Crusades Flashcards
When was Jerusalem captured in the first crusade?
15 July 1099
What does the supposed lack of sexual violence yet much general slaughtering show for the capture of Jerusalem?
Represented a purging and liberating act, shedding of blood of unbelievers was pleasing God
Who were massacred at Mite during the first crusade (on their way to Jerusalem)?
The Jewish population there
What was the reality of the first crusade for those participating?
4k+ marches, long siege, cannibalism, desertion, crap leadership
What important aspects of western society did crusade support and catalyse?
- Role of Papacy
- Rise of monarchy
- Tax admin
- Systems of preaching
- War technology
Symbiotic relationship, affected each other
What is important to remember about the nature of crusading?
It is constantly changing, reflects wider society
What is crusade mainly?
A violent act of faith
‘Taking the cross’/vow (Crucesignates) - a penitential act
What were some key features of crusade?
- ‘Holy war’ as Just war
- Directed by the pope
- Taking the cross
- A penitential act
What was the main spiritual benefit of crusade?
Full forgiveness of sins, either in lieu of penance or as penance itself
What is the main criteria for a just war?
- Just cause
- Just intention
- Just/legitimate authority
- Not against innocent and vulnerable people
- Defensive
What was the war cry used in the first crusade?
Deus Vult (God wills it)
God was the authority they were following
Which pope toured France to recruit for a crusade and what was one of his main arguments for just cause?
Urban II
Eastern churches in ‘abominable slavery’, their obligation to fight to free them
What did the clergy always try do in the medieval period regarding knights?
Control the behaviour of the knights (usually to limit their violence)
When could laymen attend ecclesiastical gatherings?
Councils like Clermont - relics displayed too (potentially prop for crusade)
What were some of the benefits a knight could enjoy if he took the cross?
Knights became like members
Pay charity to churches, buried in hallow ground, participate in ecclesiastical court stuff etc.
What was Urban II’s motives likely spurred by?
Rebuilding papal relationship with Byzantium, didn’t work out though
How does Jerusalem fall into the intentions of the first crusade?
Possible Urban didn’t mention it, difference and separation between eastern church and Christian ruling of Jerusalem
Certainly according to the sources written in Europe, how did the first crusade quickly become understood as?
An armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Who were the main/exclusive target of crusade recruitment and propaganda?
Knights and nobles
What saw a revival in the 11thCE?
The apostolic lifestyle
What increased in the 11thCE regarding the aristocracy and how did this affect pilgrimage?
Increased concern over sin and penance
Pilgrimage increases as people become more aware of these issues
What does penitential pilgrimage reflect and what were the consequences of this?
Reflect spiritual anxiety in the aristocracy
Church play on this, creating a close relationship between the two, making recruitment easier
What do initial letters from crusaders in 1st crusade suggest?
That they did not regard it as a pilgrimage
What was one benefit promised to crusaders?
Indulgence
Where was the main recruiting pool for crusade?
France
Regarding the colonialised nature of the Crusader states, what is Rene Grousset’s opinion?
Franko-Syrian culture emerges (starting to dress like that and that)
What do RC Smail and Joshua Prawer say on whether Outremer was colonialist or not?
Isolationist
- Legal system with distinction between ethnic groups
- Lack of locals employed in government
What does Ibn Jubayer believe regarding the state of Muslim peasants in Outremer?
They were generally better off than elsewhere in the near east
What was Outremer?
The Christian states in the near east
Outremer = ‘Overseas’
Where did a Norman fleet in 1110 take?
Sidon
Need for fleets to take and control port cities
Why were port cities (eg Acre, Caesarea, Tyre) important for Outremer?
- Ensure communication, supply and trade with the west
- Wealth to reward followers
The Christian states functioned like any other western Medieval state
What are the names of some of the castles built to protect and tax pilgrims on the Oultrejourdain pilgrimage route?
- Kerak
- Montreal/Shawbeck
- Ailat/Aqaba
What does Robert Irwin state regarding the success of the first crusade and the establishment of the Christian states?
“was one of the relatively minor consequences of the disintegration of the Seljuk Sultanate following the death of the Sultan Malik-Shah in 1092”
Who gave the first determined opposition to the Franks and what was this mostly out of?
Zengi or Nur al-Din
Mostly out of wider Muslim politics - not a Jihad
What does Fulcher of Chartres show of Franks in Outremer?
They rooted themselves very quickly
The diversity in languages likely to be N. France and Provence - level of integration a bit of an overstatement
How did western observers view the Franks?
- ‘Poulains’ - half savage and that
- Take on undesirable virtues (sweet tooth, soft, untrustworthy etc)
Like Greeks and Persians
What did crusade become a tool for?
recruiting armies, a tool of rulership for colonising Christians, defending missionaries etc
How long did Christians rule in the near east for after the first capture of Jerusalem?
2 centuries
Who did the term ‘Franks’ refer to?
Crusaders ruling/settling in holy land area (everyone calls them that)
What does the translation of the law code of Antioch into Armenian show?
That the Armenians adopt Frankish style of structure
What happened to most of the first crusade crusaders and how were the kingdom of Jerusalem and order of Antioch sustained?
They went home
Pilgrims continued it
Who did the Franks call upon to help them when fighting each other?
Muslims
Why did Outremer need lots of pilgrims and what was one pull factor for these pilgrims?
High turnover of rulers meant need for pilgrims (to recruit and that)
Attracted by more personal freedom than in the west
What changes/lack of did people experience under Outremer?
- Western resources channelled for things in the east - especially knight orders - becomes very westernised in economic and political systems
- For local population, not much change - same tax rate but different master
What made the capture of Jerusalem easier for the crusaders?
1098, Jerusalem taken off Turkish hands before the crusaders turned up - already a new and fragile rulership
What did the third crusade aim to achieve?
Recovery of territory, but fragile and stuck to the coast
Where became an important colony/base for crusaders - attracting merchants (Genoa and Venice began to compete for control over it bit later)?
Cyprus
What did Cyprus, Crete and Sicily all have in common?
Nature and extent of ruler-culture exchange
What happened to the nature of crusades later in the period?
Crusades acted without need for papal authority (eg crusades in Prussia)
How did Danish crusade largely become a thing?
Danish raiding became labelled as crusading and then conquest
What were crusades always characterised as?
Defence
Why was it difficult to keep up image of defensive crusade in the North (eg Teutonic)?
These crusades blended with raiding and existing conquest
What happens post-fifth crusade?
Crusading becomes at the discretion of monarchs, not the pope
What was a financial benefit of crusading?
Exempt from taxes and don’t pay debts whilst away - property wont be stolen whilst away
How does the fourth lateran council broaden the access of crusades?
Grants indulgences not only to the crusaders, but also anyone at home willing to donate ‘goods’ in “support of the Holy Land”
What does the Albigensian Crusade (1208-29) indicate regarding the pope?
Pope initiated it as a last resort after pope’s man was murdered
Shows a lack of control of popes
Give an example of how papal ambition becomes more transparent as the period goes on
After Urban IV’s letter to Louis IX (1264) to crusade, Louis is sceptical so funds brother to go instead
Later in the period, what pressure is faced by the nobility to crusade?
Tradition of generational crusading means noble houses take on the mantle of crusading
What was a main development that made crusading more expensive?
Naval routes meant less mass people and more military forces
Also mil tech became more expensive
As crusading became more expensive…
…Kings with taxes soon became the only ones that could afford to crusade
What was introduced in the 13thCE?
- ‘Saladin Tithes’
2. Cruzada = system of tax for crusade
Who did ‘popular’ crusades often target?
Jews
Primacy of Jerusalem?
Yes and No
What does James A Brundage say regarding the declining enthusiasm for crusade?
“The most stubborn and chronic problem that crusade preachers encountered during the mid-thirteenth century was the disinclination of prospective recruits to enlist in the expeditions that one pontiff after another proclaimed”
How does Christopher T. Maier describe the attachment of God to crusades?
In the 12thCE, “God’s judgement accompanied and influenced the progress and fate of the crusades”
How does Christopher Tyerman say about the relationship between society and crusades?
“Crusading was fashioned to suit changing religious, ecclesiastical and political objectives”
