The Crusades' Begining

The events of the Crusades happened during the Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 A.D.). Most of the events involved in the crusades don't even predate 1009 A.D. First actual actions that instigated a crusade was in 1009 A.D. when Christian shrines were destroyed along with a church in Jerusalem. So when looking at the Crusade's Chronology, the starting point could be considered when Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) promoted the idea of a war blessed by the church. This war was set upon Muslims for the most part. This idea of a "just war" was talked about for some time before Pope Gregory VII, but Pope Gregory VII was the first to promote it as a clerical figure.



Around this time when Pope Gregory VII promoted the "just war" idea, people started admiring martyrdom a lot more. Martyrdom is a concept that centers around christens beliefs. If you look at Christianity from a secular standpoint you can view that Christianity’s main belief in Jesus, is also a belief in Martyrdom. Christians believe that Jesus died for a cause. No matter what cause a person dies for it is considered martyrdom. Applying this ideal in a holy war makes dying in the war a very pious thing to do. Therefore people took up arms in the name of god as a religious test of faith.



The first crusade in the Levant, or the area surrounding Jerusalem, took the city of Jerusalem and established the four principalities of Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa, and Tripoli. This crusade began in 1096 A.D. and ended in 1099 A.D. This three year period of bloodshed and violence was masked with many religious events. To keep soldiers in believing that the crusade was a god willed war many objects were found in Jerusalem that were considered to be divine. The Holy Lance of Antioch is considered one of these objects that was supposed to be the same spear that was used to pierce Jesus while he was on the cross. Many of these relics that were founded were taken back to Europe and worshiped. Seeing physical evidence of the Crusade sparked a lot of interest for later crusades. Not only were these soldiers conducting a favor for their church and faith, but also for themselves. The church declared that if a soldier of the church died on the battle field his sins would be forgiven. Many of these soldiers also became rich with land and power. So the advantages of being a crusader was either die and go to heaven or return to Europe with a lot of wealth and power. The church made the military cause seem very appealing.



The church benefited a lot from the crusades. The church controlled most of the Mediterranean. It is believed that the church influenced the crusades because the Muslim faith was threatening Christianity. Being the second largest monotheistic religion at the time, the church most likely saw the Muslim faith to be threatening. The first crusade was invoked by Pope Urban II (1042-1099 A.D.) after the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont. The council of Piacenza was a council where church laws and other clerical business was resolved, but most importantly the issue with Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus was presented to the council. Pope Urban II then created the Council of Clermont to discuss the matters further. Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus became an ally of the church when Urban II lifted his excommunication and ties between the east and west were somewhat friendly. Alexius I Comnenus asked the church for military support from the Seljuk Turks. The Seljuk Turks were a dynasty of Muslims that controlled most of the Middle East in the Abbasid Dynasty.

Sources:
Helen Nicholson. "The Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004
Corliss K. Slack. "Historical Dictionary of the Crusades". Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003