THE CRUSADERS AND THE CHURCH

The Crusades generally brings to mind a very dark time in history. I have had several

discussions with individuals about the topic of the Crusades and I cannot remember one person that

spoke highly of it. There is an abundance of atheistic websites claiming phrases for example,

“Religion has caused more wars and deaths than anything else in history”. The Crusade obviously

left hard feelings for many throughout time.

The legendary Crusades are one of the foremost topics of failed religious endeavors to arise

by critics. The Crusades were notably a Roman Catholic affair and I believe it is important that it be

distinguished from Evangelical Christianity. Nevertheless, both religion as well as atheistic

motivations such as communism is responsible for the many deaths in many wars. The Evidence

Bible reads,

“It is true that man has used religion for political gain. Nazi Germany had "God with us"
engraved in German on the belts of Nazi soldiers. America said, "Praise the Lord and pass
the ammunition." The law may even allow you to start the Christian Nazi Party, if you so
desire. You can become a "reverend" for a few dollars through the tabloid classifieds and
then further your political agenda with the world‟s blessing, no matter how much it smears
the name of Christ.”1

The Crusades were a vicious reaction to the conquering of Jerusalem in the Holy Land. In

614 AD the Persians, who were not yet Muslim, conquered Jerusalem. Rome and Persia had battled

for centuries and during this time Jerusalem fell. The “true cross” relic was stolen in the process.

This loss greatly concerned and angered Rome. In response to the defeat the Roman Emperor

Heraclius led an army to Jerusalem retaking the land and the relic. Hill writes that this could quite

1
Comfort, Ray. "Answers from the Evidence Bible." www.livingwaters.com. Available from
http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/religionhascausedmorewars.shtml. Internet; accessed 28 November
2010.
possibly be the first crusade, “This was not simply another Roman-Persian conflict. It was a holy

war, one whose object was the retrieval of the „true cross‟. In effect, it was the first Crusade.”2

The official Muslim conquest began several years later in 622 AD and the shortly thereafter

the entire Arabian peninsula collectively became Islam and Persia was then crushed. In 638, the

Muslims conquered Jerusalem and the rest of the Middle East. The cherished Christian relics

including the „true cross‟ were now in danger by the hands of the Muslims.

Although Jerusalem was out of the hands of the Roman Catholics, Rome did not immediately

attempt to challenge and re-conquer the Holy City. It would be more than another four centuries

before that would occur. In the meantime, Christian pilgrims would travel to Jerusalem as tourists.

Under the Muslim Law they were usually fairly safe and were not forced to convert to Islam.

However, this peacefulness didn‟t always last. Cahen explains, “Naturally there had been occasional

outbursts of fury. The only serious one had been El-Hakim's persecution at the beginning of the XIth

century, in Egypt and Syria. This had made a deep impression in the West, because of the destruction

of the Holy Sepulchre. News of this outrage was carried home by returning pilgrims.”3

The violent attack by El-Hakim on the artifacts and the pilgrims in Jerusalem was the start of

the Christian response. In 1095 Pope Urban II declared from Clermont, France that an expedition to

Jerusalem was urgent and would begin to bring an end to the conflict and reclaim Jerusalem. The

Pope gave this remarkable proclamation at the Council of Clermont,

“For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten
to give them the aid which has often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard,
the Turks and Arabs have attacked them and have conquered the territory of Romania [the
Greek empire] as far west as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is
called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and more of the lands of those

2
Hill, Jonathan. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Michigan: Lion Publishing, 2006. pg 104
3
Cahen, Claude. "An Introduction to the First Crusade." The Past and Present Society 6 no. Nov., 1954 (1954): 7.
 Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles. They have killed and captured many,
and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to continue
thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will be much more widely attacked by
them. On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this
everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and
rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of
our friends. I say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent.
Moreover, Christ commands it.”4

The crowd was motivated by Pope Urban II‟s speech and responded with „Deus lo volt!‟

(God wills it!) and thus the First Crusade began and was largely a success. The army set out and

along the way they conquered several important and not so important cities. The first assault was the

Imperial Palace at Blachernae in Constantinople. The leaders there were force into submission.

Next after they crossed over modern day Istanbul Strait (Bosphorus) they sacked the city of

Nicaea and then the city Armenia. However in journey between the two cities they were ambushed

by Kilij Arslan and his army but to no avail.

In 1097 the Crusaders laid siege to the heavily fortified city of Antioch. The city was so

heavily reinforced it could not be easily conquered. Their strategy was to block the city gates

preventing them from forming an effective attack while preventing supplies and support from

entering in. This strategy partially backfired as the Crusaders began running low on supplies and

many began to starve. It took many months yet in the end the siege was successful. Paine writes,

“On 3 June 1098, the great outer walls of Antioch were breached and the Crusaders broke through,

massacring every Muslim they found. The homes of Muslim and Christian alike were looted as the

4
Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source
Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17
Crusaders repaid the latter for the lack of Christian solidarity.”5 The brutal and coldblooded killings

were all the more evident as Christians began slaughtering even fellow Christians.

Finally the Crusaders reached Jerusalem where the Holy City was heavily guarded by the

army of Iftikhar ad-Daula. After several attempts they penetrated the walls. The revenge of the

Crusaders was disturbing and callous. Raymond d'Aguilers, a chronicler of the crusade, described

his eyewitness of the massacre,

“Now that our men had possession of the walls and towers, we saw some wonderful sights.
Some of our men – actually the more merciful ones – cut off the heads of their enemies.
Others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers. Others tortured them longer
by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands, and feet were to be seen in the streets
of the city. One had to pick one‟s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were
small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon. You would not believe
it if I told you.”6

Their joy and celebration did not last long. The city and region of Edessa was sacked by the

Muslims in 1144 and causing Pope Eugene III to order a Second Crusade. This Crusade did not fare

as smoothly as the first however there was much support for it. This second expedition became

popular with the promotional preaching of Bernard of Clairvaux a French abbot.

This time the army was led by Louis VII of France. The army was unorganized and often

suffered from internal feuding between commanders. The plan to travel to Jerusalem and control it

was forgotten and instead the city of Damascus became the focus of attention. The Crusaders were

unable to capture the city and instead retreated in failure.

The Third Crusade began in 1189 and it too was a dreary failure. Pope Gregory VIII ordered

the re-conquering of Jerusalem which at this time was ruled by, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt

5
Paine, Michael. The Crusades. Harpenden, Hertfordshire UK: Pocket Essentials, 2005. 41
6
d‟Aguiliers, Raymond. "Crusaders Capture Jerusalem." Christian History Institute. Available from
http://www.chitorch.org/index.php/eras/medieval/crusades/. Internet; accessed 28 November 2010.
since1187. Many refer to this crusade as the “King‟s Crusade” rather than the “People‟s Crusade” as

the previous endeavors were named.

The large German segment of the army headed to Jerusalem however along the way German

King and Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa accidently drowned and the gigantic army fell

apart. King Richard I traveled with his army to Jerusalem and along the way laid siege to Acre,

Arsuf and Jaffa. Instead of conquering Jerusalem, in 1192 King Richard signed a treaty with Saladin

allowing Muslims to rule Jerusalem but also allowing the Christian pilgrims to visit as tourists safely.

The Third Crusade did not accomplish what it set out to do and the Pope had died before it even

ended.

Six years later, in 1202, the Fourth Crusade ensued to also re-conquer Jerusalem. This

Crusade was ordered by Pope Innocent III. This expedition never re-conquered the Holy Land. In

Fact, most never finished the travel to Jerusalem. Immediately they sacked the city of Zara. This

shocked and extremely angered the Pope because the city was Catholic.

Next rather than continuing on to Jerusalem as planned they were side-tracked to the

Byzantine city of Constantinople where it was conquered and pillaged and the populace massacred.

The relationship with Constantinople had become more than strained over the last several centuries.

Paine writes, “When news of this reached Innocent it put him in a quandary. His anger at the

direction the Crusade had taken was subdued by his joy at the final reduction of the Byzantine

heresy.”7 The original plan to re-conquer Jerusalem never came about. The Fourth Crusade was

finished after Constantinople and the Crusaders returned home.

7
Paine, Michael. The Crusades. Harpenden, Hertfordshire UK: Pocket Essentials, 2005. 104
 The subsequent Crusades such as the Fifth Crusade failed also and the Sixth Crusade did

restore Jerusalem but not for long. The spiritual drive of the Crusades died and became typical

battles and wars and countless lives lost in massacre. The Seventh Crusade was small and the past

passion and enthusiasm for the crusades appeared to be over for quite some time. After a two

hundred year span the Crusades had officially come to their end in 1291.
 Bibliography

Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes
McNeal, eds., A Source Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17

Cahen, Claude. "An Introduction to the First Crusade." The Past and Present Society 6 no. Nov.,
1954 (1954): 7.

Comfort, Ray. "Answers from the Evidence Bible." www.livingwaters.com. Available from
http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/religionhascausedmorewars.shtml. Internet;
accessed 28 November 2010.

d‟Aguiliers, Raymond. "Crusaders Capture Jerusalem." Christian History Institute. Available from
http://www.chitorch.org/index.php/eras/medieval/crusades/. Internet; accessed 28 November
2010.

Hill, Jonathan. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Michigan: Lion Publishing,
2006. pg 104

Paine, Michael. The Crusades. Harpenden, Hertfordshire UK: Pocket Essentials, 2005. 41

Paine, Michael. The Crusades. Harpenden, Hertfordshire UK: Pocket Essentials, 2005. 104