The Crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Crusades - Essay Example Origins of the crusades. There are many origins of the Crusades. The Crusades movement is a series of religious wars. The Popes wrote encyclicals and gave orations for the necessity to implement the crusades as Christianity’s antidote to the Turks and other Muslim invaders1. In 1464, Pope Pius personally went to Ancona to lead the Crusade’s attempts to retain Constantinople from the Muslims. Pope Pius died from the plague while waiting for the crusade army to arrive2. The Pope and the Catholic Church approved the Crusades’ war strategy. The main goal of the crusades was to get back access to the holy places. The Crusades had political influence over a significant part of Europe, the Western sector. The Crusades’ soldiers made a solemn vow to the Pope that they will fight for the Cross of Christ. Consequently, the Pope gave each soldier a cross. The cross symbolized the soldier as a soldier of the Church. In 1280, to ensure Muslim success over the crusade a rmies, Kalavun, the Muslim leader, took advantage of petty disagreements between the different Crusade armies within Jerusalem. Those in Acre supported King Charles and those in Tyre supported King Hugh of Cyprus. Kalavun entered into different treaties with different cities. Kalavun was counting on the factionalism to fit the different parts of the kingdom against one another3. The Ottoman Turks focused their war on the doorsteps of the European countries. Previously, the crusades focused on recovering the Holy Land from the Muslim invaders. During the 1370s, European Christians had to fight the Ottoman Turks who were invading the European nations. The theme was refocused from the Holy Land to reducing the continuing spread of the Muslim faith in Europe. In 1354, the Turks occupied Gallipoli and started entering Europe. In 1361, the Ottoman Turks conquered several European areas, including Bulgaria and most of Greece. The Crusades had economic influence over several parts of Europe , the Western sector4. The best-funded Crusade was the Crusade of St. Louis5. The Christian pilgrims were being persecuted by the Muslims on their way to Jerusalem. With the Christian lands being gobbled up by the Muslims, the economic power of the Pope was also reduced. To recover its former economic power, the Pope, especially Pope Urban II, launched the Crusades to recover the lands from the Muslim invaders. Maalouf insists the Crusades were a drain on the Christian nation’s coffers. Money was needed to pay for the war to proceed6. Pope Urban II made a strong appeal to all Christian rulers in Europe to launch attacks against the Muslim armies. The Pope admonished the Muslim infidels’ desecration of the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. The Pope described the horrific atrocities and damages of the Muslim infidels plundering of the Holy Land and attacks on the innocent Christian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. In 1368, King Peter tried to raise another Crusade. When King Peter returned to Cyprus, the local barons were mad at the huge amount of money spent on Peter’s crusade. Peter was finally assassinated during his sleep. The people of Europe decried the treachery of the Cyprus traitors and mourned the loss of their crusade’s King7. When King Louis, the Crusade leader, was captured by the Muslim armies, Turan-Shah, a Muslim leader, released the hostages in exchange for 800,000 bezants. In addition, the Crusade armies had to surrender Damietta to the Muslim rulers. The French paid 400,000 bezants to Mamluks for the release of King Louis8. The Crusades had social influence over many parts of Europe, the Western sector. The people rallied to the Crusades. The Christian people