UNIT 8: CHRISTENDOM (CHALLENGES AND DEMISE, AND SOME "BRIGHT LIGHTS") Flashcards
What laid the ground for the Crusades?
Muslim invasions and persecutions of Christians (and Jews), and destruction of their land/possessions.
The Christian (and Jewish) Holy Land had become overtaken and occupied by Muslims. The church of the Holy Sepulcher, as well as many other Churches and monasteries were destroyed by Muslims, who persecuted many Christians and Jews.
Crusades
The Crusades were military expeditions initiated by the Church that intended to recover the Holy Land from Muslims during the Middle Ages. They were demanded and approved by the popes.
There were at least eight crusades, however, only the first crusade succeeded at liberating the Holy Land, although its successes were short-lived.
Urban II and the Council of Clermont
“The Pope’s Address at the Council of Clermont.”
“Christ commands it”; “God wills it”
Emperor Alexius asked the Pope for help at Clermont in 1095.
In 1095, Uban called the Council of Clermont at Notre Dame in France. There were both ecclesiastics and laypeople of the Catholic Church in attendance at the synod. Urban pronounced a speech that was based on Pope Gregory VII’s reforms, and Urban asked that Gregory’s reform be promoted and carried out.
Ultimately, “The Pope’s Address at the Council of Clermont” was a call to arms and defence against the Turks and Arabs that eventually led to the First Crusade. He stated that the “Turks and Arabs” have conquered the Holy Land and attacked the Christian and Jewish “brethren who live in the East [and] are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them the aid which has often been promised to them.”
Urban prompts urgency and enthusiasm: “they have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, (…) they have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire.”
He states that this crisis is not only attack on Jews and Christians, but an attack on God: “moreover, Christ commands it.” By stating that God wills an armed defence against the Muslims, Urban prompted a cascade of Christians into battle against the Muslim world, which became the enemy of Christendom.
This ultimately led to five centuries of violent conflicts between Christians and Muslims, whereby catastrophic death, defeats and destruction largely outweighed the successes and victories (all this to the chant DEUS VULT “God wills it”)
The First Crusade took place from 1096 to 1099, and was launched by Pope Urban II.
Rules agreed upon at the Council of Clermont
At the Council of Clermont, two rules were put in place for war and they were outlined in
- Peace of God
Monks clergymen, women, and whatever they may have with them, shall be under the protection of the peace all the time
Noncombatants and clerics were to be protected at all costs - Truce of God
- limited the days of battle to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
- Later extended to include great feast days, and Advent and Lent
The Truce concluded by demanding that any person involved in Holy War must not intend to achieve honour nor gain, but should only battle based on their devotion to God and to free the Church
Although the guidelines for a “Holy War” willed by God were in place by the Pope, they were not followed. The Church did not intend for nor sanction the barbaric brutality and horrific atrocities of the Crusades.
Urban’s 3 Goals
- FREE THE HOLY LAND
For the sake of making Christian pilgrimages possible, and because Christians living there were being unfairly taxed by Muslims. - SAVE THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Emperor Alexius of the Byzantine Empire was captured by the Turks in 1081, and requested help from the Pope. The Byzantines considered themselves successors of the Holy Roman Empire, and reached out to Urban to save them from the Muslim onslaught. - REUNITE CHRISTENDOM
Christendom was a short-lived ideal that ceased to exist after the Carolingian Empire broke down, and Urban hoped to restore it. However, the crusades had the opposite effect, proving “disastrous to the cause of Christian unity.”
The Term “Crusade” croiserie (“taking the cross”)
What was a crusade?
Crusades were mediaeval military expeditions, called for and sanctioned by popes, intended to free the Holy Land from Muslim occupation.
Crusades occurred in the 11th century, but the word was not coined until the 13th century. Before that, they were simply military expeditions with papal approval.
The term came to be used of all wars between Christians and Muslims, then later expanded to include other “wars of religion”; i.e., against heretics or perceived heretics .
How many crusades were there?
There were as many as eight crusades spanning 500 years, but they left a mentality that persisted into the eighteenth century, reflected in what was often masked as “exploration with evangelization”…
The results of the crusades were short-lived and “mixed” at best. Only the first crusade (1096-1099) could be considered “successful” as far as liberating the Holy Land, and its benefits lasted only a brief time.
What were the results of the crusades?
Mostly, the results were simply tragic .
Some would say we live with the disastrous consequences even today in such ways as the continued split between Catholic and Orthodox, and the infamous Islamic jihad.
Many would admit that there was much to be condemned in the crusades – elements of shame assigned to those in the Church who carried out atrocities – but the whole Church cannot be blamed
Others that it was a reaction out of justice to the 7th-century jihad.
Why were Christians enthusiastic about the crusades?
Part of the enthusiasm was based in the mind of the common person:
There was disease and crop failure across Europe, and going on crusade meant someone would feed you.
Additionally, it was tied up with romantic ideas of adventure and seeking glory.
The First Crusade (1096-1099): Some Details and Outcome
Formal leader of the first crusade was Adhemar (the bishop of La Puy), Urban’s personal representative.
All assembled at Constantinople and pledged to fight under the command of Alexius I, Byzantine emperor.
The Peasants Crusade
“To stupid to be true, but true”
Peter the Hermit, a French popular preacher, wanted to get in on the action of the First Crusade…
He led a disorganized mob from Cologne in April 1096, across the Hungarian countryside en route to Constantinople . Sometimes referred to as “the Peasants’ Crusade”
- As they made their way across the land, they fed off the land by means of robbing and pillaging the innocent.
- They engaged in conflict with other Christians who were defending themselves and their property and they killed thousands of Jews en route to “practice” for the war against the infidels.
- Most lost their lives on the journey, but some got as far as Constantinople where they joined the ranks of organized crusaders.
The Fourth Crusade (1204)
Constantineople, The Venetian Merchants and Hagia Sophia; The East West Schism
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) called on French and Italian forces to free the sites in the Holy Land.
They went as far as Constantinople to organize the last leg of the trip, fighting under Alexius III, considered by some a pretender to the Byzantine throne.
While there, Alexius III was dethroned and Isaac Angelus and his son, Alexius IV, were crowned co-emperors, so the trip to the Holy Land was abandoned.
At behest of Venetian merchants who financed the trip, the crusaders were instructed to attack and pillage city of Constantinople.
A huge out-cry came from the citizens who killed Isaac and Alexius, replacing then with Alexius V Doukas who promised to protect the city.
Nevertheless, crusaders attacked and pillaged the city for three days, killing many inhabitants, including those protecting the Blessed Sacrament and the relics.
Among the booty were many relics including the skull of St. Andrew, Peter’s brother, taken to Rome (some of the relics can still be seen in Venice’s churches and museums, even marked with signs saying such things as “recovered from the hands of the infidels during the crusades”!!).
Hagia Sophia: When Pope Pius heard of the sacking of Hagia Sophia and all the stolen booty in the 4th crusade, he excommunicated all who were involved and condemned the entire 4th crusade.
The Byzantine empire was weakened as a result.
Baldwin IX of Flanders was named “Latin Emperor of Constantinople” and it would be 60 years before a Greek prince regained the throne.
The East West Schism: This was considered the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in the tension between East and West that finally led to the Orthodox-Catholic schism.
“Last Straw” in the East-West Schism
4th Crusade
How did the papacy respond to the 4th Crusade?
When Pope Pius heard of the sacking of Hagia Sophia and all the stolen booty in the 4th crusade, he excommunicated all who were involved and condemned the entire 4th crusade.
Conclusion and Summary of the Crusades
There is no easy way to make sense of the crusades, but we can say this much:
The Crusades are extremely complicated
Madden saved the Church from extinction (but what about the Holy Spirit?)
Consequences linger to today
Defence of the Christian heritage (or at least that is how it began) BUT it led to the East-West Schism
Guidelines for a “Just-War” were in place but not followed the Church did not intend for or sanction the atrocities of the crusades)
The idea of rich crusaders is not true for most (very few got rich on the crusades)
Crusades stopped and pushed back the spread of Islam
The early victories (of the first crusade) were only possible because the Muslim world was not united → the victories were short-lived
The Oppression of Non-Christians and Others
Moors in Spain (Iberia and Sicily)
While the crusades were in full swing, a move was made to reconquer Iberia, intended to push back the Muslim offensive and regain control lost in the 7th century.
