What+were+the+Crusades


 * What were The Crusades? **

The Crusades were a string of Holy wars started by Christians against Turkish invaders of the Byzantine Empire and to free the Holy Lands, meaning Jerusalem and the surrounding areas from the Muslims. In 1095, Pope Urban preached at the Council of Claremont that a crusade should be launched against Muslims and Jews. Immediately afterward, people started attaching crosses- or “crois”, where the word "crusade" comes from- to their clothes. There were eight Crusades, four major and four minor, and a Children’s Crusade on top.

**What were the Causes of the Crusades? **

There are three main reasons for the Crusades. First, the city of Jerusalem was important to Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. In the eleventh century AD, the city was taken by Turks, who massacred three thousand Christians and treated the remaining Christians so poorly that fighting began. Another reason was that the Turks then invaded the Byzantine Empire, and Emperor Alexius I asked the Catholic Church to help them. The pope, wanting to heal the rift between the Byzantine Empire and the Church agreed. Finally, the Crusades happened because of personal reasons for Christian Knights and leaders. The pope wanted to increase his political power, the nobles wanted to achieve glory, and the peasants and middle class knights wanted to gain straight access to heaven, as guaranteed by Pope Urban.

The Major Crusades

The Major Crusades were the Crusades that displayed the greatest success and enthusiasm about the war for The Holy Lands. ﻿**﻿**

**The First Crusade **

Lasting from 1095 to 1099, the First Crusade was an effort by Christians to retake Jerusalem. The city had been held by Muslims since 1076, and they made life very hard for any Christians who wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City. This angered the Christians. The emperor of the Byzantine empire, Alexius I, was afraid that his empire would be taken by Muslims, and he asked Pope Urban II for help. in 1095, the pope preached at Claremont, France and urged all Christians to fight against the Muslims and retake Jerusalem. The first difficulty of the first Crusade was getting to Jerusalem. The Crusaders could not use the Mediterranean for travel, as they did not control the ports in the Middle East. The only way to Jerusalem was over land. After hundreds of miles of travel, the massive Crusader army was desperate for food and water. The were reduced to theft and killing for their food.  After a quick victory at Nicea and a seven month siege of Antioch, the Crusaders went straight for Jerusalem. The city was well defended with high, thick walls. The first few attacks on the city were failures, as the Crusader army had no supplies.They quickly built two siege towers after logs arrived. The city's defenses fell rapidly after some Crusaders through the walls, as the Muslim defense ran away. After the doors to the city were opened, the Crusaders killed anyone they saw in the streets, Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The first crusade had ended, and Jerusalem was taken by the Christians. Pope Urban II--Emperor Alexius I

**The Second Crusade **

The Second Crusade was a counter attack against the Turks after they retook the city of Edessa, a city newly in control by Christians. An abbot, Saint Bernard, encouraged a second Crusade using the enthusiasm from the First Crusade. Soon, commoners, barons, and even kings were swept into the hype. On the march to Edessa, the Crusader army was almost completely destroyed by the Turks is Asia Minor. After one more unsuccessful battle, the Crusade was closed and the leaders and army returned home with absolutely nothing accomplished.

**The Third Crusade **

 The Third Crusade started in 1187 when Salah al-Din, a Muslim leader from Egypt took over the City of Jerusalem. After that, Salah al-Din took almost all of the Crusader Cities left. Everywhere, Christians started calling for a third Crusade, and thousands of men sewed crosses to their tunics again, ready to start off on a Crusade. Among these men were the three most powerful rulers in Europe: France's king, Phillip Augustus; the German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa; and King Richard I from England. Richard started to raise money for the Third Crusade by the persecution of Jews, new taxes, and selling his royal land. The German Crusaders under Frederick were taken care of in Asia Minor by travel troubles and the Turks. On top of that, the German Emperor died sometime along the trip, most likely by drowning. Most of his remaining followers quickly returned home. Meanwhile, Phillip and Richard took the City of Acre after a long siege. However, there were many disagreements between the French and English and the French soon returned home. What was left of the Third Crusade was left to Richard.  In the Holy Land, King Richard had success with many battles, but he could not capture Jerusalem. This Crusade ended when Saladin promised the Crusaders free access to the city and the holy places in the city.

**The Fourth Crusade **

<span style="color: #1614dc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">The Fourth Crusade was started in 1202 by Pope Innocent III, a young, power hungry pope. The pope called royalty and knights to his cause, capturing Jerusalem. The only result was received was a number of French knights **<span style="color: #1614dc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">. **<span style="color: #1614dc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Crusaders were aiming for Egypt, as the Muslim power was centered there. The army stopped in Italy for transportation across the sea to Egypt. The Venitians promised to provide transportation for the Crusader army if they first took Zara, a Christian City and the economical rival of Venice. The Crusaders did this, to the disappointment of the pope. The Venitians then asked the Crusader army to take Constantinople, another Christian city, as this would greatly increase political and trade power for the Venitiens. With greed in their eyes, the Crusaders took Constantinople, took the wealth of it, and burned it to the ground. A new empire was formed, lasting only a few decades until it fell to the Turks, giving them a place in the European world.

**<span style="color: #ff3000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The Children's Crusade ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">﻿  <span style="color: #ff3000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">In 1222, a twelve year old French Peasant boy preached excitement for a Crusade, resulting in hordes of of both boys and girls under the age of twelve swarming to arranged meeting points. In the French Children's Crusade, 30,000 children headed for Marseilles. On the way, a good many children were captured and sold as slaves, and the rest- stricken with hunger- returned home. At the same time, in Germany, a young boy named Nicholas led 50,000 men, woman, and children over the Alps into Italy. Once there, they planned on taking a ship to Palestine. About a tenth of the Crusaders sailed off, never heard from again. Most of the remaining Crusaders were captured and sold as slaves. Very few were able to return home. The pope said that the Children's Crusade marked the end of the Crusades due to lack of enthusiasm: "Us with having fallen asleep, whilst they were flying to the assistance of the Holy Land." - Pope Innocent III. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> *For more information, go [|here]*

<span style="color: #e34a4a; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 200%; text-align: center;">The Minor Crusades <span style="color: #e34a4a; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; text-align: left;">﻿After the Children's Crusade, there were several Crusades led by several different people that had a great variety of goals, and mostly unsuccessful results.

**<span style="color: #00ffae; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">The Fifth Crusade **

<span style="color: #00ffae; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; text-align: left;"> After the death of Pope Innocent III in 1213, Pope Honorius III started a Crusade against Egypt, the seat of Muslim power, in 1216, wanting to be in charge instead of the kings. Among those that were not permitted to go was Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1219, the Crusaders captured Port Damietta in Egypt and after a dispute for power, headed for Cairo in 1221. However, Egyptians had flooded the lands with the Nile River and, defeated, the Crusaders gave up Port Damietta and returned home.

<span style="color: #c008e8; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; line-height: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-align: left;">sdfdde **<span style="color: #df6262; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">The Sixth Crusade ** **<span style="color: #df6262; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">﻿ ** <span style="color: #df6262; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">This Crusade was led by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, as he was not allowed to go on the last Crusade. The Crusader army headed for Acre, a city under Muslim Mamluks. As Frederick came across Acre, he received an offer from al-Kamil, a sultan in Egypt. Al-Kamil wanted to put his brother into power in Acre, and would trade the Holy Lands for Frederick's help to take Acre. Frederick took Acre, handed it over to al-Kamil, and crowned himself King of Jerusalem in 1229. However, political troubles home in Germany brought him away from Jerusalem. In 1244, without an army to keep it, Jerusalem fell to the Mamluks.

<span style="color: #9e00ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; text-align: center;">The Seventh Crusade

<span style="color: #9e00ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; text-align: center;"> In 1245, after the Mamluks took Jerusalem, French King Louis IX declared a Crusade against Muslims again to retake the city. After several years of raising money, the king sailed to Cyprus. From there, Louis took Port Damietta and using the port as a base attempted to take Cairo, but he was stopped by the Mamluks and taken prisoner. It cost the Crusaders Acre and a great deal of treasure to get him back. After that ordeal, Louis marched to Acre to take over, but found it wasn't as easy as he had hoped and tried to negotiate with the Mongles to help. They didn't take up the offer, so broke Louis and his army returned to France, only to find that Louis's mother- who had been holding power for Louis- was dead.

**<span style="color: #636bd9; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">The Eighth Crusade ** <span style="color: #636bd9; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #636bd9; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">In 1270, Louis IX of France again tried a Crusade. This time, though, he tried to establish another base in Northern Africa. I'd like to say the final Crusade had a dramatic ending but it did not. Dysentery caught up with his camp in Africa and Louis died from the disease. With that, the Crusades were finished. <span style="color: #636bd9; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #636bd9; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">

<span style="color: #f0b198; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">For more information on the Crusades, go to [|www.middle-ages.org], a website stuffed with detailed information on the Crusades. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px; text-align: left;">