Essay on Causes of Crusades

Crusades were holy wars that were fought for more than hundreds of years. These wars between Christian and Muslims were centered in Jerusalem the city and the holy land, Palestine. The main aim of the crusades was to get back their land, Palestine and the holy city, Jerusalem from the Muslims. In 1065 Jerusalem was overthrown by the Turks who came from Persia, the kingdom. Three thousand Christians were killed and the Christians who remained treated so badly that even during the Christendom, people were forced to fight in crusades. These wars were ordered by pope urban in 1096CE. The pope gathered the knights and kings to Europe to discuss various problems that were in the holy land. The discussion led to crusades with the knights which were referred to as the crusaders. The crusades started with pope urban the second the moment he said that, a report had come from the lands within the city whereby, a race that was alien to God had invaded the land of Christians. This people had burned their churches down and also had turned the churches to their own rites. When pope urban said this everyone responded Deus Vult, which meant the will of God. The words by the pope made a lot of people to be filled with anger and this forced them to join the crusades and fight for their holy land.

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Another cause of the crusades was the religious conviction. The convictions made during that time changed the pilgrim into a warrior. The conviction, that it was a rewarding thing to promote a pilgrimage to a holy sepulcher, was a mental feeling of love that caused the Christian family to depths. It also caused a cast in the Europe population time after time upon Asia. The feeling of being religious was another cause reason for crusades but there was still another cause that was, the spirit of the people of Europe, whose instincts had not outgrown. The knights were ready to get involved in an undertaking that was constant with their feelings. Another immediate cause of the crusades was the summoning of Peter the Hermit, a Picardy native, in France. He was authorized by pope Urban to preach during a crusade. Peter Hermit then addressed everywhere in churches, streets, open fields and even the crowds that came around him about the suffering of their people in the hands of the disloyal. He also pictured the pollution of the holy grounds and insults by the Muslims who were non believers.

Threat by the Turks was another cause. When Peter Hermit was preaching to the western warriors, the Turks were making some advances in the Eastern parts and were threatening Constantinople. The emperor then sent letters to the pope, requesting for help against infidels. Pope urban and the council of Clermont called the church council in Italy in order to consider the appeal that was made in 1095 but nothing was passed during the meeting. In the same year, a new council was held at Clermont, the pope was fixing a place he could meet the tempered and Frank. He was one among the speakers and so he made sure that he was fluent so that the person, occasion and the cause, intended to achieve the greatest triumph. Through his speech, he talked about the humiliation of the land of Asia which aroused the people to fight against the non believers. The words exclaimed by the Pontiff that it was Gods will, made thousands of people affix the holy cross to their clothings, a pledge that they made to the saving of their holy Sepulcher. On the month of August during that year, crusades began led by Tancred and Godfrey of Bouillon.