Crusades Essay Example

Starting in 1095 CE, Christians and Muslims went into a fierce war, the Crusades. Through multiple battles and hardships, the Christian community fought for what is debated to be a religious war, or possibly something completely different. Though due to the various pieces of evidence, these skirmishes were solely rooted to be for the people’s devotion and love for Christ.

European Christians had multiple reasons to fight, the kickstarting reason being the invasion of the Seljuk Turks, a group of muslims originating in central Asia pushing into Holy Land. This alarming news was delivered by Emperor Alexis in the form of a letter along with ambassadors to Pope Urban II in distingue urgency. A non exact transcription from this message states; “that a race from the kingdom of the Persians [Seljuk Turks/Muslims], an accursed [damned] race, a race utterly alienated [separated] from God, a generation [...] which has not directed its heart and has not entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire”. Alexis’s words struck panic in the hearts of many Christians, leaving them to wonder what the future held for them. The entirety of their religion was in fear of their Holy Land being tainted by this invasion, horrified by the idea of the Muslims burning out the ways of their God, starting a generation of deviation from God, and angered by the fact that they were even invaded in the first place. Yet, Alexis takes a stand, calling upon all the men to repent for their sins and fight in the Crusades, solely to protect their Christian way of life, God, and the Holy Land that was invaded.

After the news of war spread across the Christian community, benefits such as repent for sins began to come to light. Not only were people driven to fight for the cross, but they were also fighting for the perks that could possibly arrive with it. Document three gives a solid outlook on this, the text stating; “But there was also a land-hunger to incite them, especially in northern France, where the practice of primogeniture [the tradition of the oldest son inheriting all land] was being established”. By fighting in the war, men could attain glory and riches. This grabbed the attention of many, causing fighting for their Holy Land to not be the only goal for some. The inheritance of land became a motivation for soldiers to ride into battle against Muslims. As the document states; “The opportunity for combining Christian duty with the acquisition of land in a southern climate was very attractive”.