The Crusades: A History of Christian-Muslim Conflicts
The Crusades
Holy War, the Christian version.
Christians waging war primarily against Muslims.
Began in 1095 and lasted into the 1300s.
Christians from the West fought against people in the East, mostly Muslims in the Middle East.
There are approximately 6 or 7 Crusades.
It’s difficult to attach a single label that depicts all the conflicts.
These conflicts are typically called the Crusades.
It’s a series of conflicts that historians find difficult to describe.
Muslims believe that Christians have been attacking them for thousands of years, ever since the Crusades.
Some view 9/11 as a chance to strike back at the aggressive West, a counter-attack, while others see it as aggression. It depends on the historical perspective.
Many Muslims believe that Western society has a long history of conflict with Christians.
Muslims often perceive Christians as the aggressors.
The Crusades started in 1095.
Pope Urban II delivered a speech in Claremont, interpreted by historians as a call for the Crusades.
The participants included French, Normans, Italians, Germans, and some English.
The Byzantine Empire needed help. Byzantium (meaning maze-like) was before Constantinople.
Byzantium was the name for the Eastern Roman Empire.
In 476 AD, the Western Roman Empire collapsed after Germanic barbarians sacked Rome.
The Eastern Roman Empire remained as the continuation of the Roman Empire.
The people considered themselves Roman because they were Roman.
What complicates things is the emergence of the Holy Roman Empire around 800 AD.
Charlemagne (King of the Franks from modern-day France) and Pope Leo formed the Holy Roman Empire.
They believed these empires were connected.
The Roman Church wanted to associate Rome with something positive.
In the mid-800s, the Holy Roman Empire began referring to the Eastern Roman Empire as Byzantium to be the only place referred to as Roman.
In 1095, there was conflict between East and West because the East had a Greek culture, was not Catholic, and considered themselves Roman.
In the West, people claimed to be Roman but were German, French, Latin, and Catholic.
Going into the 1000s, there was conflict between the East and the West.
There was tension in the Christian world. During the 800s and 1100s, Western Europe experienced a decline, known as the Dark Ages.
The East was stable, with political and social power.
Muslims were in the middle. In 1071, at the Battle of Manzikert, Muslim warriors defeated Byzantine fighters, which was bad for the Romans in the East. Muslims were on their way to Constantinople.
Emperor Alexius of the Eastern Roman Empire wrote a letter to the Pope requesting military assistance to defend against the Muslims. Christians wanted to take over.
The Pope sent an army of untrained peasants followed by their families.
The traditional definition of a Crusade is that it should only be called that if the people are trying to take back Jerusalem.
If the goal is to get the Church in Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulcher, the other ones are not Crusades, even if the Pope calls them Crusades.
The first Crusade was one of the few that actually aimed to take Jerusalem.
In 1099, the Crusaders took over Jerusalem, a prize city from Islam.
There were 7 Crusades in total.
The capturing of Jerusalem was the first one. Historians mark 7 Crusades.