Call to Arms Flashcards
Imams
Muslim Asians
Tell me about Muhammad and the Jews…
During his exile, Muhammad had terrible encounters with the Jews, and hated them forever after that
Considered them worse than Christians
Tell me about Muhammad, Jesus, and the Christian infidels
Mohammad revered Jesus as a prophet
Christians were to receive special consideration as “followers of the Book”
But…Christians were still infidels subject to the wrath of God and targets for the Jihad
They were either to convert or die
Umma and Ji’had
Muhammad invaded Christian lands and killed many people to honor Allah
Ji’had was to be pursued by all good Muslims, but not all Muslims were good people
Those who died in Ji’had were honored with many gifts in the afterlife and were honored as martyrs
Since Muslims weren’t afraid to die, they enthusiastically threw themselves into battle and usually won
Byzantium’s weakness
The Imperial Byzantines had achieved lots
The church was robust, did much missions work and had strong preaching
But…they were lazy, fat, and very lax about their military preparedness
They were unaware of the Muslims until too late
When they fought, the Byzantine’s did not want to die; they fought for freedom
But…the muslims didn’t care if they died, they fought for Allah. This gave the, strength…they won.
Caliph Umar
Stern giant of a man with a big beard
He had a brooding countenance and din’t care about anyone
Always carried a whip to make sure his people were in line
Desired to bring the empire to its knees
He burned down palaces
He burned down the Alexandrian library, and wanted to make all Christian writings extinct
Yearned to see Christians dead or converted
Umar’s accomplishments
Umar’s army was coarse, but it was very disciplined
634: Umar’s armies had conquered Damascus and Syria
635: he controlled much of Egypt
(Alexandrian library burned)
636: defeated the Byzantines at Yarmuk
(Umar was still not content!)
638: entered Jerusalem, on a white camel
644: He conquered all across North Africa
Within 101 years of Muhammad’s death all of the mediterranean land had changed from Christian to Muslim
733: Charles Martel stopped the Muslims!
Byzantium- Manzikert
Although the idea was slow in coming, when the Christians heard of all the attrocities inflicted upon their people, they decided to fight back
The byzantines had the most organized and brilliant army of that time
The battle of Manzikert began in 1071
Even though the Byzantines were so powerful, they still lost to the small Muslim army because the Muslims weren’t afraid to die
This unnerved the Byzantines, they had seen so much death that they lost heart and left Byzantium completely unprotected
Byzantium- Antioch
Antioch was affected by the Byzantines losing heart because the Byzantine army protected Antioch
This left Antioch also completely helpless against attack
Byzantium- Cominus
After the Battle at Manzikery, Cominius sent an appeal for help to the west, urging them to help us by arguing that if Byzantium fell, they would be next
Crusading
The idea of crusading had been around for a while…It required much sacrificing
The Normans first crusaded against the pagans in Prussia in 1059
Then they crusaded against the Muslims in Sicily and Italy in 1072
El Cid in Castile attacked the Muslims in 1079
Papal Pleas
Sergius IV was the first to think of going to rescue the Byzantines.
Then it occured to Gregory VII and Victor III
They all sent pleas to men to fight for them
But the people were too busy building their cathedrals and the thought of leaving their work and families to go fight a war was not enticing
But soon the stories of the horrible things happening scared the people and their vulnerability terrified them
Pilgrims told stories of tortures and the men of the west could no longer restrain themselves from fighting
Pleas for more help were sent out
Papal pleas- Urban II
In 1095 Pope Urban II gathered Claremont nobles and bishops and consulted with them, reaching a new resolve
They decided to send out a call to West Byzantine that would be heard throughout all of Europe
Peasants, pastors, nobles and lords gathered from all over to hear Urban preach about the atrocities infucted upon them by the Muslims
Urban appealed to the people’s mercy and chivalric honor to convince them to redeem Jerusalem
Immediately the crowd started to chant, “God wills it”
The following year the crusades began in earnest
Reasons to Go to the Crusades…different classes of people
Peasantry
Clergy
Nobility
Normal people reasons to fight
Genuine piety drove many to want to participate in the crusades
If anyone responded they would receive a cloth cross to sew onto their clothing to signify that they had become a temporary clergy
Children were stirred up by the radicalism…they had a passion to fix things, and hadn’t experienced enough to know the downside of going to fight
Peasants
Motivated by chivalry
After hearing stories from the troubadours, they wanted to see new things. Adventure.
No more mundane tasks!
They yearned for freedom, to break out of the bonds of the present
Clergy
Crusading opened wide vistas of opportunities and wealth
Liked to enforce order…
Nobility
Crusading gave the oppurtunity to…
Protect their homes
Demonstrate chivalry
Two views on crusades
Now- historians like to judge each little wrong action within the crusades and view them as ill-timed assaults by wrong people
100 years ago- warriors= heroes!
