A Concise History of the Crusades

Justin Charles Laffer

History 115-W

The history of the Crusades in Europe and the Middle East must first be linked first and foremost to the feudal nature of medieval Europe. Due to the splintered and divisive nature of kingdoms and principalities, the sense of European and Christian identity was severely compromised. The Popes and the Catholic Church were the only force that could both unite Europe under a singular focus and help combat the rise of the Byzantine Empire and the Turks.

The notion of political unity under Church can be directly traced to the foreign policy of Leo IX and Gregory VII and the policy established by the Monks of Cluny that dramatically increased the power of the Pope over all Christian nations. For most of the existence of the Christian church, there has been a nearly constant stream of pilgrims to the Holy Land, and undoubtedly the continued veneration of the sacred city was a motivating factor for Christian unification.

The rise of the Seljuk Turks and their harassment of pilgrims and their threatening of the Byzantine Empire contributed greatly to the establishment of the first Crusade and more importantly perhaps, a Crusader tradition. Pope Urban II took over for Pope Gregory VII and utilized Gregory's communication with Constantinople's Emperor Michael VII to help fuel a religious unity in Europe. On the 27th of November 1095, Pope Urban II gave his infamous speech at Clermont which incited much of the population of Europe. The first wave of the first crusade was led by Peter the Hermit in 1096 and it consisted mainly of peasants. On their way to Constantinople, they attacked many Jewish communities. No doubt enraged with religious fervor, the unorganized hoards under Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople only to be ferried across the Bosporus by a nervous emperor, Alexius Comnenus. In Asia Minor the first crusaders pillaged and plundered but were annihilated by the Turks. The second wave of the first crusade was much more organized and much more successful. The armies of Hugh of Vermandois, Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond of Taranto, Count Stephen of Blois, Raymond of St Gilles, Duke Robert of Normandy all disembarked from Europe in 1096 and arrived in Constantinople in 1097.

The various armies that had assembled progressed to Jerusalem, then split up and began to attack various Turkish settlements on the way. The Christian forces won their first major battle at Dorylaeum, then city of Edessa fell aswell. Baldwin of Boulougne established himself as the king of Edessa and thus established the first of the Christian states. Jerusalem was conquered by the armies of Godfrey of Bouillon. The first Crusade was perceived as a success. While it promoted permanent hostility between Christian and Muslim peoples it also established the tradition of Crusader states in the Middle East, and succeeded in unifying the splintered European states under a Catholic influence.

While the first Crusade solidified the Christian identity, it also unified the warring Islamic peoples under a common threat and hatred. In 1144, the city of Edessa was recaptured. News of this caused Pope Eugenius III to call for a new crusade, a second Crusade. Two main forces set out to liberate the Christian states in the Middle East. The French were led by Louis VII and the Germans under Conrad III. After suffering numerous defeats, Conrad III left the fight, and the original focus of freeing Edessa was turned into attacking Damascus. The attack was led by Baldwin III and was disastrous. The Christian forces were forced to retreat.

While the second Crusade did not diminish the Crusading spirit in Europe, it did certainly rally the Muslim sense of a unified identity. The Crusaders were shown as fallible. From the second crusade the notion of Jihad against an occupying force was created and relations between the Christian states in the Middle East and the Catholic Church in Europe were damaged.

The third Crusade was a response to the overwhelming military success of the great Kurdish leader Saladin. Saladin recaptured most of the Crusader states and even recaptured Jerusalem. The only stronghold to remain was the city of Tyre which was too heavily defended to take over. The loss of Jerusalem in 1187 caused a massive movement towards crusading in Europe. Pope Gregory VIII called for a new Crusade which