Cutting Edge

In the last thirty years there has been a growing curiosity for the Crusades. Medieval researches have been writing different synopses of what they believed to have happened and why. This question ‘what were the Crusades?’ baffles many modern experts in Medieval History. Why is it so hard for researches to define the Crusades?

The Crusades’ chronology spans hundreds of years, which makes it very difficult to define it as if it were only a decade. Reasons of why people crusaded differed throughout the history of the Crusades. No matter what all the movies in Hollywood depict, not everyone was fighting for only one cause. The Crusades are also difficult to define because the clashing of cultures formed political, religious, and social tension that we can clearly see today.

Modern research on the Crusades is almost like comparing what you see on CNN to an illuminated manuscript about the Crusades. You can almost draw parallels to what happened nearly a thousand years ago to what is happening in Iraq today. What is supposedly a sensitive subject due to racial tension and many other factors, we don’t hear too much on the comparison of the war in Iraq to the first Crusade.

One might be inclined to refuse that two such major events are similar. History repeats itself. West meets east. Looking at the topic at hand from a very general perspective it isn’t difficult to find similarities. One can discover similarities in political, religious, or social intentions along with others. Will the out come of the War in Iraq mimic that of the Crusades’?

“History teaches everything including the future.”
Alphonse de Lamartine

Works Cited:
Alfred J. Andrea. "Encyclopedia of the Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003
Helen Nicholson. "The Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004
Corliss K. Slack. "Historical Dictionary of the Crusades". Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003

WWWWH

The Crusades are considered by many Medieval Historians to be the Church’s uprising in influence for most of the world. From armed pilgrimages to forced conversions of countless masses the church’s influence grew in power. The Crusades were conducted by religious officials, kings, and glory seekers. The Crusades participants included mostly the poor, but the Crusades’ problems affected nearly everyone.

The Levant supplied crusaders with uneasy terrain and foreign weather conditions to those of the west. The Levant is home to many diverse cultures of the Middle East. Crusades occurred mainly around the Levant and northern Mediterranean area, but it is known that Crusades also took place in the Iberian Peninsula and the Latin East. This is ironic because one of the main functions of the Crusades was to reclaim the Holy Land for Christendom.

Defining the Crusades’ objective is extremely difficult. Reasons on why people Crusaded came from one’s financial, religious, and social concern. Some people’s greed outweighed their religious ambition and crusaded for the sole purpose of gaining wealth and social standing. Those who fought on the side of the Turks were fighting from they’re backyard and had a lot of motivation to protect their homeland. Some of those that crusaded for religious purposes were manipulated by religious figures, or even threatened. No matter what one’s reason was it had to be a very strong reason to make one travel far distances in Medieval times. Not only was a long voyage dangerous but also very expensive. Most crusading required sponsorship that came mostly from the wealthy. Even if a person didn’t have the money to crusade they would travel with the crusaders and utilize the resources of others. Such Noncombatants caused many problems in the camps of crusaders.

The Crusades occurred during the Abbasid Dynasty in the Levant. This Dynasty of Middle Eastern rule lasted from 750 to 1258 A.D. This period in medieval history was a time where the Church contained the most influence in Western Europe. This is the begging of a new era in the world where religion plays a huge part socially, economically, and politically. From this point on in history monotheistic religions become the source of the majorities influence.

The Crusades were made possible by the overwhelming influence that the church had over its followers. Those of the Church either followed higher officials or used the Crusades for their own manipulation. One thing you don’t see is any of the clergy go against the pope’s decision, which exemplifies the church’s power at this time.

For most of the free world the Crusades was an event that affected everyone. The Crusades brought diseases to areas, began east/west relationships, spread religion, and changed the worlds definition of what a Holy War was. The inhabitants of the Levant ere above all affected the most from the Crusades. The Crusades made a wound in the Middle East that will never heal.


Works Cited:
Alfred J. Andrea. "Encyclopedia of the Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003
Helen Nicholson. "The Crusades". Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004
Corliss K. Slack. "Historical Dictionary of the Crusades". Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003

Material on the Crusades

The Crusades like all historical events was recorded by both it’s participants and non-participants. The best sources eyewitnesses that record from a secular view. Most accounts written by the clergy tend to have more religious explanation than recorded events. Robert the Monk’s writings declaring that nearly every event in the Crusades involved some sort of divine intervention shows how writing an events history affects the future. People who read these accounts started to believe that the Crusades were more than just a religious pilgrimage. They started believe that this was god’s war on earth.

Material on the Crusades varies from nearly five different languages and two different religions. This is an enormous mass of material. The reason for this is mainly because of the Crusades’ religious influence. At the time of the Crusades clergymen wrote nearly all written documents. Clergymen and the rich were the only literate people in Western Europe. Having this advantage the church can write what they want about what happened in the Crusades. This makes religious accounts on the Crusades nearly useless when looking at the Crusades’ history.

Considering that religious texts on the Crusades were perverted to portray interests of the church, one can resort to the text written in the Middle East. Though most of this text was biased against Western Europeans, it still serves as a better source than religious ones. Middle Eastern accounts also help compare other accounts and prove their legitimacy. When researching the Crusade’s it is my opinion that the researcher’s problem lies not with the amount of material that exists, but with the researcher’s ability to narrow a topic.