The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation

Later Crusades
• Efforts at mounting and carrying out Crusades continued in the 13th
century, but (as with the partly legendary “Children’s Crusade” in
1212), most were exercises in vanity and futility.

•    The Latin states were slowly overrun, and by 1291, all the

remaining Latin holdings on the mainland disappeared. The grand

experiment in Christian conquest had failed even in strictly military

and political terms, not to mention religious ones.

•    The crusader ideal was even more sullied when it was transferred

to the efforts of kings and popes to extirpate heretics. Innocent

III launched an “Albigensian Crusade” in 1208 to try to dislodge

and destroy the dualist heretics in southern France. And in the 13th

century, the popes spoke in terms of crusade in their battles against

the Hohenstaufen dynasty in Italy.

Frankopan, First Crusade.

Runciman, A History of the Crusades.

1. Discuss this statement: The “crusader ideal” was, from the beginning,
   far from ideal.


2. Why were the Crusades doomed to eventual military and political failure?

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider