The Crusades

• Tributary


  A person or state that pays tribute to another state or ruler
• Holy War


  Any war regarded as a religious act or is in some way set in a direct relation to religion
• The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church built on the traditional site of Jesus' Crucifixion and burial
• Crusade


  The term 'crusade' was not known contemporarily, and the idea was often referred to as iter or expeditio
• The idea of colonies as a result of the crusade does not link directly with modern imperialism and had solely economic aims
• Some argued that the crusades were equally a cultural phenomenon as 'colonies' weren't politically linked with their 'mother country'
• The emphasis on the development of canon law prioritised the struggle over that of the struggle with empire, hence the 'politico-diplomatic' aspect of the first crusade tends to get overlooked
• Anna Comnena (Byzantine historian): 'There were two main reasons for the war, the rich went to get richer and the poor to save their souls'
• This plays into Marxist interpretations
• Early Christians


  • They were used to profane wars and thus the question surrounding them is less whether religion could be a valid basis for war but could Christians fight at all?
• The situation had changed with Constantine who made sure military service was 'unobjectionable'
• This led to the development of violence against Pagans
• Military saints developed early in Greek Churches e.g. Demetrius, Theodore but were largely unknown to the West
• Bellum iustum


  Augustine believed that all war was rooted in evil and bellum iustum didn't exist as one side had to be the aggressors
• Augustine made the point that individual soldiers, if unaware of why they had to fight, were excluded from condemnation
• Religion was a universal experience hence it attracted a wide variety of people without concerns for religious gain
• The first call to arms was addressed to the Knighthood as a body not individuals
• Later crusades could draw people in with the established idea of a crusade and the notion of protecting land in hostile areas
• The idea of piety from the crusades created an idea that was spread throughout
• Pope Urban popularised the idea of salvation through violence on behalf of God
• Participants had doubts about this unprecedented view and were penitent about it
• 60,000 people and 6-7,000 knights gathered at Nicea in June 1097
• The 100,000 people who were stirred from their houses made it so it was rare for people to be unaware of the situation at hand
• While those like Godfrey of Bouillon provided an army, no one from the mouvance of William appeared to participate
• Patronage structures played deeply into the decision of high class men to join the crusade
• Urban's call created a theological/ideological pressure on common people
• Ideology only influenced people's decisions for a short while, as we can see from land owners
• Urban's call to war was not one which intended to start the crusades but rather it ended up providing a narrow and easy way to clear yourself of sin
• People did refuse to respond to the call, such as Fulk IV Le Réchin and Duke William IX of Aquitaine
• The House of Roucy had a strong tradition of participation in holy wars but didn't partake in the crusades, despite strong support for the papacy
• There were huge differences among those who were considered knights, some were landed, some simply by name, and some only had a horse
• It is hard to generalise who exactly Urban II was trying to appeal to
• Knights at the lowest level were like 'superior peasants' but at the highest they were 'of considerable status'
• Debate over main reason for 1st Crusade

  Recovery of Holy Sepulcher or aid Eastern Christians?
• The 1st Crusade wasn't a war to encourage conversion, as this went against both Christian doctrine and The Jihad but rather to turn people into tributaries
• Armies were not stable but the armies of the princes were fluid, which proved to be characteristic of the first crusade
• Peter the Hermit


  An 'odd-job man' who carried out activities such as prayers in Jerusalem and being an ambassador for unbelievers, and led the first crusading army to failure
• Peter was never the sole effective commander of the 'People's Crusade'
• Peter arrived late as he could not handle such a range of people, and the Emperor Alexius forced them into Asia Minor as they were causing mass destruction such as ransacking houses and churches
• 2nd Crusade


  5 Expeditions, 2 Armies (manned by Emperor Conrad III and King Louis VII of France), Same route overland from Balkans to Constantinople