The Middle Ages, in other words, the Medieval world.

Macarena Varas

Johnson-Kaserman

Research Paper #1

November 1, 2010

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 As soon as someone hears the word "Crusade" their immediate thoughts are guided

towards religion. The Crusades were not entirely ingited to fend off religion. Initially, the

motivations towards religion was quickly replaced with power and wealth. There were

nine Crusades, each led by a different person. Pope Urban II led the first crusade in 1096,

which was originally established to rid of Muslims on Christians Holy Lands. "he made

one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages, calling on Christian princes in

Europe to go on a crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks and combined the

ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against

infidels" ( Board of Global Ministries ). In response of the Turks who attacked Christian

pilgrims to the holy places, "Urban argued the nobles of Europe to mount an armed

crusade, united under the banner of the cross, and march to Jerusalem, their agreement

was immediate" ( Collins p 108 ). The First Crusade was the most successful from a

military point of view. The first Crusade ended on 1099.

In 1144, Edessa fell to the Muslims, and the second crusade started. Led by Holy Roman

Emperor Conrad III and by King Louis VII of France. This crusade, was indeed a failure.

The cause for the second Crusade was revolved around the city of Edessa, "the bulwark

of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem on the side towards Mesopotamia, was taken by the

Turks, and the entire population was slaughtered, or sold into slavery" (the second

crusade). Crusaderswere prepared to attack Damascus. "The strength of both the French

and the German division of the expedition was wasted in Asia Minor, and the crusade

accomplished nothing." (the second crusade). Ended on 1155.

Richard the Lionheart of England, Philip II of France, and Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick I led the third Crusade. In 1188, Saladin, the leader of the Muslim army,
 reconquered the Holy Land. "Federick died on the way, but Leopold of Austria took

command. Cyprus, Jerusalem, Acre, Ascalon, and Jaffa were taken despite constant

fighting and intrigue between the three commanders"(Kenyon p 162). "King Richard and

Saladin finally concluded a truce by the terms of which Christians were permitted to visit

Jerusalem without paying tribute, that they should have free access to the holy places, and

remain in undisturbed possession of the coast from Jaffa to Tyre. King Richard then set

sail for England, and with his departure from the Holy Land the Third Crusade came to

an end. " (the third cruade). Ended 1192.

The fourth crusade, begun in 1202. "None of the Crusades, after the Third, effected much

in the Holy Land; either their force was spent before reaching it, or they were diverted

from their purpose by different objects and ambitions. The crusaders of the Fourth

expedition captured Constantinople instead of Jerusalem." (the fourth crusade). During

the fourth crusade and further on, the religious reasons behind the beggining and purpose

for the crusades started slowly turning into the want for power, and wealth. During the

Middle Ages, what was mostly seeked was wealth and power, anyone who could obtain it

would take the chance and empower it.

In 1212, the Children's Crusade was led by a French peasant boy, Stephen of Cloyes and

Nicholas of Germany. Both boys would preach the same message before the shrine of the

Three Kings at Cologne. Stephen had became persuaded that Jesus Christ had

commanded him to lead a crusade of children to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre. About

30,000 French children assembled in bands and marched through the towns and villages

"The Fifth Crusade was the attempt to recover the Holy Land by first conquering the

powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt. After the disaster of the Fourth Crusade, where not only
 did the crusaders not reach the Holy Land, but also attacked their fellow Christians,

Egypt was as united as ever. They now had Jerusalem and most of the land that was

previously held by the Christians." (Sierra) The fifth crusade was started in 1217. King

Andrew II of Hungary, Duke Leopold VI of Austria, John of Brienne all led the fifth

crusade. "In June, 1218, the crusaders attacked Damietta, an important Egyptian

settlement. The Sultan Al-Adil was unprepared, but the city resisted the crusaders. It took

the crusaders several months and thousands of lives to enter Damietta, but once they did

they looted it for several days finding enough loot to inspire them to attack Cairo next,

their only obstacle to a powerless Egypt and an open road to Jerusalem." (Sierra). "they

took Damietta, but when they tried to take Egypt, they were cut off between Turkish

troops and Nile flood waters abd were forced to surrender" (Kenyon). The Fifth Crusade

was the last crusade organized by the church where different nations fought jointly to

recover the Holy Land. The Sixth Crusade was the next attempt to fight the Muslims.

The Sixth Crusade was of tremendous importance to Europe. First, it successfully

recaptured Jerusalem and several other settlements. Second, it showed the pope's

diminishing power in international affairs. All the subsequent crusades were inspired on

this one." (Sierra). In 1228, Holy roman emperor Frederick II led a peaceful campaign in

which he negotiated the return of jerusalem, Lydda and Bethlehem. "Frederick entered

Jerusalem on 17 March 1229 and accomplished what four previous crusades failed to do:

recover the Holy Land. Even though he was excommunicated, he accomplished more

than the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth crusades combined. Many in Europe viewed him

as godly inspired and the pope lifted the excommunication shortly." (Sierra).

The least known, would be the seventh crusade. In 1248, Louis IX of France led the
seventh crusade against Egypt. He retook Damietta without any fighting, but the overall

effect of the expedition was the slaughter of thousands of his men. Ended in 1254. As

mentioned before, most of these crusades had less religious tendency and more of

conquer in power, and to be known. Original plan started branching out further away

from Jerusalem.

There is known to have been several small crusades and they were fought for a variety of

reasons and by a gamut of people and countries, as kenyon mentions in her book.

The eighth crusade was launched by Louis IX against the Tunis, but he died before he

could accomplish anything. "Louis was persuaded by his brother, Charles of Anjou, to

attack Tunis first in order to command the ports and make the conquest of Egypt, Louis'

goal, easier. However, upon landing in Africa in 1270 much of the army became sick due

to the water. Louis himself died on August 25, leaving Charles in full command of the

army. Louis' last word was "Jerusalem". (Sierra). This crusade could be partial success

because Charles managed to consider trade with Tunis.

Prince Edward led the ninth crusade in 1271, afterwards King Edward I. Edward

succeeded in capturing Nazareth, and in compelling the sultan of Egypt to agree to a

treaty favorable to the Christians in the Last Crusade. (Minor crusades).

The crusades started off solely off of religion, and slowly started branching out into

power, wealth, and even economic reasons.

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 Work cited:

De La Sierra, Joaquin. The crusades.

___: Medievality. 2005-2010.

<http://www.medievality.com/the-crusades.html>.

Board of Global Ministries: The Christian Crusades.

____: The Women's Division General Board of Global Ministries. 2010.

<http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/crusades.stm#first>.

Kenyon, Sherrilyn. Everyday Life in the Middle Ages.

Cincinnati: Writer's Digest books. 2000.

Collins, Michael, Matthew A. Price. The Story of Christianity.

New York: DK Publishing Inc. 1999.

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