The Crusades The Quest For Holy Land

The Crusades: The Quest For Holy Land Essay, Research Paper

The Crusades: The Quest for Holy Land

Of course you have heard of the crusades, who

hasn t. The crusades were military expeditions launched

against the Muslims by the Christians in an attempt to

regain the Holy Land. They took place between 1095 A.D. and

1270 A.D. It was one of the most violent periods in the

history of mankind.

The start of the great crusades was on November 18,

1095 A.D., when Pope Urban II opened the Council of

Clermont. On November 27, outside the French city of

Clermont, the Pope made an important speech. He called upon

everyone to help the Christians in the east to regain peace.

The crowd’s response was very positive and pro peace. The

original object of the First Crusade was to help out the

Christian churches in the east (Mayer 41). The new goal,

became to free the Holy Land from Muslim control, especially

Jerusalem.

Pope Urban II stayed in France until September 1096,

to provide leadership and guidance for the members of the

First Crusade(42). He urged churchmen to preach the cross

in France. Urban wanted the crusading army to be mostly

made up of knights and other military personnel. Since the

news of his speech at Clermont spread through the west,

people from all social classes and occupations joined the

Crusade. As a result of Urban losing control of personnel,

violence was launched against the Jews of northern France.

This violence was mostly instigated by bands of the urban

and rural men led by men like Peter the Hermit and Walter

Sans-Avoir(43).

These groups lacked supplies and discipline. They

attempted to reach Constantinople but most of them never got

that far. The leaders in lands which they passed through

were frightened and killed many of the crusading groups.

Some did get to Constantinople and traveled across the

Bosphorus in August 1096(Encarta Online). There, they split

into two groups. One tried to overtake Nicaea and was

unsuccessful. The other was ambushed and slaughtered near

Civetot, in October. The remaining crusaders retreated to

Constantinople and joined the second wave of the Crusade.

The crusaders were eager to start the journey to

Jerusalem but they needed to capture the Anatolian Turkish

capital of Nicaea first because it blocked the road that

would be their main supply route(Permoud 33). It was held

by Seljuk Turks. In May 1097, the crusaders attacked

Nicaea. The Turks realized that they were defeated and

agreed to give the city to the Byzantines in exchange for

the lives of their men. The Byzantines agreed to this and

on June 18, Nicaea was under Byzantine control (Runciman

116). The leaders of the crusade disagreed and wanted to

slaughter the Turks because they were enemies of Christ. On

June 30, 1097, the crusaders were ambushed at the city of

Dorylaeum by Seljuk Turks led by Kilij Arslam, the Seljuk

Sultan(Mayer 50). The fight continued until July 1. The

crusaders won a big victory and nearly wiped out the Turkish

force. This victory opened up the way to Anatolia.

The crusaders attacked Anitoch in northern Syria on

October 21, 1097(Encarta Online). This was the main

obstacle on the road to Jerusalem. In a long and gruesome

battle, the city finally fell on June 2, 1098 (Encarta

Online). The crusaders were quickly attacked by a new

Turkish army from Al Mawsil. They arrived too late to revive

Anitoch’s Turkish defenders and they were forced to retreat

on June 28 (The Crusades).

The starting date for the march to Jerusalem was set

for November 1, 1098, but was delayed by an epidemic, and

also because of fighting to the south of Anitoch. On

January 13, 1099 the commander-in-chief, Count Raymond IV

of Toulouse, led the crusaders’ march to Jerusalem. They

avoided attacks on cities to conserve forces. In May 1099

they reached the northern border of Palestine. On June 7

they camped on the top of a hill where they could see

Jerusalem. Many soldiers were so happy they cried.

Jerusalem was well protected and only vulnerable from

the north and the southwest. On June 13, they tried to

storm Jerusalem but were defeated because of a lack of

supplies. Extreme heat and a water shortage lowered morale.

A priest called Peter Desiderius told them that if they

fasted and held a procession around the walls of Jerusalem

with devotion, the city would be theirs within nine days.

The crusaders did this and, when they completed building

three mini castles, they assaulted Jerusalem on July 13.

There was a frenzy of killing as everyone was hacked down.

The governor and his staff were the only Muslims to escape

alive.

After the First Crusade, four Levant states were

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