The Crusades Flashcards
The role of knights in society
Knights were part of the kings’ army. they used the tactic of charging to defeat their enemy in battle.
Knights were part of the feudal system, in return for land they fought for the king on behalf of the barons.
Knights in turn gave part of their land to peasants, who were agricultural labourers.
Knights performed services such as castle-guard - protecting the castles of lords or kings in return for their land.
Knights followed the code of chivalry they set an example on how to behave in society.
Knights were used in local government and were members of a jury enforcing law and order for the king.
A knights weapons and equipment
Knights carried a sword and shield to use in hand-in-hand combat.
Knights trained using devices like the quatrain to practice with the lance.
Knights fought on horseback using a lance and a high-backed saddle.
Knights could also use equipment like a mace for smashing armour.
Reasons for the calling of the first crusade
Religious - alexius the byzantine emperor had sent a letter asking for help to the pope - the pope would feel compelled to help as alexius was a fellow christian.
The people knew that every christian had strong sense of christian duty so if he called a crusade they would respond.
Political - before the first crusade, urban II had quarrelled with the holy roman emperor. urban II wanted to prove his power to the leaders of europe so calling a crusade would do this because he could command a massive army.
Economic - the pope may have wanted to make money from pilgrims again and calling a crusade would make it safe for pilgrims to visit the holy land again.
Threat of islam - muslims had conquered parts of spain and pope urban II may have called the crusade to stop the spread of islam.
End of violence in the west - some knights did not behave honourably in medieval society and were very violent. Urban wanted to end the constant conflict amongst knights in the west. he believed they should unite and fight in the east.
The importance of castles
Castles were built to become more complex and impressive which meant they became a key symbol of power for lords, nobles and kings.
Castles had rooms for soldiers which meant they were an ideal base for the local garrison carrying out guard duty.
Castles had a great hall room which was important as it was used as a court where law was enforced.
Castles had high walls and defensive gates so were used to defend and protect the lord’s lands and the people who lived on them.
Castles developed to have many rooms so were used as a home for the lord’s family.
Castles had rooms called dungeons which were used as a place to keep criminals/prisoners.
Peter the hermit and the peasants/peoples crusade
Peter the hermit was a good spiritual leader but a dreadful military leader. he lacked the experience required to lead such a large army.
The peasants were not trained soldiers/had little weapons.
The peasants ran out of suppliers/money whilst travelling across europe.
The peasants ignored emperor’s alexius advice to wait for the main crusader army.
The peasants split into different groups and elected their own leaders/peter the hermit was cast aside.
The peasants were defeated by muslim forces/most were killed/supplies lost.
Why did so many people join the first crusade
People had a strong sense of christian duty so they went to recapture the holy city of jersualem and help their christian brothers in the east.
Pope Urban II’s speech was inspiring so people were convinced that islam was carrying out atrocities in the east.
Preacher like peter the hermit toured around talking up the crusade which encouraged thousands of ordinary peasants.
People were very concerned about sin and getting to heaven so they went on crusade because they the pope said that their sins would be washed away.
Younger knights like bohemond did not stand to inherit any land which meant he went on crusade to gain land.
In the west the church had introduced the peace of god movement which limited knights fighting time so some knights went on crusade to develop their military skills.
Emperor alexius and the crusaders
Alexius did not trust the crusaders and forced them to wait outside constantinople.
Alexius insisted that the crusaders took an oath of loyalty and an oath that they would return any land they took which did not belong to them.
Some crusaders liked alexius because he showered them with gifts e.g. stephen of blois.
Alexius provided 2,000 troops and generals from his army to help the crusaders.
Alexius allowed the muslims at nicaea to go free and did not allow the crusaders to attack the city.
Alexius did not come to help the crusaders at antioch evem though they were outnumbered by the muslims.
The capture of nicaea
The sultan of nicaea, kiji arslan, was away fighting the danishmends when the crusaders arrived to besiege his city.
Arslan did not think the crusaders were a threat and so did not return to nicaea immediately to protect it.
Initially, the crusaders found it difficult to capture the city. the city was next to the river nicaea, allowing the muslims inside to transport supplies.
The crusaders did not have boats and therefore could not starve the city into surrendering.
Fortunately, emperor alexius, who was at nicaea ordered a fleet of flotillas to block the river trapping the muslims inside.
The emperor then opened negotiations with the muslims, who agreed to surrender to him in order to avoid a massacre.
The capture of edessa
Baldwin took a small group of knights and broke off from the main body of the crusade.
The ruler of edessa, thoros, was unpopular because he was controlled by emperor alexius.
Thoros asked baldwin into the city and adopted him as his son and co-ruler in february in february 1098.
In march thoros was overthrown and baldwin did nothing to try and stop this.
Baldwin was asked to become the new ruler of edessa. he accepted and became known as count baldwin of edessa.
The first crusader state had been created.
The capture of antioch
Bohemond bribed a muslim guard to let him into the city.
The crusaders used ladders and ropes to climb the wall.
Once inside they opened the gate and let the rest of the army into the city.
The people of antioch were slaughtered.
The crusaders were then surrounded by a muslim army.
The holy lance inspired the crusaders to attack the muslims.
Capture of jerusalem
Many crusaders had either died or had gone home so there were not enough men to attack the city.
The muslims knew the crusaders were coming and so removed all christians from jerusalem who might help them.
The muslims poisoned all the local wells so that the crusaders had little water.
There was little food and so the crusaders began to starve.
Jersusalem was well defended and was extremely large meaning that it could not be surrounded.
The weather made conditions difficult to launch an attack.
Why was the first crusade a success?
Religious - the church helped support the crusade by claiming that they were doing god’s will - this motivated the knights at all times to attempt the often impossible.
Muslim disunity - muslims refused to join together and only thought of their own land e.g. kerboghas men deserted the battlefield at antioch.
Muslim communities didn’t attack the crusaders and even gave them money to keep the peace.
Crusader military skills - the knights were military superior to the muslim forces eg the knights’ tactics of charging antioch secured victory.
A united european front made of large and organised armies of loyal christians.
Support for crusaders - the crusaders received help from emperor alexius eg provided crusaders with additonal soldiers/supplies at constantinople etc.
Long-term problems after the capture of jerusalem
To employ mercenary soldiers the crusader knights needed money which was not always available in the crusader states.
The crusaders were short of supplies and had to rely on the italian ports to provide them with essential material.
The crusader states were very far away and were difficult to defend.
The were no peasants in the east and so the crusaders had no one to tend to their crops.
The crusader were surrounded by muslims and could be attacked at any moment.
The land was infertile - so it was difficult for the crusaders to grow crops.
Division amongst crusader, hawks and doves
Kings, barons and knights in the middle east often squabbled which made it difficult to agree on anything.
There were two different factions in the crusader states who could not get along: the doves and the hawks.
The doves wanted peaceful co-existence with the muslims.
The hawks wanted to continue aggression against them.
Death of king baldwin IV, dislike of king guy
Baldwin IV died of leprosy in 1185.
Baldwin had worked hard to promote peace wioth the muslim world. when he died he took this non-aggression strategy with him.
After his death there was a short succession crisis which eventually resulted in guy de lesignan as king of jerusalem.
Guy de lesignan was disliked by many which meant his rule was problematic.
Guy was easily influenced by ‘hawks’ like reynald de chatillon so followed an aggressive policy which would lead to confrontation.
When saladin besieged tiberius, guy made the rash decision to summon the entire crusader army to confront him.
