The Crusades
Overview
The Crusades were a series of eight military campaigns between the years 1096 and 1270 in which Europeans attempted to wrest control of the Holy Land from the Muslims who ruled t...
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The Roman Empire fell in A.D. 476. For almost six hundred years thereafter, Rome and Constantinople —the seats of the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, respectively—vied with e...
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In the following essay, James offers an overview of the history of the Second Crusade, which began in 1145. James notes the societal developments that occurred between the First and Second Crusades, a...
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In the following essay, Thatcher discusses and ranks the contemporary Latin sources of the First Crusade and comments on what these sources reveal about the reality of that Crusade.
When dealing with ...
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In the following essay, Cox reviews the events preceding Pope Urban II's call for a Holy War in 1095, focusing on the ongoing pilgrimages to Palestine and their relationship to the call-to-arms...
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In the following essay, Runciman surveys the contemporary and nearly contemporary source material related to the First Crusade, discussing Greek, Latin, Arabic, Armenian, and Syrian sources.
The story...
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In the following essay, Atiya argues that while many critics cite the late thirteenth century as the end of the Crusades, following the “tragic exit of the Franks from Palestine,” the cr...
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In the following essay, Brundage offers a brief account of the events directly preceding Pope Urban II's Council of Clermont sermon. An eyewitness report of the Pope's sermon directly fo...
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In the essay that follows, Oldenbourg provides an overview of the history of the early Crusades, examining, in particular, the social effects of the warfare.
Legends and Disasters
The Crusades have be...
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In the following essay, Hussey offers a brief history of the Crusades from the point of view of the Eastern Christian Byzantine empire, discussing the conflicts that arose between the Eastern Christia...
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In the following prologue, Fulcher outlines the story that will be told in his A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem and describes the Crusade as a “pilgrimage in arms.”
Here Beginnet...
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In the following essay, Krey analyzes the eyewitness chronicles and letters of the First Crusade, maintaining that they have primarily been examined as sources for literature, not as literary producti...
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In the following essay, Throop examines the songs and poetry written and performed in opposition to the Crusades and papal policy.
The political difficulties encountered by Gregory X in launching his ...
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In the following essay, LaMonte studies two accounts of the Crusade of Richard the Lion-Hearted (the Third Crusade) and suggests that both works are derivatives of “a common basic form of the n...
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In the following essay, Goitein attempts to explain the dearth of Jewish accounts of the First Crusade. After examining a letter written in 1100, Goitein theorizes that the lack of Jewish narratives a...
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In the following essay, Saunders offers a brief overview of literature pertaining to the Crusades, beginning with the contemporary witness William of Tyre. Saunders discusses several other early accou...
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In the following essay, Foulet examines the content and form of two epic cycles about the Crusades—the first written at the end of the twelfth century, and the second composed during the 1350s....
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In the following essay, Munro surveys the extent to which anti-Muslim propaganda was utilized by papal and literary sources during the Crusades to encourage the crusading movement.
At the time of the ...
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In the following essay, Erdmann analyzes the various elements—including religious and literary developments—that enabled the “general idea of crusade and war upon the heathen ...
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In the following essay, Morris examines the types of “visual propaganda”—such as placards and the windows and architecture of churches and halls—used to keep the crusading ...
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The Crusades were a series of eight wars that European Christians fought for a religious cause, in attempt to seize the Holy Land and drive out the Muslim Turks. Although their effect greatly differe...
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The highlight of the eleventh and twelfth centuries is the crusades, in which thousands of armed citizens of Western Europe marched down to the "holy lands" in hopes to gain spheres of influence for ...
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Some of the most influential times in early history have been the times at which to cultures have come into contact with each other, whether through trade, war, or other events. The reason why the int...
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The Middle Ages were dangerous times. A split in religious beliefs caused feuding. These wars fought over religious land were called The Crusades. Through an analysis of the people, places, times, re...
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The crusades brought big changes for Europe. The political system in Europe changed from feudalism to monarchy. The economic system went from the manorial system, where manors were self-sufficient a...
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Emperor Allexius Commnenus never realized the impact his plea for help would have on his city and world of the east. Pope Urban II agreed to help with the invasion of the Seljuk Turks who had besieged...
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The Crusades
The Crusades
