Why did the first Crusade Succeed?

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James Thompson History Essay

The causes of the First Crusade

In this essay I will discuss the main causes for the First Crusade, and argue why the religious beliefs of the people at the time were the primary cause for the Crusades, though the Popes desires to have a better economy and more land for Europe and Christianity were the reasons for the religious beliefs being used to persuade the people to fight.

I believe that the main cause of the First Crusade is the Christians religious beliefs at the time, whilst there are economical reasons which could be achieved from the people’s beliefs. When Pope Urban was told about the complex systems used in the Middle East, I think that this triggered the first major reason for the Crusade, and to get what he wanted he could use the religion as a passable alibi. Europe was coming out of the Dark Ages and so the Middle East was a lot more technologically advanced than them, to get what he wanted the Pope used Jerusalem, which at the time was ruled by Muslims, yet occupied Jews and Christians. The reason for the Crusade was a “Holy War” to re-capture Jerusalem in the name of Christ, with such propaganda as the Christians being slaughtered by the Muslims in Jerusalem, and that the City of God belonged to them. But I do not think it is as simple as announcing Holy War and everything being fine, “Plenary Indulgence” played a great part in this, as the people of the time believed, the Pope had many powers and could use Plenary Indulgence to guarantee people Heaven, and so he told the people whoever would fight would gain this guarantee. People at the time were very pious in their beliefs and would jump at chances such as these, as well as the thought of defending their fellow Christians from the “Agent of Satan”. The Church at the time was seemingly less powerful than it once had been, so this opportunity for the Pope would have good advantages, which makes this another key reason for the Crusade, tied in with the economical gains, the Pope wanted a brighter future for the Christian society, with the Church being split into East and Western organisations, a Crusade that would unite them together seemed like a flawless plan. The people of the time were made angry by the propaganda from people such as Peter the Hermit, who would travel and preach for the crusades, by doing this; he gave the Christians a sense of being United, and a type   of Nationalism towards fellow Christians. So the main cause being the religious beliefs ties with all these reasons, for the reasons such as economics and politics they would need common ground to unite, the idea of Crusading not being present in previous Christianity means that something new would have to be developed to convince people into partaking in it.

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The Byzantine emperor asking Pope Urban for aid was an excuse/reason for the expansion of Europe, and he could use this call for help as an all out call to the Christian World for the Crusade as there was a genuine threat, in which he told the French about the “devastating” ways the Muslims would treat the Christians and the destruction of Churches in the land. To some people as well as a religious belief and the promise of all their sins being forgiven is the prospect of wealth, as the invasion of these lands would give the Knights ...

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