Crusades: From the 11th to 13th Century

Crusading was the name given to the attempts of Western European Christians to regain the lands and the territories in the Middle East lost due to the advance of Islamic forces. The lands they were primarily interested in regaining were those territories within the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. The original motivations for launching the crusades were primarily religious and those motivations continued from the 11th century through to the 13th century. 

The religious beliefs and views of the Western Europeans had a strong upon their enthusiasm for crusading and their behaviour towards both Muslims and Orthodox Christians. For the papacy and many Christians within Western Europe the occupation of the Holy Land by Muslims was an intolerable situation. The actual fact Muslims had control of these lands was bitterly resented by the Christians of Western Europe. The first crusade would provide enough momentum to inspire a further three crusades in the period. The crusades would heighten the conflict between Western Christianity and Islam. It also soured its relationship with the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox churches. The disastrous fourth crusade and the sack of Constantinople led to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The first crusade was directly inspired by Pope Urban II who asked for those Western Christians that were capable of going to the Middle East to assist the Byzantine Empire. Urban II's appeal for people to join the first crusade gained recruits from right across Western Europe. The crusading urge meant that people from states that were rivals or even enemies joined together to fight the Muslims.The Papacy contended that the crusaders would not only be assured of heavenly treasures during their own after life, but would be rewarded with earthly treasures as well in their lives before death. Greed was therefore a strong and virtually continuous factor in the development and the continuing of enthusiasm for crusading between the 11th and 13th centuries. Those that joined the crusades were just as dangerous to the Eastern Orthodox Christians of the Middle East as they were to the Muslims who lived in the region.When crusaders did manage to take land away from the Muslims within the Mideast they would set up their own separate kingdoms. The crusader kingdoms were demonstrations of the greed and the pretensions of the Crusaders themselves.The military and territorial successes of the first crusade was a strong factor in the development and maintenance of widespread popular enthusiasm for crusading campaigns between the 11th century through to the 13th century.  The crusader kingdoms did not have enough financial resources and soldiers to maintain their resistance to increasingly powerful and well led Muslim forces. The basic Muslim military strategy was to pick off the crusader kingdom one by one. The lack of support from Western Europe made it easier for the Muslim forces within the Middle East to conquer the territories which they had lost as a result.

The failure of the crusader kingdoms to survive the Muslim counter attacks prompted renewed enthusiasm for crusading. Recruitment drives to participate in the crusades were successful. The crusades themselves were military failures as they ultimately failed to restore Christian control over the Holy Land. However the launch of these crusades was a success in terms of ensuring that those crusading remained able to be highly enthusiastic about playing a role in the subsequent conflicts between the crusaders and the Muslim forces. The majority of people in Western Europe had generally held a great deal of confidence in the second crusade being every bit as successful as the first crusade had been.By the time of the fourth crusade in 1204, popular enthusiasm for the practice of crusading still seemed to be very strong. crusading was more concerned with greed and an increasing dislike of the Eastern Orthodox churches as it was about gaining control of the Holy Land. The sack of Constantinople was ample demonstration that greed and prejudice were factors that created, developed and maintained enthusiasm for crusading.

There was a great deal of enthusiasm for crusading from the 11th century to the end of the 13th century. The Papacy developed the concept of the crusades as a means of regaining control of the Holy Land. Enthusiasm was bases on the combination of religious fervour, the search for personal fame and fortune. Greed and religious prejudices were also strong influences in the brutal behavior of crusaders.