204 Crusades
movement as a whole resulted from the combined effects
of religious, political, social, demographic, and economic
factors.
MOTIVATIONSOne religious prompting was connected with the spread
of clerical and lay learning and preaching in Catholic
Europe. This emphasized a spiritual and historical
link to the holy places in PALESTINE, as the land of
Israel, where the life and Passion of Christ took place.
These feelings had earlier been expressed through
pilgrimages that familiarized places like JERUSALEM,
Nazareth, Bethlehem, Galilee, and Judaea to a lot of
people in western Europe.
The political reasons behind such a movement were
prompted by the spectacular and humiliating conquests
by the SELJUK TURKS, who, in 1071, had captured
Jerusalem and defeated the Byzantines at MANZIKERT,
conquering much of ANATOLIA. These events led Byzan-
tium to turn to the West in a cry for help. In the INVESTI-
TUREcontroversy, both the PAPACYand the HOLYROMAN
EMPIREhad claimed universal hegemony. Their conflicts
motivated Pope URBANII, compelled to flee ROMEby the
emperor Henry IV (r. 1056–1106), to seek support to
fight a holy war against the infidels under papal leader-
ship. By leading a universal military expedition, the
papacy hoped to add secular power to its claim to a uni-
versal spiritual hegemony.
As for social and demographic factors underlying
the Crusades, the military aspects of feudalism had
brought about anarchy and the creation of policies that
resulted in almost continual war. Thousands of knights
were in search of land, fortunes, and lucrative adven-
tures, while a great number of peasants lacked the means
to obtain basic nourishment. There was seemingly little
opportunity in what was perceived as an overcrowded
Europe. Settlement elsewhere looked inviting.
Economic factors related to the policy of the Italian
naval powers, such as PISAand GENOAalready interested
in commerce with the Orient, induced them to seek polit-
ical backing for their ambitions in the East. Italian fleets
and merchants had already become important factors in
the Mediterranean Sea. They depended on political stabil-
ity in the Middle East. That had been upset by some
Seljuk Sultans
FIRST CRUSADE
Nine Crusades have been given numbers, but in fact they
were almost a continuous activity in the 12th and 13th
centuries. The First Crusade was the result of Pope
Urban II’s appeal at the Council of CLERMONTin 1095.
The speech at Clermont that initiated the Crusade had a
larger appeal than intended and led to an immediate
organization of a popular crusade preached by PETER THE
HERMIT, full of fanatical and ill-prepared participants. On
their way to the Holy Land, this rabble attacked JEWISH
quarters in French and German cities. After their arrival
in Constantinople, they were transported by the Byzan-
tine emperor ALEXIOSI to Anatolia, and were massacred
by the Seljuks at NICAEA.
The Crusade of the barons, however, was better
planned. RAYMONDof Saint Gilles, count of Toulouse, led
the Provençal knights. GODFREY OF BOUILLON headed
those from Lorraine, Germany, and Belgium. BOHEMOND
of Taranto and TANCRED commanded the southern
Italians. Robert (d. 1111), count of FLANDERS; Hugh
(d. 1125), duke of Vermandois; and Robert II (d. 1124),
duke of NORMANDYled contingents from other regions
in northern and western France. This group arrived in
1097 at Constantinople, where Emperor ALEXIOS I
demanded that they swear him fealty. A crusader victory
at Dorylaeum in Anatolia over the Seljuks soon allowed
the Byzantines to control western Anatolia and weaken
the sultanate of Konya. Despite monumental difficulties,
the crusaders crossed the Anatolian peninsula and in
1098 attacked and took ANTIOCH. At the same time
another army conquered the province of EDESSA, on the
Euphrates. There BALDWINof Boulogne, the brother of
Godfrey of Bouillon, founded an independent county. The
major part of the army continued on to PALESTINEand
took Jerusalem in July 1099, infamously slaughtering
many innocent inhabitants. The kingdom of Jerusalem
was established along with minor principalities all along
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.SECOND THROUGH FIFTH CRUSADES
The Second Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Eugenius
III after the capture of Edessa by Imad-al-Din Zengi
(d. 1146) in 1144. It was preached by Saint BERNARD
OF CLAIRVAUX and led by the emperor Conrad III
(r. 1138–52) of Germany, and Louis VII (r. 1137–80),
king of France. After a difficult overland passage to the
East in 1148, at an assembly held at ACRE, it was decided
to attack DAMASCUS, but the crusaders could not conquer
the Syrian city and dispersed in failure.
The Third Crusade was a European reaction to the
disastrous Battle of the Horns of HATTINin 1187. The
Christians lost control of Jerusalem. Under the leadershipCoronation of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa
AUGUSTUSof France and King RICHARDI LIONHEARTof
England, an extremely imposing army left Europe to
restore the LATINkingdom of Jerusalem. Frederick chose
the terrestrial route and died in a river in Anatolia in- The Western kings, on the other hand, sailed via
the Mediterranean under the shadow of an Anglo-French
rivalry. Richard conquered CYPRUSon his route eastward.
The island became a new crusader kingdom established
in 1192 under Guy of LUSIGNAN, the former king of
Jerusalem. In 1191 Acre was besieged and conquered by
the crusaders; subsequently the kingdom was partially
restored but linked to a coastal strip with access to
Jerusalem.