The Brief Description Of First Crusade To Jerusalem

The First Crusades were a military campaign by the Western European forces who wanted to retake Jerusalem, which is known as “The Holy Land”, from Muslim control. The Turks had migrated from the west from an area in Central Asia which is where the Turks are originally from. The Turks ended up conquering the majority of The Christian Byzantine Empire which included the city of Jerusalem. This in turn than lead to what is known as “The Holy War”. Many thousands of Europeans then felt compelled to come to the rescue and rescue many of their Christian brothers and sisters. They also felt the need to take back the Holy Land to allow Christians to visit this holy and very sacred city. While the First Crusade was successful in retaking back the city of Jerusalem it was not without bloodshed. The conquerors ended up killing all those who had inhabited the city. This very bloody very ugly mascaraed was seen as cleansing the Holy city. Considering the fact that the Turks were of the Islamic faith it is seen that the Christian attack on the Turks was in fact seen as a vengeful attack on the Turks. This in turn has led many to believe and argue throughout time that Christians were attacking another group of peoples beliefs due to not understanding their faith and that it shows a very hateful and vicious, spiteful God. While this makes a very convincing and compelling argument when reading about the First Crusades, Morton provides a convincing and compelling argument of his own.

Morton’s Arguments

Morton’s first argument is understanding who the enemy of the Crusades really is. “The Turks were the crusaders’ first great opponent and, though the papacy had complex motives for launching he campaign, the expedition was in part a determined counterstrike against this newly arrived enemy. By fighting the Turks, Pope Urban II was not doing anything especially novel. He was simply the last in a line of rulers, Christian and Islamic, who attempted a defensive action against them as they expanded out of the Eurasian steppe.” Morton explains that the Turks that are being referred to are Turks that are from an area known as the Saljuq Turks. They originated from an area known today as Iran and moved through areas throughout many cities, conquering and taking them over. Morton explanation of these particular group of Turks is essential to understanding who the main enemy is and how they not only attacked the Christians in the city of Jerusalem (The Christian Byzantine) but other Muslim cities in and around as well. Morton defend Pope Urban II decision to attack was not based on religion. The Pope’s attack on them the Saljuq Turks was a call to aid Christian brothers who were attack at the aggressive hand of the Saljuq and the attack was also to simply bring that aggression to an end.

There is also the agreement that papacy encourage many people to fight against Saljuq Turks. This is also one of the arguments that many in the secular world like to bring up as a reason as to the attack being religious against the Turks. Many argue that the faith of the Turks was the reason the church encourage the people to fight. In actuality the church used the city of Jerusalem and the legacy of the city to inspire and encourage the people to take up arms. Morton explains the following: “The prospect of retaking Jerusalem was a great deal more exciting. Western Europeans had known about the Holy Land and Jerusalem since birth and the thought of winning it back galvanized them into action in colossal numbers. Among the surviving documents produced by the crusaders during their preparations for the campaign, only about 20 per cent mention fighting an enemy when citing their purpose for departure, while all of them reference Jerusalem. Likewise, the mere presence of thousands of non-combatants among the crusading army demonstrates that, for them at least, this was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, not a counter to the Turkish invasions.” Jerusalem being the “Holy City” and a place to learn about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many have heard about the city in church or have read about it themselves in the Bible. This created a need to not only go and protect this majestic city but also a chance to see it for themselves. That was more important than fighting them because the are Islamic.