The Crusades

I. The Crusades

A. Calling the Crusade

1. The Turkish Invasion and the Byzantine Empire — The Crusades brought together the traditions of pilgrimage and holy war and established a European presence in the Middle East that lasted for two centuries. The First Crusade was called in response to the Byzantine emperor’s request for help against a new wave of Muslim invasions by the Sunni Seljuk Turks. Taking advantage of the weakness of the Muslim world, by 1050 the Seljuks had conquered Baghdad and begun to attack Byzantine territory. At the battle of Manzikert, a mercenary imperial army was defeated and the Byzantine emperor Romanus was captured. The Turks then swept across the Middle East and took Jerusalem from its Fatimid rulers. In 1095, the Byzantine emperor Alexius I (Alexius Comnenus) appealed to Pope Urban II for help, hoping to get new mercenary troops for a fresh offensive.

2. Pope Urban II and the Calling of the First Crusade — In response, Pope Urban II (r. 1088–1099) called upon a wide range of Christians to take up arms and reclaim the Holy Land from “the wicked race.” He offered indulgences to those willing to respond to his call. Historians are divided about his goals, but certainly he hoped to increase the power of the papacy and organize the entire “race of Franks” into a peace militia dedicated to Holy purposes, an Army of God. Urban’s call gave the papacy a new role in military matters. Between 60,000 and 100,000 people undertook the journey to fight for the Holy Land, motivated by a mix of piety and the desire to gain land. Many women, children, and old men participated in the First Crusade.

B. The First Crusade

1. The People’s Crusade and Attacks on Jews — The armies of the First Crusade were not an organized military force but a series of separate militias. One band, made up of a number of loosely affiliated armed commoners led by Peter the Hermit (The People’s Crusade) departed early, inspired by fiery and charismatic orators. On its way to the Holy Land, the band made a deliberate detour to the Rhineland, where they attacked Jewish communities in a series of pogroms, killing hundreds. The members of the People’s Crusade who eventually made it to the Holy Land were shipped off to Asia, where most died.

2. Taking the Holy Land — The main crusader armies arrived in autumn, and after much squabbling eventually promised the Byzantine emperor Alexius they would return any land they conquered to him. On June 18, 1097, they took Nicaea and dutifully handed it over to Alexius. However, they would not keep their promise for long. When one group took the city of Edessa, they created the first of the crusader states. The main body of crusaders eventually defeated a Turkish army at Antioch after an eight-month siege.

3. Taking Jerusalem — From Antioch the crusaders planned to capture Jerusalem, but disputes and divisions delayed their efforts. Divisions among the Muslims finally gave the crusaders the chance to attack Jerusalem, and they captured the city in July 1099, slaughtering much of the population.

C. The Crusader States

1. The Crusader Lordships — The victorious leaders of the First Crusade retained the lands they had conquered and established lordships, in which lords extended fiefs to their vassals. When most of the crusaders went home, the rulers who remained built castles, worked with the mixed indigenous population, and encouraged trade to flourish.

2. The Knights Templar — A new militant monasticism took root in the form of the Knights Templar, who took vows of chastity and obedience and promised to protect pilgrims. Named for their living quarters in the area near the former Jewish temple at Jerusalem, the order of the Knights Templar protected pilgrimage routes from Palestine to Jerusalem, manned town garrisons of the crusader states, and transported money from Europe to the Holy Land. They became wealthy and powerful and established branches across Europe.

D. The Disastrous Second Crusade

1. The Monarchies and the Second Crusade — The Seljuk Turks retook Edessa in 1144. In response, Pope Eugenius III (r. 1145–1153) called a second crusade, attracting the monarchs Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany to the cause. Eugenius and the charismatic and influential Cistercian abbot St. Bernard attempted to launch crusades within Europe, encouraging German nobles to focus not on the Holy Land but on conquering the pagans on the Baltic coast, and on trying to support Alfonso VI of Castile’s reconquista of Spain.

2. The Failed Crusade — The Second Crusade was poorly planned, and Conrad and Louis failed to coordinate with each other and with the crusader states. They were badly hurt by Turkish attacks, and in July 1148 they attacked Damascus but failed to take it, suffering heavy casualties. In the aftermath of the failed crusade, Louis VII divorced Eleanor of Aquitane for infidelity, and their marriage was annulled. Eleanor was remarried to Henry, count of Anjou, who became King Henry II of England in 1154.

E. The Long-Term Impact of the Crusades

1. The End of the Crusader States — Despite eight major crusades between 1096 and the end of the thirteenth century, the crusader states fell to the Muslims in 1291. Europeans never committed the resources necessary to preserve them.

2. Economic Consequences — The crusades stimulated trade and created more modern taxation systems, while they also sparked new notions of expedition and exploration, such as Columbus’s journey.

3. Islamic Disunity — The crusades worsened, but did not create Islamic disunity. The brutality of the crusades shocked Muslims, who before the crusades had experienced more serious divisions between Sunni and Shi‘ite than between Muslims and Christians.

II. The Revival of Monarchies

A. Reconstructing the Empire at Byzantium

1. The Reign of Alexius Comnenus — The Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus was an upstart from a dynatoi family who rose to become emperor during difficult times. Under attack from Normans in Italy, Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor, and new groups in the Balkans, Alexius was able to avoid defeat by turning his enemies against one another.

2. The Emperor and the Nobility — To fight his wars, Alexius relied on mercenaries and allied dynatoi families, who were armed and mounted like European knights and accompanied by their own troops. In exchange, he paid the aristocracy with land and the urban elite with offices, while working closely with the church. This arrangement made the empire stronger militarily, but it weakened the emperor’s individual power relative to the nobility.

B. England under Norman Rule

1. The Norman Invasion, 1066 — When the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–1066) died childless, there were three claimants to the English throne, including Harold, earl of Wessex; Harald, king of Norway; and William, duke of Normandy. William claimed Edward had promised him the throne, but Edward’s nomination on his deathbed of Harold was confirmed by the royal advisory committee. After Harold was crowned, William invaded England with the pope’s support. Harold, who had just defeated Harald, marched 250 miles to meet William. They fought the battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. William’s archers helped him to kill Harold and defeat his army. William’s subjugation of England involved an attempt to replace instead of assimilate the Anglo-Saxon nobility. As much as one in five English people died in the conquest and its immediate aftermath.

2. Institutions of Norman Kingship — The Normans retained many Anglo-Saxon institutions and procedures, such as writs to communicate the king’s orders and administrative divisions, including shires. But William treated England as conquered booty, keeping 20 percent of the land for himself and dividing the rest as scattered fiefdoms to family members, barons, and others, who in turn distributed it to their vassals. All owed the king dues and military service.

3. Domesday — In 1086, William ordered a survey and census called Domesday, which included an extensive inventory of England’s land, livestock, taxes, and population. Working from Anglo-Saxon tax lists and with local jurors, detailed inquests provided a complete picture of England’s resources.

4. England and the Continent — The Norman conquest connected England closely to the continent’s languages, culture, politics, and institutions. English wool was widely traded on the continent, and the barons of England kept their estates in Normandy, while England’s Norman monarchs spent long periods on the continent

C. Praising the King of France

1. Suger and Louis VI — The less powerful French monarchy also took part in a revival during the reign of Louis VI, or Louis the Fat (r. 1108–1137). Supported by an able propagandist, Suger, the abbot of Saint-Denis, Louis was promoted as another Charlemagne, a ruler for all society and a protector of the church. As his biographer, Suger promoted Louis as an ally of the pope and a pious and active defender of the faith. Louis made the most of the king’s right to call upon his vassals to aid him in times of war and to collect many dues and taxes, while also drawing revenues from the thriving commercial city of Paris. Royal officials called “provosts” enforced his royal laws and collected taxes.

2. The Extension of Royal Power — Louis used the money and land that he collected to dispense favors and gifts and build up his own prestige and power. After Louis’ death in 1137, the groundwork had been laid for the gradual extension of royal power in France, with the monarch a powerful warlord, landlord, and in control of the thriving city of Paris.

D.  Surviving as Emperor

1. The German Monarchy and the Concordat of Worms — Henry IV, emperor and king of both Germany and Italy, lost much of the power over the church and Italy that his father had wielded. The Investiture Conflict prevented him from regaining it, for he could no longer control the church hierarchy or depend on bishops to work as government officials. Rebellion from the German princes and the growing independence of the Italian city-states further weakened his authority. His son Henry V (r. 1105–1125) faced new challenges following the Investiture Conflict and its resolution in 1122 with the Diet of Worms. That settlement invested the monarchy with considerable power in relation to the church, but did not strengthen the emperor's relationship to the German princes or the Italian city-states.

2. Succession to Henry V — When Henry V died in 1025, he was childless and the great bishops and princes met to elect a new emperor. Lothar III (r. 1125–1137) was selected from among many candidates, in part because he was not the preferred candidate of Henry V. He also died childless, and Conrad III was elected. Imperial power remained weak until Conrad’s nephew Frederick Barbarossa strengthened it.