Why the Crusades occurred Essays - 2nd Millennium, Christianization

Why the Crusades occurred Essays - 2nd Millennium, Christianization Why the Crusades occurred By Adam Quinlan center351218500 center698500 Task 1: Primary sources- Pope Urban ll's speech (paper document): On November 27, 1095 in front of the Council of Clermont in Clermont, France Pope Urban ll pronounced a speech that saved the Christian religion "if you wish to be the friends of God, gladly do the things which you know will please him. You must especially let all matters that pertain to the church be controlled by the law of the church" and which almost destroyed the Muslim religion. The purpose of his speech was to announce he was calling a Crusade against the Muslims who were invading Jerusalem (the holy land). In his speech Pope Urban ll told his people that no matter what, if they went to fight the Muslims they would receive a great reward being either going to heaven after death or being drowned in riches if they lived. His proposal of rewards convinced many to join the Crusade and help fight with the Byzantine Empire. Although the purpose of the Crusade was to save Jerusalem, it is believed most people only joined the Crusade because of Pope Urban ll's rewarding offer. Without the Pope's speech would there have been less soldiers fighting against the Muslims and would that have then lead to the Christian Religion's corruption? Pope Urban ll's speech helps us understand the reasoning of the Crusade from the Council's point of view (to save Jerusalem) and from the Soldiers point of view. (Great rewards) An anonymous chronicler's record of the capturing of Jerusalem (letter): In this letter written by an un-known chronicler to his wife, the capturing of Jerusalem by the Crusaders sounds both triumphant and horrific "rejoicing and weeping from extreme joy, our men went to worship our saviour Jesus The Saracens who were still alive dragged the dead ones out in front of the gates, and made huge piles of them, as big as houses and the piles of Muslim bodies were even higher" The letter says that after they captured Jerusalem the crusaders killed many Saracens for fun' and piled their bodies in mountains higher than houses, after this the letter then says that the crusaders stole everything from the village such as silver, gold, horses and mules. This tells historians that the battle in Jerusalem was horrific with thousands of people dying and many badly injured, this also shows us that the crusaders had no respect for the Muslims as they killed them all off for fun' and piled up their bo dies. The letter also lets us know that the reason most of the crusaders joined the battle was partly so they could get rich from the things they found in Jerusalem. This letter is extremely helpful because it gives us a strong idea on what the battle was really like on the inside and it also tells us that maybe the crusaders weren't the good guys in the end, slaying innocent people and showing no respect to their own holy land at times. . These sources both show that the crusaders weren't just fighting to save Jerusalem but they were also going to become rich with gold and silver and many other riches they found during the battles. Essay: Task 2: Why did the Crusades occur? The crusades were cultural wars all conducted by either kings or persons of high rank in the Christian religion, in all there were 9 crusades although only seven of those were thought to be major and relevant. Reasoning for the crusades include things such as A holy place being taken over by foreign rulers following different religions (the first, second, third and also partly the reasoning for the fourth, fifth and sixth crusades) or any region of Christian dominance being threatened. Not all of the Crusades were a success, we know this thanks to letters from crusaders to their loved ones stressing about how they were being overpowered by enemy forces (fifth through to the last crusade). The first, second and third crusade were all successful in re-claiming the holy land (Jerusalem) according to letters written by crusaders from the first crusade their victory over the Turks came quite easily, in fact one chronicler from the first