope Urban II called all Europeans to fight in the crusades. The Crusades lasted from 1096- 1291. People wanted to fight for God and the pope to get back the Holy Land. The Seljuk Turks, who were Muslims, inhabited the Holy Land at this time. The Muslims were not treating the Holy Land and God in the way Christians believed they should be treated.

“Were the Crusades successful in achieving their aim of reclaiming Jerusalem and maintaining the Christian presence in the Middle East (Anatolia) and the Crusader States, and how are the Crusades relevant/similar to recent events taking place in the Middle East such as America’s war on Terror and Jihadism.” The Crusades were a series of holy wars declared by the officials of the Catholic Church on the Muslim expansion and Seljuk Turks who had taken over the holy lands. Crusaders were sent off to Israel to reclaim these lands and strengthen the Christian presence in Anatolia however they were not successful in maintaining their holds and crusades following the first crusades can be considered failures. The First crusade was declared by Pope

In 1093, the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius Comnenus, sent an appeal to the Count of Flanders for support for the Christians against the threat of the Muslims. Pope Urban II read this and he called upon the Western Christians in Europe to stop the Muslims and gain control of the Holy Land, soon following this, the Crusades began. The Crusades were essentially a sequence of wars to obtain control over the sacred holy sites in Jerusalem between Christians and Muslims. Although other components factored into the cause of these wars, the primary motive behind the Crusades was the Christian's religious devotion to God and control over both religions’ sacred sites housed in the Holy Land. One primary reason a large quantity of Christians joined the

In 1198, Pope Innocent III preached the Fourth Crusade to reinstate Christian lands and recapture Jerusalem. Under Innocent III, for the first time in the history of the Crusades, the pope taxed the church in order to collect money for the war. In this Crusade, advocates followed Richard the Lionheart’s procedure and travel by sea rather than by land. As a result, crusaders leased vessels from Venice. Instead of going to the Holy Land, the Crusaders attacked Zara and Constantinople in order to acquire money to pay their debt and fulfill selfish reasons.

The purpose of the Crusades were for political and economic gain because of the military threat from the Muslims, potential resulting success, and control of Jerusalem. One of the political and economic benefits of the Crusades was the defeat of Muslim enemies. In Pope Urban II’s 1095 speech that asked for recruits, it stated, “They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire” (Document 1). Pope Urban II wanted Christians to go to the Middle East to fight because Arabs and Turks attacked their fellow Christians and conquered Christian land.

8.2.1- In 1097 an estimated 100,000 men enlisted in the first crusade, due to the fact that the pope promised salvation from purgatory if they joined the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to liberate the Holy Land. Peter the Hermit left, to the Holy Land, with 30,000 peasants, they terrorized Jews in Germany, and Christians in Bulgaria, when they got to Constantinople they were transported to Bosphorus and the Seljuk Turks defeated them, and the living were sold into slavery. After a five-week siege Jerusalem fell on July 15, 1099, the first crusade was a success, and because most crusaders were younger sons of nobles (Oldest gets the kingdom), they made four Crusader states based on the French Feudal model: the Country of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the Country of Tripoli, and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. 8.2.2-

The First Crusade was fought because of the change from . Arab to Turkish control over Jerusalem. effect on the people that were allowed to live there, and . the beliefs that they could have. Since the city was .

The Crusades were expeditions done by the Roman Catholic Church in alliance with Middle-Age Kingdoms and Empires. There were a total of nine Crusades during the period of 1095 to 1291, led by Saladin, Richard I "the Lionheart" of England, Pope Urban II, Frederick I the Holy Roman Emperor, etc. At first, the Crusades were a way to fight back the Muslims for their conquest of Jerusalem. The idea of the Crusade was a very good marketing strategy by Pope Urban II. It was told that any Crusader would be rewarded a place in heaven, and forgiven their sins.

Medieval Europe was a time of war and conflict between different peoples. One of the most important military endeavors of the time was called the Crusades, which was a campaign of Christian attempts to take Jerusalem from the Muslims, who occupied it at the time. Spread over several hundred years, many bloody battles were fought over the holy city. The Crusades involved the two largest religions on the continent and impacted a massive amount of people. The battles irreparably changed the lives of everyone they touched, turning peasants to knights and nobles to slaves.