Reasons_for_the_Outbreak_of_the_First_Crusade

Why was the first Crusade launched' The outbreak of the first crusade in 1095, played an important part in the future of medieval history, we can argue many different reasons and causes for the first crusade and it is impossible to finally put it down to just one reason. The outbreak of the first crusade followed a series of different triggers for example religion or economic gain but historians will always argue which factor was the most vital in the causation of the first crusade. It can though be said that pope urban the second played a major part in the outbreak of the first crusade and his decisions led to the start of other triggers. The development of the concept of crusading first developed with St Bazil a byzantine saint when he came up with the concept of a just war. he said that you could justify a war if it was in self defence, he said that sometimes when a army knows they are going to be attacked they can use a pre- emptive strike and attack their enemy before they have chance to attack, this makes it a just war. St Augustine of hippo then expanded upon this theory by saying that you should imagine that the roman empire is like heaven, inside the walls of the empire are the faithful Christians like in heaven those inside have been saved, however outside are the non Christians who like those who are outside of heaven need to be saved, he went on to say how the roman empire is part of gods divine plan and is like a state of god on earth except the roman emperor is charge like god, therefore it was the job of the Emperor to ensure those on the outside of the city were saved and converted to Christianity. If these people had to be forced into Christianity it would be in the name of god, Pope Leo IV then expanded further on the idea of the crusades by developing the theory of plenary indulgence. Now there was a justification for Christians to crusade making it acceptable and giving them an end reward. The period in history prior to 1095 was an extremely religious time both in the Christian and Muslim worlds and some feel that this period was always leading up to the crusades. It is hard to understand why Christian men went on crusade when one of their founding beliefs in Christianity is “thou shall not murder” this rule does not say thou shall not murder except for Muslims, so surely be crusading they would in fact be making an infringement of their own religion. To look at the religious reasons for the outbreak of the 1st crusade we must look at the rise of popularity of religion prior to 1095, many men turned to religion in order to repent for their sins as at the time sins were commonly committed they asked god to forgive their sins, also many believed that the end of the world was fast approaching and they felt the church could help as they could turn to God for strength and they could erase their sins before they died so that they went to heaven this is known as plenary indulgence and was initiated by pope Leo IV who said if men went on crusade then they could wipe all of their previous sins and have a sin free soul upon return from crusading, also by dying in the crusades he said men were guaranteed to go to heaven as going on crusades overruled any previous sins however bad this made the crusaders a fierce and fearless army as they were not afraid of dying. Christianity during this time was developing throughout Europe and also in other parts of the world. During this time many people were going on pilgrimages (a holy journey to Jerusalem) which coincided with the holy war and so some men who went on crusade could justify it by saying they were simultaneously going on a pilgrimage and a sense of religious zeal was rapidly becoming more popular. As the structure and hierarchy of the church developed and the papal reform was established by Gregory VII in 1074 the church began to have a higher influence on people’s lives. Also with the introduction of a just war men could justify what was effectively contradicting their own religion, pope urban the second tried to encourage men to crusade by guaranteeing them plenary indulgence and by encouraging men to fight in a just war. Pope urban the second was actually one of the main causes of the crusades himself for it was him who initiated the first crusade and encouraged men to take the cross. There were many reasons thought to have impacted pope urban the seconds decision to call the first crusade firstly Pope Urban wanted Christian Liberation, the church wanted to free itself from secular authorities and he wanted to put the church back on the map also Pope Urban II wanted to liberate Jerusalem he said it was being taken over by pagan civilisation which was tragic as it held great Christian importance as it was the destination of Christ’s crucifixion, and should therefore be taken over by Christian rule as it should be there manifest destiny to rule over Jerusalem. By setting Jerusalem as the goal for the crusade it could also be seen as making a pilgrimage so pope so Pope Urban had a further justification for crusading. Arguably more prominent in Urban call for crusade was the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comenius’s request for help Alexius’s call for help came after much of the byzantine empire had been lost to the Seljuk Turks Pope Urban therefore Saw a chance to increase his political power as at this time Popes had Far greater political power then Popes today and were in fact like politicians, by launching his own crusade it gave Urban the opportunity he greatly desired to become one of the most politically powerful Leaders there was. The claim that Pope Urban was fuelled by a request from Alexios only came about much later in fact in 1930 and it is debated whether this was the most crucial factor as urban did not mention this directly in his speeches however some believe when revering to liberate the eastern churches he was not referring to Jerusalem but instead to the Byzantium church. A short term trigger for pope Urban's call to crusade was the letter he received sent from Alexios shortlybefore the crusade. The letter delivered by a man sent from Alexius did cause pope Urban to call crusade but the question is what did the letter say and why did urban then call a crusade. It is thought the letter contained a request from Alexios for more missionary soldiers in the west which is weird as the Schism in the west was coming to an end however why did this cause Urban to call a crusade' The first theory was that pope urban simply misunderstood the letter and thought the byzantine empire was on the verge of collapsing and so called a crusade but this is unlikely as he would have known as he was a member of clergy, the second theory is that pope urban deliberately misunderstood the letter as he saw it as an excuse to crusade. Regardless of why urban did crusade following the letter the letter was the crucial short term trigger in pope urban calling crusade. Pope urban's call to Crusade was successful perhaps as he was such a good public speaker and was able to manipulate people to his views, pope urban encouraged men to crusade with offers of rewards of plenary indulgence and his speech an emotional account made thousands of men step up to take the cross, showing that pope urban was a major reason for the breakout of the first crusade. The period prior to 1095 saw the introduction of the imperial papacy which was quickly gaining in power become a threat to royal power, as religion gained in popularity and came up with excuses for crusading it meant that the church could call a crusade itself also the council of Clermont set up to discuss Phillip 1sts adultery actually helped Urban with his decision to call crusade in 1095 also as social organisation and feudalism grew knights had good relationships with lords and were given land provided that they gave 40 days to fight the knights good relationship with those of importance meant that they were more willing to fight in the crusades and were also obliged to as they were like knights of the church, so the social and political system in Europe helped the breakout of the first crusade as it meant more men took the cross when pope urban the second called crusade. The political system in the east also influenced the first crusade as the east was in a state of disunity following the fall of the Abbasid caliphate, this meant much of the east was at war with each other and after the Byzantine Empire was weakened by the Seljuk Turk who had taken over most of their empire it was actually a call from their ruler Alexios which Influenced urban to Call the first crusade. So it can be argued that the social and political structure at the led an important part in the call of the first crusade and in fact the outcome of the first crusade. Finally it can be argued that the first crusade broke out due to the offer of financial rewards, this was believed to be the reason for men like Bohemond of Teranto going on crusade until very recently, for when the crusaders had taken over Jerusalem it was thought they would gain land and other riches however, for men like Bohemond they stood little chance of gaining anything as when they left they would have to leave there land which would probably be taken and going on crusade was expensive itself as men had to pay for supplies and weapons etc which was expensive, so it was unlikely that the rich were motivated by financial gain, however this may have motivated the poor as they had nothing to lose by going on crusade as following a series of natural disasters many did not own any land or riches, so they could only gain by going on crusade and possibly staying there inheriting land , they may have been fuelled by claims the east was a centre of trade and so may have gone on crusade for financial reasons as well as religious reasons and more. So although with the rich financial gain was not important it might have influenced the crusade as the poor saw a financial gain and pope urban would have highlighted this in order to encourage men to take the cross. So the crusades cannot be put down to one reason alone but to a series of short and long term religious, political, financial and other triggers. However I feel the most crucial reason responsible for the call to crusade was Religious Zeal and plenary indulgence as this links in with the other reasons and for example helped Urban in his campaign to get men to crusade, yet this factor alone would not be enough to lead to the crusades on its own.