Crusades - a Christian Path of Salvation

The Crusades were serious about religious and political wars that were fought between the years 1096 and 1291. They fought these wars for control of Holly land. Pope Urban II which was the leader of the catholic church started the first Crusade which was the years, 1096-1102 in order to help the Christian Byzantine Empire, which was under attack by Muslim Seljuk Turks. After this Crusade happened the Europeans captured Jerusalem in 1099. Muslims quickly went against the Christian invading and occupying force. The two groups battled in hard wars for the Holly land.

By 1921 the Muslims firmly controlled Jerusalem and the coastal areas which remained in Islamic hands until the 20th century. The crusading movement involved men and women from every country in Europe and touched on almost every aspect of daily life. They went from Church and religious thoughts to politics and economics. It also found a way into art, as people who have financial support and artists from a variety of backgrounds and traditions were brought together to create new forms of expression. Another type of art was frescos, mosaics, sculptures, and even coins that reflected a blend of Western and Eastern traditions. Crusaders appeared in histories as well as in French and German epic poetry from the twelfth century. Christians understood the Crusades as a path of salvation for those who participated. Guilbert of Nogent was a french monk who wrote chronical of the Crusades in the 12th century and he said, “God has instituted in our time holy wars, so that the order of knights and the crowd running in its wake… might find a new way of gaining salvation. And so they are not forced to abandon secular affairs completely by choosing the monastic life or any religious profession, as used to be the custom, but can attain in some measure God’s grace while pursuing their own careers, with the liberty and in the dress to which they are accustomed.”

There were millions of people Christian and non-Christian soldiers and even people who did not fight or were apart of the war died during the Crusades. Since there was an enormous loss of lives the debt was very bad and unpleasing and other economic costs connected with the multiple journeys to the Middle East. The journeys impacted all levels of society from individual families and villages to budding nation-states. The wars also resulted in the destruction of cities and towns that were in the crusader’s wake. In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon refers to the Crusades as an event in which “the lives and labors of millions, which were buried in the East, would have been more profitably employed in the improvement of their native country.”The Crusades were serious about religious and political wars that were fought between the years 1096 and 1291. They fought these wars for control of Holly land. Pope Urban II which was the leader of the catholic church started the first Crusade which was the years, 1096-1102 in order to help the Christian Byzantine Empire, which was under attack by Muslim Seljuk Turks. After this Crusade happened the Europeans captured Jerusalem in 1099. Muslims quickly went against the Christian invading and occupying force. The two groups battled in hard wars for the Holly land.    

In general, those who believed in the cross were recipients of both spiritual and earthly rewards. The spiritual reward was the indulgence which was the forgiveness of sins. The earthly rewards were the forgiveness of people having debts and freedom from taxes so no more taxes, as well as fame and political power. Crusaders did not only fight for control of the Holy Land they also worked to secure the Church’s power in Europe. The wars against the Muslims were conflicts and these conflicts were promoted by different popes in Christ’s name. The conflicts were led by crusaders and they took vows and got special privileges and indulgences. The enemies of the Church in Europe were people who were not Christians. It also included Christians who were labeled heretics those are people who challenged the official teachings of the Church or people who questioned the pope’s power and authority.